Skream

London-based producer/DJ Skream (Ollie Jones) is a master of numerous forms of bass-heavy dance music. He played a vital role in the development and popularity of dubstep during the 2000s, and subsequently branched out toward techno, disco, drum'n'bass, and other styles. Following early collaborations with fellow genre pioneers Benga and Loefah, he released one of dubstep's most easily recognizable tracks, "Midnight Request Line," in 2005, which was included on his 2006 full-length Skream!, one of dubstep's earliest albums. His tracks and remixes helped shift the genre from being a darker, more minimalist form of club music to something more melodic and accessible, paving the way for its mainstream popularity by the beginning of the 2010s. Skream's biggest commercial success was his involvement as part of the dubstep supergroup Magnetic Man (with Benga and Artwork), whose self-titled debut album reached number one on the U.K. dance chart in 2010. However, while primarily associated with dubstep, Skream has never limited himself to one genre, and much of his work since the mid-2010s has explored house and techno. DJ sets such as 2018's Fabriclive 96 are smooth, propulsive mixtures of tech-house and electro, and single releases like 2014's "Bang That" and 2021's "Chester's Groove" generally provide heavy club ammunition. 2023's Skreamizm 8, a full-length edition of his long-running series, features breakbeat-heavy progressive house. Remixes of songs by Eliza Rose and Charli xcx appeared in 2024.