Music dark enough to tug the guts

THE British DJ-producer Scuba, a.k.a. Paul Rose, has stepped behind the turntables at the Nasty Sonix club night at Echo Park's the Echo. It's his U.S. debut, and a mix of adventurous hip-hop heads, jaded club scenesters and indie-electronica geeks lounge around in laid-back anticipation. A slow, almost dirge-like rhythm floats through the air as Scuba begins to spin. He mixes into the next record, and it hits them like a ton of bricks: a massive, overwhelming, nearly physical assault of sub-bass frequencies. The crowd roars in appreciation, and Scuba immediately rewinds and reloads. Looks like he struck a nerve.

The sound is dubstep, the South London-born electronic music revolution that's an evolution of the garage/2step genre and a close cousin of British hip-hop variant grime. Its recombinant interpretation of reggae, techno and industrial metal coupled with its signature sub-bass rumble was perfect for the equally moody and dystopian sci-fi flick "Children of Men," which featured dubstep on its soundtrack.

Since its birth in the early 21st century, dubstep has grown worldwide from an obscure subgenre of dance music to the fastest-growing and -evolving electronic genre since drum and bass' heyday in the mid-'90s. (Both genres emphasize the sub-bass, but drum and bass' breakneck speed is at odds with dubstep's all important silent spots).

In the Southland, dubstep is catching on, albeit slowly, thanks to dedicated local producers and promoters such as Smog L.A.

Formed by Colm Doherty and Andrew Best, the company started in 2006 at the drum and bass club night Funktion at the Vanguard in Hollywood, where Best worked as a resident VJ. The two liked the music's spare aesthetic -- not so much their first audience. At Smog's debut "session" -- a free party at Casey's Irish Bar & Grill that August -- "everyone was looking around like, what do we do? It was awkward," remembers Best. "People are used to hearing big, loud, spastic music. They're used to hearing music with vocals, or they're used to seeing lighting, and this is a dark space" with no visuals.

DUBSTEP (once labeled "dark garage") is not only aurally austere, it promotes a grim, gothic aesthetic and, like early electronic music, emphasizes anonymity. The point, says Best, is to let the music do the talking. "I want people to come [into our parties] and the only thing they're focused on is the music."