Dubstep - a genre?

bandshell · Post by **bandshell** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:46 am

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)

incnic · Post by **incnic** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:54 am

reso is breaks mate.

_boring · Post by **_boring** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:11 am

you are HIGH...

... on WEEEEED

mushieslushie · Post by **mushieslushie** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:58 am

It's all in the beat.

surface_tension · Post by **surface_tension** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:09 am

I agree about the need to package and name and classify... one disagreement though.

Reso isn't making anything remotely Dubstep at the moment. It's 140ish, but it ends there. He's made some Dubstep tunes in the past, but his new stuff isn't Dubstep at all. Fair play though, I still like it.

Burial also isn't making Dubstep. Southern Comfort and that release there were Dubstep in some ways, but again it's so ethereal and future dubwise garage sounding now that it's really on it's own there.

Joker is making Dubstep, but he's got his own swing on it. I'm pretty much over the Vocoder stuff at this point though so I hope it evolves from there. Been feeling the new Joker on Hyperdub though.

In short, I'm not sure if they were good or bad examples. If you're trying to say that they aren't Dubstep, you're correct. If you're trying to say that Dubstep is varied, you are correct. If you're trying to say that these examples prove Dubstep is varied, refer to my comments about how they aren't Dubstep above.

bandshell · Post by **bandshell** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:36 am

I'm not high.

Thats partly what I'm saying, a lot of music is called dubstep when clearly it isnt but due to the fact that a lot of the stuff called dubstep isn't, as you pointed out, leads me to the possible conclusion that dubstep doesn't exist as such.

bandshell · Post by **bandshell** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:39 am

Surface_Tension wrote:
Reso isn't making anything remotely Dubstep at the moment. It's 140ish, but it ends there. .

Exactly, everytime i've heard people talk about dubstep or a "dubstep forumla" thats pretty much all that's said, 140ish, and some people might add bass and beats. As far as I know Reso doesn't have any tunes without beats or bass and as you said it's at 140 so, dubstep?

Essentially what I was trying to say, but clearly fell short

, is that dubstep is so varied and has literally no template so I don't see how it can be a genre.

q_steppa · Post by **q_steppa** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:57 am

its just the vibe u get. i hear hiphop at the same pace, but i dont think oh shit its dubstep, coz i get a hiphop vibe from it. in genres there are defining elements, but every genre has a vibe. dubstep has very few defining elements, but still has this strong presence that u know is dubstep

symbl · Post by **symbl** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:47 am

We must give names to things and organize them in some way, shape, or form. Its part of our controlling nature. Jus how things are.

bandshell · Post by **bandshell** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:54 am

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

joelbauta · Post by **joelbauta** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:08 am

in every genre you can find music close to the edges, this is a good thing. You can also be guilty by association, which might be the case of Burial. But remember that the definition isn't static, and shouldnt be.

apathesis · Post by **apathesis** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:28 am

Dubstep iz when you assign da filter 2 da LFO in dat massive fing.

cixxxj · Post by **cixxxj** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:14 am

Apathesis wrote:Dubstep iz when you assign da filter 2 da LFO in dat massive fing.

lol nuff said!

uncle bill · Post by **uncle bill** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:32 am

For me it's not a genre as such. It's a music scene. The people operating within the scene have certain reference points (dub, UK garage, jungle, electronica etc) but other than that they go their own way. That's why there's a lot more to get your teeth into that in most scenes. I find it difficult to explain to people who aren't into it why I find it so compelling because people assume that dubstep is just another dance music genre but I really don't think that's the case.

Dubstep is just as free and varied as the electronica scene was in the early 90s or the post-punk scene was in the late 70s. People as varied as Scuba, Shackleton, Distance, 2562, Caspa and Joker can all get played out on the same radio show or even in the same DJ set. The attitude is really healthy for music because it leaves a lot of room for experimentation and self-expression, both for producers and DJs.

cb1mandem · Post by **cb1mandem** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:48 am

i cant see how u can say dubstep is not a genre
do u not think if every artist in one genre sounded the same it would not get repetative?
and any whoo.... ur examples were shocking...
dubstep is wat is it,, artist give there own take on it switch up, and progress

AND ITS ALOT!!!!!

jonnyrebel · Post by **jonnyrebel** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:05 am

Uncle Bill wrote:For me it's not a genre as such. It's a music scene. The people operating within the scene have certain reference points (dub, UK garage, jungle, electronica etc) but other than that they go their own way. That's why there's a lot more to get your teeth into that in most scenes. I find it difficult to explain to people who aren't into it why I find it so compelling because people assume that dubstep is just another dance music genre but I really don't think that's the case.

Dubstep is just as free and varied as the electronica scene was in the early 90s or the post-punk scene was in the late 70s. People as varied as Scuba, Shackleton, Distance, 2562, Caspa and Joker can all get played out on the same radio show or even in the same DJ set. The attitude is really healthy for music because it leaves a lot of room for experimentation and self-expression, both for producers and DJs.

this

I have been to many nights now where people expect to hear a certain thing and are then confused by the sheer variety of music in the night. Dubstep to a lot of people isnt even Digital mysticz its an LFO'd mid wobble sound which it really isnt confined to lol. I play an awful lot of techno and house in my sets, but i tend to play around the 140bpm mark so im essentially a "dubstep dj."

godflesh fiend · Post by **godflesh fiend** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:15 am

bandshell wrote: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.

That's the magic of Dubstep. And that's why it's the most interesting music out there right now imho.

Interestingly strange post.......

abs · Post by **abs** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:31 am

yeah it's pretty much charctarized by the bpm and a lot of bass.

it's easier to find it and organize it if we give it a name though.

blackdown · Post by **blackdown** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:41 am

Surface_Tension wrote:Burial also isn't making Dubstep.

you've created quite an impressive volume of hot air in the 1917 times you've posted since last September but this truly takes the biscuit.

if Burial isn't dubstep I want nothing more to do with the genre.

abs · Post by **abs** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:45 am

well it's more like crackly nostalgic garage innit

Dubstep - a genre?

Dubstep - a genre?

Re: Dubstep - a genre?

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