The state of dubstep
Is dubstep already starting to stagnate?
As a viable full-on genre it really isn't even that old yet. Although its roots are years old, I wouldn't consider it to have reached some sort of fruition until recently, when genuine subgenres began to assert themselves. Certainly dubstep is moving into some sort of early maturity, where IDM-styled artists like Boxcutter can rub shoulders with old-reliables such as the DMZ crew. Yet it isn't maturing enough. Or rather, it's already starting to eat its own tail, with genre "purists" demanding output that sounds a lot like most of the dubstep singles that are already out there.
Now, certainly there are plenty of people taking dubstep in fresh new directions. Along with the aforementioned Boxcutter, there's the brainy aggrostep of Milanese; the brilliant breaks subgenre practiced by the Hotflush crew; the spartan, cinematic minimalism of Kode9 (whose new album Memories of the Future I've only gotten around to listening to once so far -- more on that soon); and, perhaps most excitingly, the fantastic efforts of Various Production. I'm clearly the only person who doesn't love the new Burial record, but at least he's expanding the dubstep sound in a new direction.
But for every pathbreaking artist, there's a new artist eager to
sound exactly like a bunch of the other bog-standard guys, or an established artist happy to recreate more versions of his past singles. There's already a well-established Casio dubstep preset: start with some swirling ambient sounds, throw in some subbass and a desultory rhythm, perhaps add a suitably aggro vocal sample, and repeat for 6 minutes.
This is what happened with drum 'n' bass. There were plenty of innovations but in the end it seemed all that most producers wanted to do was play the Amen break for 8 minutes. There's still some vital music being made in the scene -- check out Exile's LP on Planet Mu -- but people moved on. And with good reason.
So, at the very least, can I declare a moratorium on Rutger Hauer samples from Sin City and the constant homages to the old school? There's some life left in the old-school styles, as DJ Pinch has devastatingly shown with the one-two punch of Qawwali and Punisher, but let's look forward instead of backwards.
As a viable full-on genre it really isn't even that old yet. Although its roots are years old, I wouldn't consider it to have reached some sort of fruition until recently, when genuine subgenres began to assert themselves. Certainly dubstep is moving into some sort of early maturity, where IDM-styled artists like Boxcutter can rub shoulders with old-reliables such as the DMZ crew. Yet it isn't maturing enough. Or rather, it's already starting to eat its own tail, with genre "purists" demanding output that sounds a lot like most of the dubstep singles that are already out there.
Now, certainly there are plenty of people taking dubstep in fresh new directions. Along with the aforementioned Boxcutter, there's the brainy aggrostep of Milanese; the brilliant breaks subgenre practiced by the Hotflush crew; the spartan, cinematic minimalism of Kode9 (whose new album Memories of the Future I've only gotten around to listening to once so far -- more on that soon); and, perhaps most excitingly, the fantastic efforts of Various Production. I'm clearly the only person who doesn't love the new Burial record, but at least he's expanding the dubstep sound in a new direction.
But for every pathbreaking artist, there's a new artist eager to
sound exactly like a bunch of the other bog-standard guys, or an established artist happy to recreate more versions of his past singles. There's already a well-established Casio dubstep preset: start with some swirling ambient sounds, throw in some subbass and a desultory rhythm, perhaps add a suitably aggro vocal sample, and repeat for 6 minutes.
This is what happened with drum 'n' bass. There were plenty of innovations but in the end it seemed all that most producers wanted to do was play the Amen break for 8 minutes. There's still some vital music being made in the scene -- check out Exile's LP on Planet Mu -- but people moved on. And with good reason.
So, at the very least, can I declare a moratorium on Rutger Hauer samples from Sin City and the constant homages to the old school? There's some life left in the old-school styles, as DJ Pinch has devastatingly shown with the one-two punch of Qawwali and Punisher, but let's look forward instead of backwards.
posted by Chuck at 3:25 PM
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