CLUBS

In on dubstep’s ground floor, UK garage graduate Youngsta prefers to let his music do the talking. As Adam Burrows finds out.

Few can lay better claims to dubstep’s throne than Youngsta, championing the genre long before it even had a name. As that fresh-faced alias suggests, he started early. “I was 13,” he says, “playing garage on a pirate called Freek FM.” Growing up in Essex, he was introduced to dubplate culture by his promoter sister Sarah and soon built a reputation for technical mastery that he has enjoyed ever since. A decade later, he remains at the heart of the movement.

When Sarah launched her club night, the now-legendary FWD>>, in 2001, Youngsta was an obvious choice to man the decks. Pairing him with Hatcha proved historic. While other FWD>> regulars pioneered grime (and later UK funky), Hatcha and Youngsta gravitated towards minimal, bass-heavy instrumentals, tweaking the frequencies for maximum low-end impact. Before long, Big Apple – the Croydon record shop where Hatcha worked – was the focal point for a cavernous, dread-filled sound that rapidly outgrew its garage roots. “Dubstep was a bit darker,” Youngsta explains, with characteristic understatement. “We've all been there from the beginning, watching the sound and scene grow.”

Now 25, Youngsta is still one of dubstep’s most wanted, a reputation stoked by a discography that includes two contributions to scene-defining mix series Dubstep Allstars. Occasional forays into production have included work for Dizzee Rascal and a darkside collaboration with fellow veterans Kryptic Minds, while the buzz around his next release – a mix-CD for Rinse due “early next year” – suggests it will showcase a DJ remaining at the top of his game.

If peers like Kode9 have somewhat distanced themselves from the dubstep juggernaut, Youngsta remains passionate. The genre's success “has not surprised” him, and he's as comfortable with “good jump up” as he is with “minimal and deep”. It’s this inclusive, discerning approach that makes Youngsta's Thursday night Rinse FM sessions essential listening, dispensing with between-song chit-chat in favour of wall-to-wall tunes. Club sets, meanwhile, see bedroom DJs crowd around his booth to observe a master at work. “It’s nice that people show an interest,” he says modestly.

Despite a growing interest in house and techno, Youngsta’s priority remains, he says, “the latest unreleased tracks of the dubstep scene. I don't play anything I don't like and I don't play tunes for the crowd just because they're big at the time.” Listen and learn.

YOUNGSTA PLAYED ROCKSTEADY AT MOLES, BATH ON SAT 18 DEC.
 

Copyright Adam Burrows 2010; pic Shaun Bloodworth

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