it would be the ideal..
Having a media degree or whatever the fuck you need to open those doors allows you to work the angles and understand the format of journalism to submit your dribblings..it doesnt mean the person has a active interest or is even knowledgable about what theyr writing about or even relative to whats happening right now. its funny to me at the same time the general public are discovering niche through T2's hit the 'underground' or whatever in the uk are too, EVEN with the internet.
i honestly thought everyone had clocked it long ago and was just cracking on with their own shit.
Zomby, I'm still unsure as to the difference between the two genres Niche and Bassline, is this a tribal thing or is there a distinct difference between the two sonically? The both seem to have a predominant signature of 4x4 beats and emphasis on the bassline for melody.
Is this a Sublow Vs Eski type scenario or is it closer to House Vs Garage (where there is a distinct difference in tempo, shuffle, productional aesthetic?) Can you describe the difference? Cheers.
Is this a Sublow Vs Eski type scenario or is it closer to House Vs Garage (where there is a distinct difference in tempo, shuffle, productional aesthetic?) Can you describe the difference? Cheers.
mos dan
fact music
are you the dr venom?? as in hadouken?? if so, when are we going to be able to hear your first indie/niche ('nindie'? lol) crossover track? lol.
logan i know your pain is probably real, but that line made me lol.
that's not far off imo. it's not deep, it's BANGING. what i liked about dexplicit's set were the drums mostly, not the basslines.
i don't know why anyone's surprised that bassline got covered in the guardian at this juncture. and that the article was written by someone who maybe hasn't spent every day of the last four years hanging around in sheffield city centre with jammie duggan. what were you expecting?
I like how the timbre of the bass in this stuff is all bright and vivid but the tonality in the b-lines is minor, sinister, 'criminal'. Makes for a weird sensation, like candy-colored gangsta. Especially with those pompous, Dre-style minor-key chord vamps painting up that cartoon-gangsta feel...
The whole tonal fixation around just minor chords and b-lines as opposed to more complex, jazzy chord progressions kind of contributes to that cool, fast-forward, streamlined effect too. I like it. Like how indian ragas are just based on one scale or mode... and the basslines in this shit all seem to be built on the Aeolian or Arabic mode (minor scales with a flatted 6th, and major or minor 7th respectively).
I will now stop nerding up this thread. ahem
The whole tonal fixation around just minor chords and b-lines as opposed to more complex, jazzy chord progressions kind of contributes to that cool, fast-forward, streamlined effect too. I like it. Like how indian ragas are just based on one scale or mode... and the basslines in this shit all seem to be built on the Aeolian or Arabic mode (minor scales with a flatted 6th, and major or minor 7th respectively).
I will now stop nerding up this thread. ahem
I've been listening to a fair share of bassline as well, for the simple reason that I enjoy it - studio beatz didn't have the mix that i ordered so sent me five others instead, which in a way was even better. Not sure why Woebot has to refer to the recent press as "tragically ugly" but hey, hyperbole isn't really my thing; and even on dissensus as far back as february 2005 people have been talking about bassline/niche - not exactly a new thing (paul meme saying in early 2005 that the scene's been fluorishing in sheffield for five years at least). (Well worn territory, I realize.)
As for the actual basslines, not to nitpick, but the Aeolian mode is merely another name for the standard minor scale so yes, like virtually every other western genre under the sun with a minor third and minor sixth, this genre's got b-lines in the minor scale (or Aeolian, as you say - exact same difference), nothing new there. As for what you call the 'Arabic' scale, I assume from your description that you mean the harmonic minor, becasue the so-called 'arabic' scale tends to be phrygian with a raised seventh and a raised third, neither of which I recall ever hearing in bassline/niche, though I could be wrong (grime is another story) ... there's no need to mystify this music by dressing it up with half-accurate theory descriptions, frankly: when the tunes are good they tend to be reallllly good, and when they're cheesy, it's obvious why. I don't hear a similarity with ragas at all. Though I'm all for nerding up a thread, and it's nice to talk about these things in musical terms on occasion, so thanks for raising those points, Chris.
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As for the actual basslines, not to nitpick, but the Aeolian mode is merely another name for the standard minor scale so yes, like virtually every other western genre under the sun with a minor third and minor sixth, this genre's got b-lines in the minor scale (or Aeolian, as you say - exact same difference), nothing new there. As for what you call the 'Arabic' scale, I assume from your description that you mean the harmonic minor, because the so-called 'arabic' scale tends to be phrygian with a raised seventh, occasionally a raised third, neither of which I recall ever hearing in bassline/niche, though I could be wrong (grime is another story) ... there's no need to mystify this music by dressing it up with half-accurate theory descriptions, frankly: when the tunes are good they tend to be reallllly good, and when they're cheesy, it's obvious why. I don't hear a similarity with ragas at all. I'm all for nerding up a thread, though.
Hmmm... yeah the Aeolian is one of the minor scales, the natural minor... but as far as the Arabic scale, your totally right, harmonic minor was the scale I was refering to (which would be Aeolian with a raised 7th), which I've often heard refered to as Arabic (though it's p'raps used more to evoke a generic "Arabian" feel). But it just sticks out to me how simple this bassline formula, and formulas in a lot of "fun" electronic styles are, being based around pretty much one scale, very little tonal variety... I actually think that can be a strength, it gives it more of that disposable, quickly-made, cheap-thrill quality. The raga reference was just comparing the modal simplicity of their structures, and the kind of zoned-in, paradigmic simplicity that it creates, a track or raga musically expressing one simple, essential idea..
You're right of course, I'm probably getting too chin-strokey about a delightfuly dumb genre though.
viktorvaughn
Well-known member
This was amazing. Definately the night in Sheffield to head for rather than Niche/Vibe. Some very Grimey stuff towards the end that was just like a slightly faster clacky Alias beat c.2002 with a big banging bassline. And seeing a huge room of people going mental for Bassline is amazing (and you obviously will not get it down South). It is so dark and grimey sounding but just sucks you into the dance big time. Constant energy. I've sadly not been to a Dubstep night that fun for a while.
sodiumnightlife
Sweet Virginia
if we're going on those two clips then i think bassline is more "uptight," slightly faster with more rigid programming. Niche sounds slower, with a slightly more behind the beat feel to it, and it's got that call and answer bassline thing going on. Are those clips a good general idea of things zomby?
It seems that 'Bassline' is the more happy or perhaps cheesy side and 'Niche' is the more grimey and darker sounding style from what is being said above.
Dividing music that comes from the same place in this way does no good even if that is what some people insist on. You only have to look at Hardcore Rave back in the early nineties to see that when it split along similar lines into 'Happy Hardcore' and 'Jungle' it took the edge away from the whole thing and was the beginning of the end of the ideal of everyone from all backgrounds in the same room together having a good time. Don't sound the death knell on this music just as it is starting to really get somewhere outside of where it has been for so long.
Dividing music that comes from the same place in this way does no good even if that is what some people insist on. You only have to look at Hardcore Rave back in the early nineties to see that when it split along similar lines into 'Happy Hardcore' and 'Jungle' it took the edge away from the whole thing and was the beginning of the end of the ideal of everyone from all backgrounds in the same room together having a good time. Don't sound the death knell on this music just as it is starting to really get somewhere outside of where it has been for so long.
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viktorvaughn
Well-known member
Agree about the darkness in Bassline being very dark in places. The following track has that but balances it with a longing female vocal:
Showa Man Dub feat. As it is TV - KMZ
www.myspace.com/kmzgreengang
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Showa Man Dub feat. As it is TV - KMZ
www.myspace.com/kmzgreengang
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Chuu
Well La Di Bloody Da
Interested in the interaction between the northern dance music traditions and the southern ones in bassline...they have MCs live over the sets right? Do they have rewinds?
There is this whole happy hardcore/hard house vibe I get off some of the tunes (thats not a diss but its more of that boshing northern house, almost mental Insomniacz vibe that comes across on some of the more off-the-wall tunes) and they never had rewinds as part of the package, at least at the Northern hardcore raves I used to go to like Diztruxshon.
Is there competition aomongst the top boy jocks to cut dubs? Or is it all cd?
There is this whole happy hardcore/hard house vibe I get off some of the tunes (thats not a diss but its more of that boshing northern house, almost mental Insomniacz vibe that comes across on some of the more off-the-wall tunes) and they never had rewinds as part of the package, at least at the Northern hardcore raves I used to go to like Diztruxshon.
Is there competition aomongst the top boy jocks to cut dubs? Or is it all cd?
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bassnation
the abyss
fucking hell, thats pretty good. is this "niche"? reminds me of kma and the locked on gear. does it for me a lot more than dubstep does right now. why have the ghost of rave with burial when you can have the real thing with bassline?