DUBSTEP- breaking news, gossip, slander, lies etc

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gek-opel

entered apprentice
Indeed the overwhelming first impression is of something quite oppressive (as my mate Tatarsky said, approvingly, "really evil")... a Dubstep fan will be able to tune into the subtleties, and find the warmer exceptions I think...

tho to be honest the same could be said of the best of the trip hop stuff (ie Tricky- simmeringly evil psycho-sexual/racist tension throughout, 2nd Portishead album: displaying a wonderfully witch-like level of sustained menace....) and look at how that got utterly blanded out over time...
 
nomos

nomos

Administrator
hint said:
I was referring more to your statement about Dubstep being "too unsettling" to break through like that.... in fact, I'd go as far as to say that I haven't heard a single dubstep record that I find unsettling.
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It's certainly physically unsettling when it has enough power behind it. I actually have trouble listening to the stuff at all when I'm ill. It makes me queasy.
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
Hmmm, in terms of musicality, sparse, jerky beats are more unsettling than slowed down breaks and "organic" samples. I'm not talking about emotional content or anything, as if hearing dubstep creeps me out. I just think that the actual sound of the music is harder to leave on in the background than Portishead or something.
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Yeah, just to clear up what I mean.
It's the spaces between the beats that sort of demand your attention. It's not really suited to being "background" music, something which I'm not really keen on anyway. I either listen to a song or I don't. (Sorry Mr Eno.)

Unsettling was sort of a loaded phrase, there.
 
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swears

swears

preppy-kei
gek-opel said:
But Swears, surely after a while anything can be background noise? Once you become accustomed to it?
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Maybe, but it's less likely to be chosen as background music by dinner party organisers. Even if they are super-trendy grups. :D
 
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gek-opel

entered apprentice
Yes, to be sure the immediate impression to a neophyte is of something quite challenging, be it the heavy sub low-end or jittering beats, or the openness of it, or its seemingly torpid tempo... which would limit its ready adoption to the coffee table set (do these people really exist, or are they a dance music strawman?)... but the same was true of trip hop and D'n'B, but after exposure through non-threatening media (ie background music on news night etc) these now seem laughably harmless, comfortable musics....
 
C/Dizzle

C/Dizzle

Never Enough
I think it's a more general criticism of our times that people largely listen to music whilst doing something else,
rather than as a focused activity in itself. Perhaps it's the need to give our lives a "soundtrack", I'm not sure.



Either way, I'd be careful to blame the music itself in any way... sure some things can be more engaging than others,
but our attention levels are our own. One could dedicate vast thought to Eno (somehow) yet phase out a blazing Dubstep plate.
 
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tatarsky

Well-known member
gek-opel said:
But Swears, surely after a while anything can be background noise? Once you become accustomed to it?
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I think it would take quite awhile to aclimatise to the physical assault that the bass frequencies amass. Of course, if you're playing it on your iSpeakers whilst enjoying canapes and sauvignon blanc, i doubt that would be much of a problem.
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
I suppose if it's diluted enough.
I wonder if it'll branch off into "smooth" dubstep on one hand and a sort of No U Turn style hardness on the other.
 
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DJ PIMP

Well-known member
gek-opel said:
Yes, to be sure the immediate impression to a neophyte is of something quite challenging, be it the heavy sub low-end or jittering beats, or the openness of it, or its seemingly torpid tempo... which would limit its ready adoption to the coffee table set (do these people really exist, or are they a dance music strawman?)... but the same was true of trip hop and D'n'B, but after exposure through non-threatening media (ie background music on news night etc) these now seem laughably harmless, comfortable musics....
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Yeah its all context tho innit. In the right state of mind over a big system, music like dnb or whatever is still effective, regardless of how played out it is. Abrasive, dark dnb is still abrasive and dark.
 
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evergreen

Well-known member
the difficulty of those "jerky" drum patterns seems entirely dependent on there being massive bass to make them tense. it'd be easy to soften that bass, maybe add some melody to it, and the drums are a few tweaks away from Timbaland-esque cool.
 
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bassnation

the abyss
bleep said:
Yeah its all context tho innit. In the right state of mind over a big system, music like dnb or whatever is still effective, regardless of how played out it is. Abrasive, dark dnb is still abrasive and dark.
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at the last big rave i went to in canning town several years ago, the contemporary dnb that was played was total heavy metal - which is certainly abrasive, but not particularly dark. i'd suggest you need some kind of space in there to achieve that.

if a producers ideas are smothered by dense soup of frenetic midrange riffs, they aren't going to make a signficant impact on the listener.
 
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bassnation

the abyss
swears said:
Maybe, but it's less likely to be chosen as background music by dinner party organisers. Even if they are super-trendy grups. :D
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yeah, it didn't go too down well when i tried it last night in a similar situation, put it that way. it just doesn't seem to fit. i reckon that benny ill reggae mix from the fwd site does the trick, and you could hardly call that blanded out MOR.
 
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bassnation

the abyss
C/Dizzle said:
I think it's a more general criticism of our times that people largely listen to music whilst doing something else,
rather than as a focused activity in itself. Perhaps it's the need to give our lives a "soundtrack", I'm not sure.
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why can't we do both?

besides, as far as i'm concerned, zoning out to music often means wicked production. its possible for your mind to follow many threads simultaneously.
 
G

gek-opel

entered apprentice
Big review in this months Wire: Dubstep Allstars 4... they like... anyone know when vol 4 is coming out ---soon yes?
 
nomos

nomos

Administrator
the sheet says july 17, but that's according to the tempa calendar which isn't totally in synch with the gregorian one. i'm guessing august sometime.

reviews of that, plus other new tempa, dumpvalve and skull disco are forthcoming on riddim.ca.
 
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