Blackdown wrote:ThinKing wrote:Yea what's up with you and the idea of DnB producers making dubstep Martin? You really really seem to hate the idea, and I just can't fathom why.
Another time you said you hated the idea of producers who were established in 'other scenes' coming in and "parodying dubstep" - I've never understood what this insular approach was all about.
For fuck's sake, Tech Itch is a phenomenal engineer - he's mixed down all sorts of stuff, DnB and other, so to slag him off just cos he mainly produces DnB in his own studio is a little short-sighted IMO.
There are always exceptions, but in general creatively, drum & bass is currently in a shocking state compared to its own past. I don't say that lightly - until recently I worked for Knowledge for three years, striving to find the best in the scene.
Compare Full Cycle now to it's back cat. Clipz' recent stuff versus say 'Soul in Motion' or 'Warhead.'
Compare Metalheadz now to the 'Metropolis/Drumz 95'' era. Andy C circa '31 Seconds' versus his sets now.
Compare Formation Record's circa The Lighter Tune to say Generation Dub's output on the label.
Can you actually say in the three case above, that new school d&b is better than it's past?
To look into specifics, I find new school d&b rhythmically stunted. Apart from the odd exception (Subfocus and Chase & Status used the odd ragga pattern recently), d&b is either reduced to the simplest kick-snare-kick-snare 2step beats, or re-hashing edits of old breaks.
Sonically it's in even worse health. Liquid d&b is tepid and formulaic: the worst tedium of formula funky 'ouse at 175bpm.
Cliches like the Amen break, the Reese stab or samples from hardcore records made over 15 years ago are continually re-hashed.
As for the dark stuff, it's the worst offender. Full of noizy, distorted, empty whiteboy male rage.
Culturally it's boring - I've written three years of d&b features, trying to make it sound interesting. Its raves have lost the glorious multiculturalism of it's roots. It's harder, faster, noisier, louder new school happy hardcore for the pill head massive. Play one of those tunes in a club in some of jungle's birthplaces, say Hackney or Peckham, and you'd get linched.
Throughout d&b there's a total emphasis of engineering over soul, sonics over emotion, mixdowns over ideas. "oh don't Pendulum have the greatest digital mixdowns...". And what? What percentage of most clubbers own monitors or could even tell you what a mixdown is?!
I like a well made record like the best of them: engineering = impact in the club, fair enough. But when sonic engineering superceeds ideas or freedom to experiment with decent rhythms, vibes or structure ( new school d&b arrangement formula 101 = 32 bar intro... 16 bar drop... bassline and drums in together... roll for two sets of 32... second drop... 32 bars at end for DJ mixout) then it's cart before horse as far as i'm concerned.
Bon Jovi, Barbera Strisand or Celine Dion albums are probably amazingly mixed, probably amazingly mixed in studios that would piss on every single studio in d&b throughout all time, given the expenses no doubt available to these acts, but yet would you argue those acts are actually musically vaild on engineering grounds alone? So why would you do it for Tech Itch?
So there's a few reasons why I can't back new school d&b in general: culturally, rhymically, sonically and most of all, because its heart is run by studio engineers and not musical visionaries.
I accept your point about being insular, dubstep should be open to all. But if d&b producers can't keep their own house in order, what hope for their involvement in dubstep?
