Written By: MD Marcus
Photos courtesy of Korostyle
If you haven’t heard of dubstep
you might want be sure you’re
not living under that big ol’ proverbial rock. This musical genre
has been picking up steam for
some years now, and what was
once only found on the B-side
of a British band’s 2-step garage
tape is now all over mainstream
radio.
Meet the French born dubstep
producer KOROstyle whose artistry seems to ooze out of every
pore of his being. From his selfdescribed “Mohawk gone mad”
to his soft blended foreign accent,
KORO’s presence is encapsulating
and infectious.
KORO describes dubstep as a
“vast thing having many parents.”
This electronic music originating from the United Kingdom is
a mash up of 2-step, garage, and
reggae music with a whole lot of
percussion and very limited, if
any, vocals.
His hobby of scratching (deejaying) with friends’ vinyl records
and merging songs developed
into something much more while
studying abroad in the South of
France. Here he had the opportunity to play around with
his friend’s Korg Electribe (an
electronic drum machine/synthesizer). Seeing KORO’s obvious
passion for musical creation, his
friend gifted him with music production software to take back to
the States. An artist was born.
Hesitant to list any musical influences (because if he “got started,
he couldn’t stop”), KORO says he
is more influenced by scenarios,
feelings, moments, and certain
atmospheres.
This creation from feeling experiences is reflective in his song making process. When he sets out to
create music, there is no set goal or
idea of how it is going to sound beforehand. KORO says that he “plays
with chaos” until the tune has a
moment of clarity and begins to
develop structure. “It starts having a
face, a body, clothes…Then it starts
moving.”
“Playing with chaos” is one of
many KOROisms. This is the idea of
experimenting with music. It may
not necessarily even begin in the
same key, but the result is what he
defines as “a solid tune”- a song
that sounds planned out, like it had
an arrangement all along, and then
it reinforces itself into something
complete.
KORO has headlined shows in the
US as well as performed internationally. However, his biggest musical accomplishment to date is the
recent release of his album Sai Sai
(meaning “joker” in the Senegalese
dialect Wolof) to vinyl.
The album features big remixes
from dubstep producers Von D (Paris) and ARtroniks (Belgium) and has
exclusive covers available through
his label, Section 8 Recordings.
Producing a vinyl record is an
expensive and time consuming
process. “Most music is set to be put
out digitally nowadays, not many
get the opportunity to release on it.
It is a blessing to me and I’m stoked
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