BF2S Forums The Dubstep & Drum N Bass Appreciation Thread

Well I said before, I don't profess to particularly like or know anything about Dubstep. I was just wondering why it was meant to be so good.

see the thing with it is dubstep isnt true music but rather a disgusting combination of artificial noises.

That was not trolling, just lazily written. Dubstep is awful.

lmao. you are both trolling. skrillex is the most popular dance artist in the world right now. just nobody that is actually into the music likes his stuff. he makes crossover music that is palatable for a non-electronic audience because it is basically the structure and characteristics of rock music put through a low-frequency oscillator. basically skrillex has taken the core ideas of his previous forte, emo and nu-metal music, and has repackaged it into dance songs that he makes in 15 minutes on some laptop software. and all the previous american (and beyond) mainstream audience, with their ears trained after years of chorus-verse-chorus-refrain type stuff... absolutely love it. but it is anathema to electronic music fans, where subtlety is a much bigger part and where song structures and phrasing are usually more complex and rhythmic. skrillex just leads people up to giant metal-style drops, where everyone goes nuts for 20 seconds... and then does it again... over and over... for a 2 hour show. electronic fans have been trained to expect a little more.

you guys

lol the stairway to heaven of dubstep

are you daft yourself? dubstep is borne out of underground club culture. bassbins. jamaican/london sound-system culture. you want a 3 minute song that will sum up a musical genre that is meant to be experienced on a $50,000 sound-system over the span of 5-6 hours? dubstep is just another chapter in the dance/rave/hardcore continuum: if you aren't going to clubs to actually experience it, in full-volume darkened rooms from 10pm-6am, then of course 90% of its point is lost on you. it's like listening to wagner in an elevator lift. dubstep is meant to be heard on a massive sound-system in a club environment - it's not bedroom listening. until you do that you're not in a position to say whether or not it's good for its purpose. it brings people together in a room for several hours and puts them all in a similar headspace. the difference between the 'original' uk dubstep and the american 'brostep' mutation is that in london/berlin/anywhere else people get together to have a good time, to chill-out, or whatever... whereas in america kids get together to mosh around and start playfights. that's why your version is looked down upon.

not really, no. seeing as most of the places where it is popular aren't even all that drug-tolerant. mdma certainly was never a part of the original dub/dubstep scene in london. it came from reggae and dancehall, think about it. these are not sound cultures that are into getting jumped up and frenetic. it's deep and meditative. but sure, keep on firing out gross misassumptions. one more and you've made a hatrick of mong posts. don't disappoint!

although if the whole facile drug-reference is some way of evading the fact that you rarely ever leave your college room, let alone to go to a specialist music venue to enjoy a night out with your (putative) friends... then yeah, right on buddy. you're in your 2nd/3rd year of college and you've not been on a proper nightout? maybe a target to set yourself and discuss with your counsellor the next time.

as to your first 'point': they are not mutually exclusive. dubstep has become the latest phase in the dance music continuum, i.e. the underground social/musical force that brings together young people in a highly-creative zone. drum n bass, jungle and garage were part of that continuum too before dubstep arrived, and their scenes - again - have entirely different characteristics and 'drug taboos'. dubstep was incorporated into the hardcore continuum (let's run with this idea) from south-london dub/dancehall/reggae, a scene not exactly rife with mdma and people in UV facepaint. if you wanted to pin-down the drug use to a music genre (which is a silly exercise), it's clear that weed is the form of intoxication/delirium at the basis of dubstep nights. it's all about dark basement rooms, super loud music/bass, and slow dancing. mdma is more associated with get-up-and-dance stuff like 120bpm+ house music, or probably more commonly in america trance and hardtrance type stuff from the 1990's. anyway to say that you have to take drugs to enjoy any of these specialist music events is like saying you have to slam 5 shots every time you go to a bar to have a good time with friends. people obviously enjoy a much deeper connection to the music and social scene than the artificial and temporary feelings they get from drug-use. most people don't even take drugs. believe it or not they are still intimidating social no-gos for most people. you'd know this if you ever went to a nightclub.

Last edited by Uzique (2012-04-11 18:26:22)

that sucks. in the uk wherever there is a big student population there tends to be at least some catering for decent music (although admittedly outside of london/bristol it is the typical pop and, dare i say it, american brostep varieties). to be honest everything i have been posting in this thread is perfectly good examples of 'bass' music (the broadest, most ambiguous and hence most useless umbrella-tag for the music) that is coming out of the uk/europe more generally. it is all infinitely better than american brostep. as i said before, your take on dubstep is basically rock-music structure combined with corny dance euphoria. it's about jumping around after some four lokos or whatever you call them. it's a really dumb, regressive type of music for a really dumb listener. no offence but on the global dance map america is the place where dj's and producers alike have a grey area - 'here be dragons'. you guys are just atavistic when it comes to dance music. this is why in the uk and europe most people affiliated with the 'dubstep' scene will go out of their way to avoid actually being tagged with the term. it has been wholly appropriated by this american version that has quickly replaced 7-8 years of european music in the blink of an eye (that's what grammy awards and top-selling mainstream records will do). it's really sad. the result is that nobody in london really even makes dubstep in its purest form anymore. people are experimenting with house, techno, disco, garage... anything. dubstep is kinda like a sore topic. even sorer when americans come along and say "dubstep sucks it's just noise!!!" because you're effectively dismissing 7 years of incredible music over here that has gone viral, influenced the entire world... and then come back around with the awful shit you americans offer. that's why dubstep 'fans' and dubstep 'debates' will rage all over the internet. it's a unique internet-era case of a music genre being bastardized and then thrown back at you.

i'm really liking this release lately. dark and excellent sampling.



just to show you how genuinely wide and creative the dub/bass/'dubstep' thing is in europe, where we do it right.

Last edited by Uzique (2012-04-11 19:10:19)

Those sound like an entirely different genre of music than the dubstep that gets played here at suite parties and the like. I don't really like the sound, honestly, because I prefer melodic music, but it is definitely better and more "skillful" that the American style songs you dislike so vehemently.

Last edited by nukchebi0 (2012-04-11 19:03:05)

i honestly don't see how anyone with good speakers or mid-range earphones cannot like that 2562 song. the sampling and sequencing is excellent. when the bass comes in it just bleeds through the whole mix. hearing that sort of thing full volume at a club is transcendent. an entire room just becomes about rhythm and sound.

Last edited by Uzique (2012-04-11 19:12:59)

lmao he did a track with damian marley?