RICHARD BELL enjoys playing catch-up at Dub Politics @ O2 Academy.

Dubstep is one of those genres of music that I’ve somehow let pass me by.

It’s not that I’m not keen, it’s just that I’ve always felt slightly on the back foot with it.

I tend to like to think of myself as being pretty up to speed on most new musical developments, but when dubstep sprang up I knew nothing more than its name for months.

By the time I got around to paying any attention to it dubstep had already gained a huge following and I seem to have spent all my time since then trying to catch up, never really being able to sit easily with a genre of music evolving faster than I can keep up with.

Of course I have friends who have been into it since day one, and who now speak in a peculiar code of artists, producers and record labels that all mean absolutely nothing to me.

Basically I’m old, and I no longer understand what the kids are listening to, a sobering experience for anyone.

But a dubstep night is about as far from a sobering experience as you can possibly imagine.

There are a growing number of dubstep nights around the city, and most electronically minded music nights are now incorporating dubstep tunes into their sets to ensure the repeat business of the ever growing number of fans and converts to this relatively fresh sensation.

In terms of the nights that specialise however, the biggest and baddest is unquestionably Dub Politics, coming from nothing to become an Oxford institution, ruling the major venues, taking their talented DJs and an astonishingly rich selection of guest acts into the hearts and minds of bass junkies all over the city.

On this occasion they teamed up with Wordplay to bring a night packed with exceptional acts including underground New York rapper Louis Logic, rising star Reso and the mighty Excision, all of whom were really very impressive but of whom I’d heard nothing before.

The highlight for me came in the form of Akil the MC, a founding member of Jurassic 5.

His set was truly superb, proving that the old Jurassic 5 showman-ship never goes away by playing the crowd perfectly, even closing with a majority of the female audience members up on stage with him.

Dub Politics has used its own night to show me that I don’t need to worry about whether I know every producers name or not, because all that really matters is whether or not you enjoy yourself, and when Dub Politics offers as diverse, talented and flat out awesome a line up as this, I know I’m going to be loving every second.