Dubstep takeover?

topic posted Tue, July 8, 2008 - 3:38 PM by  BrettFromTibet
I saw Bassnectar at Sonic Bloom in Winter Park ,CO last month.. and I was sad to hear the set was mostly dubstep. My heart sank and I waited for the next DJ to come on... after trying hard to dance but being unable to really feel any magic in it. Just boom, boom, gloomm, vrooom, boom.

I remember the same feeling when drum-and-bass started getting played in the chill rooms of rave parties, rather than ambient or trip-hop. Some people were like "wow!" and other people think it's just inferior, more urban, lower vibration music.

Yeah, I know Lorin plays all types of tunes (I've heard The Cure, Shpongle remixes, swing, hip hop) and over the years he's had wicked taste....but I definitely dig the faster, cleaner breakbeat sound much, much more than dubstep and glitch shizit. I find it easier to dance, too.

What do you think? What are your feelings on dubstep sets at the peak slot of parties?
posted by:
BrettFromTibet
Denver
  • AJ
    AJ
    offline 20

    Re: Dubstep takeover?

    Tue, July 8, 2008 - 3:51 PM
    I agree completely.
    • Re: Dubstep takeover?

      Tue, July 8, 2008 - 4:50 PM
      I don't think that it's a takeover. Dubstep is a relatively new phenomenon in this scene (right, music buffs? It feels kinda new to me...), and that means that it might get more air time because it's so new n' sparkly. But therein lies the beauty of electronic music- it's constantly evolving, and maybe the next sparkly thing will catch your eye -erm- ear...
      I think there is an earlier thread that talks about this, too. Something like "must dubstep take over the world?" as the title. I definitely feel that Lorin's sets are jam-packed with variety, and I'm sorry that you don't like glitch or dubstep, but Lorin gets the peak slots at events because most people love his art. If I'm out to dance and a DJ starts up that I don't enjoy, I take a break, get some water, and watch all the peoplez who are totally into it. What DJs play is based on their reading of the crowd, it always sucks to be in the minority of that crowd, but I seriously doubt that the evil gnomes of Dubstep have Lorin by tha ballz ;)
      And I think that a lot of what I like about this dude is his energy- he's soooo into it, you can tell, and the crowd can tell. A lot of what makes a good DJ doesn't come outta tha amp...
  • Re: Dubstep takeover?

    Tue, July 8, 2008 - 5:24 PM
    More Dubstep! I can't seem to get enough.
    Drum and Bass too. Pendulum's new album totally shreds.
    Meanwhile, house is still 90% of the music I'm hearing in clubs, and I could do without that, really...
  • Re: Dubstep takeover?

    Tue, July 8, 2008 - 7:12 PM
    I also find it difficult to dance to dubstep.

    This is how its done: www.youtube.com/watch
    • Re: Dubstep takeover?

      Wed, July 9, 2008 - 11:49 AM
      I agree that most people don't feel comfortable dancing at dubstep events, and that the video you posted is generally an accurate portrayal of the crowd/dj at a dubstep show (except that, oddly, there are no billowing clouds of smoke...)

      However, I have seen people do some incredible dancing to dubstep. In fact, some of the best dancing I have ever seen was at Pure Filth (sometime in september I think, it was the last night at the Higgins and Mala played). The spot was absolutely packed with supporters of the underground dubstep scene, and I saw tutting, locking, and breaking that I could never have even imagined. I'm still trying to replicate some of the mindblowing dancing that I saw that night...

      At this point, I've been over dubstep for like 10 months, but it was fun while it lasted and I danced my ass off.

      Lorin - we love you. Bring it on any and every way you like =D
    • Re: Dubstep takeover?

      Fri, July 18, 2008 - 4:48 PM
      Those are just the lazy dubsteppers damnit! I dance like crazy!

      Plus, the better DJs save their more "club friendly" danceables for the events, it seems. Their records don't seem to have the faster songs with some good beats to really dance your heart out to.
  • Re: Dubstep takeover?

    Tue, July 8, 2008 - 7:55 PM
    I love dubstep and glitch (weird that you paired them together though. I don't think they're very similar) and I think they're both easy forms of music to dance to. The thick deep bass from dubstep usually reaches and shakes me from the core of my being. Its like the sound re-connects me to some tribal part of my being, and glitch is just fucking fun to dance to period. I actually think IDM in general is wayyyyyy easier AND more fun to dance to.
    • Re: Dubstep takeover?

      Tue, July 8, 2008 - 9:04 PM
      Dubstep is a lot like LSD: set and setting are of utmost importance, and it's not for everybody.
      • Re: Dubstep takeover?

        Wed, July 9, 2008 - 1:21 AM
        hi!
        :)

        im glad you brought this up

        first off, i hate current dubstep. its monotonous, dreary, boring, dead, bad vibe wankoff.

        og dubstep was the 2 step stuff that ammunition and tempa and horsepower was pumping out years ago that had snare on the 2 and the 4 of every beat, and a super thick dripping vibe...one of those cuts is on freakbeats for beatfreaks.

        when i first heard "the new" dubstep, i was like THATS NOT DUBSTEP! THATS DOOM METAL!!!! and it is...exact same tempo, exact same beat, same emphasis on slow, heavy, grinding crusher vibe

        but even my deep affection for doom did not make me excited about dubstep, cuz i coudlnt stand the damn reverb overload, the uneventful meandering, the ridiculously obligatory SPOOKY vibe, the lack of musical originality, etc etc etc.

        then i began finding ONE or TWO tracks that i was like... Well ill be a stuck pig in the back of a 67 dodge, this is fuckin GOOD.

        and even so, i just used loops of it, and mashed it up with the buildups from played out breaks remixes (ala my Bongo Bong mashup... www.bassnectar.net/podcast)

        and then i was working on a polka remix ( december 2006) and was like "well hellooooooooooooooo" to discover that the double time absurdity of bouncy polka can be applied to dubstep....140 bpm, not 70....and holy shit...all those ridiculous psy trance records i have that i can never play again with all the INCREDIBLE SICK sounds and samples and breakdowns...all that will fit right in too!!! WOW! and i started going apeshit.
        making it, collecting it, hating 95% of it.


        now it is a genre just like any that i am bored to tears by (electro house, glitch hop, etc) but would be a FOOOL to disregard completely because like anything, there are DIAMONDS in them there ruffs.

        also how nice it is after the burnout on nubreaks to have a GENRE FOR SALE AGAIN!!!!!
        any non DJ will not appreciate this, but there was a period from about 2003-2007 that i could NOT BUY RECORDS anymore because they all sucked furiously. now i can actually go online and spend 5 hours and find 3 or 4 seirously SICK tunes...and THAT IS FUN for a DJ!!!!
        :)

        on to more exciting points:

        taking the hard shuffle of 2step (which totally won me over in 2000, 2001...during the time of Float, Grampa Whams, Opalescent Egg, Rythm is, and the first real Bassnectar dancefloor tracks that WORKED at 130+ bpm) and hi passing the loop, putting the snare ONLY on the 3 (the MAIN snare) and either a breakbeat kick pattern or EVEN A 4-4 kick pattern, as long as the accent is on the 3,

        FOLKS>>>>>> IT PRODUCES ONE OF THE MOST FUNNEST EVER DANCES KNOWN TO HUMANKIND.... an almost sideways undulation of insane bouncing, and spring-board hopping, an exultory jiggle, THE BEST HANDSWAT EVER, and a pulse that pounds with abandon and DOUBLE TIME ENERGY

        so yes, 99.9% of dubstep at 70....slyt my wrists.

        50% of dubstep at 140....HELL YES!!!! it BUMPUMPS!!!

        i dont know if there are any copies of that Bassnectar track Art Of Revolution floating around...(i hope not, it will be out in octoboer or so) but that is what i mean....and that doesnt even have the shuffle. add that hard shuffle, and yu have some Rusko shit.

        and anyone who can hear Cockney Thug (minus the lamer than lame vocal samples which i instantly removed) and not happily bounce around.... i dont know what to tell you.


        next time you hear GOOD dubstep....try bouncing double time. stick your hand up high...straight arm and let it kind of lead you like a sail.
        count:
        "one. two. THREE!!!! four. one. two. THREE!!! four."
        and if you really cannot feel it, then suspend judgement until the next time we cross paths, i will show you what i mean.
        :)


        lastly, and least important, but i wanted to address: sonic bloom.
        i was SO HAPPILY AND INTENTIONALLY mixing heavy amounts of dubstep.
        because for once in my life i wanted to do yet another style of mixing, opposite from what i usually do these days (which is constantly bounce genres and grind he tempos like a roller coaster) back how i used to mix when i spun psy trance....

        i wanted to mix a consistent FLOW of music.
        so i rocked 140 for like 45 minutes, then shifted down to 70 for one song, up to 85 and rocked it at 85 for another half hour

        and i LOVED DOING IT

        i had a special intention that night to do something different, and to leave dancers to their OWN devices, to fend for themselves, and get EXPERIEMENTAL with dancing,....hoping people would figure out how to create DOUBLE TIME DANCE MOVES even if their ears tricked them and told them it was slow.... watch me if you are confused. was i dancing slow? no, i danced so hard that night i pulled a muscle in my back that is hurting to this day and which is causing me to need to stop typing right now

        suffice it to say, if i did sonic bloom all over again i would do it EXACTLY like that. i play hundreds of sets a year (THAT IS AN EXAGGERATION, but it fucking feels like it :) and most of them are totally different themed, or have their own motif, or a special central point they orbit around, or a certain track that leads everything else, or is purposfully self-referencing, and much more complex than it might appear on the surface (which is one of the goals...to have the intentions be subliminal, behind the curtain) ...at this point if you have been with me for a while musically, you should just trust me. and enjoy it cuz next time around it very well may be totally different. and if yu expect it to be different, maybe it will be exactly the same, and then you will be nice and practiced. NO RULES. NO LIMITS>
        :)

        suffice it to say

        dubstep is here to stay. like most genres most of it is un-noteworthy, super overly masculine, uninventive, and locked into a series of ultra disapointing rules and needless limits. but SOME of it is GOOOD, and there are also good lessons that can be taken from it, and applied to other genres, so be thankful for this next step in music. as for me it is definitely by no means the most current "step" ....but that will have to be something you experience live
        :)


        • Re: Dubstep takeover?

          Wed, July 9, 2008 - 1:59 AM
          ps...brettfromtibet
          did yu like my response?
          i DEF want yu to feel comfortable and respected!!!!!!!


          holla back and lemme know
          • Re: Dubstep takeover?

            Wed, July 9, 2008 - 7:11 AM
            Lorin,

            I appreciate your response and your insight into the dubstep groove.

            But I appreciate your killer breakbeats a LOT more :)

            You are one of the most potent underground music forces in North America and I have been a huge fan / advocate.... so I'd hate to start staying home / not telling friends / skipping your shows (like I did for the last Denver gig) because I wasn't sure if it was going to be high vibes and easy to dance...

            Please take the music, evolve it wherever you feel ... just TAKE IT HIGHER... more cosmic... more intricate.. more luscious... more psychedelic...more heartfelt... more organic... more playa-fied... .more underground....more wickedly compelling to dance to... and beware of the urban trend THAT A LOT OF WEST COAST BREAKS FANS / PRODUCERS are SUCCUMBING TO - towards more gritty / simple / mainstream / alcohol-oriented / MTV / ego / ghetto / gangsta ("mob") / club tunes....

            Like you.... I'm a sound geek and 99.99% of the electronic music out there just doesn't make the cut for me.... any old beats and bass won't do... it's gotta have a very special finesse and magic.. .and I know for sure you in the 00.01% who CAN deliver the potent organic nectar / dance aphrodisiac and keep it sky high...

            thanks and much love,

            brett

            • Re: Dubstep takeover?

              Wed, July 9, 2008 - 5:23 PM
              Awww, boys, I'm glad you can get along so well ;)
              Hooray for respect, it's surely the greatest thing since baby coconuts...
              • Re: Dubstep takeover?

                Wed, July 9, 2008 - 10:20 PM
                I like dubstep just before dawn, when the light is cresting but the sun has yet to rise, in the woods...ala symbiosis last year.

                and in case you didn't know, its perfect for practicing kung fu. (not kidding)

                *~S~*
                • Re: Dubstep takeover?

                  Wed, July 9, 2008 - 11:46 PM
                  I like Dubstep on a train , I like dubstep in the rain, but not with green eggs or spam
                  • This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.

                    Re: Dubstep takeover?

                    Thu, July 10, 2008 - 2:29 AM
                    I just like the higher vibes!
                    • Re: Dubstep takeover?

                      Thu, July 10, 2008 - 11:30 AM
                      Higher vibes? Hmmm...I think the dj has a lot to do with that, too. You could say almost every form of dance music has higher vibes...

                      And yeah, dubstep at sunrise seems to really work well for me, too, but please, not an entire dubstep set at primetime mainstage hours.
                • Re: Dubstep takeover?

                  Mon, July 21, 2008 - 7:35 PM
                  good fucking call ^^ a la symbiosis 2007 oh yes. i seriously communed with the divine spirit of the universe through those subwoofer stacks. i was there thru 3 dubstep sets in a row. it was perfect!!!!!

                  djunya killed it!!!!! whew!
          • AJ
            AJ
            offline 20

            Re: Dubstep takeover?

            Thu, July 10, 2008 - 3:04 PM
            Excellent post, Lorin.

            I agree that 90% of every art is crap, and there is surely must even be some good dubstep out there. Really, people just like good music irrespective of Genre. But for me anyway, saying I'm a fan of any one genre of music usually means that its a genre where I can stand to pick through the 90% to find the gems. I don't mind bouncing through some uninspired breaks until Mr/Ms DJ finally hits the spot. I just don't feel like mustering with most dubstep. To each their own.

            (and in contrast to Brett, I do like the urban influence on west coast breaks.)
        • Re: Dubstep takeover?

          Thu, July 10, 2008 - 5:01 PM
          "but there was a period from about 2003-2007 that i could NOT BUY RECORDS anymore because they all sucked furiously"

          WORD!
          • Re: Dubstep takeover?

            Tue, July 15, 2008 - 11:30 PM

            "i had a special intention that night to do something different, and to leave dancers to their OWN devices, to fend for themselves, and get EXPERIEMENTAL with dancing,....hoping people would figure out how to create DOUBLE TIME DANCE MOVES even if their ears tricked them and told them it was slow...."

            of couse -see now- cause Lorin is keeping it real time.

            I can get with the dubstep vibe... it can be nice to downstep the tempo a bit sometimes and move all snakey-like. dubstep has a flavor better suited for the dawn hours, I find...a sunrise vibe.
            late at night, in the dark, I wanna get lost in that thumping bass and breakbeats and glitch comin through like a forcefield that moves you sonically and deeply.
            yeah.

            and sometimes your mood just isn't gonna flow with whatever the dj is offering up that night.
            remember- it's an offering.
            sometimes you strike gold...we've all had those golden moments plenny...
  • Re: Dubstep takeover?

    Fri, July 25, 2008 - 8:40 PM
    i was soo disappointed in most dubstep. esp. when my friends started droppin it left and right. but...... something happened one sunday morn at LIB!?!? mucho catus medicine and Gino mothafukin cochino fucked my shit right up. now i cant' seem to get enough. although i agree that ALOt of dubstep is bbboring
    • Re: Dubstep takeover?

      Sat, July 26, 2008 - 5:14 AM
      What I'm looking for in a peak DJ set at a dance party:

      Destroys the dancefloor with wicked beats, funky that don't require paragraphs of explanation on how to dance to them. Stuff even my Dad or Grandma couldn't help help but freak down to. Every time.

      Telepathic selection of phat grooves that need no apology or philosophy, such as like "99% of this genre is no good.. and it will take between 9 to 14 months to grow on most people..." - Plays stuff that 90%+ of people like... NOT that half the crowd like, and half think is booring.

      ---

      From the response on here and the feedback I've heard at parties, dubstep can be controversial and somewhat polarizing ("can't get enough" vs. "sucks").

      Similiar darkpsy.. the fast stuff that is creating a huge rift in the trance scene. Whether it's good or bad - it's a totally different frequency and vibration than the original Goa trance vibe. Some people love it, some people leave the party.
      • Re: Dubstep takeover?

        Sat, July 26, 2008 - 3:11 PM
        lol... i think if djs went by those guidelines for a set we'd be listening to bob marley micheal jackson prince and james nrown and i'd get bored and leave....
      • Re: Dubstep takeover?

        Sun, July 27, 2008 - 8:54 PM
        And BOOM! We're transported back in time to when those rich white men who didn't wanna pay taxes wrote that document called the federalist papers to convince the states to form a union. One of the most revolutionary ideas therein was the concept of letting factions duke it out as opposed to trying to replace variety with nationalistic monotony. Even way back then they figured that people like so many different things, and in so many different ways that it's impossible to get them to agree on anything. Thus bigger factions rule while the smaller ones are allowed to keep doing what minority-type things they do, because the smaller groups are being catered to by the bigger groups because the bigger groups need the smaller ones to become a majority. Thus nobody can do completely as they wish, but nobody gets exterminated either.
        CONfused YeT? If not, apply that idea to the debate we're having to come to the conclusion that
        *drumroll*
        There's so much variety in people that even Lorin (much less a government) can't please everyone, every time. And if you're in the minority you should still tune in, because (I'm sure) bassnectar loves you anyway.
        (And I bet Cheney loves you too, deep fried n' covered in BBQ sauce....)