Nah, i agree. I listen to all types of dnb and jungle (well, no liquid and jump up can fuck off.) But there is something there admirable in that the scene keeps trucking on and on and on mutating in all sorts of different directions (whether for the negative or not.) I just think people tend to say devoid of ideas when its synthesisers and the artificial but when resorting back to traditional pop song structures that have been done for over 80 years it's not a problem. a question of calibration really. don't get me wrong I hate the pavlovian drop of a noisia tune as much as anyone else but there is something far more mindfucky in the basslines than was in most 2010s brostep. I think the closed appeal thing isn't neccessarily a bad thing, not everything has to cross over. look how that killed grime stone cold.
late 90s tech-step
- Thread starter Pestario
- Start date
Nah, i agree. I listen to all types of dnb and jungle (well, no liquid and jump up can fuck off.) But there is something there admirable in that the scene keeps trucking on and on and on mutating in all sorts of different directions (whether for the negative or not.) I just think people tend to say devoid of ideas when its synthesisers and the artificial but when resorting back to traditional pop song structures that have been done for over 80 years it's not a problem. a question of calibration really. don't get me wrong I hate the pavlovian drop of a noisia tune as much as anyone else but there is something far more mindfucky in the basslines than was in most 2010s brostep. I think the closed appeal thing isn't neccessarily a bad thing, not everything has to cross over. look how that killed grime stone cold.
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
There is a (probs wanting a better word) purity and obstinacy about genres like tech-step (and DNB as a whole, in fact) that I admire.
They're not interested in catering to FACT Magazine or RA or whoever and making something groundbreaking. It's functional music, for people who like it, if you don't like it fuck off sort of thing.
Unfortunately the predictable effect on the music is stagnation and repetition.
They're not interested in catering to FACT Magazine or RA or whoever and making something groundbreaking. It's functional music, for people who like it, if you don't like it fuck off sort of thing.
Unfortunately the predictable effect on the music is stagnation and repetition.
Hmmm. I do think now that 1xtra is on it it's basically going to fully fuse with aerobics rap,which was an inevitable trajectory.
I agree with all of this.
however i would challenge you on the RA/factmag bit. I don't think they're necessarily looking for something new and groundbreaking, they're looking for something that is semiotically/symbolistically new and can fit into a fashion narritive. which is why i went back to all that weirdo creale pone avant electronics stuff when all the deconstructed club/conceptronica stuff came through. i was like, this is not new, let alone groundbreaking!
I'm not really looking for formal innovation from dance music really. in terms of sonics, absolutely, but as a form it's fairly restricted, 8-16-32-64. that's it. anything deviating from tis bar structure and suddenly it becomes 'undanceable' (whatever that is supposed to mean) or impossible for djs to play.
luka
Well-known member
Well, for those who can transition into the 1xtra playlist, sure. But that's a minority. What happens to the left behind remains to be seen. An evolutionary dead end or a mutation.
there won't be a mutation because it was far too slavish to america. yes i hear grime influences in the beats (wrongly seen as junglistic) but as a whole its sound palate is not supposed to be avant-psychedelia. the psychedelia of dreams and dream states is fairly routinised as a normcore practice now, hence ASMR and all that rubbish.
luka
Well-known member
Or you think they're too socially conservative?
nah, the kids don't exist. there is no middle point anymore, it's either complete obscurity known to a core audience of 200-300 worldwide across the internet, or going pop. no way around it. the underground became powerhouses like xl records and warp. which is why I never really thought the concept had much longevity, once the micro-capitalists became macro-capitalists, the underground got massive.
those kids will keep making drill.
My point was the kids as a musical and cultural shaker doesn't exist anymore. not because they are conservative, but because the conditions for that don't exist. unless you wanna talk about micro-innovations as revolutions. in which case fair enough.
collective group interactions. youth clubs, communal spaces, places to trade ideas before unveiling them. these places hardly exist now. music making is by large an atomised process, unless you're in a real band.
replace that with they're not interested in James Blake and you don't realise how on the mark you become about luke and droid being neglectful fathers. we as uncles let the neurofunk children back into the Dissensus family.
luka
Well-known member
I can see why revisiting Coki made you think of it. Same thing isn't it? Knowingly silly industrial wibble. I can't listen to it but it doesn't have bad intentions, it's just a bit of fun isn't it.