research about dubstep/bassmusic scene

[groovescientist]

Hello everyone,

I will be starting my final thesis in musicology and as a dubstep enthusiast (blogger and DJ) I want to do an ethnography about the scene in London. Ethnography just means that it will be about the perspective of the people within the scene and no overacademic theory behind it...
Possible issues of interest could be for example the deep psychological effect of the bass etc.

My main approach is doing open interviews, inb which I will ask people within the "scene", whith what I mean producers, fans, label owners etc...
As a music journalist I have some experience in doing interviews, since I already spoke to people like Loefah, Mala, Autechre...

As a german I will move to London for this and I am a little afraid of losing the focus there due to the amount of parties and people etc. And first of all, I don´t really know if one could say that dubstep/bassmusic is really a scene or if it´s just a loose collective of people with some interest in bass and weed

Does somebody have any ideas if you could say that it is a real scene or just what my research should include?

(Maybe someone is also interested in getting interviewed)

[nousd]

I want to do an ethnography about the scene in London.....perspective of the people within the scene...I am a little afraid of losing the focus there due to the amount of parties and people

Surely one of the reasons you've picked the topic is so you can immerse yourself in something you dig. Necessarily you need to lose focus, challenge assumptions & possibly come to unexpected conclusions.

I don´t really know if one could say that dubstep/bassmusic is really a scene or if it´s just a loose collective of people with some interest in bass and weed. Does somebody have any ideas if you could say that it is a real scene or just what my research should include?

I'm not in London but, if it's anything like here, for fans the scene is made of disparate individuals, who often (at least up till recently) feel isolated in their dubstep obsession. That's why nights are so important (apart from big sound systems) because you gradually get to know people who know what you know. On the other hand, producers & djs tend to clump together for mutual encouragement & to help each other keep up with what's incoming musically & technically. I think studying the synergy between producers & punters would be productive...look at the way the original producers have been regarded as creating a quasi-religious experience, the way Youngsta is treated like a prophet, Zomby like a crazy pariah, brosteppas like heretics who are yet to be converted & associated genres like temptations from the true path. The way esteemed producers largely eschewed popularity for creative freedom & djs stayed grounded (until recently).
But then that sort of outlook seems to be changing & a study of the way steppas are adapting to dubstep becoming commercial, more diverse & influential would keep your study fresh (& more relevant) rather than historical.

You're right that it would be easy to lose focus...might be useful to start with a really specific question.

[kixo]

can't help much cause i live in paris, but i wish you success for this initiative

[Reese_Liar]

I want to do an ethnography about the scene in London.....perspective of the people within the scene...I am a little afraid of losing the focus there due to the amount of parties and people

I think studying the synergy between producers & punters would be productive...look at the way the original producers have been regarded as creating a quasi-religious experience, the way Youngsta is treated like a prophet, Zomby like a crazy pariah, brosteppas like heretics who are yet to be converted & associated genres like temptations from the true path.

I don't have anything to add, I just want to comment and say that that's a very interesting perspective on the scene, and music scenes in general..

Edit: and of course good luck in your endeavours, hope you have a blast and learn/produce something interesting

[groovescientist]

Thank you for your opinions...inspiring thoughts

I also think that the openness of the genre is an interesting point, although this have lead to a lot of commercial productions which just rely on an easy structure and middle range wobble bass.

I think another problem could be that the term dubstep is problematic itself and that I should include UK Funky, Wonky etc. too, even if that would extend the size of the people involved. Maybe I could just use the term bassmusic?

Anyway, there has to be something which joins the producers and punters of these different styles together...

[ntropy]

Come on, get the conversation started! Your opinions will help me to ask the right questions and to write a nice book about dubstep for our history!

[ultraspatial]

For the "the deep psychological effect of the bass" you should get in touch with Kode9, seeing how he wrote a book on the effects of sound on masses.
As for the scene aesthetic of it, you should get in touch with people who live around there. Decide what to focus on, considering that the "dubstep scene" everyone was following became the "bass music scene" or whatever the fuck Fact and the like call it.

[ntropy]

Yeah, the stupid name-inventing thing is really a problem...Or not...

I think it is really not a problem to replace the term dubstep with bassmusic. The music can speak for itself... I dont want to suspend too much time with all the different names for each subgenre, although I could do it as someone who knows a lot about dubstep from going to clubs around europe (Paris, Croatia, Italy, Germany) and doing interviews with several dubstep artists.

My focus will be the people in the scene, which means lsiteners, fans, producers, DJs, writers etc... and how they relate themselves and their lives to the music (bassmusic with bass and complex beats as central elements) ...

And I already wrote the book of Steve Goodman (Kode9) and its very interesting, but it doesnt say anything about the people, it is just theory and that´s also a reason why I want to write about the scene itself...

[soulkids]

he said nothing too 'overacademic' so I wouldn't necessarily recommend 'Sonic Warfare' though it's a very interesting book!

/e oh, then ignore this post

you're behind the ntropy blog right? very interesting articles you have...

[ultraspatial]

I meant to interview him, not refference his book.

[ultraspatial]

A backlash against dubstep as a reason for producers/djs to move away from it and the way it's viewed worldwide could be pretty interesting to tackle. Especially if you're taking the "bass music" as a whole approach.

[ntropy]

he said nothing too 'overacademic' so I wouldn't necessarily recommend 'Sonic Warfare' though it's a very interesting book!

Yeahm the book is interesting like I already wrote...

/e oh, then ignore this post

you're behind the ntropy blog right? very interesting articles you have...

yes, it is my blog, thank you... I really would like to write in english, but I doubt that my language skills are good enough
can you speak german or did you just recognize the headlines?

[ntropy]

A backlash against dubstep as a reason for producers/djs to move away from it and the way it's viewed worldwide could be pretty interesting to tackle. Especially if you're taking the "bass music" as a whole approach.

that could be interesting, but that would be a really special aspect and it wouldnt really be about the scene...I think Simon Reynolds would say that they move away because of the will to "push things forward" as a general mode of his Hardcore Continuum theory....

Would it make sense to try to write a kind of empirical argument for his HC theory? Like proving if the push things forward-thing is really so important in the scene?

[ultraspatial]

I don't know how you can get any empirical evidence for that tbh. I'm guessing interviews with a lot of producers and people like Blackdown and Reynolds himself?

[ultraspatial]

The problem is, you can't really observe this and I don't think the producers' "gotta take it to the next level" mentality is enough.

[soulkids]

he said nothing too 'overacademic' so I wouldn't necessarily recommend 'Sonic Warfare' though it's a very interesting book!

Yeahm the book is interesting like I already wrote...

/e oh, then ignore this post

you're behind the ntropy blog right? very interesting articles you have...

yes, it is my blog, thank you... I really would like to write in english, but I doubt that my language skills are good enough
can you speak german or did you just recognize the headlines?

yeah of course! I think I first noticed your blog when you wrote about shackleton in 2010 or so (via dancehallmusic.de). I really wish you good luck, I know how hard it can be trying to express and translate what seems so obvious and easily formulated in german. also when reading goodman's book I realised the difference between the standards of the english language between a novel and a scientific book (not implying that novel's can't be 'hard' to understand based on lacking vocabulary).

so keep up the good work, I was hoping for a more extensive review of outlook 2011 though

[ntropy]

I am afraid that I dont have time to write a review. Maybe that`s also because I was a little disappointed in the festival: too much people, too long lines for getting drinks/food etc...

If anyone has a good tip how to get in touch with the heart of the scene (fans, producers..) apart from going to dubstep nights, please let me know. I think going to record shops is a good idea...

I will travel to London tomorrow.

[clifford_-]

give one of us a shout and come down to a night and chat to people. a load of people will be @ hidden, vauxhall, friday night for appleblim/loefah/mosca etc... including myself, and quite a few other forum members.
you should come , and just chat! smoking areas are great for doing said talking...!

[ntropy]

thank you, I will check that out... does it make sense to buy a ticket before or is there no problem to get in?

[m3camp]

I remember stumbling upon an article in the Get Darker archives about the potential physical effects of bass weight. Unfortunately I couldn't find it but I remember it talking about how archeological evidence has suggested that "bass" has been observed centuries before our time from air blowing through natural caves and structures.

Although a tangent, it also talked about how listening/feeling songs as heavy as Loefah's The Goat Stare have had a substantial effect on audiences in a way that has characterized the genre as well as its scene.