Corpsey
bandz ahoy
this is very true and important to recognise.
it's unfair to say "blackdown you've fallen off" because as far as i remember from the blog and coverage, and i have had an eye on the blog for a while, blackdown's barely covered the 'nuum in its realest sense (for me).
This is interesting to me cos it begs the question of where ''nuum'' music IS covered in the music press. Leaving aside the issue of whether or not the 'nuum concept is even helpful/relevant in this day and age.
Still - without wishing to insult the publications that have covered dubstep/post-dubstep (after all, I think the 'nuum concept is so crucial to dissensian discourse that it probably warps or restricts people's taste - my own has been, for sure - making us devalue whatever isn't made by ''nuum'' communities) - I wonder how easy it has been for people outside of music forums like this (and the scenes themselves of course) to read about UK funky, bassline house, jackin' et al?
I sometimes wonder if UK Funky 'failed' partly because it was never really covered by music journalists in the same way that Burial and co were. I can see why really cos with an artist like Burial there's so much to write about, its so highly conceptual and suggestive as music. Whereas its hard to say stuff about Ill Blu, say, other than ''they're great''. Tim F proved you could write compellingly about funky and a modern 'nuum scene (and living in Australia!) but I haven't seen much of his writing outside of his blog and this forum/ILX. But then - WAS it that significant that funky wasn't covered enough in the press? Does the press (and by this I mean online publications as well as print) matter as much anymore?
RE: the 'future' issue - 1. This has often been produced by advances or experiments in music that have been produced by technology. Hence Juke being perhaps the most genuinely exciting music of the past decade - the intense, inhuman speed of the music. Then again, was this the case with garage? I guess garage was really more to do with the combination of deep house with american RNB - the syncopated beats of Timbaland. 2. Is 'futurism' a self-imposed millstone around the necks of electronic music and/or its commentators? In hip-hop, for example, I rarely see any discussion about futurism or experimentation, other than the perennial issue of style-biting. Despite this, hip-hop has arguably advanced further in the last ten years than any dance style, and is certainly currently in a position of pivotal importance in terms of producers in the electronic world looking to people like MikeWillMadeIt, Zaytoven, Noah 40 Shebib and others for inspiration.