![dubplate flying lotus dubplate flying lotus](https://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/07031042/modernmidi.png)
“It was the cheapest and best way of being able to play a new song on a soundsystem or in a club. “A dubplate is a one-off pressing of a record that is made out of acetate and metal,” Hype explains. Then there are bits of it that I don’t,” murmurs DJ Hype as he drives us through East London after broadcasting his Kiss FM show. “There are parts about cutting dubs that I really miss. Often mentioned but rarely discussed, dubplates were once obsessively crafted musical artefacts that both controlled and evolved music scenes. “It was always more than just cutting the actual plate.” “Dubplate culture defined you as an artist,” adds Lemon D, AKA Kevin King. They are performing a rhapsodic autopsy on the crucial role of dubplates in evolving dance music through the ’90s as jungle mutated into drum & bass and then into the ignition of UK garage. “Dubplate culture has died.” The drum & bass producer is sitting with his business partner of Valve Recordings, Lemon D a pair of men who once guided the flow of the drum & bass scene. “It’s completely dead,” grimly mourns Dillinja from behind his drink.
![dubplate flying lotus dubplate flying lotus](https://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/04103835/flyinglotus-compmaib-498x230.jpg)
![dubplate flying lotus dubplate flying lotus](https://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/03204111/Flying-Lotus-Live-Brixton-2015-Dan-Medhurst-0538.jpg)
Matthew Bennett writes about its heyday, its demise and what we’re missing as a result. The era of dubplates is gone, despite a collection of reggae soundmen continuing the tradition. Dubplate_540.jpg 540×540 92.4 KB Dubplate Culture: Analogue Islands in the Digital Stream