Modern d'n'b is rubbish - tune ID and a moan from an old man

tate

Brown Sugar
Just listening to 0=0's mix posted on subverrtcentral (its deadly so far) and the first tune is 'taught' by polska which I havent heard in a while and it occurs to me;

Why isnt everyone going crazy over polska? He has to be one of the only new-school producers bringing something really fresh, and who has the potential to appeal to a wider non-dnb audience.

(I've been out of touch with the scene for a while so maybe I missed the polska-hype...)
That 0=0 mix was lovely and hearing "Taught" first up sort of took my breath away for a moment - it's such a beautiful tune and certainly one of my favorites in the last few years. When I still had my weekly dj night two years ago I played it almost every week. Another interesting moment in that 0=0 mix was hearing him mix out of Jason oS' "I Know" (bit of a flub there beat-matching wise, mr 0=0, haha) which is definitely one of my favorite tunes in recent memory.

As for the Polska record not making a bigger splash, in addition to UFO's comments, the record turned out to be somewhat weighed down by quite a few not-so-memorable downtempo tunes. I reallllllly wanted to fall in love with the record, and I did consider it one of my favorites from last year, but somehow something seemed to be missing in the compositions and production - or maybe I was just so smitten with "Taught" and "Burning Sun" that I failed to fall for the album. In any case, echoing UFO, Polska is indeed a bit reclusive, though he's been known to send discs unsolicited to friends overseas :D and there's no doubt in my mind but that he'll continue to develop his own unique signature sound in the future.

There's also a fantastic Naphta b2b with Polska set floating around, has been ages since I heard it though (first half Naphta, second Polska, def worth checking).
 

Don Rosco

Well-known member
So did I. I think it maybe appeared no-one liked them because they were so fucking hard to mix, so nobody played them.
 
I stand corrected- at least three people were into it ;)

i thought it was a good example of what bassnation was talking about in the dubstep thread- a point where muso tendencies override the idea of making music for people to dance to. but tbh i'd nearly stopped paying attention by then.

in any case- there are precedents for what we might broadly call "this kind of thing" not finding a non genre audience.
 

S-Mac

Active member
I stand corrected- at least three people were into it ;)

i thought it was a good example of what bassnation was talking about in the dubstep thread- a point where muso tendencies override the idea of making music for people to dance to. but tbh i'd nearly stopped paying attention by then.

in any case- there are precedents for what we might broadly call "this kind of thing" not finding a non genre audience.

I dont think Polska really fits in with what you're calling "this kind of thing".

I haven't heard his downtempo stuff (except the first ep on kin) but going by his releases on inperspective and bassbin, I would associate him with other producers who ditched some of the most obvious cliched signifiers of the genre but still remained within its confines. I'm thinking here of Photek, Omni Trio, Goldie and maybe Paradox, all of whome's tunes can tear up a dancefloor, and get deserved props from non-dnbers.
 

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
i thought it was a good example of what bassnation was talking about in the dubstep thread- a point where muso tendencies override the idea of making music for people to dance to.

I'd agree generally with the muso thing (worst case: Bukem's Journey Inwards LP which was truly dire), but Steve Alexander's records were a bit different since it was the opposite way round: a session drummer coming in and making sort-of-dnb (actually more uptempo downtempo, if that makes any sense). I guess it didn't sell very well (it was completely contrary to the ubiquitous banging techstep), so presumably SA went back to session drumming. A shame really :slanted:
 

X-101

Member
But a bigger question is - how did this happen? Was I just unlucky or has d'n'b actually got boring, and if so why/how? I always assumed it was relatively easy to make huge jump up tunes with the simple ingredients handed down from the jungle forefathers, but it looks like there has been a conscious decision to not do that at some point.

(As ever the above is personal opinion, blah blah blah, the value of your Metalheadz back catalogue may go down as well as up, your junglist credentials may be at risk if you do not keep up repayments on your raving account...)


Jungle/DnB was always very forward thinking, someone would come up with something new and everyone else would take that and add something new to it, the problem came when D'n'B got massive aboard & most of the dj/producers ended up spending more time on planes and partying in switzerland than locked in their studio for the whole week thus imo the music became static, formularic & even poppy
 

sodiumnightlife

Sweet Virginia
i just heard that marcus intalex fabric mix and i love it. Bit too jazzy in places perhaps, but too jazzy wins out over too comedy screwface anyday.
 

wonk_vitesse

radio eros
Disco Dodo, by lynx, i'm a bit behind the times as i'm sure people will have heard this one but it really is something different in terms of sound/rhythm/structure , at last , i agree there's so much rubbish d'n'b around though it's hard to find the good stuff. Alot of this stuff on Melting pot records is bangin too but more on a noisy fuked tip.
 

UFO over easy

online mahjong
dunno. it just sounds like speeded up dubstep to me

I'd like you to expand on this statto.. especially since you've said you liked clarendon/shroud and a host of other much more dubsteppy/half-step led drum and bass tunes. I'd even say that dissident tune you released sounds far more like dubstep than this.. the pounding 4/4-ness of it makes it sound more like totally banging techno, I could see surgeon playing it.
 

bassnation

the abyss
I'd like you to expand on this statto.. especially since you've said you liked clarendon/shroud and a host of other much more dubsteppy/half-step led drum and bass tunes. I'd even say that dissident tune you released sounds far more like dubstep than this.. the pounding 4/4-ness of it makes it sound more like totally banging techno, I could see surgeon playing it.

i'd just like to point out (like the jungle pedant i am) that clarendon has a stepping rhythm (remember hardstep anyone? nope?) and this style of programming predates dubstep by at least ten years.
 
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