Dubstep & the mainstream - a discussion

[collige]

Really fantastic article. I agree with pretty much everything said there. However, I do want to add this:

Dubstep (in America, at least) has an image problem. Speaking from my own experiences and talking to other people, I've realized this: Despite all this great, diverse music being made, to the average person who isn't a fan of a genre, dubstep appears to consist only of WUBWUBWUBWUB tracks and James Blake. Obviously, not everyone is going to like the genre anyway, but due the continuing success of "brostep" artists outside of the genres' regular listeners a lot of people are writing off dubstep as the worst genre ever.

Thoughts?

they're listening to the wrong shit.

Obviously. But if they don't know the right shit exists, how can they listen to it? Like I said, it's an image problem.

[joe muggs]

Really fantastic article. I agree with pretty much everything said there. However, I do want to add this:

Dubstep (in America, at least) has an image problem. Speaking from my own experiences and talking to other people, I've realized this: Despite all this great, diverse music being made, to the average person who isn't a fan of a genre, dubstep appears to consist only of WUBWUBWUBWUB tracks and James Blake. Obviously, not everyone is going to like the genre anyway, but due the continuing success of "brostep" artists outside of the genres' regular listeners a lot of people are writing off dubstep as the worst genre ever.

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that up until about six months ago, that to the average person in the US it would have seemed to consist only of WUBWUBWUBWUB and nothing else.

Therefore the addition of James Blake to that perception is a pretty major shift in itself.

The challenge is now to capitalise on that - to fill in the spaces in between. You never know what's going to cause a breakthrough but IMO all it would take is a couple of people like Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver or Vampire Weekend - or even better a major rap / R&B artist or two - to get a remix by, I dunno, Distance or Silkie or someone and it could break the whole thing wide open.

[dj $hy]

Really fantastic article. I agree with pretty much everything said there. However, I do want to add this:

Dubstep (in America, at least) has an image problem. Speaking from my own experiences and talking to other people, I've realized this: Despite all this great, diverse music being made, to the average person who isn't a fan of a genre, dubstep appears to consist only of WUBWUBWUBWUB tracks and James Blake. Obviously, not everyone is going to like the genre anyway, but due the continuing success of "brostep" artists outside of the genres' regular listeners a lot of people are writing off dubstep as the worst genre ever.

Thoughts?

The challenge is now to capitalise on that - to fill in the spaces in between. You never know what's going to cause a breakthrough but IMO all it would take is a couple of people like Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver or Vampire Weekend - or even better a major rap / R&B artist or two - to get a remix by, I dunno, Distance or Silkie or someone and it could break the whole thing wide open.

Its only a matter of time lads, just like with all musical genres once the buzz of it dies out people search for the new and will peal back the lid to find a whole host of other Dubstep artists! It cant stay the way it is forever, people will get bored with the tearout n want something fresh, happened in DnB, will happen here!

But then again... could all implode on itself and we all end up back at 3rd bass I'd like that, miss the place!

[Skullbussa]

Really fantastic article. I agree with pretty much everything said there. However, I do want to add this:

Dubstep (in America, at least) has an image problem. Speaking from my own experiences and talking to other people, I've realized this: Despite all this great, diverse music being made, to the average person who isn't a fan of a genre, dubstep appears to consist only of WUBWUBWUBWUB tracks and James Blake. Obviously, not everyone is going to like the genre anyway, but due the continuing success of "brostep" artists outside of the genres' regular listeners a lot of people are writing off dubstep as the worst genre ever.

Thoughts?

Excellent point and absolutely true.

The fact of the matter is that (in America, at least) Dubstep = wubwubwub bullshit/Brostep/Bass Nectar/etc. It's all 100% garbage music. The reputation of dubstep in the USA is just so poor that anyone who has any appreciation of *real* dubstep would never publicly admit they like it out of fear of association with the wubwubwub.

Mechanically, under the finer details, I feel that the dubstep (that I enjoy) is closer to Dirty South than Boregore. I have absolutely zero interest in chainsaw, repetitive, angry music...as Gibbs pointed out, that music isn't punk....it has no soul. Punk had soul.

My interests in dubstep are pretty diverse: from Silkie to Ramadanman to insta:mental to Girl Unit to Breakage. Calling these artists dubstep artists is simply a disservice in the US...in the UK it appears things are different. I don't really care about categories and terminology but this discussion reminds me of the late 80's when progressive dance/club artists started to make"Intelligent Dance Music" (IDM), a very pretentious moniker, but just something to separate them from the rest of the uninspired trash. Perhaps Dubstep needs a split like that? Or, better yet, we just ditch the stupid names and simply follow the artists and DJ's we like.

[Skullbussa]

Therefore the addition of James Blake to that perception is a pretty major shift in itself.

The challenge is now to capitalise on that - to fill in the spaces in between. You never know what's going to cause a breakthrough but IMO all it would take is a couple of people like Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver or Vampire Weekend - or even better a major rap / R&B artist or two - to get a remix by, I dunno, Distance or Silkie or someone and it could break the whole thing wide open.

But James Blake's album is so far removed from dubstep I cannot conceive how it could ever find an audience in most typical dubstep fans. And frankly, it's a piss-take album anyway...hardly the big moment we all expected it to be.

I do agree that it is going to take a Lil Wayne remix by Silkie or someone equally talented to truly bring *real* dubstep to the American mainstream.

[64hz]

Therefore the addition of James Blake to that perception is a pretty major shift in itself.

The challenge is now to capitalise on that - to fill in the spaces in between. You never know what's going to cause a breakthrough but IMO all it would take is a couple of people like Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver or Vampire Weekend - or even better a major rap / R&B artist or two - to get a remix by, I dunno, Distance or Silkie or someone and it could break the whole thing wide open.

But James Blake's album is so far removed from dubstep I cannot conceive how it could ever find an audience in most typical dubstep fans. And frankly, it's a piss-take album anyway...hardly the big moment we all expected it to be.

I do agree that it is going to take a Lil Wayne remix by Silkie or someone equally talented to truly bring *real* dubstep to the American mainstream.

youre missing out mate

[Rahul]

Great read...agree with everything rory said

[joe muggs]

as Gibbs pointed out, that music isn't punk....it has no soul. Punk had soul.

I don't buy this argument AT ALL.

You don't like hard music, that's your outlook, but this "it has no soul" is the sort of argument old garage heads used against dubstep and grime, it's meaningless.

Punk, for the most part, was deliberately nihilistic and riddled with heroin and speed; original punks would have spat in your face if you called them soulful. But the music added up to more than that. Likewise there is nothing intrinsic in hard dubstep that stops it being great. When it's a formula, and when it's ALL that people listen to, then it's destructive - but plenty of people, whether it's Skream, Caspa or whoever have shown that you can make/play tear-out tunes and still have variety and depth.

The future isn't written yet; as I say there is every chance that the young audience who began with hard stuff will start craving more variety - even if only 10% of them do, that's still a big audience for those who are willing to engage with them without snobbery. But as long as you use the classic "it's just a noise" / "it's got no soul" dadcore argument, you perpetuate the artifical division.

[64hz]

dadcore

true words though, and a great article. (i may have already said this, cant remember)

[CG7]

Really fantastic article. I agree with pretty much everything said there. However, I do want to add this:

Dubstep (in America, at least) has an image problem. Speaking from my own experiences and talking to other people, I've realized this: Despite all this great, diverse music being made, to the average person who isn't a fan of a genre, dubstep appears to consist only of WUBWUBWUBWUB tracks and James Blake. Obviously, not everyone is going to like the genre anyway, but due the continuing success of "brostep" artists outside of the genres' regular listeners a lot of people are writing off dubstep as the worst genre ever.

Thoughts?

Agreed and in America where the scene is getting popular most everyone who listens to it started within the past year or two. So all they know is Skrillex, Datsik, Doctor P etc. But they dont seem to understand what dubstep truly is and where it comes from. All the genres come to is a bunch of bros from Jersey Shore to get there fist pumping on to some "Filth". All the new people to the genre is what is killing what it was before the true sub bass sound and the vibe and melody. Now its nothing but a bunch of filtered basses bumping up and down with no harmony. I must say yes I like the "filthy" stuff but people must know what the roots of the genre are and stop being blinded by the wub its come to. But the mainstream brostep is sadly what its ultimately come to and the real dubstep is dieing. It is clear that the new brostep is more popular and its what people want so thats how its going to stay and theres nothing anyone can do about it. I personally got into dubstep by hearing stuff like midnight request line by skream but today people are hearing skrillex to get them started into the genre and never here or know what the true sounds are and people who do hear the real stuff say I dont like it its to soft not filthy well you know fuck them let them listen to what they want and let us listen to what we want to its all a matter of opinion, I personally enjoy the new dubstep and the original powerful sub driven stuff I dont limit myself to either I just love dubstep.

[joe muggs]

Agreed and in America where the scene is getting popular most everyone who listens to it started within the past year or two. So all they know is Skrillex, Datsik, Doctor P etc. But they dont seem to understand what dubstep truly is and where it comes from. All the genres come to is a bunch of bros from Jersey Shore to get there fist pumping on to some "Filth".

See above, CG7 - this may be the case thus far, but there isn't any reason why that shouldn't change as a wider variety of UK bass artists spread over... if even a small proportion fo people can realise that in between Dr P and James Blake there is this whole spectrum of sound, that's a whole new opportunity for artists to thrive and develop. It's really important to remember that the sheer SIZE of the potential US audience means that even if the majority fall only for a one-dimensional form, there are still enough people who could potentially be won over to the wider variety.

[CG7]

Agreed and in America where the scene is getting popular most everyone who listens to it started within the past year or two. So all they know is Skrillex, Datsik, Doctor P etc. But they dont seem to understand what dubstep truly is and where it comes from. All the genres come to is a bunch of bros from Jersey Shore to get there fist pumping on to some "Filth".

See above, CG7 - this may be the case thus far, but there isn't any reason why that shouldn't change as a wider variety of UK bass artists spread over... if even a small proportion fo people can realise that in between Dr P and James Blake there is this whole spectrum of sound, that's a whole new opportunity for artists to thrive and develop. It's really important to remember that the sheer SIZE of the potential US audience means that even if the majority fall only for a one-dimensional form, there are still enough people who could potentially be won over to the wider variety.

That is true, which is what I believe is happening the bigger it becomes like it is in America the more the whole genre which like you said consists of a lot of different unique people and sounds will rise hopefully for the better.