Artsculture

Don't Know the Difference Between Dubstep and Brostep?

Have no fear, old-timer, here's that primer you've been waiting for.

By Michael Mann, 8 Dec 2011, TheTyee.ca

Dubstep musician Skrillex

Skrillex -- why on earth would anyone say he "looks like a jackass"?

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Dubstep might be the new heavy metal. It's dark, it's aggressive, and it's already conquered North American suburbs with little mainstream media support. Born in the clubs of south London in the early oughties, Dubstep is a hybrid of dub, drum and bass, and glitchy electronica. At its most inoffensive, it's moody restaurantica. At its best, it's an obnoxiously fun and angry assault on your ears; the kind that makes you say, "What is this shit? That's not music," just like every generation of old people has uttered when they were confronted with a new and exciting musical genre.

Maybe you love it, maybe you hate it, maybe you've never heard of it. Regardless, it's impossible to ignore anymore as it's gradually popping up everywhere. You'll hear a Rusko song between whistles at sporting events, read a great review of Burial on your favourite blog, see a hilarious YouTube video with a dubstep score or watch a stripper dance to a Skream remix of La Roux at the No5 Orange (it was an incredibly classy performance). And it's only going to keep spreading. This past week, Justin Bieber announced his next album is going to include some dubstep while the biggest name in the genre, Skrillex, was receiving five Grammy nominations -- including Best New Artist.

Skrillex, who seemingly appeared overnight, is so huge YouTube will probably make you sit through a Procter & Gamble ad for VapoRub or a digital pregnancy test before you can watch his excellent video for "First of the Year (Equinox)" (It received a Grammy nomination for Best Short Form Music Video). Or maybe give a listen to this one, "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites," which is closing in on a stupefying 50 million views. To give you a little perspective, the first single from Jay-Z and Kanye West's album Watch the Throne has nearly 30 million views. Skrillex is a pop star that's never had his music played on commercial radio or television.

LISTEN TO THIS:

Skrillex - "Rock 'n' Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain)"

In his previous life, when he was 18, Skrillex went by his given name Sonny Moore and was the lead singer of screamo band From First to Last (Yep, that's him screamo-ing.) Now practically geriatric at 23, it only seems fitting that a kid who was signed to Epitaph Records and played the Warped Tour is the one to triumphantly bring dubstep from the trendy areas of London to the Hot Topics of every mall in suburban America. Feel old and out of touch yet? I sure do, and I'm the one writing about this shit.

Purists of the dubstep genre, of course, hate him. They say he looks like a jackass and his music lacks subtlety; that it's too in your face. His sound has petulantly been labeled brostep -- the connotation being that only jockish idiots and frat boys listen to it. Having observed his fans closely when Skrillex was in Vancouver for two sold out shows at the PNE Forum in October, I'll attest that they do look suspiciously like participants in the Stanley Cup Riot, only groovier. But maybe hockey's not the violent sports reference I should be making. The dubstep snob's critique of his music is comparable to a boxing fan ragging on MMA Fighting. Can't we just all agree that, so long as someone's face or ears get viciously maimed, it's great entertainment? [Tyee]

Michael Mann is freelance editor and writer. He enjoys Jack Daniels, Neck Face and sadistically violent horror movies. You can stalk him through his website or Twitter.

9 Comments:

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  • Dungeness_Crab

    10 weeks ago

    Ugh

    The end of the world can't come soon enough, methinks.

    Just sayin'

  • Langley

    10 weeks ago

    ugh is right

    A synth with a million buttons to push and program. The ease of making 'music' these days takes the beauty right out of it

  • peedeecee

    10 weeks ago

    Wow. Ageist much? I'll bet

    Wow. Ageist much? I'll bet you don't make cracks about gays or blacks or First Nations or the disabled.

    Age is no different, young-timer.

  • peedeecee

    10 weeks ago

    Attitude

    This article is ageist.

  • Michael Mann

    10 weeks ago

    I'm not ageist...

    some of my best friends are old people.

  • Jim Cricket

    10 weeks ago

    ?

    Though 50 million is great for an artist with no radio play it is good to note that Jay-z and Kanye's "new" video has only been on Youtube since Aug 2011 while Skrillex's track, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, has been on Youtube for over a year. So, at 30 million views, Jay-z and Kanye's video should be on track to have more views in a year then Skrillex's did in that time.

    I'm just sayin'.

  • andrewvanderleest

    10 weeks ago

    Langley

    If it's so easy, why haven't you done it yet?

    I used to be in the same place as you, disliking anything that wasn't made with anything traditionally considered an instrument. And I agree somewhat with what you're saying about the beauty of it being taken out, I can see where you're coming from there. However...

    The important thing to realize is that not all music has the same purpose. Especially these days. Some is there simply for entertainment, and not so much with artful purpose. I, like you, in the long run still much prefer what we'd consider "real music" (I listen to everything from swing jazz to blues to classic rock to metal, and everything in between) over this newer electronic stuff. I still consider my favorite music group of all time to be Pink Floyd. But if you can set this newer emergence of electronic music aside on its own and take it for what it is, it can be pretty enjoyable. You have to realize Skrillex isn't trying to be the most talented musician on the planet, I think he just wants to entertain people with some crazy-ass sounds. And honestly it's really fun, to get into this stuff. While dubstep performances are much different and require a lot less talent and effort than what I consider a real concert -- aka a band performing original written music -- they're still pretty kickass if you just wanna go crazy for a night and have some fun. And that's what it's there for. No dubstep artist is ever going to take the place of the Rolling Stones, or the Beatles, or 90s greats like Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, even some lesser-knowns like Dinosaur Jr. I don't find this newer stuff to be a threat to those guys at all.

    Hell, even the most disgustingly terrible mainstream pop and hip-hop has its purpose of being there for the tweens to post the lyrics on facebook and twitter, because God knows we wouldn't want them walking around singing our music.

    That's all I'm trying to say. Different stuff has its reasons to exist. People like to put all music in the same pool and compare it, but if you ask me that's crazy. Some stuff is so different from other stuff there's nothing to even compare between the two, and one shouldn't do so. There is no good and bad music, there is what you like and what you don't like. And in my experience, trying to convince others that one type of music is better than the kind they like, is just a big waste of time. Let them be, and stick to the stuff you like. Nobody's ever going to take it from you. That's the beauty of music.

    So set your long-time favorites aside and check out some EDM artists. It can be pretty cool if you give it a chance.

  • Alexx

    10 weeks ago

    Ease?

    Dear Langley,

    Have you ever actually made music with a computer or synth? (No, putting a loop on Garage Band doesn't count.) Honestly, I would find it a million times easier to strum a few chords and come up with a folk or rock song than attempt to piece together a dubstep track.

    Whether you find it aesthetically appealing is up to you. But to scoff about it's supposed ease sounds like the kind of criticism that comes from someone who has never actually done it before.

  • tadpol

    10 weeks ago

    where's this magical push button dubstep synth you speak of?

    'cause the last thing I'd say about dubstep or most electronic music for that matter is that it's easy to make. I've been a hobbyist producer for about 12 years now, and it seems like I'm on an infinite learning curve and am learning new techniques every week. Can you say this about playing folk music? I don't know, because I don't play it..

    btw, I'm not a fan of Skrillex personally, but can at least appreciate the amount of talent it takes to do what he does.

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