August FWD & Rinse FM @ The End / youngsta & Riko / general excitment / thread

[Grievous Angel]

Presumably one will be able to distinguish between bad cockrocking wobblebass, and good cockrocking wobblebass?

As opposed to dismissing it all for not being, well, grime?

 

[Slothrop]

I wonder if this is actually an inevitability of a sound becoming popular? I feel the numbers dubstep raves pull out right now are still small enough for the DJ to be the tastemaker. This is a bit of a chicken or egg thing, but I don't think normal people are that stupid - if N Type were to play something else other than this mindless cockrocking wobble-bass offshoot of the sound, the newcomers and original heads alike would still go nuts for his sets simply because it is all introductory to the newcomers anyway and therefore hard to comparitively criticize, and would also be providing the breath of fresh air to the day-one-ers that they all seem desperate for.

The thing is, a couple of DJ's have posted on DSF recently that the reason they play almost entirely heavy wobble is because the crowd go fucking nuts when they play heavy wobbley tunes and don't go nuts when they don't. No DJ prefers playing to a room full of people who are standing around looking at their shoes than a room full of people who are leaping about like lunatics.

I don't think a bunch of neeks on forums whingeing at DJ's is going to change anything. As I see it, about the only thing that can make a real difference is the punters making it more obvious that they're actually loving zoning out to the deeper tunes and not just getting bored. Or maybe promoters running nights where they deliberately book more varied DJ's - if people like it, they'll keep coming back and bigging up the night, so the DJ's won't worry that they're losing it by not playing enough wobble. But that's getting perilously close to 'No Breakbeats, No Lycra.'

Hmmm.

 

[noel emits]

I like this idea Slothrop.

I think I'll Cafe Press up some baseball caps that bear the legend 'I'm Not Bored, I'm Just Meditating, Alright?'

 

[UFO over easy]

I don't think a bunch of neeks on forums whingeing at DJ's is going to change anything. As I see it, about the only thing that can make a real difference is the punters making it more obvious that they're actually loving zoning out to the deeper tunes and not just getting bored.

How?

A good DJ shouldn't have to worry so much about what the crowd thinks surely. It never mattered when they were playing to 3 people at Velvet Rooms, and they got this far without pandering to the crowd.

 

[mms]

I don't think a bunch of neeks on forums whingeing at DJ's is going to change anything

Hmmm.

it has over at dustep forum where the crowd there are very positive in stating what they like, and mala's sets get described as too deep, it's one an obvious failing of the idea of an internet community as a platform to persuade and command labels and artists, vs being a bit more true to your own artistic vision, you can see the divides between those who do and don't it's funny/.

 

[noel emits]

Serious? I can't imagine someone saying Mala's sets are 'too deep' coming away unscathed.

With really good tunes there's no dichotomy between deep and hype, I think that's what I liked about dubstep in the first place.

Having said that I suppose it's a problem in any situation if you have an 'uneducated' crowd who aren't prepared to make an effort. Or if they've come for the wobble they've come for the wobble and that's what they want. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with a bit o' the old wubwub.

 

[UFO over easy]

it has over at dustep forum where the crowd there are very positive in stating what they like, and mala's sets get described as too deep,

where? seen nothing but praise for mala.

 

[gek-opel]

Fair enough I've only heard Mala play B2B with Loefah, but his sets are hardly THAT deep, are they? Someone like Pinch would more spring to mind, and I've seen him play deep sets where half the tracks at the beginning could pass for Hawtin-esque minimal, the crowd mostly pretty un-moved by it all... saw him at DMZ a few months later and he's rocking the moronic wobble and they love it. (tossers).

 

[UFO over easy]

^ tosser

 

[noel emits]

^ Custard Chucker

 

[noel emits]

Maybe someone should organize a flash mob for dubstep events where everyone stands around looking moody for the jump-up wibble and then goes completely mental when the DJ plays something ultra-minimal. That'll teach 'em.

 

[noel emits]

But basically if you are dissatisfied with what's on offer you can always go out and do your own sets / nights / tunes. I know lots of people who post here do exactly that.

 

[gek-opel]

^ tosser

Thanks! Actually I find it pretty weird that the current discussion posits the wobble/trudge as the crowd pleasing option (alright its not the current discussion its the audience themselves) its falling asleep on the dance floor stuff to me... (Didn't mind something extreme like "Spongebob" tho- that took it into entirely cartoonishly fucked up directions-- another idea would be to take the bass-worship into a totally non dance based direction, abstracting the idea of a crowd basically getting off on pure bodily affect as created through massive modulated bass soundwaves)... of course there's a lot of dubstep that isn't "deep" or minimal, the other axis of uptempo stuff/2step dubstep etc... or to take that idea on you could have a totally un-chinstroking, un-techno un-reggae sound un-heavy metal, totally pop and trash (probably vocal?) in its aesthetic, but keeping the stumbling rhythms and sub... like a crossbreeding of niche/bassline and dubstep...

 

[Slothrop]

How?

A good DJ shouldn't have to worry so much about what the crowd thinks surely. It never mattered when they were playing to 3 people at Velvet Rooms, and they got this far without pandering to the crowd.

Yeah, but I don't think complaining at them is likely to make them change their minds - look at dnb for instance. People bitch about the state of it constantly and all it really does is create a false divide / animosity between 'clownsteppas' and 'beard strokers'.

Being positive about the good stuff (tunes, DJs, nights etc) seems like a better idea since it gets the same point across without pissing people off. Particularly seeing as a lot of people actually seem to prefer hearing some deeper tunes when they're out so there's genuine popular support for it.

But yeah, going out and doing something about it is definitely the best option.

 

[Slothrop]

Thanks! Actually I find it pretty weird that the current discussion posits the wobble/trudge as the crowd pleasing option (alright its not the current discussion its the audience themselves) its falling asleep on the dance floor stuff to me...

Yeah, likewise.

Although I also find it bizarre that 2-step dnb is supposed to be the style that kills dancefloors, since it's generally the constant rhythmic danger in jungle that gets me hyper enough to dance properly.

 

[gek-opel]

It makes some sense-- are we to take it that large numbers of people don't actually like rhythmic danger then (be it 2 step or shuddering dubstep or old skool juggled jungle breaks?)

 

[UFO over easy]

That's exactly it I reckon, except not specific to rhythm. When you get to superclub level, people don't want danger full stop. They want a heavy night out, and no surprises. Get fucked, dance, have a blast, go home. Nothing wrong with it, it's just not especially interesting, and it's not why I got into the music.

But basically if you are dissatisfied with what's on offer you can always go out and do your own sets / nights / tunes. I know lots of people who post here do exactly that.

Yeah, check out the stuff me, Ramadanman and Pangaea do - Hessle Audio and Ruffage Sessions on SubFM

PLUGPLUGPLUG

 

[tate]

Don't know that "danger" is the right word for it, sounds awfully corny to me. Danger is e.g. life in Iraq under occupation, not kids listening to bass-heavy music in UK clubs

 

[noel emits]

I think it's a term Simon Reynolds or Kodwo Eshun came up with.

That doesn't make it big or clever though.

 

[noel emits]

Yeah, check out the stuff me, Ramadanman and Pangaea do - Hessle Audio and Ruffage Sessions on SubFM

PLUGPLUGPLUG

I do Ben, and I tell people all about it at every opportunity. Now, if I had a promo of Hessle Audio 002...

BLAGBLAGBLAG