Dubstep - a genre?

anarch_x · Post by **anarch_x** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:52 pm

bandshell wrote:In my eyes dubstep isn't a "genre" at all, genre is a marketing tool used to sate certain people's desire to label and package everything possible.

If you look at merely a handful of artists in this supposed genre, the styles of music vary tremendously, for example Joker, Burial and Reso. All three of these artists have been referred to as dubstep but yet when listening to the work of each one they are staggeringly different.

I believe that dubstep is simply another word for music as a whole really. At first I thought that maybe it could be used as a name for electronic music in a broad sense due to the huge amount of scope and wide array of sounds encompassed by the name dubstep, but the more I thought about it the more I saw an element of every style of music in it, instruments from every other genre of music are used, as are elements and instruments from all around the world. I see dubstep as tearing down the genre template and replacing it with a collective term for manipulated sound and therefore meaning exactly the same as the word music.

Discuss?

(This probably sounds illogical and ludicrous to somebody somewhere and I really hope it does)

um.... no.... now put down the crack pipe

dj cal cutta · Post by **dj cal cutta** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:57 pm

Dubstep- a genre, a dance music genre!
Bass- A low, low rumbling toooonnnnne!!!
Beats- Some drums, that make the rhythm!
Dubz- Some new, exclusive shiiiiiiiit!!
Subs- The boxes that make the raaaaaave!
Decks- The wheels that spin the tuuuunes!
Mix- The dopest of all bleeeennnds!!
D'oh- I can't, believe, I made this post!

Sorry, I just read that thread title and that was the first thing that came to mind.

divanrod · Post by **divanrod** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:00 pm

read below

divanrod · Post by **divanrod** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:01 pm

Genres are used to try describe similar certain sounds, in music, or similar attributes in anything. The term "dubstep" is used as an umbrella term to try to group similar sounds for practical reasons.

It's like apples and oranges, except less objective.

my left retina · Post by **my left retina** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:03 pm

dubstep is a genre, to me, because its sellable as such. i mean where the fuck would you put a Burial track in a shop rack without it?

i dont really believe you can define a genre by saying everything at 140bpm is dubstep, theres so much variation within the music. I agree with whoever it was that said it was about the vibes you get.

that vibesman hit the nail on the head.

ahier · Post by **ahier** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:08 pm

if dubstep doesn't doesn't exist... then what does that make this forum?
www.forum.com?

(my one and only trying to be funny and failing post ever, forgive me)

dubspore · Post by **dubspore** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:37 pm

Uncle Bill wrote:
conscious_pilot wrote:proof that dubstep doesn't exist
Someone once asked Duke Ellington what jazz was and he answered "it's whatever Ella Fitzgerald sings".

All this reminds me of mos def's answer to a similar question..

Listen.. people be askin me all the time,
"Yo Mos, what's gettin ready to happen with Hip-Hop?"
(Where do you think Hip-Hop is goin?)
I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with Hip-Hop?
Whatever's happening with us"
If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out
If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright
People talk about Hip-Hop like it's some giant livin in the hillside
comin down to visit the townspeople
We (are) Hip-Hop
Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop
So Hip-Hop is goin where we goin
So the next time you ask yourself where Hip-Hop is goin
ask yourself.. where am I goin? How am I doin?
Til you get a clear idea

but if you really need a concrete definition - how about 140ish, bass, and beats resembling something closer to what you'd typically hear on a track made at under 100 bpm. This allows for a very wide variety of styles and sounds yet keeps it all together for DJs and dancers. ie HEAVEN!

tacospheros · Post by **tacospheros** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:38 pm

DJ Cal Cutta wrote:Dubstep- a genre, a dance music genre!
Bass- A low, low rumbling toooonnnnne!!!
Beats- Some drums, that make the rhythm!
Dubz- Some new, exclusive shiiiiiiiit!!
Subs- The boxes that make the raaaaaave!
Decks- The wheels that spin the tuuuunes!
Mix- The dopest of all bleeeennnds!!
D'oh- I can't, believe, I made this post!

Sorry, I just read that thread title and that was the first thing that came to mind.

OH FUCK i hope i was sposed to read that to the tune of Doh Ray Me , cuz now im laughing my fucking ass off

bandshell · Post by **bandshell** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:40 pm

ahaha yeah same here.

dj cal cutta · Post by **dj cal cutta** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:41 pm

hehehe, I was really afraid noone would get that and I would just look like a complete idiot, but someone got it!

human? · Post by **human?** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:45 pm

bandshell wrote:That's not the point of the thread, and we don't have to, in my view music is music (yeah I know thats a label but it doesn't need further labelling), you either like a track/band/singer etc or you don't. The whole genre thing is marketing, something is liked by people therefore they name it and make more things like that and label these further things the same as the previous. People buy what they know, a lot of people don't like change or difference.

I know we can't function without order etc and it's impossible not to have it (anarchy is a contradiciton in itself and all that) but doesn't mean we shouldn't object/discuss/ponder/attempt to go against it

while yes the genre thing is pretty much marketing, its also true that birds of a feather flock together....

the mistake is when people think that the MAP (the word dubstep) is the TERRITORY (the music & people)

maps are helpful TOOLS for navigating, but the situation on the ground is always very different.

for example, even tho google maps has satellite and everything, they STILL have my block labelled as a park. i live on a nice block, but i do live here, and its NOT a park, despite what google maps says. altho you can use google maps to get to my house.....

Hibbie · Post by **Hibbie** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:00 pm

I seriously do think that surface tension is actually ruining dubstep,

snf · Post by **snf** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:06 pm

bandshell wrote:In my eyes dubstep isn't a "genre" at all, genre is a marketing tool used to sate certain people's desire to label and package everything possible.

If you look at merely a handful of artists in this supposed genre, the styles of music vary tremendously, for example Joker, Burial and Reso. All three of these artists have been referred to as dubstep but yet when listening to the work of each one they are staggeringly different.

i think this can be said for every genre of music in the history of humanity. others have mentioned jazz, hiphop, and electronica which this is surely true for (cal tjader vs buddy rich, donald byrd vs john coltrane, DMX vs main source, AFX vs xela, etc). i mean, jazz isn't even constrained by BPM, instrumentation, or rhythm, so what does that genre mean?

genres are always for classification, mostly for retail sales as far as i'm concerned. you have to know the musical style of any performer in any genre before you decide if you want to go see them live, or continue to buy their music.

saying something is dubstep to me says that it will be around 140bpm, have a bunch of synths, and big bass. that's about all, and that is damn flexible. that's also why i love it so much.

bagelator · Post by **bagelator** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:45 am

snf wrote:jazz isn't even constrained by BPM, instrumentation, or rhythm, so what does that genre mean?

excellent point. contrast the big band jazz of glenn miller with clifford brown's music, with that freeform clangfest that is free jazz. nothing to do with each other , except for similar instrumentation.

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