Digital Mystikz’s Pathways feature by John M Ellison IV

I’m closing this week out by focusing on UK production duo, Digital Mystikz. Around 2002, Digital Mystikz members Kala and Coki started to create music together that was a combination of their respected influences that wasn’t exactly made for commercial consumption but something that they enjoyed themselves. But after sharing their compositions with “FWD” resident DJ Hatcha, Hatcha felt he could incorporate their tunes into his DJ set. Months later, Hatcha played Digital Mysticz’s “Pathways” at London night club “Plastic People” with positive feedback from the record. With their sparse beats, vocal samples, and dub-influenced brand of 2-step, their music was connected to a part of similar sounding by other producers called “dubstep” and thus this record and the duo became connected to the sound. Hopefully, the brief synopsis has you up to speed. Although they’re some other great productions that I could feature by them, I’m going to finish this week with one of the tunes that kicked off what we now know as dubstep titled “Pathways.”

“Pathways” was released in 2004 and was written by Digital Mystikz member Mark Lawrence, but better known to fans as “Mala.” Sound wise, with “Pathways”, there’s a sparse yet still very apparent 2-step beat that’s commonly used in garage, a vocal sample and a violin line that gives the tune a dramatic edge and the very important sub bass. It’s really more or less an instrumental 2-step/garage track that’s very much rooted in dub; the echoed siren kind of gives it away.

Even though I’m still new to dubstep, I can definitely see and hear that this is a missing link between what we know as 2-step/garage and dubstep.

Well folks, in conclusion for this week of the sparse, meditative, audio universe we know as dubstep. For anyone that wants to get into either understanding the history of dubstep as a fan or as someone trying to produce it and trying to understand the basics, I definitely would say this one of the tracks that you should start out with and discover more. Have a great weekend, peace.