Girl Unit - Wut was a shotgun blast to the knee of Dubstep

[skwiggo]

ellipsis mite not be groundbreaking but i still think its a really good tune.

and i also think glut is a good tune - when tracks like wut, work them and glut came out it gave the dubstep scene a kick up the arse as there was nothing around like it at 140bpm at the time imo. its not really girl unit or ramadanmans fault that everyone started copying that sound.

at the same time i def agree the whole 'bass' scene aping house/techno/whatever and the 808 stuff is starting to get very oversaturated and i think the dubstep/techno crossover stuff from 2007-2009 was better (as shown by allstars 6-7, round black ghost compilations/skull disco soundboy punishment/grave etc.)

did you have this opinion about those tracks at the time wub?

[volcanogeorge]

maybe it was too different to what was about at the time, so everyone thought "wow this is mental" and copied it

[Phigure]

i think glut/sicko cell and wut created two very different, independent "movements" (read: circlejerks).

wut started this whole trap/bass fusion thing that mightve been fun for a few months when it started, but has just become one of the worst, most obnoxious music trends since brostep. NOT that i dont like wut or girl unit in general, it was a big tune then and its still a big tune - it's just that it's inadvertently started something terrible.

glut/sicko cell started this whole house-y & techno-ish sort of throwback thing, which i dont mind at all tbh, cause it's bringing that sort of shit back with a dubstep way of approaching it - dark, subby, minimal, etc. they're taking elements and recycling them, and putting them in a new context. there's enough fresh sounds coming out of that spectrum imo to not really complain about it



also glut is like my favorite thing ever, anyone who talks shit on it

[Naan_Bread]

I think these tracks did generate a lot of imitation but also encouraged the crossover, open minded sensibility that has been driving bass music since.

There are still tunes coming out that sound like weak Burial imitations so how is that any different?

Basically anything good enough to be influential is going to leave behind a wake of shit in addition to a lot of growth and innovation.

I don't see what Joy O making nostalgic house music has to do with Girl Unit, and yeah Ellipsis is a good track.

[mks]

That new Joy O track Ellipsis is cut from virtually the same template too.

This track is straight up House.

[skwiggo]

I think these tracks did generate a lot of imitation but also encouraged the crossover, open minded sensibility that has been driving bass music since.

There are still tunes coming out that sound like weak Burial imitations so how is that any different?

Basically anything good enough to be influential is going to leave behind a wake of shit in addition to a lot of growth and innovation.

I don't see what Joy O making nostalgic house music has to do with Girl Unit, and yeah Ellipsis is a good track.

agree here! theres def producers that stand out making consistently good bass/house/techno/whatever - like blawan, untold, pangaea, mosca, boddika, randomer, joy o, bokbok, jam city, jon convex, martyn, 2562/amus, kingdom, mickey pearce/shortstuff, blah blah blah.

and what about all the shitmerchants making boring dungeon or skrillex/datsik/doctor p/insert bro producer here ripoffs? those shotgun blasts have nearly taken the whole leg off imo.

one problem i do have with the bass stuff though is it concentrates on small segments of house and techno and related genres without looking at other important parts but thats a different thing altogether.

[ThomasEll]

It was a good track, and I don't think it can be necessarily held accountable for the stuff that followed it (although I get your point). I think the real problem is that tracks that followed it didn't try anything different.



A bit like you can probably trace all of brostep (and whatever the hell you call what that spawned) back to a handful of tearout tracks.

[dickman69]

Sensing the same sort of revival now though with Ellipsis

not of 808 but 303, look at the Trevino/Boddika/Blawan releases coming out, all mimic that acid sound
as does the XXXY and Leon Vynehall EPs on Well Rounded (still huge releases)
but I could quickly see people complaining about this too

bottom line, producers are gonna make what they think is cool, up to you to decide

[skwiggo]

yeah the acid thing is def becoming the new 808

drum machine nerd alert: i've heard 707 sounds in quite a lot of recent bass releases (helix drum track, pearson sound auntie flo remix, loads more just listen to any numbers/hessle rinse podcast). mebbe another new trend?

[mks]

Sensing the same sort of revival now though with Ellipsis

Not sure what you mean about revival, more like discovery. House has been doing its thing for awhile now.

[dickman69]

i mean its becoming more and more prevalent

its like acid bits in almost every big house tune i hear now

[skwiggo]

i think it started with blawans bohla release on r&s and since then people in the scene have been playing loads of old acid trax and putting 303 lines in everything.

[Phigure]

yeah the acid thing is def becoming the new 808

drum machine nerd alert: i've heard 707 sounds in quite a lot of recent bass releases (helix drum track, pearson sound auntie flo remix, loads more just listen to any numbers/hessle rinse podcast). mebbe another new trend?

detroit techno is just getting popular again and it was all about the 707.

[noam]

For anyone nearing the age of 25 or over trends in music shouldn't be a surprise

simply separate the wheat from the chaff and move on

[hutyluty]

I like every single song mentioned in this thread

even the mr postman one.

I think there's definitely a generational thing here. I mean, if you've been around for a while, then you'll have experienced house and acid and whatever first hand- or secondhand and so aren't particularly inpired by its return. But imagine it from the perspective of a 19 year old, ie. me. When some my favourite producers started dropping the tempo and mixing with old records it was all new to me, therefore fresh and exciting- to me it did seem innovative- and probably a fair few of the producers pushing it were discovering it at the same time. (and even better there were and are thousands of tracks and loads of histroy to dig through)

When I'm 30 and theres people making stuff which blatantly references dubstep and is called "new, innovative, fresh etc."- mixing it with old horsepower tunes then i'll probably get pissed off too, think its just the way of the world.

[skwiggo]

yeah the acid thing is def becoming the new 808

drum machine nerd alert: i've heard 707 sounds in quite a lot of recent bass releases (helix drum track, pearson sound auntie flo remix, loads more just listen to any numbers/hessle rinse podcast). mebbe another new trend?

detroit techno is just getting popular again and it was all about the 707.

yeah thats def true - also noticed older chicago stuff cropping up in folks mixes. chicago stuff like larry heard, adonis and marshall jefferson used to use the 707 a lot as well.

next all the bass producers will be using the linndrum

[mks]

I like every single song mentioned in this thread

even the mr postman one.

I think there's definitely a generational thing here. I mean, if you've been around for a while, then you'll have experienced house and acid and whatever first hand- or secondhand and so aren't particularly inpired by its return. But imagine it from the perspective of a 19 year old, ie. me. When some my favourite producers started dropping the tempo and mixing with old records it was all new to me, therefore fresh and exciting- to me it did seem innovative- and probably a fair few of the producers pushing it were discovering it at the same time. (and even better there were and are thousands of tracks and loads of histroy to dig through)

When I'm 30 and theres people making stuff which blatantly references dubstep and is called "new, innovative, fresh etc."- mixing it with old horsepower tunes then i'll probably get pissed off too, think its just the way of the world.

Right on, good post.

It all moves in cycles.

[skwiggo]

following on from that i really like how djs like ben ufo, jackmaster, oneman etc. are combining the old with the new thats really cool. i've found loads of good old and new house/techno music thanks to the dropping of the genre boundaries that djs like them are instigating.

although people really need to stop making tracks with late 90s r&b acapellas, woodblocks and the goldbaby 808 sample pack (i'm equally guilty for abusing these three things in the past)

[wormcode]

As mentioned it's not really new though. Maybe new for a few producers, but techno, house, 808s and 303s never went anywhere. Acid has been going strong for 20 years. Never went anywhere, so how can it 'come back'...

Personally I'd much rather hear generic house or whatever than cookie cutter dubstep that all sound like the same youtube tutorial.

[noam]

just think about quality and the rest will fall into place

its when it sounds forced that it sounds weak