Dubstep is still a genre in its infancy – in my view, a fun new bass-driven bastard child of the broken beat genres that is truly, at the moment, ‘underground’ (loathe as I am to banter the much overused and overrated term about) in the truest sense. The punters are there for the music, the headline DJs are unheard of outside a small community of music nerds, and the tunes are fresh and experimental.

And thanks to the Hard Graft and !113g@1 v@1u3 crewz, for bringing this refreshing touch of underground to Brisbane through their respective parties – this time combining forces to host the UK’s Quiet Storm. Ahhh, and what a satisfying evening of broken beat goodness ensued. Missing Shards filling in for Tommy RO “with Dubstep inna Dancehall style”, I walked up the stairs into the Shamrock to the sounds of Brisbane’s lady of Detroit DJ Cam going back to back with d’n’b tuff teddybear Erther in ghetto-booty-bass-tech mode. Serious booty shaking to tracks including some Disco D and DJ Godfather (or so trainspotting authorities inform me), with the dancefloor only disrupted by the occasional distracted stare at the beguiling combo of the demure lil lass in black behind the decks dropping bomb after bomb then passing the reigns to the imposing figure (appropriately, as always, also in black) of Erther – in an interesting funky diversion from the usual d’n’b darkness Brissy is used to seeing him dish out.

More than a warm-up, the pair set the tone for the rest of the evening – a healthy crowd spread evenly between barside banter and dancefloor delight, set for more bassy badness. Shards then stepped up again to the decks in dubstep mode; opening with a personal silly fav, the Kraddy remix of ‘Forget about Dr Dre’ with Dr Dre and Eminem (exclusive, according to the source, from the artist’s myspace page) and continuing with some more wobble wobble wobble, physical bassline driven dubstep moving into a tasty selection of vocal garridgy – grimey influenced tracks I found my feet finding it hard to resist dancing to. The physical nature of the bass-driven sound that seems to be the only defining factor of the dubstep / grime genre as it were, was best illustrated by a friend performing somewhat interpretive dance to the tunage – imagine a lad, taller than yourself, stomping towards you, outstretched arms flailing in time with the music and proclaiming “whomp whomp whomp, I am a bassline!” before stomping right up, into, and attempting to move physically through you. Which obviously he can’t; but it gives you some idea of the physicality of the bass – aided on the night by the resident Rudies-loaned sound system, to toilet door rattling effect.

The rougher, tougher edge of the grimey style Shards finished on was somewhat of a leadup to the wonder of the Nam Shub of Enki who followed; however I’m never sure what would be a suitable lead up to Nam Shub (other than a Monster Zoku full live performance perhaps; or Justus in full clownstep regalia; or perhaps just sitting down and playing with a box of razor blades for fun…). The industrial edged glitch rich ravey sounds of Senior of Enki got me thinking, and I came to the conclusion that I don’t think his music is so much about hating everything – just getting you to hate everything. In full rockstar mode, one hand on the laptop and the other wrapped around the mic, Nam Shub served up his usual smashed mashed goodness, from the shattered beats beyond following to ravey buildups and jungle style breaks rolling through under silly sampling. The intent faces on the dancefloor made for some awesome unconscious spontaneous bassface pulling, but in all honesty by the end of the set I was ready for some smooth sounds again, and resisting the strong urge to beat my head against the wall, for some reason. Once the Enki madness subsided, Shards stepped up for an enjoyable pre-headliner one track interlude; a tasty dubstep remix of my personal gods Lamb’s track ‘Gabriel’, by producer extraordinaire Si Begg.

This stepped down the tempo again for the main act, UK DJ and radio star (well, in the dubstep scene perhaps ;) ) Quiet Storm. Only two tracks into his set, and he had me. I’ll say it here and now; I rated his set as trance-inducing as ‘trance’. 2-step inspired breaks laden over big, phat, intricately crafted basslines; throw in some reggae inspired vocals and/or true dub-styled effects and you have the dubstep flavour. Brisbane’s underground punters did the Shammy proud, Quiet Storm inducing a dancefloor frenzy for his full two hour set. The junglistic sounds through the middle of the set had the massive in raptures; big bwaaaaaarps, cinematic Ninja-tunesque use of samples and more base-chakra-stimulating body vibrating basslines leading back to the newer dubstep styles again. Not having nerded myself up yet on the cutting edge of current UK dubstep release culture, many of the tracks were unknown to myself and presumably a fair few others present. This did not, however, prevent unsolicited cries of delight from punters with each new dub dropped; or support the myth that some Aussie audiences only dance to ‘what they know’. We loved it; we danced.

I finally had to cave two tired dancing feet and the ignored set of commitments in the outside world, feeling the good kind of dirty but finishing the evening before Mr Frost and Frazer Farrell began their sublow grimey goodness as the last billing of the eve. If the dancefloor was any indication when I exited shortly after 3am (into the weirdness of the lockout hour – complete with tumbleweeds), I’m sure the partying continued until the f*ckoff lights were lit.

Big ups, booyah etc to the Hard Graft and !113g@1 v@1u3 crewz again – a sublime and well structured lineup, a cathartic and impossible to resist set of tunes flowing the length of the night, and shout outs to the Brisbane dubstep massive who were there supporting with their feet and their voices (and their well abused livers) ensuring it was an awesome underground night, and raising hope for more…

So when’s the next one bwoyz??