Hype / Antihype

[intoccabile]

Yes there is a lot of hype ( and " forced positivity "... sometimes the dubstep scene reminds me of an office in which everyone is forced to smile and refrain from saying things which could hurt the dynamics of the workplace ) and and most of the time I find it is not justified.

There, I said it.

I find a lot of reviewers lack judgment and perspective. But that's just me.

Some album / single / event reviews are far too positive, to the point where it sometimes leads me to believe that we might be just " a little bit " afraid of negativity in the dubstep scene. To be honest, I don't find this healthy.

Couldn't hype be thought as some kind of Deckbild ( ie Adorno's Jargon der Eigentlichkeit ), some kind of ( for me it's a bit hard to translate ) " screen " or " veil of representations " between us and dubstep, a discourse which has the effect of making dubstep appear far better, more exciting than it really is and thus predeterming the content of the aesthetic experience ? I believe that the correct answer to " hype in the dubstep scene " ( that's mighty catchy ^_^ ) would be Husserl's " zu den sachen selbst ", or in other words to go back to the thing in itself, in this case dubstep, to just listen to the music and ignore the sometimes huge amount of hype surrounding it. Portrait of the young dubstepper as a phenomenologist : all bout putting the " world " - this includes hype and excludes dubstep ^_^ - between " parentheses ".

Anyway.

[seckle]

the mainstream press hasn't been right about any of the UK's underground music. i can show you some of the coverage that jungle got in 1993-1995, and across the board from the newspapers to the magazines it said that the music was "badly composed", lacked vibes , brought the wrong crowds together and would go nowhere.

now look at jungle after it's decade run?!? it's influenced a whole generation of musicians and producers!!!!

at the end of the day, i could care less about what the press thinks. press is important but as someone said above, good music stands the test of time. i think more focus should be put on quality control in the music and quality control at events. promoter's have a huge responsibility in pushing this music, because it's still so new to people. that first experience is crucial. let's focus less ont he hype and more on making sure there's enough bassbins at the venue.

[*grand*]

tbh whatever happens happens.. just as long as the guys involved now in the scene kep things going i will listen to dubstep for the next 54 years of my life... its good music and well good music can survive the tide of time.....

if people wish to be narrow minded then let them be..

in my mind dubstep.. or the music that these producers/artist create that is distributed amongst us is truly blissed out shit that gets the mind, body and soul synchrinized

to the future what ever it may bring.. just hope to see u all in dmz in 10 years time with your hands in the air meditating on good vybes.

im having a zenned out moment right about now....

[pangaea]

Yes there is a lot of hype ( and " forced positivity "... sometimes the dubstep scene reminds me of an office in which everyone is forced to smile and refrain from saying things which could hurt the dynamics of the workplace ) and and most of the time I find it is not justified.

There, I said it.

So the hype is coming from within the scene rather than outside it? Yeah, I would agree with that.

[opwolf]

I don't care what the media say....as long as the producers continue to make this stuff i'll continue to listen.. and so will thousands of others

Dubstep's "demise" has been grossly exaggerated

[parson]

let's focus less ont he hype and more on making sure there's enough bassbins at the venue.

i like this attitude way more than that "its not all about the bass" nonsense

[pangaea]

let's focus less ont he hype and more on making sure there's enough bassbins at the venue.

i like this attitude way more than that "its not all about the bass" nonsense

Nonsense? Give me interesting, deep dubstep on a great sounding rig rather than some generic wobble track blowing your ears apart any day. It would be a shame to look back on dubstep's bass infatuation as a gimmick; 'oh, you need a 2k rig minimum to get it' etc etc. Let’s face it, any dance music sounds better on a decent system as opposed to a shit one.

[shonky]

I wouldn't worry too much about the media's quick peek at dubstep, it'll get bored move onto the next thing and just forget about it. If you actually look at the reviews for things that AREN'T dubstep, I bet you they'll be similarly well informed on those too.

Years of reading the music press did make me realise the fickle whoredom of dance journalism. It's interesting when it's new, if it does the same thing for three days it's not cutting edge anymore.

Indie journalism of the early-mid 90's was without doubt the worst. Many bands went through the cycle of

a/ confrontational stage show
b/ gets seen by band hack and failed sociologist
c/ hack gets pissed and swear that the band are creating a year zero for music
d/ link some bands together that are vaguely similar sounding and live withing 10 miles of each other
e/ use "scene" to get a front cover of the NME - some sort of revolutionary posing and a controversial quote
f/ folks read article, get enthusiastic and buy music
f/ folks realise that the hack must have been on crack, drunk or bribed if he thought that was a coherent view of the band(s)
g/ hack sees confrontational stage show, but this time the band are wearing suits
h/ original band get dropped by label due to "failing to live up to potential"

I think if things stay good on a word of mouth basis, that's probably the best way to keep things running. Anyone I've convinced to go to a night has generally been very pleased with events but then I haven't tried to get people to come who I know wouldn't like it.

This sort of hype exists to keep jaded readers and writers together and it's a brief flirtation for both and those that aren't interested past the initial phase aren't going to harm anything.

[ewah]

The press will cover dubstep because the music is incredible and there's such a rich scene around it. But as peeps have pointed it, it's going to be a hard sound to force hits out of so I think dubstep's influence will be more sideways than straight-up and that provides a natural limit to the mainsteam's interest cuz obviously that's all about how to make money. Music like this is always in a state of flux - the sheer volume of music and massive creativity means things are bound to change and evolve. But given the talent in the scene, that's just likely to involve more amazing music.

In reality, magazines don't have much impact on anything - more people might be aware of it and there'll doubtless be more A&R people knockin on dubstep's door but this scene and the things that preceeded it have existed and evolved regardless of what happens in the press. Same'll be true here (although beware anyone signing a major label deal...).

[pete_bubonic]

Personally I thought the hype around the dubstep nights such as dmz, fwd>>, subloaded were justified. These nights were/are doing big things. To fill out the Mass venue to capacity on a sound that before was drawing 300 people was and stilll is a memorable achievement. But because of things like this, everyone expected dubstep to be in BMW adverts, to be Danny Williams' entrance to the ring and because of Children of Men, to be in every feature film as standard. Don't get me wrong, I think dubstep has done wonderful things and achieved and progressed so much in the last three years, but this music was simply designed to party to in a sweaty underground and no matter how much the Observer or the Guardian would like to make Burial the saviour of this popularisation of the sound. It still belongs in those underground venues on the big rigs, with loads of red stripe and bare weed. It's good to see the scene diversifying and drawing new crowds and I want there to really be a variety to dubstep, stuff you can chill at home with, stuff you hammer out the car and the stuff you rave to, things that tell a story as well as the beats that make you want to get rowdy at the dance. Fuck whatever some mainstream second rate journalist ha to say, dubstep hasn't yet got to the stage where it's gonna have One Nation or Miss Moneypennies in the second room. And to be honest, that's gonna do it the world of good for some time to come.

[BaronVon]

If the music is good enough it will survive.Forget the hype and popularity contests.This is what killed Jungle in my eyes.People started thinking about money instead of music and creativity.Just look at Techno music for instance.Its been around since arguably the late 1970's with very little hype surrounding it.Consequently it is still going strong today with quality releases and sell out DJ sets.If Jeff Mills/Carl Craig/Derrik May where booked to play Wembley arena it would sell out in no time,due to the hardcore underground following they posess.However if you went out on the street and asked 20 people who these legends are 99.9% wouldnt have a clue.Dubstep will survive as long as it doesnt start selling out to big labels and car commercials.Keep it independent.

[once caldas]

I don't think any of the media attention or potential use of dubstep in car commercials or whatever matters one little bit as long as producers like Mala, Kode9, Loefah, etc. keep making jaw-droppingly good, progressive music (And as long as new talent comes up and keep it fresh). The moment the scene gets dragged down some bass fundamentalism path and every track ends up sounding like some variant on Haunted or Tortured (as good as the originals are) or basically producers keep regurgitating the same ideas, then the whole dubstep thing is essentially fucked. If people keep making great tunes and keep exploring new ideas then there's no reason to fear The Guardian or anyone in the media.

I think most people can see the pitfalls Jungle/Drum n Bass succumbed to (emphasis upon real musicianship e.g. Goldie's Timeless, stagnation in terms of the DJs/producers at the very top, generic drum patterns to make tunes more DJ-friendly and an over-reliance upon what most punters in the clubs *seemed* to want [people, feel free to pull me up on any of these, I'm not the world's most eminent DnB expert, in fact I hate most of it but this ain't supposed to be the main point of my argument]) and as long as people keep a progressive mindset, I see no reason why dubstep can't maintain (or even surpass) its current form.

[parson]

let's focus less ont he hype and more on making sure there's enough bassbins at the venue.

i like this attitude way more than that "its not all about the bass" nonsense

Nonsense? Give me interesting, deep dubstep on a great sounding rig rather than some generic wobble track blowing your ears apart any day. It would be a shame to look back on dubstep's bass infatuation as a gimmick; 'oh, you need a 2k rig minimum to get it' etc etc. Let’s face it, any dance music sounds better on a decent system as opposed to a shit one.

the main point would be that i have heard countless people say dubstep ain't all that

i've also witness numerous people show up to the dance and hear it on the big rig and finally "get it"

[sand leaper]

I don't think any of the media attention or potential use of dubstep in car commercials or whatever matters one little bit as long as producers like Mala, Kode9, Loefah, etc. keep making jaw-droppingly good, progressive music (And as long as new talent comes up and keep it fresh). The moment the scene gets dragged down some bass fundamentalism path and every track ends up sounding like some variant on Haunted or Tortured (as good as the originals are) or basically producers keep regurgitating the same ideas, then the whole dubstep thing is essentially fucked.

Nail on the head. I think this is a far greater danger to dubstep than media hype/commercialism, as dubstep in its current form has little to nothing in terms of pop leanings or similar things that can be exploited for commercial interest.

A good example of things going wrong creatively due to one very influential trendsetter is what happened to goa trance when X-Dream (one of THE leading acts the scene has ever had) released the groundbreaking album Radio. It was full of minimal, dark and abrasive sounds and ideas, a radical opposite of the massively melodic extravaganzas the genre was known for in its early years. In its wake, a massive constituent of the entire scene shifted its focus to mimic X-Dream's minimalistic and technoid approach to goa.
The result was that the entire genre plunged itself into a creative cul-de-sac, where every rave was filled with the same mindnumbingly boring minimalism that was trying desperately (and failing miserably) to attain the same level of impact X-Dream had conjured up. The genre is still recovering from the backlash today.

[once caldas]

http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/ ... 80,00.html

[bze]

What I'm scared of is the de facto status of half step & wobble -type of sound palette which is getting heavily over-used by producers and people who are getting introduced to the whole style. What is left of the garage vibe of early years? Is it just a passing trend in production or something that will stick like paint?

Is it even possible to point out with finger like, "get rid of that freakin amen already"? Not saying that a track built over half step would automatically be bad but I'm conserned that it will become a trademark for a sound that isn't really about half step. Or wobble.

Where's the so much hyped progression when every 2nd release features the same palette of rhythm and sound?

[ramadanman]

from what i'm hearing a lot of producers are moving away from wobbly half step

at dmz leeds on december 2nd, so much was really technoey, 4x4 esque beats

[narcossist]

Interesting if you relate this to what logan was saying about how the dubstep scene has created an infrastructure of nights and labels in a way that grime has failed to do, thus providing a catch net for anyone interested in the sound ie. you go to a night, dig the sound, grab some mixes, read some blogs or here and theres enough shops stocking tunes at last to have a decent chance of buying the records yr after.

Even this time last year there were maybe five releases a month and you had to be fuckin quick to get them. I'd go down boomkat 3 times a week just to check if owt new was in. Now theres so many releases and much bigger pressing runs, and you don't have to go to london for a night. That rise in availability of dubstep is a product of inside hype regardless of mainstream or media recognition.

I agree with whoever said the scene hype can get tedious and often appears devoid of perspective or objective listening, however everyone has honeymoon periods in new music and without the hoards of new enthusiasts into the sound the infrastructure would be much smaller imo. There's no point being underground for the sake of it, if its possible to get dubstep into mainstream culture without comprimise and dilution i'm all for it. If the Guardian ain't feelin, so fuck.. does dubstep need validating?

Enjoy it while it lasts and look forward to what mutations are comin next, if you think a tunes shit don't buy it. If you can see hype for what it is then its no longer a problem.

[spooKs]

I don't think any of the media attention or potential use of dubstep in car commercials or whatever matters one little bit as long as producers like Mala, Kode9, Loefah, etc. keep making jaw-droppingly good, progressive music (And as long as new talent comes up and keep it fresh). The moment the scene gets dragged down some bass fundamentalism path and every track ends up sounding like some variant on Haunted or Tortured (as good as the originals are) or basically producers keep regurgitating the same ideas, then the whole dubstep thing is essentially fucked.

Nail on the head. I think this is a far greater danger to dubstep than media hype/commercialism, as dubstep in its current form has little to nothing in terms of pop leanings or similar things that can be exploited for commercial interest.

A good example of things going wrong creatively due to one very influential trendsetter is what happened to goa trance when X-Dream (one of THE leading acts the scene has ever had) released the groundbreaking album Radio. It was full of minimal, dark and abrasive sounds and ideas, a radical opposite of the massively melodic extravaganzas the genre was known for in its early years. In its wake, a massive constituent of the entire scene shifted its focus to mimic X-Dream's minimalistic and technoid approach to goa.
The result was that the entire genre plunged itself into a creative cul-de-sac, where every rave was filled with the same mindnumbingly boring minimalism that was trying desperately (and failing miserably) to attain the same level of impact X-Dream had conjured up. The genre is still recovering from the backlash today.

i did wonder what had happened to goa...

where's the Hallucinogen - Twisteds of this era