Halfstep

[r33lc4sh]

to me the key idea to take from halfstep is asymmetric bars.

2step was still based on the Kick-Snare-Kick-Snare pattern, which is pretty symmetrical and became restrictive.

With halfstep, now it's reduced down to Kick_space_Snare_space the thing to think about is how many interesting asymetrical patterns can evolve up out of it.

halfstep asymetrical??? lol
http://myspace.com/slepcy - that's asymetrical

[ufo over easy]

rhythm, riddim, is kind of pretty fucking important if were still talking about this as dance music, which i hope we are becuase im not on all this meditative escapist shit man, i just wanna bruck out to sick tunes

It can be both. And you can do both in a dance... sometimes at the same time. That's the main reason I got involved with dubstep.

http://myspace.com/slepcy - that's asymetrical

Yes. But it has no groove. No funk. It's not even the least bit challenging either, which seems to be what all those jason forrest hanger-on types seem to care so much about. It's just not an interesting listen...

[spaceboy]

i dunno about all that stuff. all i kno is when im in a dance, nowadays way too often sets are soudning boring. end of. listing a load of producers and track titles isnt going to make them any less boring. and yes.
rhythm, riddim, is kind of pretty fucking important if were still talking about this as dance music, which i hope we are becuase im not on all this meditative escapist shit man, i just wanna bruck out to sick tunes

word.

[r33lc4sh]

http://myspace.com/slepcy - that's asymetrical

Yes.

But it has no groove. No funk.

was reffering to asymetry not to groove and funk

[elgato]

i dunno about all that stuff. all i kno is when im in a dance, nowadays way too often sets are soudning boring. end of. listing a load of producers and track titles isnt going to make them any less boring. and yes.
rhythm, riddim, is kind of pretty fucking important if were still talking about this as dance music, which i hope we are becuase im not on all this meditative escapist shit man, i just wanna bruck out to sick tunes

if its just a matter that you dont like it then thats that, im not trying to convince you to like it, what would be the point?! im challenging any claims that its lacking innovation or whatever else.

and of course rhythm is still important, probably the most important element if you put it like that, i wasnt saying it wasnt, just that theres more to music than just that. And theres more to rhythm and groove than snares, or even drums for that matter. And theres more to appreciation of atmosphere and vibe than meditative escapist shit!

[braiden]

i personally been messing with the polyrythms a bit, literally mixing up a half step beat with something faster over the top.. has some interesting results..

Kode 9 does this a lot.

i didnt even notice kode9 using polyrhythms, what tunes does he use polyrhythms? I've heard benga use them a couple of times though to great effect, Zombie Jig in particular with the 3/4 riff over the 4/4 beat, works perfectly!

[masstronaut]

to me the key idea to take from halfstep is asymmetric bars.

That's some athletic shit right there!

[braiden]

i dunno about all that stuff. all i kno is when im in a dance, nowadays way too often sets are soudning boring. end of. listing a load of producers and track titles isnt going to make them any less boring. and yes.

rhythm, riddim, is kind of pretty fucking important if were still talking about this as dance music, which i hope we are becuase im not on all this meditative escapist shit man, i just wanna bruck out to sick tunes

To me one of the best things about dubstep music is that it isn't a relentless type of 'dance music' like most club music styles out there. I love the fact that someone like kode9 can drop a tune like 9samurai which isnt really a dance tune at all, without fear of losing the attention of the crowd. Hopefully the scene wont turn into DJs feeling they have to constantly play 'sick tunes to brock out to' just to keep the crowd enticed.

[masstronaut]

I think the development of 'halfstep' from two-step is really just about the space in the basic rhythm - this leaves so much more room for other stuff to go on, rhythmically or otherwise. On the while I think it's a good thing. Obviously there will be some tracks which just give you a kick and a snare on the 1 and 3 and pretty much leave it at that, which for the most part is not that edifying, but you know, just don't buy em!

Youngsta is regularly pointed to as an exemplar of the purist halfstep current, but listen to his Rinse set from last week (12-8-06) and there's hardly any stuff in there that could be defined as straight-down-the-line halftep, and what is there is really really funky.

And meditation is not 'escapist'.!!!!!

[spooKs]

i think halfstep is being overused, or at least the kind of halfstep music we're hearing now, but to me halfstep, if you wanna call it that, IS amazingly full of potential and different ways of using the beat, and thats because really minimal halfstep stuff is actually suggesting that the beats actually become obsolete, up to a point. What i mean is that with tunes like distance's newest mu release, loefah - mud, headhunter's stuff and countless others is that from listening to just the halfstep beat the rhythm seems very one-dimensional and clichéd, but as soon as you hear the same tune on a big system or at least with good subs, the bass and filters on the bass, and changing frequencies and creates a whole new aspect to the rhythm, making it far more complicated. In this way, the more minimal and uncluttered the beat is only makes the rhythm created by the bass stronger, but it still needs that heavy halfstep clunk.

i guess what i'm trying to say is that if people are gonna keep making very minimal halfstep tunes they ahve to remember that the beats are minimal and slow for a reason, not just to make big bassline stompers...experiment, diversify, don't just try make a more perfect bassline and halfstep thud that fits the same blueprint each time.

(btw...big up headhunter, loefah, distance - i can't fault you)

[ufo over easy]

i personally been messing with the polyrythms a bit, literally mixing up a half step beat with something faster over the top.. has some interesting results..

Kode 9 does this a lot.

i didnt even notice kode9 using polyrhythms, what tunes does he use polyrhythms? I've heard benga use them a couple of times though to great effect, Zombie Jig in particular with the 3/4 riff over the 4/4 beat, works perfectly!

I meant what ozols was talking about - mixing up half step with "something faster over the top." Curious has a garagey, two-step kind of arrangement, but a lilting, driving half step pattern underneath that. The emphasis of the beats gives it that halfstep feel..

Might not be technically polyrhythmic though, you're right there.

[collige]

halfstep is the future

[diss04]

halfstep is the future

Yeah but tomorrow is also the future and tomorrow some bloke who lives over the road said he's gonna beat me up (he's in Torquay at the moment, caravanning, he returns on the morrow) 'cos I was diddling his daughter.

The future isn't always good.

[Sharmaji]

halfstep is the future

halfstep was the future

[rev]

yesterdays future - 5 hours str8 halfstep: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WZV7VP5T ,
tracklists: http://revealomaniac.blogspot.com/search?q=halfstep

[kp mike]

nu-speedgarage

[fooishbar]

To me one of the best things about dubstep music is that it isn't a relentless type of 'dance music' like most club music styles out there. I love the fact that someone like kode9 can drop a tune like 9samurai which isnt really a dance tune at all, without fear of losing the attention of the crowd. Hopefully the scene wont turn into DJs feeling they have to constantly play 'sick tunes to brock out to' just to keep the crowd enticed.

haha, oh well

[spooKs]

To me one of the best things about dubstep music is that it isn't a relentless type of 'dance music' like most club music styles out there. I love the fact that someone like kode9 can drop a tune like 9samurai which isnt really a dance tune at all, without fear of losing the attention of the crowd. Hopefully the scene wont turn into DJs feeling they have to constantly play 'sick tunes to brock out to' just to keep the crowd enticed.

haha, oh well

haha

[nellon]

Lately ive been experimenting alot.. Because I think, even how good/hard halfstep riddims can be... We need a change. I see alot of great producer saying they arent bound by the genre dubstep or anything.. Still I see them making halfstep riddims all the time.

Imo, breaky kinda dubstep is the future. (Back to choppin breaks)

[NXT]

We're getting a lot more artists with no halfstep tunes.

Moth is a new one. Look out for that.