An up for the tinchy stryder album would be welcome my man ;)

PM, same goes for the rest of yooz

I used to hate Dubstep because it never really sounded like it was an advanced form of anything. It all sounded like slowed down minimal drum & bass to me.

I guess I can hear the appeal now, the more I listen to it.
I just keep feeling like it's missing that spark that you hear in electronic music at various points during its travels where something new breaks through and leaves the rest behind in terms of originality and technique.

I don't want to feel this way, but it feels like Dubstep is a recycling of the gems of an era that's not as bright as it used to be.
Like it's just a half-hearted attempt at creating something new that really doesn't feel new at all, even when it first began to surface.

I do respect the work that goes into it.
But I don't feel "surprised" by Dubstep.
I don't hate it, but I'm not taken away.

And this is from a guy who absolutely lives for Drum And Bass, Trip Hop, IDM, and Electronica.

I want to get into Dubstep, but it doesn't feel as compelling as my normal haunts.

Does that make sense to anyone?

it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to be honest; but considering your listening habits it's not surprising either, since dubstep is an amalgam of these genres with UK garage, dub and the West Indies culture in general.

UK garage introduced the essential two-step drum pattern which is a foundation of dubstep and all the pioneering producers started off making dark garage, before anyone could think of a name for it.
The importance of the bass carrying the melody is not something that features heavily in any of the genres you mentioned, and is a hallmark of dub music (except early d'n'n but it still wasn't so sub-sonic). Maybe this is why you can't 'relate' to the genre?

I have heard the 'slowed-down-dnb' thing a lot and I think this only applies to stuff that has been coming out in the last 2 or 3 years with dubstep's increasing worldwide popularity, there are scenes all around the globe now.
As such there has been stylistic divergence, initially the stuff I cut my teeth on was very dark, downbeat and experimental... now you are likely to hear bombastic synth lines and other traits of the crass and de-evolved drum and bass sound.

To illustrate, in the city where I used to live, dubstep took off and the big weekly drum and bass night quickly absorbed dubstep into the events as part of the night's music, they make good bedfellows. For me good drum and bass ended with jungle for the most part, lol

Every genre of music that has gotten so big is going to be more than the sum of its parts, you couldn't call dubstep 'dub-garage-bass', it's not, it's dubstep. Just like drum n bass isn't 'breakbeat-hardcore-techno-dub'...

Molecules,
You're absolutely right. Thank you for the insight.

I guess it's hard for me to view something objectively when I'm using comparisons.
I do realize that the latest dubstep is veering into the lane of the techniques employed by standard drum & bass acts. And you're right: Dubstep is changing.
I remember when I first started hearing Dubstep... I think I was being negatively influenced by what I was into at the time and the comparisons between Dubstep and everything else I was feeling ended up leaving me with a bias that blinded me more than enlightened me.

It's something that's hard to get over when deeply rooted musical tastes are involved, but I never imagined it being this hard when the two forms of music resembled eachother as much as they do.

I think I just need a different perspective, which is what you're providing.
I thank you for that.

whew, I can't believe I just read through that whole thing. Managed to snag a few albums (Skream is pretty good) from the interwebs and some of it picqued my interest. I won't lie though, I'm more stimulated by trip-hop oriented stuff. Aside from what's already been listed (Massive Attack, Burial, Lulu Rouge), are there any other crossover albums that might be of interest to me?

Kinda mad, I live on the other side of the Atlantic and our club scene is awful. I mean it's great if you're looking for easy hookups & whatnot...but the music is terrible.

Yeah I think in America you've got to be in the catchment area for the big cities - New York, Chicago etc, I know Toronto has some good dubstep nights :laughing: Ah no here we go Dubstep, Grime, and UK Garage in the United States and Canada, SoulChampion

albums of interest: first stop should be the Kode9 & the Spaceape album Memories of the Future, everyone rates that.
Two other dubstep albums (there aren't actually very many of these, dubstep 12'' and compilations are thriving, but I'm gonna stick a few mixes up in the near future):
The Bug - London Zoo
Despite having some great tracks we built it up too much, so JH and I were disappointed with this. However it has alot of big Jamaican dancehall names in it, worth reading some reviews and seeing if it sounds like a good bet to you.
Pinch - Underwater Dancehall
Worth a gander, there are still vocals but not so many and it's a cerebral one to be sure.

You should be able to find them but any trouble just holla.

edit: make sure you have headphones or decent bass capabilities, it's all in the sub.
edit 2: also that Skream album has some bangers but i still think it's flawed. It's worth it just for Midnight Request Line though, first choon i heard :D

I was bitterly dissapointed with the Tynchy Stryder album :(

aye... i can only listen to the Maniac instrumentals really :(
Grime's gone down the plug'ole! It's just stagnated really. Dubstep has it's slow periods where it goes a bit quiet and everything sounds the same but then someone will come along and push the sound forward, or in an unexpected new direction. It's definitely gonna be around for a while; hopefully grime will learn from it, evolve and bounce back... it's got that grassroots support that will always be there.

grrr...just another reason to hate boston. they've got an amazing hardcore scene already. they coulda left this to a city marginally closer to me.

I already have the Bug & Kode9 albums, I'll be sure to give them a spin. The Skream album didn't do all that much for me but this Distance LP seems to work pretty well.

As of right now I'm operating out of a set of Sony cans, not terribly bad but definitely not Sennheisers. Decent bass at any rate. My computer & home speaker systems are feckin awful though.