i phucking hate it with a passion. it's not music to me, it's noise. how people can listen to it for a long period of time (or even at all) is beyond me.

I agree, it's garbage. But whatever if people wanna listen to clicks and beeps then I say, go for it. I just don't have robot ears.

Coming from a percussionist- i enjoy the layers that some of the songs have, but after 1 minute of listening, it is the EXACT SAME THING. I created this thread because of the bassnectar/pretty lights show that rolled around atl this weekend. The place was packed. Once again proving the conformity of musical fads.
I do however, enjoy Shpongle and Daft Punk, I find that the textures and musical lines seemingly flow throughout each song, as opposed to the dubstep form: intro/build/climax and 'bass drop'/resolution/outro.

@krazzydrummer11 said:

Coming from a percussionist- i enjoy the layers that some of the songs have, but after 1 minute of listening, it is the EXACT SAME THING. I created this thread because of the bassnectar/pretty lights show that rolled around atl this weekend. The place was packed. Once again proving the conformity of musical fads.
I do however, enjoy Shpongle and Daft Punk, I find that the textures and musical lines seemingly flow throughout each song, as opposed to the dubstep form: intro/build/climax and 'bass drop'/resolution/outro.

Daff Punk can definitly be sweet, i agree with that

I just don't get it. I have friends that love Phish and they love Pretty Lights/Bassnectar/Etc... I'm sure the shows are fun to an extent, but I can't listen to it for extended periods of time. A couple songs and I'm good.

I'm not hip enough I guess. Didn't even know it was called Dub-Step until a few months ago...a girl was trying to explain what [insert dj here] sounds like and she said "well it's a lot of dub-step and..." I had to stop her and ask what it meant. I felt like I was 50.

@CleverRuse - exactly.

Dubstep is like most other genres. There is a metric assload of crap for every decent artist. And the stuff that filters up to the masses (relatively speaking) is generally not the best or the most representative.

Its pretty obvious that most people that post in these threads (especially ones that act like they know) would not even recognize actual dubstep or be able to differentiate various genres of electronic music. Which is fine, but it just looks dumb when people generalize. Like, just because I saw some crappy jam bands play at some house parties, all jambands must suck, right? And then I hijacked their PA and put on Mozart, but nobody appreciated it...

You need to entertain the possibility that its not that all dubstep sucks, but that you are listening to shitty dubstep played by equally shitty djs. The stuff thats popular on college campuses and at festivals (Skrillex, Pretty Lights (not even close to dubstep, but gets lumped right in)...) is basically like the Monkees or Britney Spears of the genre.

I would never pay money to see a dj turn knobs and push buttons....

I think you really have to go see it before you can pass judgement on it. It's really more the experience and energy and the music is just kind of the catalyst for that.

@bobbob- for sure........Definitely more of an experience than something I would want to listen to while I do yard work or something.....@bobbob said:

I think you really have to go see it before you can pass judgement on it. It's really more the experience and energy and the music is just kind of the catalyst for that.

some people like this stuff, some people dont...enough with these threads already.

do you consider pretty lights dubstep? ..cause pretty lights is pretty awesome...and daft punk def isnt dubstep... daft punk is the shit

@johnnyd said:

@CleverRuse - exactly. Dubstep is like most other genres. There is a metric assload of crap for every decent artist. And the stuff that filters up to the masses (relatively speaking) is generally not the best or the most representative. Its pretty obvious that most people that post in these threads (especially ones that act like they know) would not even recognize actual dubstep or be able to differentiate various genres of electronic music. Which is fine, but it just looks dumb when people generalize. Like, just because I saw some crappy jam bands play at some house parties, all jambands must suck, right? And then I hijacked their PA and put on Mozart, but nobody appreciated it... You need to entertain the possibility that its not that all dubstep sucks, but that you are listening to shitty dubstep played by equally shitty djs. The stuff thats popular on college campuses and at festivals (Skrillex, Pretty Lights (not even close to dubstep, but gets lumped right in)...) is basically like the Monkees or Britney Spears of the genre.

The Monkees were awesome.

pretty lights is fun live, if youre rolling and dancing with a chick...something i appreciated was at the end he said something along the lines of "fuck all this genre bullshit, listen to music you like, thanks for supporting me live thats why i give away all my shit free," dont worry about genre, do you guys really think phish is "jam" music? lets get real here...

It's not that I dislike it. I can dig it, especially in the scenario described by @poonutties...though, dr00gz n chickz are always cool. It's just not something I'm gonna jam out to in my leisure. The party scenario is more where it's at. "not that there is anything wrong with that!"

@poonutties said:

pretty lights is fun live, if youre rolling and dancing with a chick...something i appreciated was at the end he said something along the lines of "fuck all this genre bullshit, listen to music you like, thanks for supporting me live thats why i give away all my shit free," dont worry about genre, do you guys really think phish is "jam" music? lets get real here...

maybe not the right thread but I read on the internet he gives away his music for free because of all the samples he uses and would have to pay so much in royalties it isn't worth it.

It's something to do, not to listen to.

yo brosef! i am throughly both a raver (like 7 shows this year) and a huge phan (10 shows this summer) and i love them both! EOTO is a definite exception to your preconceptions, 100% improv dance electo house and dubstep love. I personally can put on an hour and a half Excision Shambala mixtape just as easily as any phish regardless of era. Its all about specific textures and simplicity in just the same way a storage jam of this summer might be. Making the same musical ideas that have been already expressed from the Baroque period and on are now being heard and felt in totally different ways because of the new textures and colors made available with computer production. Most dubstep djs are also HEAVILY producers just as much as artists and lets not get into how important the flow and song selection is just as much as a phish set. A favorite quote of mine is from Bassnectar (paraphrased because i can't remember the exact words)
"Every millisecond of a song can be controlled and that millisecond is made perfect because of the 1000 things you could have done but didnt"

Dubstep is a lot more than garbage as you said @krazzydrummer11 , it has just as much depth as any of the sparkling ambient textures of Big Cypress. Especially when you throw in the improv factor like EOTO has.





AND touring with Zebbler you get all improv visuals too!

@Herbdacious said:

at first listen i thought.. this isn't even dubstep.

Ha Ha, that is great. That's why I get such a kick out of these threads. The shit everyone hears recently is what's not even dubstep. MyBalls-step is more like it.

Anyway, anyone with an open mind and ear, try this: If you have halfway decent headphones or speakers attached to your computer*, go to youtube and just do a search for Mala, Coki, Loefah, or Digital Mystics. You should see a bunch of options from the dmz label. Pick any tracks, pick ones with interesting names, whatever. Then just use the "Suggested" sidebar for the next song. Check a few out, and see if that matches your impression of what dubstep is. If you like it, you can move on to guys like Kode9, Skream, Benga...then maybe Caspa, Breakage, Chase & Status, Joe Nice. If at anytime you hit Skrillex, Datsik, Rusko, Borgore, or hear anything that sounds like fart noises or TweenWave...turn around and go back!

* This is important. You dont necessarily need a super-expensive set-up, but if you can't hear the continual low end, don't bother listening til you can get around better speakers. A lot of this stuff was literally produced and layered with sub bass to be played on a specific soundsystem in a specific club. A laptop alone won't carry those frequencies.

@plaindan said:

First and foremost, to each his own. After that I'll start judging you............just kidding.

I saw a bunch of this genre at Bonnaroo this year and a little bit before that. I liked it for about 6 months and then it got really repetitive. For whatever reason the wobbles and thumping of Bassnectar now makes my mind go to negative places.......sometimes dark Phish/Dead can do that too. I guess I just prefer the lighter notes of Phish and SCI compared to dubstep. It's a great release for somebody who is stressed out. I'm just glad it wasn't around when I was in college or I would be retarded from all of the raves I would have inevitably ended up at.

I'm also increasingly losing patience with fans of dubstep. It's sort of uncomfortable seeing 17 year old kids roll their faces off and be left for dead under trees or behind port-a-potties while their friends fist-pump and turn into drug crazed jackals.

well said. i feel all the same feelings

@Frizz said:

Crap.

agree'd

Personally not a huge fan of dubstep, its like a frat boy pissing contest to see who can make the grimiest wobble bass. whompfest. But I do appreciate some of and have grown to love and respect a wide variety of electronic music. I will make one recommendation, if you don't know Flying Lotus then you gotta check the guys stuff out. Hard to put into a box, but the guy is a Coltrane and make off kilter hip hop jazz. His album Cosmogramma is beautiful and probably my favorite album of the last couple years. Each of his albums highlight his growth as an artist.

Pretty much anything coming off of his Brainfeeder label is worth a listen. http://www.brainfeedersite.com/

i vote garbage

dubstep, for me = instant headache

@TheArgus said:

despite common belief, there is good dubstep. Check out Burial.

It's important to note that what most people in this thread think of when they hear the term 'dubstep' is the stuff that gets referred to by that term in the States. People who listen to a lot of the various UK Bass electronic dance music derisively refer to the US based stuff (Skrillex and the like) as 'brostep'. Dubstep originally referred to stuff like Burial and was defined by having a lot of sound in the Sub-bass range and being at about 140 bpm. Brostep uses a more midrangey bassline (this is the wub wub wub everyone thinks of when someone says 'dubstep') and lots of start stop type beats. (I'm trying to be even handed in my explanation and not just say that dubstep is awesome and brostep is the crap everyone calls dubstep, but that often is the case.) In short, the UK has a better electronic scene than the US. I do dig Pretty Lights though.

@KimboSlice said:

Untzy techno and wub wub are two totally different genres of edm

No, its all the same. Just like GD and Phish and the Allmans are all the same.

@Sprecherscrow - hits nail on head. To me, proper dubstep is closer to the vibration of life than anything that's not actually titled "The Vibration of Life."