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By Liz Puranam

Dubstep has been sweeping dance floors the world over and now, New Zealand has its first dubstep album in the pop charts.

Jay Bulletproof describes his latest album as a piece of his soul that he is offering up.

A piece of his soul, that is, drenched in deep reggae bass lines and laced with syncopated drums — that is dubstep.

"To me it's one of the coolest forms of music to emerge in a long time," Bulletproof says.

Dubstep first emerged out of South London in the late 90s, but is experiencing a meteoric rise globally and in New Zealand.

"I think in New Zealand in particular, with our long-standing love of drum and bass and long-standing love of reggae, dubstep has been quite popular here as those two genres fit together quite well," says music journalist Martyn Pepperell.

Like dubstep, Bulletproof's background stems from those genres.

His album Soundtrack to Forever debuted in our Top 40 charts, making it the first dubstep album to do so.

Bulletproof says that is partly due to the well-known New Zealand names like Tiki Tane, Boh Runga and PNC featuring on the album.

"Hopefully having big dubstep tunes with local personalities and local talents that employ some of the styles of music that people already like regardless — I definitely think it will cross over," he says.

The genre is known not just for pushing musical boundaries — but the body's limits.

"I've seen people throwing up on dance floors because there is just too much bass. Their cavities are actually shaking," Bulletproof says.

"When you experience sub-bass at that level, I think throwing up is a possibility. If you're a little bit faint of constitution, perhaps," says Mr Pepperrell.

You'd be hard-pressed to find sound systems which have that bodily affect on local dance floors.

But if you do want the dubstep experience, Bulletproof is on a nationwide tour, before taking the New Zealand dubstep sound to Japan and America.

3 News