Nero gives dubstep pop appeal at Royale

In the evolution of any sub-genre, as it lurches, protozoa-like, from the fetid puddles of cool onto the mainstream shore, it must inevitably assume some characteristics of pop. This is when the early adopters curse the cruel hand of musical Darwinism, and promptly abscond. For dubstep - that most emblematic cultural expression of contemporary youth - this moment has passed. As dubstep ambassadors to the pop arena go, you could do a lot worse than UK duo Nero; and a sold-out DJ set by Nero’s Joe Ray at Royale on Thursday illustrated that the transition process was in able hands.

Bouncing around in front of his knobs in whatever sort of conjuring-sleight it is that DJs do, Ray led the crowd through a set that leaned heavily on the duo’s recent apocalypse-themed record “Welcome Reality’’ - although the show may have only seemed like the end of the world to the parents of a clubbing teenager.

“Doomsday,’’ a 2-step influenced track of martial brass blasts, classical string samples, and massively whirring noise, dive-bombed into and out of the crowd like an errant biplane struggling to gain elevation. It segued into “Guilt,’’ which, like many of the group’s recent chart hits back home, features a glass- and heart-shattering vocal from collaborator Alana Watson. Like Nero’s best songs, it softened into pensive passages of disquieting high-pitched notes that expanded toward either vanishing point on the horizon before a slow build toward the bass drop. For a moment, the crowd seemed suspended in midair before descending into a flurry of bass notes, buzzing and whirring like mechanical saws swinging from all directions. It was as subtle as a box of sequencers plonking down the stairs, but it felt like a visceral approximation of the track - its body-pushing bass ushering the conceptual into the physical space of the club.

Or you could simply say Nero excels at taking hits of the past - The Jets’ “Crush on You,’’ Hall and Oates’ “Out of Touch’’ - and dressing them up in the style of the moment. Pop music by any other name still dances as sweet.