Post-Dubstep
Located in 2 routes
Post-Dubstep uses dubstep's space, sub-bass, and fractured rhythm as a starting point for more experimental, soulful, and song-oriented electronic music. It often features ghostly vocals, swung percussion, garage fragments, ambient texture, and tempos that hover around dubstep, 2-step, house, or broken beat rather than locking into one grid.
History
The style emerged when artists connected to dubstep and UK bass moved beyond the genre's half-time formula without abandoning its atmosphere. Burial's haunted garage-dubstep hybrids, James Blake's sparse vocal electronics, Mount Kimbie's collage-like percussion, Joy Orbison's euphoric bass-house moment, SBTRKT's song structures, and Jamie xx's minimal club-pop helped define the post-dubstep era. It influenced alternative R&B, future garage, UK bass, indie electronic, and the 2010s collapse of strict boundaries between club tracks and home-listening electronica.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Resident Advisor
- Pitchfork electronic reviews
- Hyperdub catalog
- Discogs