Dubstep Sub-Genres

[.klimaxx]

Having heard all sorts of 'dubstep' tracks and mixes, it is ever more evident that there are different types of dubstep. For example, you have your more Burial-esque type dubstep, with hardly any big basslines; and then you have stuff like Benga with Crunked Up and E-Trips..

So are there any dubstep subgenres that could define these? It could be useful when browsing for new material to listen to so you don't get Burial instead of Benga or Boxcutter instead of Coki..

cheers

[doomproduction]

Yeah, I've been wondering the same... it's only a matter of time.

A lot of people would point at dnb saying the genre has suffered from its fragmentation (not something I'd necessarily agree with..)

[james fox]

it's the beginning of the end - now you have a huge scene united under one sound, soon the sounds will splinter and then begin to hate each other...

i kid, sort of

[junglist]

Ambient Dubstep (Vex - 3rd Choice, Backward - Kode9 & Spaceape)
Wobble Dubstep (Malfunktion - D1, Oskilatah - SKream)
Chill Dubstep (Forever - Rusko & Caspa, Rock Bottom - Rusko & Caspa)
Dark Dubstep (1 On 1 - Distance, Legacy - Rusko & Caspa)
Grime Dubstep (Splurt - Skream!, Skeng - The Bug)

That's my opinion anyway

[legend4ry]

No point in sub genres when its all essentially the same thing..

[nospin]

So are there any dubstep subgenres that could define these? It could be useful when browsing for new material to listen to so you don't get Burial instead of Benga or Boxcutter instead of Coki..

cheers

i dont know if its different in other areas, but all the way over here, i dont really hear commonly used sub genre terms, lots of descriptive words, but those vary from track to track even from a single producer.

it has been diverse from the beginning, and there is just as drastically different stuff today.
although there are lots of copy cats and one trick producers, i hope they will get ignored and people will cringe at a dj playing one dimensional dubstep before they cringe at a dj who mixes up all the wonderful styles being made

[silentk]

danny blaze was talking about sub genres on his rinse.fm show earlier.
saying how so many dj's these days pidgeon hole them selves, and limit themselves by saying "oh, i only play minimalistic tribal bassline funky house" which is stupid.

if you like dubstep, u like dubstep, there is no point creating subcatagories, make it far to boring.

really, if you enjoy music, you enjoy music. not just one stupidly specific genre.

[futures_untold]

if you like dubstep, u like dubstep, there is no point creating subcatagories, make it far to boring.

I'm sorry, but how exactly does subcatagorisation make music boring?

I wholly support subgenres and find them useful for discovering more tunes in the exact styles I already like. Yes, it's all about 'discovery' and 'music', but if I want to try something new, tell me the description of it and I can make up my mind faster on whether I'd like it or not.

I actually really don't like half of the dubstep I hear, so I'm glad when a producer bills their music under a catagory I can identify with. With the aid of subcatagorisation, I can spend more time listening to fresh releases within the styles I like and less time trailing through new 'dubstep' releases trying to find the dark shit! I prefer dark, industrial dubstep over the more mellow vibes (Dubcore over Subdub).

No point in sub genres when its all essentially the same thing..

Without subgenres, I could go to a 'dance' night only to find that it's cajun dance night or céilí, not minimal techno or D'n'B as I'd hoped for.... To take this point further, people who like 'Classical' music don't always like 'all' of the classical music out there.... There's 400 years worth of classical music ffs, ranging from Baroque to Contemporary classical.....

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Why do you guys fear sub catagorisation anyway?

D'n'B hasn't suffered from it's subgenres, those subgenres are what make D'n'B an enduring style of music like Hip Hop or House. Some of us may have listener fatigue when it comes to D'n'B, and feel that it is boring or 'old'.

Do you really think that d'n'b only sounds like Noisia or Pendulum? (It doesn't, believe me). Do you still listen to proto jungle from '91 or '92? Probably not. I hate 'liquid' d'n'b but love 'techstep' (which are massively different).

I like old skool jungle more than nu skool jungle. (Ganja Kru - Super Sharp Shooter over the entire combined output of Logistics/Commix/High Contrast/London Elektricity/Hospital Records etc etc.....) Because of subgenres, I know not to go to any night billed as 'liquid' thank fuck!

If one day there exists as many subgenres in dubstep as in D'n'B, I'd be pleased simply to see that much progression within the genre!

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Hip Hop and House music, both of which have a million subcatagories, have solid enduring scenes. Both styles exist on a commercial level and on the underground. Just because something goes commercial, it doesn't make it bad. When Dubstep becomes even more commercial, I'll be happy. I'll earn more and will have to spend less time explaining wtf dubstep is to people who don't know!

He he, troll comments bitten, rant over.

[slothrop]

I find it kind of funny when DJs and producers complain that journalists and forum geeks are coming up with subgenres and that makes the music splinter and divide. Last time I checked, the journalists and forum geeks aren't the ones writing tunes and planning sets. If you don't want to get pigeonholed into a subgenre, don't write generic derivative music. If every producer had their own sound (or several sounds) and every DJ played across the whole spectrum, noone would be able to talk about subgenres.

[junglist]

Why the liquid funk hate?

Is it because the guy behind Logistics studied music at Cambridge?

ps. tech step is sick, Ultrasonic Sound & Atlantic State are sick tracks

[Littlefoot]

can we not get into this for everyones sanity?

[press]

if you like dubstep, u like dubstep, there is no point creating subcatagories, make it far to boring.

I'm sorry, but how exactly does subcatagorisation make music boring?

I wholly support subgenres and find them useful for discovering more tunes in the exact styles I already like. Yes, it's all about 'discovery' and 'music', but if I want to try something new, tell me the description of it and I can make up my mind faster on whether I'd like it or not.

I actually really don't like half of the dubstep I hear, so I'm glad when a producer bills their music under a catagory I can identify with. With the aid of subcatagorisation, I can spend more time listening to fresh releases within the styles I like and less time trailing through new 'dubstep' releases trying to find the dark shit! I prefer dark, industrial dubstep over the more mellow vibes (Dubcore over Subdub).

No point in sub genres when its all essentially the same thing..

Without subgenres, I could go to a 'dance' night only to find that it's cajun dance night or céilí, not minimal techno or D'n'B as I'd hoped for.... To take this point further, people who like 'Classical' music don't always like 'all' of the classical music out there.... There's 400 years worth of classical music ffs, ranging from Baroque to Contemporary classical.....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why do you guys fear sub catagorisation anyway?

D'n'B hasn't suffered from it's subgenres, those subgenres are what make D'n'B an enduring style of music like Hip Hop or House. Some of us may have listener fatigue when it comes to D'n'B, and feel that it is boring or 'old'.

Do you really think that d'n'b only sounds like Noisia or Pendulum? (It doesn't, believe me). Do you still listen to proto jungle from '91 or '92? Probably not. I hate 'liquid' d'n'b but love 'techstep' (which are massively different).

I like old skool jungle more than nu skool jungle. (Ganja Kru - Super Sharp Shooter over the entire combined output of Logistics/Commix/High Contrast/London Elektricity/Hospital Records etc etc.....) Because of subgenres, I know not to go to any night billed as 'liquid' thank fuck!

If one day there exists as many subgenres in dubstep as in D'n'B, I'd be pleased simply to see that much progression within the genre!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hip Hop and House music, both of which have a million subcatagories, have solid enduring scenes. Both styles exist on a commercial level and on the underground. Just because something goes commercial, it doesn't make it bad. When Dubstep becomes even more commercial, I'll be happy. I'll earn more and will have to spend less time explaining wtf dubstep is to people who don't know!

He he, troll comments bitten, rant over.

yes yes and yes. i feel almost exactly the same way!

[futures_untold]

I like liquid d'n'b when I'm chilling, but on the rare occasions I go to a club night or festival, I want to pull bass faces and dance like a loon at every new bass drop. Liquid music just flows in a way I can't really get excited about when I'm on the dance floor. I don't do drugs so I don't feel the rushes of slow builds and musical cresendos. That said, I don't usually reach for the dark stuff when I've just woken up either.

I guess that dark and distorted basslines remind me of good adventures in my youth rolling through the night wearing hoods up, whereas liquid d'n'b reminds me of some lonely experiences & snobby bars I could never afford to drink in.

If anybody actually cares, my top friends list on my myspace accurately reflects my musical tastes. Boards of Canada and Thark are both pretty mellow and melodic. (The rest are pretty full on bass manglers though).

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As long as there remains recognition that all styles of music are equally valid, I feel that subcatagorisation is useful for referencing and classification between listeners. All industries have a specialised language that refers to specific concepts/tools & methods, and music is no different.

I'm all for subcatagories, simply so I know where I stand with the content of the music before I spend time listening to it. I couldn't care less who else actually listens to each style, because that's missing the point. I guess d'n'b (and hip hop) suffered when people from different camps started infighting over the classification itself and lost touch with the music. (Like the beef in hip hop between east & west coast rappers).

Ultimately, as pointed out above by SilentK, good music transends catagories and touches us all when we hear it.

[ninjadog]

Once progressive dub step gets labeled, the end is here.

I guess it's inevitable that it will split and I think it will be on the radio before we know it by some douche like madonna, or shitney spears. Or adopted by car commercials.
You cant keep something this good underground. And you cant stop asshole producers selling out a whole scene to make a buck.
Look what happened to acid house. It was dirty, raw and beautiful, spawned a bunch of genres and before you knew it groups like the chemical brothers, the crystal method, and the like totally destroyed it....if your wondering what acid is, that is my point, I'm not talking about LSD kids.

[slothrop]

'Progressive' is the second most slappable word in music, after 'intelligent'.

On the other hand, I think Rusko clones / midrange wobblers pretty much are a subgenre by now whether people have a word for it or not. And I sometimes wonder whether actually calling those tunes something other than just dubstep would emphasize (eg to people who hear Cockney Thug, aren't into it and then don't check out much more) that dubstep is actually a lot broader than that. Or whether it'd be wise to accept that to a lot of people, dubstep = aggro halfstep wobble and nothing else, and refer to the whole range of stuff I'm into (including the halfstep wobble tunes that I like) as dark garage or something.

[abZ]

Dubstep in itself is a sub-genre isn't it? I don't need it. Take all the stuff you like mix it together, make it your own subgenre. Don't let someone else categorize it for you, that takes all the fun out of it. And yeah it will make it boring if 200 other dj's think exactly like you do, or sheepishly follow someone else's lead. That is the way it is in dnb and that is why I rarely listen to it anymore.

[tempest]

I'm off to create some tempestep right now actually

[james fox]

'Progressive' is the second most slappable word in music, after 'intelligent'.

On the other hand, I think Rusko clones / midrange wobblers pretty much are a subgenre by now whether people have a word for it or not. And I sometimes wonder whether actually calling those tunes something other than just dubstep would emphasize (eg to people who hear Cockney Thug, aren't into it and then don't check out much more) that dubstep is actually a lot broader than that.

one of the reasons i disliked dubstep for so long is cos i heard nothing but jump up bassline tracks with stupid samples in them, when i heard the deep stuff i realised the error of my ways...

just started reading 'gravitys rainbow' btw, utter madness on a stick

[FSTZ1]

can we not get into this for everyones sanity?

!!!

[FSTZ1]

it's all beats, bass and samples to me anyway