I cut this out of my Best Trends of 2011 post I wrote for the Observer. While it didn’t fit the theme I assembled I still think it’s relevant and I want to enter it into posterity.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJTQQ3OI4S4&w=420&h=315]
Among the sounds I mixed for my short-lived college radio show at WMTU 91.9 FM in Houghton, MI were the fathomless bass lines from London communities collected in dubstep. A while after I transitioned from assembling songs to assembling words, American producers like Rusko and Skrillex began to mix accesible mid-range basslines for arenas of new followers.
The split from the more introverted and paranoid strain of dubstep alarmed me at first. I couldn’t call these metalcore-like breakdowns dubstep because it lacked the “dub” inspiration. This music evoked Transformers when it should have evoked Blade Runner.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2php9XOp3u4&w=560&h=25]
One thing I realize after stewing about this for a year is that “real” dubstep is still going strong despite the popularity of this wave. British producers like Skream and Kode9 are still around and making tunes that keep the noir, worldly mood of O.G. dubstep intact.
Furthermore, I grew up enjoying my share of meathead, testosterone-laden music. Why should I deny the same to a new generation.
I say let the kids have their synthesized printer jams (A Christmas dubstep clip in a recent cell phone commercial excepting – that tune needs to die)