Skream's new vid

[mistersloane]

I think everyone should give young boys pulsing baginas in their chests, and I wish I could make films that look like perfume adverts, especially if they are virally marketed as well as don't panic do it.

You don't need to do that sort of stuff Don't Panic, if you got a new PR firm bell dem slags and tell them it isn't working.

 

[mms]

you lot need to get over to dubstep forum they don't criticise people over there cos 'they're don's' or whatever.
Of course he's capable of making good music, but he's chosen to chase a sound that's so obviously what he thinks is going to be successful, esp magnetic man by playing up all the tropes of dance music that'll play on the radio and that is easily digested by the dance masses, even though crucially all the big dubstep names are probably big enough to get bigger on their own terms and by being great and cos commercial dance music on the radio is in a terrible state and they're just adding to that now.
Good luck to him but it's not for me really and it lacks any real conviction, there is tons and tons of great music thats much better right now and also there is a chance it won't work, but it probably will.

 

[BareBones]

haha! oh man that video is shit. i actually would think it was a joke if the tune wasn't so emo.

 

[Woebot]

Have you seen this? I thought it was a joke etc.


Some cool shizzle!

oh my fucking lord.

it's the extreme self-confidence and high seriousness of this generation of "media artiste" that does my head in.

i mean, was one ever this far up one's own rear-end? the making of!!! you're joking me.

 

[Dusty]

All a bit depressing. That director has too many teeth.

 

[droid]

That tune is terrible. An anemic Amen with pseudo video game/euro club bullshit going on in the background.

I predict a Mercury prize.

 

[Dusty]

I predict a whole new wave of rape and pillage from Jungles past. No, no... wait... oh Christ, please no; Junglestep.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Oh boy. I still really like this tune. Actually I reckon I prob have a bit of a weakness for 'bait' tunes in general. So sue me though, life's too short to worry about such things.

 

[PeteUM]

I don't begrudge Skream seeking or finding fame and fortune because I think he's very talented. I'd even forgive him for tailoring a commercial sound in pursuit of the $. What annoys me (far too much, obviously) is this wide-eyed willingness to engage with all kinds of mainstream naffness from someone who has such a well-digested understanding of a musical heritage or whatever. And the epic Barlyesque crassness of this video just reeks of repugnant crossover bullshit where "success" is the only success there is.

And his Twitter feed is just:

This tune/tonight is gonna be SICK.
I feel like death.
Buy my record.

Don't take me too seriously though. I'm just grouchy because yesterday I was in customer collections at John Lewis with the blind lady I work for and there was a silent screen with Roll Deep's Good Times on it and it was the first time I'd seen it and I started thinking about Chomsky and shit.

But you know, a few years ago I'd be buying those Skreamisms and putting them on round my ex-missus's flat and we'd look at each other and be like: "how does this little lad do that?".

I was going to do a tongue-in-cheek YouTube video called "How Can We Radicalise The Dubstep DJs?" but I haven't got round to it yet...

 

[Tentative Andy]

Yeah the video is pretty embarassing, no doubt about that.
One thing though, for everyone that is saying this is too commercial, mainstream etc - yes it's obv very glossily produced, but last time I checked the charts weren't exactly chock-full of jungle records. Or perhaps I'm missing something?

 

[BareBones]

it's not *really* a jungle tune is it though. it's a commercial dance tune using a breakbeat - which there's nothing wrong with in concept of course, i just think this tune is shit. the video makes it a thousand times worse for sure.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

I checked the charts weren't exactly chock-full of jungle records. Or perhaps I'm missing something?

its always 94 in my house.
this reminds me of newham gens' head get mangled in a way.
its not really jungle-JUNGLE, its just tapping into that nostalgia for 90s rave.
more like hardcore rave than jungle.
but its really just the nostalgia element more than anything.
bit safer to come with something that people will be more familiar with and seems like 'aaahh good times!' than come with next level dubstep or whatever (if skream can even still do that, i dont know).
plus its recession time, the average person doesnt want anything too unusual.
or so i keep hearing.
skreams just taken the easy route.
its really well executed i think, hes just a great producer isnt he? but its also just dissapointingly safe.
sad to see a) someone as talented as him going down this route. b) the climate (musical, political, whatever) making it so hard for people to be succesful not taking this route.

edit - barebones beat me to it

 

[michael]

What I find most depressing is that the tune was posted (and people had the opportunity to discuss it) months back in the Dubstep thread, yet it's some (much-derided) viral marketing horseshit that actually triggers most discussion about it.

OK, actually that's not quite as depressing as hearing the video director speak, but pretty close.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

i think everyones knows it already.
but now weve been provoked into talking about it.
lot of hype around at the moment with magnetic man and skream etc.

 

[Tentative Andy]

its always 94 in my house.
this reminds me of newham gens' head get mangled in a way.
its not really jungle-JUNGLE, its just tapping into that nostalgia for 90s rave.
more like hardcore rave than jungle.
but its really just the nostalgia element more than anything.
bit safer to come with something that people will be more familiar with and seems like 'aaahh good times!' than come with next level dubstep or whatever (if skream can even still do that, i dont know).
plus its recession time, the average person doesnt want anything too unusual.
or so i keep hearing.
skreams just taken the easy route.
its really well executed i think, hes just a great producer isnt he? but its also just dissapointingly safe.
sad to see a) someone as talented as him going down this route. b) the climate (musical, political, whatever) making it so hard for people to be succesful not taking this route.

edit - barebones beat me to it

Ok thanks, that's actually a really good explanation. Yeah that kind of safe nostalgia prob is a big part of the appeal of the tune. I guess the nostalgia has just hooked me more than it has others here on this occassion. :slanted:

 

[Leo]

these few slick, commercial tracks represent only a tiny percentage of what he's done, a small handful at most. the vast majority of his output is a lot different, and mostly a lot better.

 

[Sick Boy]

its really well executed i think, hes just a great producer isnt he?

This record sounds like the kind of tune that comes with a new PC in order to test your soundcard. It is not only vapid, lifeless and lacking any identity whatsoever; it is completely disingenuous.

 

[routes]

the tune itself is just plain boring uninspired whatever. but it's annoying me that people are saying this tune is well-produced. it's not. it's just loud. the video however is embarrassingly ill-conceived poorly-executed shite. and i never say bad things on the internet.

 

[massrock]

I think the thing with this tune is that it's well put together in a traditionally 'musical' way. The harmonic progression is slick, which I think is the sort of thing that can go down well with a wider pop audience. It's what people think of, maybe without knowing quite why, as a 'good song' or 'proper music', well behaved, satisfying and reassuring in a way. I'm not sure if this is necessarily a good thing but it's also an achievement. It's more about this than the rhythm, perhaps obviously, so in that sense it works more on the level of one of those pop-trance tracks. The amen sounds really unfunky like that, but it's also very readily comprehensible, and actually not that different to some of those early DHR tracks.

Skream's made so many tunes though, I don't think people should begrudge him selling a few records. Maybe that's why I can't totally dislike this - I'd dance if I heard it I think and I'd be pleased if lots of people were dancing to a Skream track. Maybe I should be more ideologically opposed to this kind of entryist move ;-)

 

[massrock]

Is it a big 'hit' right now? I can't be bothered to look.

I suppose it is quite a poor state of affairs that such conservative and traditional musical values are still what 'the public', or worse 'the kids' apparently want....