Dubstep

[nomos]

that's such a delibidinizing stance though gek (i'm thinking also of the K thread), and i'm surprised that, out of everything, you've taken burial's material as your example par excellence. i'm all for theory-rush but it has no fuel if you take that typical cult studs approach which says "if we just look past the music then we can get to what's really interesting about it (i.e. the play of our rarefied discourses)." it's always got to be a matter of doing theory with the music rather than to it, and not over-valuing discourse to the exclusion of everything else.

 

[gek-opel]

that's such a delibidinizing stance though gek (i'm thinking also of the K thread), and i'm surprised that, out of everything, you've taken burial's material as your example par excellence. i'm all for theory-rush but it has no fuel if you take that typical cult studs approach which says "if we just look past the music then we can get to what's really interesting about it (i.e. the play of our rarefied discourses)." it's always got to be a matter of doing theory with the music rather than to it and recognizing registers other than the discursive.

Paul: in general I'm in total agreement with you, just not in this particular instance. Perhaps you could treat it as a re-libidinizing, given the ghostly nature of Burial's music. If we take Kode9's idea that Dubstep requires the memory of Jungle/2steps doubletime in the body of the dancer to bring the halfstep to life, then we could extend that to Burial- part of what is attractive about it is its blankness, its falling halfway between music to dance-to and music to think-to. It seems to require the theory to bring it to life, or perhaps more accurately for me, hauntology as a half-assed theory never really made sense to me until I heard Burial. So perhaps its the other way around... I can certainly consider Burial apart from the theorizing, but he acts as a drug that lets me get inside hauntology and lets me think within it productively.

Question- would Burial have blown up so much (R1 daytime play and all) without the initial theory buzz surrounding him?

 

[echevarian]

I loved his first EP to death and found all the subsequent hype very annoying.

It just didn't seem like you could mix it with anything unless you were a very adventurous DJ. Vaccine used Burial's beats in her mixes, but those are incredibly crafted.

She did so many takes of this one its a surprise she ever finished it.

http://www.cov-ops.co.uk/lbp/vaccine-feb2007.mp3

Tracklist:
(00:00) Helios - “Velius” (remix) [Unreleased, original Merck]
(02:43) Boxcutter - “Gave Dub” (12″ mix) [Planet Mu]
(06:20) Vaccine - “Anaesthetic” [forthcoming TBA]
(09:46) One - “Kontrafunk” (Scuba remix) [forthcoming Kontramusik]
(14:15) Scuba - “If I Don’t” (dub mix) [Unreleased]
(16:29) Burial - “Gutted” [Hyperdub]
(19:40) Gravious - “Wormsign” [Scuba]
(22:49) Scuba - “Subaqueous” [TBA]
(26:23) Intex Systems - “Titan” (Scuba remix) [forthcoming Dubline]
(30:27) Sileni - “Twitchy Droid Leg” (Vex’d remix) [Offshore]
(34:03) Intex Systems & Ezeekil - “Transfer” (Gravious remix) [forthcoming TBA]
(38:00) Gravious - “Temple Ball” [forthcoming Hotflush]
(40:47) Helios - “Sons of Light and Darkness” [Type]
(43:42) Scuba - “Brown” [forthcoming Hotflush]
>>> The Killers - “Read My Mind” [Island]
(47:49) Scuba - “If I Don’t” (rockstep mix) [Unreleased]
>>> Vaccine - “Wishful Thinking” [forthcoming Scuba]
(51:50) Scuba - “Braille Diving” [forthcoming Hotshore]
(56:13) Marlow - “Road Kill” [forthcoming Hotflush]
(59:44) Toasty - “The Knowledge” [Hotflush]
(63:46) Boxcutter - “Bad You Do” (halfstep mix) [Planet Mu]
(68:47) Vaccine - “Wishful Thinking” (VIP) [Unreleased, original forthcoming Scuba]

 

[mms]

seriously?

a few people have commented to me, as i've mentioned before that the ideas, interviews and intelligence of the guy, the whole package - as an artist in the real sense is more interesting than alot of the work etc..

 

[Grievous Angel]

Burial is good, no doubt, especially that k9 mix of the first lp.

But he's fantastic for bringing the swing back and capturing the imagination rather than doing vast numbers of really great chooooooooooons. In this I am in agreement with Gek.

 

[nomos]

@ mms - yeah fair enough, the music is indivisible from the sonic fiction and i like that. but i was more responding to the idea that the (often tenuous) application of derrida to burial was somehow the most exciting element of the whole thing.

 

[gek-opel]

Its more the application of Burial to Derrida which is entertaining.

 

[nomos]

yeah see if you come at it from that direction then i'm with you. derrida's hauntology is one of the many things that burial's sonic fiction can plug into. upthread you seemed to be suggesting that, effectively, burial needed to be rescued by theory in order to be interesting. that's what i was taking issue with.

Question- would Burial have blown up so much (R1 daytime play and all) without the initial theory buzz surrounding him?

depends how you define 'theory' (is burial doing theory too?) but yeah i don't see why not. it was the music and the fiction that captured most people's imaginations, not that specific derridean discourse. the buzz that grew here and on related blogs/sites was pretty crucial i think but hauntology was only part of the discussion.

 

[gek-opel]

yeah see if you come at it from that direction then i'm with you. derrida's hauntology is one of the many things that burial's sonic fiction can plug into. upthread you seemed to be suggesting that, effectively, burial needed to be rescued by theory in order to be interesting. that's what i was taking issue with.

depends how you define 'theory' (is burial doing theory too?) but yeah i don't see why not. it was the music and the fiction that captured most people's imaginations, not that specific derridean discourse. the buzz that grew here and on related blogs/sites was pretty crucial i think but hauntology was only part of the discussion.

If anything I prefer the application of Burial to theory than theory to Burial. And hence I prefer using the music as an imaginative-sensory tool to think about the theory...

 

[hamarplazt]

I've introduced a couple of my friends to Burial, with great success. They haven't heard about the theory and discussion surrounding the music, they don't read Dissensus or K-punk or the interviews, haven't heard about hauntology or about the hype, and they love the music.

Sometimes I would like to have heard this music without all the theory surrounding it. It would have been interesting to know what reaction I would have come up with on my own if I hadn't read K-punks amazing descriptions first.

 

[sodiumnightlife]

yeah everyone seems to love burial. my friends love him, even though he's not really their usual thing at all. I love all the discourse around burial, but I couldn't ever love burial if i didn't love his music as well. I really think people should stop going "ohhhh he's gonna lose it here are the signs" and just wait and see what he produces.

 

[optimum]

this is some sweet news

HDB008
IKONIKA
A. Please
AA. Simulacrum

12" vinyl
Release Date - 4th Feb '08

One of the most forward thinking tunes in ages on the most forward thinking label around.

This is a great release for hyperdub! (And dubstep in general)

 

[viktorvaughn]

FWD are killing at the moment imo, there was a pretty boring period, but now i want to go every week! If they just got a bit more Grime in there.... or if if they had a 'Grime Takeover' night every six weeks or so like the Bristol Takeover (which is planned for every two months i read) Anyone know about Crises?

 

[boomnoise]

yeah for me there was no reason to let it stagnate so badly

but better late than never.

 

[wonk_vitesse]

Anyone hear Hadouken last night taking over an episode of the Zane Lowe show. I haven't listened to radio 1 for ages but it was great getting them to air WTF they wanted. Anyhow they were inthrall to Joker & Wiley. I find all those grime records a bit a daft if not live really but the dubstep tracks were wicked.

 

[UFO over easy]

fuuuuuuuck

 

[lazybones]

er what just happened

 

[optimum]

Cannot wait for the Bristol and Martyn nights!!!

 

[noel emits]

Goodness. In both senses.

 

[benjybars]

FWD are killing at the moment imo, there was a pretty boring period, but now i want to go every week! If they just got a bit more Grime in there.... or if if they had a 'Grime Takeover' night every six weeks or so like the Bristol Takeover (which is planned for every two months i read) Anyone know about Crises?

dunno man, they've had maximum and karnage the last two weeks.. obviously they should be much more regular but at least it's a start!


it's weird cos after the 7th birthday bash calamity bare people were ready to give fwd/ammunition massive amounts of air pie i think... but now they've started going bonkers with all these exciting, experimental line-ups.


fair play i guess.