FairiesWearBoots

Well-known member
so I bought Dedication today

I think I prefer it (right now) to Splazsh, that might change but after a couple of listens, i'm really feeling it.

to use the ol' cliche "it sounds like some futuristic b-boy shit"

makes me want to go and paint a wall:D
 

bandshell

Grand High Witch
'Dedication' is great. Really enjoyed it. Zomby's best release to date. (Closely followed by Digital Flora / Fauna, Rumours & Revolutions and the Hyperdub double pack)

My only quibble with it was that 'Mozaik' was an odd one to finish on. It felt like the album had ended and someone had accidentally stuck that track on the end.

One of the few releases this year that I've wanted to listen to more than once.
 

totaldj

Well-known member
yeah c/s the above, been bumping this hard.

as for finishing on "mozaik", it works imo - its quite an uplifting/rejoiceful track, i think it gives quite a downcast (struggling to find a better word) album a happy ending, if u will.
 

mms

sometimes
On the whole anonymity/mask wearing thing. What about people with anxiety issues etc?

well you probably wouldn't play in the first place

anyway the wearing of masks and phoney anonymity is just one part of this kinda erstaz no hype thing, i guess it's partly trying to recreate a time when you would never know what a producer on a dance record looked like, you'd just have a name on a record and possibly a number if you were lucky, you'd play it and make a decision whether to buy it or not, but the networks these kinda records are promoted in makes it hard not to have some kinda image i guess.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Drum and bass used to get slated for being boring and samey, mid range wall of sound bass and consistent rhythms with not much variety. (i didn't believe that because if you looked deeper you found some very very good music) However the whole 130/post dub/indie step/future garage whatever the fuck its called, follows a lot of those tropes. Rhythmically its varied, but certain elements repeat, diva vocals being one of them, then on to slowed grooves, and then the whole juke rip-offs...
I dunno, the tropes that tend to get lifted are diverse enough and varied enough that it works well, particularly if you've got a DJ who knows how to build a set rather than just playing every juke influenced tune he can get his hands on or every housey tune or whatever.

I mean, the worst you can say about a good set in this kind of style is that it 'just' mashes together the best bits from a wide range of other stuff - grime strings, MCs, garage rhythms, funky rhythms, juke vocal samples, R&B vocals, dubstep bass, detroit strings etc etc etc. Which is true of early IDM as well, and is also more or less verbatim what Simon Reynolds said about UKG when it came out. Make of that what you will.

Genuine question here, though, not rhetorical - can anyone name any more-or-less new tropes that have come out of this scene?
 

mms

sometimes
I dunno, the tropes that tend to get lifted are diverse enough and varied enough that it works well, particularly if you've got a DJ who knows how to build a set rather than just playing every juke influenced tune he can get his hands on or every housey tune or whatever.

I mean, the worst you can say about a good set in this kind of style is that it 'just' mashes together the best bits from a wide range of other stuff - grime strings, MCs, garage rhythms, funky rhythms, juke vocal samples, R&B vocals, dubstep bass, detroit strings etc etc etc. Which is true of early IDM as well, and is also more or less verbatim what Simon Reynolds said about UKG when it came out. Make of that what you will.

Genuine question here, though, not rhetorical - can anyone name any more-or-less new tropes that have come out of this scene?

but ukg had a whole load of things that it did and things it pioneered - esp in the kind of black atlantic way - it pretty much became a uk equivalent of timbaland etc - esp in terms of rhythmic science - i mean this was probably a result of jungle but there was nothing before that treated drums the way that ukg did at that speed, and that also affected the way that vocals were treated melody and bass, plus the whole mood of the music was independent of stuff that had come before - as well as the actual speed.

Jungle did the same to an extent - it kinda swallowed a whole bunch of other things, older musics and influences - into this 160bpm rhythmic framework, the difference here is that the frame post dubstep works with has little new invention on the whole, especially in terms of rhythm, which is about 75% of what dance music is about and also very little of the combination of rough and smooth, alot of stuff that's kinda smooth and melodic.
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
can anyone name any more-or-less new tropes that have come out of this scene?

main thing i think of is that im not sure dance music has ever sounded quite this 'sensitive' or 'delicate' or 'reticient/reserved' etc (im repeating myself i know but this thread does seem to go in circles) while still trying to work on the dancefloor.
 
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FairiesWearBoots

Well-known member
yh I would agree that much of it feels soft - but I guess thats part of the ongoing reaction against 'aggy' dubstep?

anyone clock Slimzee's shows on Rinse? thats some of the most exciting music (still)
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
a lot of dubstep was soft too

this stuff has just removed the darkness and more industrial-y bits of it to go full on softcore
 

eltsac

Member
main thing i think of is that im not sure dance music has ever sounded quite this 'sensitive' or 'delicate' or 'reticient/reserved' etc (im repeating myself i know but this thread does seem to go in circles) while still trying to work on the dancefloor.

nah i don't agree with that really, just look at old chicago house etc., very sensitive and sometimes very reserved music... although if you're speaking uk then I know what you mean.

but british people don't like to show their sensitivity that much.. its strange, as for all the talk of brits being polite and reserved people, when they make dance music its all about impact. I found it strange that when dubstep started getting acclaim (more the hyperdub brand) that people like Ikonika would say they want to hear songs that make them want to dance and cry at the same time.. I don't know about you, but if I were crying the last thing I want to do is dance. Plus for all the talk of that, she makes abbrasive tunes with detuned synths and off chords which to me doesn't pull much emotion out of me.
 

mms

sometimes
main thing i think of is that im not sure dance music has ever sounded quite this 'sensitive' or 'delicate' or 'reticient/reserved' etc (im repeating myself i know but this thread does seem to go in circles) while still trying to work on the dancefloor.

ltj bukem?
early idm ?
 

mms

sometimes
nah i don't agree with that really, just look at old chicago house etc., very sensitive and sometimes very reserved music... although if you're speaking uk then I know what you mean.

but british people don't like to show their sensitivity that much.. its strange, as for all the talk of brits being polite and reserved people, when they make dance music its all about impact. I found it strange that when dubstep started getting acclaim (more the hyperdub brand) that people like Ikonika would say they want to hear songs that make them want to dance and cry at the same time.. I don't know about you, but if I were crying the last thing I want to do is dance. Plus for all the talk of that, she makes abbrasive tunes with detuned synths and off chords which to me doesn't pull much emotion out of me.

i don't think it was literal - and also her music is very emotional when you get inside it and played in the dancefloor imho -
moreso than this rather more formal concept of pastoral rising chords and choir like voices and all that lark, designed to make you feel like you're at a royal wedding or something.
i mean grime for one is far more 'emotional' than alot of this stuff in a way that it's hard to place easily as it's shrouded with aggression.

also regarding chicago stuff - there were so many sides but yes the side that came more directly from disco was often very sensitive - so was some of the detroit and new york stuff - light and fluttery - usually pretty rhythmically solid though - it's not unusual for alot of electronic stuff to be sensitive - i mean look at robert mile's children, but it does seem to be like early idm - one of the things about post dubstep that you can use to describe alot of it, pretty melodic and soft.
 
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Phaedo

Well-known member
There's so so so many examples of "emotional" dance music that works I don't think its really a road worth going down.
 

e/y

Well-known member
I find, for example, Peverelist's last 12'' or Mala's releases far more 'emotional' than most of the intentionally / overtly sensitive (indiefied?) post-dubstep stuff.
 

eltsac

Member
I find, for example, Peverelist's last 12'' or Mala's releases far more 'emotional' than most of the intentionally / overtly sensitive (indiefied?) post-dubstep stuff.

nice...

i follow you on that, less pev and more mala. his release on soul jazz, 'dont let me go' is pure paranoid emotion.. all depends how you read into it though, as my girl puts that tune in line with 8bit stuff, which to me it really isnt.

but anyways, yes mala tunes do pack a large amount of emotion in them without being delicate or using a lot of the tropes that are used now in the post dubstep thing.

i think, however, its really hard to do what he does, have a deep emotive quality with it also being driving and quite heavy.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
yeah i think the diff is between striving too hard to be emotional and merely just being it (which is where i place those early chicago records - they were def emotional and sensitive but not self consciously soft). i like ikonika though. i think a fair no of her tracks are a bit overworked with too much going on, not enough space, and she seems to like one set of synth sounds all the time (not really heard much of her recent material tho so maybe thats changed) but shes consistently one of the best from this scene.

its funny listening to the last marcus nasty set from last weds which is all over the map like this stuff too but it has a much tougher and more fun energy about it. no less varied but it seems to have more of a sense of purpose and even something more cohesive about it i think. its a very good set in any case.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Since it's not really a par, can I call people out and ask what they actually have in mind when they talk about soft, emotional, melodic, sensitive, delicate tunes?

I mean, this isn't really a single scene or a single aesthetic, but when we talk about this sort of stuff I'm normally thinking of Sicko Cell or Silo Pass or Spartan or Fuk Tha 101 or Anaconda or whatever as much as James Blake and Burial. And DJs who mix in grime and 'proper' funky sufficiently well that it's not obvious where that stops and other stuff begins. Blackdown's Rinse show being a case in point.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
unrelated it does seem like blawan has made quite a lot of tracks from the drums on ramadanmans blimey.

anyway i thought the main complaint with this stuff wasnt about it being a bit soft but that its not doing much thats that new - that a lot of it is idm-ish tweaks on old styles and sounds. like an idm upholstery.
 
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