Dubstep

G

gumdrops

Well-known member
not sure id ever call 2004 era dubstep (whether its the mark one/plasticman or DMZ stuff- *def* not the DMZ stuff) 'cheeky'.
 
J

jimitheexploder

Well-known member
I wouldn't either, grime was pretty cheeky in its own way. But dubstep nah. There may have been a cheeky energy behind some of it but I don't think it filtered though into the sound much, not until wobbles really kicked off with Spungbob or something. Bar the odd bumpy rhythm and grin indusing bassline... Its more a rude intensity than cheek.
 
O

Ory

warp drive
you have to admit wah-wah/proto-wobble basslines are at least a little bit cheeky by their very nature.

 
M

mrfaucet

The Ideas Train
To be honest, that whole discussion seemed a bit pointless given how liberally it was using the term dubstep. I mean, does anyone want to actually say Wut is a dubstep track? Night Slugs obviously has some connection to dubstep in that it's become better known through certain dubstep institutions like Rinse and FWD (although of course these were never exclusively dubstep in the first place and still aren't, even if FWD went through a phase when it sort of did) and maybe there is a slight dubstep influence on a sonic level, but it's not the main one in the way that say grime is for the label. It all seems to come back to this view that music with an emphasis on bass, especially if it's around 140 bpm, is dubstep. But dubstep wasn't the first genre to have that emphasis by any stretch of the imagination and you quite easily want to make bass-led tracks without taking that idea from dubstep. Then Joe Muggs pretty much admits it's a point of marketing - the term dubstep sells better - so that is why it is used so widely, but surely any decent music criticism is taking its cues from what the music is actually doing, rather than how some marketing executive has decided to brand it?
 
G

gumdrops

Well-known member
yeah the guys making dubstep back whenever were of course cheeky and not as precious as their music would lead you to believe they were but just cos they were like that doesnt the music was. i mean, duh. wheres the cheekiness in stuff like horrorshow or sign o the dub?!

you could sort of say dude/brostep is 'cheeky', but its more just juvenille, and out to take the piss out of everything, not taking anything/itself seriously (which i dont mind actually, if its done well and not too stupid, some of it is actually funky and well its a nice change from dubstep guys trying so hard to be deep or getting all new agey) but all the old energetic dubstep from say, that first rephlex comp had energy but it had a real darkness (more like jungle/techstep etc) to it too. big diff between that and the new ravier stuff.

interesting article anyway, even if like mr faucet says, dubstep is pretty much redundant as a descriptor. but its only now that people seem to be using it as a succesful marketing buzzword so might as well cash in innit. heres to more tv/tube station-advertised dubstep compilations.
 
Last edited:
benjybars

benjybars

village elder.
that gargamel track is big! completely passed me by before now. nice one.

similarly i only recently heard this old headhunter track -
beast!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top