Pitchfork 2008 End of Year round up...

[geoff]

i don't think any of the artists involved refer to their music as wonky either

[geoff]

and as boring as a night of loef-a-likes is, if i listened to 2 hours of tunes using the same wonky synths and vocoders i would probably glass myself in the face.

the irony is that by labelling all this stuff under wonky it makes it more easier for this sound to attract copyists and therefore get rinsed

[pompende]

yeah, that is my concern exactly.


also, i seem to have mistakenly created a hierarchy of badness with my syntax.

either extreme is equally bad imo.

[conspira]

aquacrunk

[blackdown]

i think the last thing this genre needs is to have interesting producers like that pushed into a different sub genre

ah it's no biggie. they have enough in common to warrant loose proximity in a paragraph of their own but still enough in common with the rest of the piece to be part of a "dubstep and grime" column. i have full faith in the artists involved that it will take a little bit more than an online paragraph shape to stop them being innovative, free thinking and creative.

[noodles dpr recordings]

interesting how you class joker, ikonika, zomby, starkey and gemmy as wonky and not dubstep.

i think the last thing this genre needs is to have interesting producers like that pushed into a different sub genre.

and as boring as a night of loef-a-likes is, if i listened to 2 hours of tunes using the same wonky synths and vocoders i would probably glass myself in the face.

shit can't be that bad??

[diss04]

i think the last thing this genre needs is to have interesting producers like that pushed into a different sub genre

ah it's no biggie. they have enough in common to warrant loose proximity in a paragraph of their own but still enough in common with the rest of the piece to be part of a "dubstep and grime" column. i have full faith in the artists involved that it will take a little bit more than an online paragraph shape to stop them being innovative, free thinking and creative.

well said.

[pompende]

first, no, it's not that bad. I actually quite like all of the artists in question. I am presuming that the same sound done with less finesse could be actively dis-enjoyable, however.

i think the last thing this genre needs is to have interesting producers like that pushed into a different sub genre

ah it's no biggie. they have enough in common to warrant loose proximity in a paragraph of their own but still enough in common with the rest of the piece to be part of a "dubstep and grime" column. i have full faith in the artists involved that it will take a little bit more than an online paragraph shape to stop them being innovative, free thinking and creative.

right. i am thinking about peeps who read pitchfork on the regs tho. generally an overly-impressionable bunch.

it wouldn't be worrisome at all if I could think of more djs (like yourself and dusk) who blend these styles.

speaking of which, how nice would it be if kode started doing the fwd show again!

[reptilian]

this article seems overly negative and is quite divisive really

joker's dubstep/grime as far as most people are concerned

wonky? seriously what is this bullshit? thought this article was supposed to be about the year in grime and dubstep..

dont even get me started on what the fuck funky has to do with it...

[ory]

the column should just be called "The Month In: 'Nuum-and-stuff-related-to-'nuum-but-not-really"

[tony k]

why do the worst names for music genres come from UK journalists?


they are all suspect...

[mirislav]

Not really understanding the blackdown criticism?! The pitchfork column is essential reading imo, or maybe that qualifies me as one of these 'overly impressionable' types!? In next months column, the 2009 top 10

[willis]

fuck wonky

[dq]

I would have liked to hear a mention of some of fine contributions this year in the full length album format. CD's by 2562, Scuba, Matty G, and Pinch to name a few explored the sound in a format not intended for club impact but which nonetheless brought a more reflective and thoughtful side to dubstep which was refreshing given all of the sudden hype last year.

[dq]

Gotta big up Martin still for a solid thoughtful piece of writing. Really agreed with most of the picks.

[reptilian]

not sure i agree with the idea that the dancefloor smashing wobble tracks will necessarily lead to dubstep becoming purely "functional"

this implies that their only purpose might be to make people dance, rather than contain any innovative content. skream, coki and jakes tunes, amongst others, are wildly innovative sonically and structurally, even while some of their tracks are total dancefloor wreckers

its possible to be danceable and innovative - a recent distance set I witnessed at the west indian centre demonstrated this well with some real upbeat distorted stuff and more meditative tunes together

[blackdown]

I would have liked to hear a mention of some of fine contributions this year in the full length album format. CD's by 2562, Scuba, Matty G, and Pinch...

ello mr q. really enjoyed your set at dmz last night.

re your above points, I included the (excellent) Pinch album in my '07 round up. i covered the 2562 album this year but i didn't feel strongly enough to include it in the '08 "best of" column.

And i've not heard the Scuba or Matty G albums and have this minor rule of not recommending or writing about things i've not heard

but out to all the album artists in dubstep and grime. stand up!

[lightness]

good article

[gragy10]

Def a good article - thought it was nice to see the related sub-genres broken down like that. End of year list in November's a bit odd but sure that's Pitchfork's perogative.
On a related note it's kinda frustrating that there's not a couple more scene steeped writers out there with a Pitchfork sized platform at their disposal. Different journo's are always gonna be into different styles and artists and Martin's views on wobble are pretty well documented. It'd be interesting to see someone as clued up come back with a defence of wobble (which liek it or not is a huge part of the scene) beyond OMG!!!!!!! MASSIV DROP!!!!!!!
Be good to have a broader range of opinions out there, but that's hardly Martin's fault.
Editors, get on it..

[mos dan]

big up blackdown as ever for pushing good music and sticking the knife (fork?) into the soulless, the retrograde, the sexless, the bludgeoning and the swingless. if you like all the music he doesn't and hate all the music he does then write yr own bloody column

('wobbleblogspot.com' would be hilarious actually, i'd love to see someone try and make the case for it convincingly)