NEW Dubstep vs OLD Dubstep

Freebase Dali · 06-09-2013, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engine

In 2002 the magazine XLR8R put out an issue about the emergence of dubstep. I still have the copy that I bought on the stands, having never heard of dubstep.

Here the magazine writes that a BBC Radio 1 DJ credits XLR8R with coining the term, although the writer of the article is not sure if that's correct.

Anyone paying attention to electronic music since the early 00s can easily tell the difference(s) among dubstep that has been made since then. Like Freebase said, it's not a linear progression of a certain sound.

In that issue of XLR8R many unknown DJs are written about. One duo that definitely helped start the 'genre' (and one of my personal favorites) is Horsepower Productions. I consider them 'old' dubstep, although they don't represent the entire early scene which I think stems from a pretty simple equation: UK garage + Dub + 2-Step. But even that simple combo yields extremely varied results.

Here's a song HP made in 2004

And one in 2009

'New' dubstep is less easy to define because there are so many styles incorporated into the music that gets that tag. I think what Freebase called 'brostep' is generally what people think of when they hear the word now. Like this Zomboy stuff from, I think, 2013 (I personally think it sounds awful)

Of course there's a lot more than that coming out currently. Tempa is a label that has released reliably good stuff both old and new.

I agree 100 percent.
The newer "dubstep" is only incorporating 2 things from traditional Dubstep, and that's the tempo and beat structure, and even that is only to an extent. Everything else is derived from genres such as Electro, Drum & Bass, etc. When you think about it, today's Dubstep can't really be classified as Dubstep if we're looking at roots, but an offshoot of it. Much in the way that we can't simply call a Neurofunk tune "Drum & Bass" while thinking of the kind of Drum & Bass we had in the '90s.

In Drum & Bass, we started off with more Jungle type stuff, and it splintered off from there. Among other subgenres, we ended up with Techstep, which eventually evolved into what we know as Neurofunk today. While it's still all Drum & Bass, the distinction serves as an indicator. If I want to listen to some Liquid D&B, I know what to look for. If I want to listen to some Neurofunk, I also know what to look for. And if I want to listen to some Jump Up, or some Dark Step, I also know where to go. While they're all technically Drum & Bass, the attention to styistic difference serves a handy purpose.
So, in that respect, simply referring to everything Electronic that plays at 140BPM in half-time and includes some D&B sounding bass as Dubstep is probably a handicap for people that don't know the difference.

I don't care if they do or not... I just think they'd be better off knowing what the hell it is they're listening to.