DubStep: boring and pointless? *poll and discussion*

[ostewart]

ive just been listening to some dubstep and found it very repetive and boring, and also i cant seem to understand what its for, not good for sitting back and listening to, not good for dancing... I really dont know what its for. I much prefer electronica and drum and bass.

(this is purely my opinion so no getting angry)

 

[toby5678910]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXbVaZtT7Jw&feature=related XD

 

[Carlsan]

I heard some "Dubstep" or at least music that was labeled such, that I did like. But the better question is what is Dubstep?
 
After years of following all sorts of music trends from back in my dj days in the 80's, it always amazes me how these labels are attached but then make no sense.
My favorite was the Belgium "New Beat" craze of the late 80's/early 90's. Basically it was club music with heavy acid house and or EBM influence with often sleazy or drug related lyrics.
Many great songs came from the biggest names in this genre, groups/people like Lords of Acid, Jade4U, Praga Khan, T99 and others. Yet when one scratched under the surface, one found that there were really only about a dozen people making the music and changing band names to suit the music.
Still it was lots of fun, perhaps Dubstep will yet evolve into that.
 
 
 

 

[macrocheesium]

It really depends on the type of dubstep, and IMO techno is even more repetitive. Listen through this and tell me it's boring. 

 
http://soundcloud.com/mordfustang/lick-the-rainbow

 

[Ynoskire]

Repetitiveness does not equal a boring song, for instance this can be viewed upon as repetitive, but it's a remarkably well done buildup.

(of course, I'm referring to the techno statement)
 
In terms of dubstep, it sort of depends. I can't stand the hyped up filthy / grimey / whatever dubstep like rusko / Skrillex & co.. It's just plain boring and uninventive imo. There are quite a few intresting dubstep artists though. Like:
Mount Kimbie

 
Of course, Burial

 
James Blake

 
And for instance Martyn, Pariah, Clubroot, Kryptic Minds, Scuba, Sepalcure and Shackleton. In terms of labels, think of Hotflush and R&S records.

 

[macrocheesium]

I didn't say that techno is boring, just repetitive. I definitely agree that their is interesting techno out there. Although I'll be honest, I did find your first link boring. =/ I'm with you on the dubstep though; I can't stand the "mainstream" stuff. As with most genres, the good music is hard to find.

 

[Carlsan]

James Blake's album is excellent! Forgot that he is "dubstep"

 

[Antony6555]

Dubstep is liked dumbed down ambient electronic to me. Like they tried to make it more accesible to the mainstream, it's like the "rap" of ambient. I love ambient, dubstep not so much. Some techno is cool too, like old school infected mushroom. I prefer ambient but at least you can dance to techno. I agree with op, I don't see the purpose of dubstep so much beyond accessibility. But there are cooler acessible electronic artists outside the genre (of dubstep) imo.

 

[BigBallinGPR]

I think its well agreed that "brostep", and certain other sub-genres of dubstep can get pretty repetitive, uninventive, boring etc.  But to label the entire genre as such?  You gotta be outta your mind or just plain uninformed.  Lets start with one of my favorites.  I saw a rendition of this live and well, everyone was dancing and loving it:
 

 
a low-key beat:
 

 
Here's a little bit from one of my favorite artists out there right now, its got a nice little funk in its step:
 

 
A little more upbeat song that is really well "composed" if you will, even though it has a lot of the "glitch" type drops that skrillex abuses.  The DnB segways are awesome though:
 

 
i'll just leave these here:
 

 

 
And no, I'm not mad, I'm just trying to share some of my favorite artists who i've come to throroughly enjoy in the hopes that others will do the same.  I'm sad that you don't enjoy your current knowledge of what dubstep is, I hope that someday you can come to find some Dub that meshes well with your musical tastes.

 

[BigBallinGPR]

Quote:

Dubstep is liked dumbed down ambient electronic to me. Like they tried to make it more accesible to the mainstream, it's like the "rap" of ambient. I love ambient, dubstep not so much. Some techno is cool too, like old school infected mushroom. I prefer ambient but at least you can dance to techno. I agree with op, I don't see the purpose of dubstep so much beyond accessibility. But there are cooler acessible electronic artists outside the genre (of dubstep) imo.

The fact that you call Infected Mushroom "Techno" troubles me : (
 

 

[bvan37]

There's some dubstep that I found is good for running, it definately does get repetitive but I find when I'm running that isn't an issue

 

[Ynoskire]

A repetetive melody is the whole point of electronic music. If you don't like it, don't listen to electronic in the first place.

 

[Roller]

Quote:

The fact that you call Infected Mushroom "Techno" troubles me : (
 

Nah, it's just a major case of LOL. While Infected Mushroom change their sound style over the years, I would never state their mainly psytrance sound to be anything related to techno.

 

[macrocheesium]

 
Quote:

A repetetive melody is the whole point of electronic music. If you don't like it, don't listen to electronic in the first place.

Not really. Just look at Infected Mushroom's later stuff, or Owl City.

 

[Ynoskire]

I find both to be rubbish.