Joe Nice

Joe Nice's, well, niceness has helped put him and the dubstep genre he loves on the American electronic dance music map. It's a bass-driven, dub-reggae-influenced mutation of the mostly London-outskirts-produced style of dance music known as garage (rhymes with carriage). The prototypical herky-jerky dubstep beat sounds like an early hip-hop rhythm permeated with drum 'n' bass patterns. Melody-wise, it's dark and often hypnotic, a potluck of sounds all coming at you with a madly aggressive low end bent on rattling your heart out of your chest.

Originally a club DJ raised in Baltimore, Nice became hooked on the genre in 2002. Turning his career on a dime, he soon became known as America's de facto dubstep ambassador. He's been instrumental in the rise of dubstep by being nice, promoting the work of other dubstep artists through his online radio show at www.gourmetbeats.com. He has hosted the show the third Tuesday of every month since September 2003. In Manhattan, he helped found the sporadic Dub War night at Club Love, which has seen performances by prominent British dubstep artists such as Hatcha, Youngsta, Kode9, and Loefah. All of this niceness, not to mention his yeoman efforts to produce his own great dubstep tracks, earned him the distinction of being the first American dubstep DJ to be invited to spin at DMZ, the genre's essential UK event.