Is dubstep gonna be the last 'type' of London dance music?

[Genevieve]

The thing that seems to have driven things like jungle, garage, early dubstep, was their relative isolation from the world outside of London. And with the internet and international festivals picking up new styles so fast, do you think this whole "hardcore continuum" as we know it has come to an end? Not the 'London' scene, or the scene spawned by the early rave scene. I believe that garage and dubstep and jungle will always be referenced in music and that London will always be a fertile ground for new dance producers, but I think the time of easily definable movements in the scene may have ended.

The progression used to be fairly linnear. There were those odd ones out like funky and breakstep that appeared alonside the 'main styles' of those times, but the evolution from rave to dubstep was still rather straight forward and we could name a year from anywhere from '91 to 2006 and say what was the dominant style then. But since 2010? I don't think so. You could say 'give it time', but the development has been in a bit of a limbo. Jungle came out when people were still releasing rave, garage and jungle co-existed, as did grime and garage (or 2-step and 4x4 for that matter). But dubstep "ended" in 2010 and splintered in something more vague and intangible. Now you get "bass" tunes from 125 to 140 bpm, some techno based, some garage, some house. Either normal time or half time, often referencing American dance music (juke, traxx, acid, Detroit techno..).

So even if something new will come, I think that there's already a stark contrast to how the scene is evolving now to how it did years ago.

I'm not passing judgement on whether it's a good or bad thing. I'm rather indifferent to it. But it's a change.

[grillis]

i'd say dubstep definitely goona the last 'type' of london dance music

[Genevieve]

ya stfu. I tried to make a title out of like.. 4 different titles

[grillis]

[EliteLennon117]

Next big thing is house music without 4x4.

[topmo3]

you have a very good point. dubstep has been around for a long time and while the sound has changed and a lot of new sounds have been made they have been more or less dubstep-induced or rehashing classic dance music styles. and all they got was a lazy umbrella term "bass music". suppose you should never say never but i don't think anything massive and new is gonna come out any time soon

this is an interesting topic

[dickman69]

the internet no longer allows for small pockets of underground dance music

[topmo3]

the internet no longer allows for small pockets of underground dance music

that's an excellent point my man. although dubstep has often been described as one of the first "internet genres" meaning the fast distributed knowledge about the sound throughout the world. i suppose if it wasn't for internet we wouldn't have one of the first dubstep producers to come from finland and sweden for example (dub police roster)

[LogiSpark]

you have a very good point. dubstep has been around for a long time and while the sound has changed and a lot of new sounds have been made they have been more or less dubstep-induced or rehashing classic dance music styles. and all they got was a lazy umbrella term "bass music". suppose you should never say never but i don't think anything massive and new is gonna come out any time soon

this is an interesting topic

Yeah didn' dubstep ultimately changed Electro hosue with vowel bass and growls, and then the term "Complextro" was born?

[Harkat]

I spend a lot of time worrying about exactly this. And I'm 18 and Norwegian. I missed the tru head train.

[Harkat]

It fucking sucks to be honest, that it is this way. There's something much more real and precious about music happening in local, physical settings instead of across the internet where you can find any tune like *that*, there's anonymous dickheads commenting underneath, and ads on the side. To be honest, I find 90% of my music on youtube. I read interviews and forums and shit with ravers and DJs reminiscing about hearing the classic tunes for the first time, it seems so damn magical. "I remember when Bukem dropped Renegade Snares VIP at X location in 94, the room went silent" , "The first time I heard Qawwali at 3rd Base", and so on. I'm so fucking jealous of the ninjas on here that got to experience this kind of music without all the politics and weird distance that comes from hearing it from the internet.

[Harkat]

Zomby especially. God damn it. He said something on his twitter once, I think it was "It's like the internet and youtube came and destroyed all culture". Dead on.

[Genevieve]

It might not just be the only thing. It could also be everyone's resistance to 'labeling music' now. Especially here at DSF. Styles are made on the internet now and this is London's "bass music" portal to the internet and what's going on here could be pretty influential. And if something doesn't have a label it doesn't exist.

Producers might be doing it too to not get pigeonholed and give themselves more longevity.

the internet no longer allows for small pockets of underground dance music

that's an excellent point my man. although dubstep has often been described as one of the first "internet genres" meaning the fast distributed knowledge about the sound throughout the world. i suppose if it wasn't for internet we wouldn't have one of the first dubstep producers to come from finland and sweden for example (dub police roster)

It was already established as a style before it became an 'internet style' though. First with all of it being on FWD and then that XLR8R article. So it did have time to establish itself through traditional means.

[hubb]

Its down to all the rain all the time.

Almost all of the really groundbreaking/ influential rock bands broke through via the uk too, like cream, jimi, black sabbath, bowie etc.

But dubstep "ended" in 2010 and splintered in something more vague and intangible.

So even if something new will come, I think that there's already a stark contrast to how the scene is evolving now to how it did years ago.

I'm not passing judgement on whether it's a good or bad thing. I'm rather indifferent to it. But it's a change.

That change is due to how people mostly buy music online and that a lot of dj's just rely on drop boxes now -get their input from podcast etc.
Also there might be a point in the fact that dupstep has a foot in hiphop and somewhat the tempo in common.
So when the dupsteppers got bored and the slightly offkilter hiphop producers got bored, they kind of ended up around the same spot. Trap/bass. Sort of the same logical progression imo.

[jorge]

Yeah I pretty much agree. I think funky is more than an odd out tho even though it was smaller than the others it has a pretty distinct sound.

It seems like the stuff blackdown is pushing is trying to carry it on by looking to the early stages of dubstep and grime and taking it from there. But then that stuff is coming from all around the world and while its influenced by london its not really a london scene.

I dont care too much really, its seems that its gonna be more about labels having their own niche like night slugs, livity sound, keysound than one unifying style, which might actually mean things wont become as homogenous as has happened in dubstep and drum n bass.

[Genevieve]

Yeah I pretty much agree. I think funky is more than an odd out tho even though it was smaller than the others it has a pretty distinct sound.

Yeah just in the sense of continuity. It's been around for almost as long as dubstep and came in and out of style randomly, but it was never really a main style that defined an era.

Yeah I agree about the labels, but they're taking cues from each other as well.

[Jizz]

I think a new london sound will break through in a few years, might not necessarily be dance music though. More just electronic music that pushes boundaries. Right now a lot of producers are held captive by the fast appeal of being a dancefloor dj, even though they might not be a dance producer really.
Even with dubstep, i highly doubt their initial priority when they began making it was to make people move

[wormcode]

Just wait until some kid gets a PS4 for his birthday and has a weekend alone with a bag of skunk and the newly released Music 4000 game.

[murky21]

lol of course not! progression is irrepressible, so many different variables can combine to create new directions, sounds and structures. dubstep really was only simple tweaks of previously existing things - new empahsises on certain parts of a drum pattern, new sounds and moods - that shit will happen again, no doubt

Edit: shit i just read the question - yes probably, haha! Geographical boundaries have been pretty much eradicated by the internet. you are almost as likely to collab with someone internationally as you are from your own post code. Though localised scenes still exist in clubs so possibly clubs will drive trends and creativity.

Great thread tho

[mashmash]

The internet has definitely changed things, but you still get people listening to different styles of dance music depending on where you live in the uk.

like birmingham and the north have tried to push this 'jackin house' thing (pretty stupid name imo) for a few years, following on from bassline, it's now pretty much house with big basslines which is popular at the moment. not groundbreaking or anything but still an example of groups of local producers and djs playing the same sort of sound, putting together those cd packs in dvd cases and catering to certain nights etc. maybe people have just ran out of ideas