When did dubstep lose the plot?

[gremino]

crap producers decided to jump on it cause its now a money maker - and still managed to get all the 'real/credible/originator' dj's to actually play their stuff.

I think this is one of the essential parts which lead dubstep to it's current state.

 

[Corpsey]

Yeah there was always going to be more and more shit stuff being made but it was really up to the DJs to keep the quality control.

I suppose it's fair enough if they really like all that stuff but I don't think it would be too cynical to suggest that courting popularity had a lot to do with it. Fair enough, I suppose.

With a lot of this mediocre derivative stuff that DNB producers (not just them though) it was disappointing to see DJs saying ''the standard of production/mixdown is amazing'' etc. as if that was enough.

 

[alex]

^Think some of the D&B Producer's took Loefah's obsession with a clinical mixdown way too literally...and as you say focused on that rather than the content of the track...

Loefah is a badman btw..his tunes are timeless

 

[Aww Nein]

does antone think that without "Wobble" bass dubstep there would be no wonky stuff, or rather the mid range synthy tones that go with "wonky" music wouldnt have been integrated into dubstep tempos/structures so much? i know a big factor was hyperdubs kinda introduction of chip tune into dubstep, but people like joker are pretty indebted to the mid range wobble sound, even if only by the way they refuse it and replace it with a more interesting mid range alternative.

i guess my point is that by dubstep "losing the plot" it gives impetus for this wonky thing to grow into its own genre, and so pushing things forward. like was mentioned in the dubstep thread a while ago, loefahs vision of dubstep is a sort of purist endgame, incredible minimal, dark, bassy, spacious etc, and i cant really imagine it going any further as a whole genre.

 

[Lethem]

does antone think that without "Wobble" bass dubstep there would be no wonky stuff, or rather the mid range synthy tones that go with "wonky" music wouldnt have been integrated into dubstep tempos/structures so much? i know a big factor was hyperdubs kinda introduction of chip tune into dubstep, but people like joker are pretty indebted to the mid range wobble sound, even if only by the way they refuse it and replace it with a more interesting mid range alternative.

i guess my point is that by dubstep "losing the plot" it gives impetus for this wonky thing to grow into its own genre, and so pushing things forward. like was mentioned in the dubstep thread a while ago, loefahs vision of dubstep is a sort of purist endgame, incredible minimal, dark, bassy, spacious etc, and i cant really imagine it going any further as a whole genre.

Im probably really wrong, but I always thought that Flying Lotus had a lot to do with the wonky sound?

 

[routes]

i've got lots of respect for loefah but i simply don't get this idea that his mixdowns represent any kind of benchmark of 'clinical' production. i'd say that if you find your mixdown doesn't have quite the same spacious weight and shivery austerity as one of loefah's then maybe just keep smoking skunk and adding compression until it does..

 

[Ory]

does antone think that without "Wobble" bass dubstep there would be no wonky stuff, or rather the mid range synthy tones that go with "wonky" music wouldnt have been integrated into dubstep tempos/structures so much? i know a big factor was hyperdubs kinda introduction of chip tune into dubstep, but people like joker are pretty indebted to the mid range wobble sound, even if only by the way they refuse it and replace it with a more interesting mid range alternative.

i guess my point is that by dubstep "losing the plot" it gives impetus for this wonky thing to grow into its own genre, and so pushing things forward. like was mentioned in the dubstep thread a while ago, loefahs vision of dubstep is a sort of purist endgame, incredible minimal, dark, bassy, spacious etc, and i cant really imagine it going any further as a whole genre.

re: joker, 'gully brook park' was getting played way back in 2006, so I think he was well on his way long before the midrange thing got out of hand. may have been regarded more as grime though?

 

[Corpsey]

I reckon I'd have had a lot more time for wobble if it hadn't been so overwhelmingly popular and taken over a lot of DJs selections. Suddenly it became a big drop contest just like DNB and I just kept leaving to have a fag.

It's disappointing seeing a DJ like Loefah/Youngsta roll out a load of metallic head-banging bollocks for more than ten minutes. I suppose its just cos I had the sets he played when I first saw him as a comparison point - Mud/Ruffage/I-Rmx/Learn/Rutten etc.

 

[Aww Nein]

Im probably really wrong, but I always thought that Flying Lotus had a lot to do with the wonky sound?

i agree, i guss the wonky sound borders on lots of other genres, especially Flying Lotus, post J dilla hip hop, which has been going on since J Dilla (obviously), but i dont think this sound would have been bracketted with 140bpm dubstep stuff if it hadnt been for this sort of midrange reaction within the dubstep sound. Flying Lotus play some tracks like "Chainsaw Calligraphy" by 16bit in his sets, which is a complete exteme example of aggrasive midrange wobblestep.

re: joker, 'gully brook park' was getting played way back in 2006, so I think he was well on his way long before the midrange thing got out of hand. may have been regarded more as grime though?

i guess jokers pretty in between dubstep and grime at that stage, but that Gully Brook Park track is kinda a good example of what im talking about as it got played a lot by the jump-up dubstep djs when it was that Jakes track "3kout" or somthing, which again is complete wobble.

 

[Tentative Andy]

I think you are basically right in what you are saying, Aww Nein. Unfortunately, being aware that wobble has had some positive effects at a scene level still hasn't so far helped me like most of it as music. :slanted:

 

[optimum]

Nah I don't think it was really reaction tbh, just happened at the same time

 

[gragy10]

i agree, i guss the wonky sound borders on lots of other genres, especially Flying Lotus, post J dilla hip hop, which has been going on since J Dilla (obviously), but i dont think this sound would have been bracketted with 140bpm dubstep stuff if it hadnt been for this sort of midrange reaction within the dubstep sound. Flying Lotus play some tracks like "Chainsaw Calligraphy" by 16bit in his sets, which is a complete exteme example of aggrasive midrange wobblestep.

i guess jokers pretty in between dubstep and grime at that stage, but that Gully Brook Park track is kinda a good example of what im talking about as it got played a lot by the jump-up dubstep djs when it was that Jakes track "3kout" or somthing, which again is complete wobble.

I was gonna mention the early-wonky/wobble cross over. Joker and FlyLO were both playing a fair bit of midrange heavy stuff. If i remember right weren't people a bit disappointed with how much Rusko-esque stuff Joker played first time he had a set at FWD?

 

[Sick Boy]

When I first heard Chainsaw Calligraphy on Youtube I actually thought it was a joke, a parody, and found it really funny. Turns out it isn't though, which is truly amazing.

 

[alex]

Oh no no no, thats not a joke, it's really NOT a joke.

Nor is where's my money, which I find hard to believe

 

[faustus]

let's keep this as the official dubstep thread from now on

 

[Tentative Andy]

Maybe not a joke track as such, but WMM is surely supposed to be funny? I mean, the whole bit about 'olding account?!? and so forth...
I think Chainsaw Calligraphy is interesting as a sonic statement/experiment, but if someone dropped it in a club I would think they were being a bit silly.

 

[Tentative Andy]

but if someone dropped it in a club I would think they were being a bit silly.

Mind you, critiquing myself for a minute here, that's perhaps not a healthy attitude to take.
For example, I can imagine people having similar feelings about some of Untold's stuff, but I would still play that out.

 

[bassbeyondreason]

This reminds me of a "dark, doomy metalstep" track I heard which featured, as part of its "atmospheric intro", a reverbed recording of kids singing "Ring around the rosies".

IF THE SIMPSONS HAVE USED IT IT'S NOT FUCKING SCARY.

 

[Slothrop]

Maybe not a joke track as such, but WMM is surely supposed to be funny? I mean, the whole bit about 'olding account?!? and so forth...
I think Chainsaw Calligraphy is interesting as a sonic statement/experiment, but if someone dropped it in a club I would think they were being a bit silly.

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with being a bit silly from time to time...

 

[Tentative Andy]

Indeed.