Cyclic Defrost: Will dubstep go the way of the cartel?

Will dubstep go the way of the cartel?

Martin Clark writes the best (only?) regular column on the state of dubstep and grime and this month’s is particularly tasty. He’s vamping on a theme pretty close to regular Cyclic readers/contributors: the way scenes develop, mature and evolve, specifically where the dubstep/grime scene is heading (he also goes into big problems currently faced by pirate radio in the UK).

Martin Clark, Pitchfork:
“What then happens when you take a scene from its environmental birthplace? Discouraging results can be seen with drum & bass, where the move from a London based urban culture to a global cyber-based dance music has resulted in either catastrophic misjudgements in quality control or time-sealed pockets of backwards-looking revisionism.

DMZ’s Loefah, in a yet unpublished interview, reinforces the necessity of dubstep’s link to London, describing it as “essential.” The environment, the state of mind, the musical heritage– it’s all found in London and therefore in London’s music. Every sound has its calling cards, its sonic definers. Rap has that boom bap, drum & bass it’s energy and tempo, trance its sense of epic euphoria. Perhaps this is dubstep’s cornerstone, an essential, core component?”

Should a sound so rooted in a world full of music be confined to only one place? You need only look as far as the huge, if brief, contribution made by DJ Dinesh to see that concept’s limits, but it’s true that dubstep/grime has any number of possible directions at the moment.

And it’s spreading quick, a fact that starts Clark’s piece. For Australian evidence, check Southern Steppa and my rambling review of their gig last week at the Abercrombie Hotel in Sydney.

For more Clark, check his blog Blackdown Soundboy.

http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

This geographic ‘protectionism’ is a throwback to the pre-internet days. Its like the labels who are going back to just releasing vinyl as a way of ‘keeping it real’ and ‘making it hard’ for MP3 file sharing of their tracks.

Interestingly its the overseas labels who are embracing the net, and overseas producers who are welcoming the efforts of the blogging community (in dubstep’s case particualrly) in spreading the virus/music.

Locally though I’m not sure that dubstep or grime will amount to a great deal. The sound systems used in Sydney parties just don’t stack up against those you ‘feel’ in London (or in Europe generally). We are still bottom-end shy. Even after over a decade of regular d&b parties in Sydney most clubs are set up for house music, not bowel churning bass. I’m always surprised (and amused) when people still tell me that the soundsystems we used at the Freaky Loops parties in the late 90s had the best bass they’ve experienced in Sydney (that was years ago – people need to get out more!)

Grime will have a hard time here – the strong Aussie hip hop scene already has got (and monopolised) the gruff working class/dispossessed voice thing going on – just with lamer and more predictable hip hop backing tracks instead of disjointed Playstation beats. Also because of the weather, the sun and the sand, people here will end up rapping about BBQs and bucket bongs and the beach rather than the far less exotic surroundings of a London estate.
http://thebodyraft.com dm

Speaking of AU rapping content and grime, why the hell didn’t/hasn’t Wileys ‘Pies’ blow-up in AU? Would have been the perfect track to crossover down-under me thinks…
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

Further to my comments . . . rave in Australia never had that big working class thing going on that it did in the UK. This has effectively meant that we didn’t get the ‘electronic-isation’ of working class music – which I think is a big reason why jungle, grime etc has emerged – that and of course the Jamaican/Carribean influences/history. Instead Australia has a strong pub rock and to a lesser extent hip hop scene.
http://www.fightingasdancing.com Richtea

The points made about the importance of the ‘bottom end’ in London music are interesting. I think it is very true that London (and the south of the UK) loves its bass. I remember reading an article way back in the early nineties (can’t remember where – probably Mixmag or DJ) by a DJ saying that even if you go up to places like Manchester the crowd never reacted to big bass in the way London crowds did.

This music to me though is really just the next phase in the constantly shifting pirate radio kind of sound that has been constantly evolving, probably from around the mid nineties when d&b/jungle emerged – which slowly gave way to speed garage – which became UK garage – etc. etc.

For this reason I’m not sure it will be around in its current form for any longer than any of the other previous sounds – a friend of mine once described this as throw away music. Basically saying that it wasn’t very good I guess. I disagreed with him because some of it is very good – but in terms of a scene I’m inclined to agree.
http://southernsteppa.com Eli

I dont think there will ever be a “scene” for grime/dubstep in Sydney. If anything I think Dubstep will be likened to more though as it has alot of dub/reggae influences and is getting alot more interest at partys like DNBBQ, Inhale and Inna Riddim partys. It fits in with the dub/reggae/dancehall music that is being heard at these partys I think. Myself and Kodama played at DNBBQ on the weekend and got a huge response to the set we played which was great! To be honest I will still be liking this music even if no one was digging it around here as to me its the next step in bass experimentation… it truely is pushing the bass line to new and unexplored territory! I have to agree with Seb’s comment though that we are ‘bottom end shy’… there is only a handful of promoters that are getting it right in Sydney, too many times I rock up to a party and the sound is either too loud, not eq’d right or the bass just washes out everything else and sounds muddy! We need more experts in this area!!!
demo

Who cares if its not/working class/ hip hop what ever. If it sounds good listen to it dont judge.
Freshest shit around
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

I don’t think there is ‘judging’ going on here. We are simply interested in why certain sounds emerge in particular places and why some sounds take hold in some cities but not in others.

Most of us here at Cyclic/Thermostat love dubstep, and were amongst the first in Australia to embrace and push the sound.

At the same time we’re all interested to work out why it is that it doesn’t rinse out the clubs the way we’d expect it would over here. And we are simply speculating that the reasons why are because of the lack of bass pressure in club sound systems; the lack of rave’s penetration into working class subcultures in the early 90s (compared to the UK), and the solidification of pub rock and lately oz hip hop as authentic working class sounds (as portrayed by subcultural media).
http://www.southernsteppa.com kodama

To be honest, I think some of the comments made by the “heads” in London are arrogant and basically irrelavant. Dubstep in its current form as a genre, whilst originating in London, is influenced by music from many places around the world. It owes very little to one city in the UK. Dig a little and you’ll find music combining these sounds long before the word “dubstep” came into being. People are picking up on it now from all across the planet, and I think one of the main reasons for this is because of its global influences.

Whilst some of these guys try to hold onto the sound within just one point on the map, the reality is that even there, the “scene” is tiny. There’s little doubt that Sydney or Australia will do better. It’s not dancefloor friendly music (let alone mass-marketable), so it’s never going to blow up the way that UKG. With any luck that will be its saving grace. It still needs time to breathe and grow. Without pigeon hole pressure.

Cyclic Defrost

An Australian magazine focusing on interesting music

Will dubstep go the way of the cartel?