So, between work, life, and other editorial duties, I missed my Thursday last week. Sorry about that! I am disappointed in myself, but at the same time, shit happens. So my rant this week may end up a little long, or even fragmented, as my mind works a hell of a lot faster than I can type. I think I want to bitch about this 'new' music trend known simply as dub step.
It's not so much new as it is a reimagining of the past. It takes the basic noises made at raves and warps and distorts the bass, altering it and making it do more than the usual 808 drop. I suppose in small doses it wouldn't be so bad, but alas, small doses do not exist. Instead, it has become a trend, as does everything, and it is blasted in clubs and cars around the world for hours on end. The droning, pulsing, pounding warbling is constant and remains annoying. Back in 2010, I found a cool remix of a Whitechapel song, 'Of Legions' on YouTube. It was called the Catalyst Dub Step Remix. I had no idea what it was other than a good remix. It kept the cool intro and added all this new noise and ended with what Whitechapel had already done. I happened to think it was pretty cool. Then the other dub step remixes started to emerge, blending music I loved and this dub shit. Those sounded pretty good. It kept the original flavor of the songs, with the dub infused into it. Then along came Big Chocolate, remixing Suicide Silence tracks and later the 'death step' group, Commissioner. He has since done just Big Chocolate. Sad to say, that stuff is ok at best. It is a trend after all. It will eventually die. Enter now the 'death step' movement, and the band leading the charge is The Browning. This is everything wrong with this genre. It has the generic breakdowns used by every metalcore and deathcore band around and will dumb it down by adding dub step. The new album actually bored me to the point of tears. I seriously almost nodded off. By the 6th track I was merely torturing myself. Why? The occasional groovy breakdown, since I’m a sucker for a good breakdown (thank you Pantera for 'Domination'). Regardless, I am a firm believer in stretching your wings. I defended Fear Factory and still do for releasing two remix albums. Why? Because they didn’t mix all of that into what they were. It was treated as a separate entity. Yes, by all means, add a few pieces here and there of electronics to add some atmosphere, but to write around it is just plain stupid. An example of a band that does do it right though? Look up a band known as Enter Shikari. I cannot stand this band’s music on CD, but live it is monstrous. Ask the thousands that saw them at this year’s Warped Tour. Either way, I guess what I’m trying to get at here is this: I grew up finding new music and bands. Bands: live people making music. I think the fact that electronic 'music' is so popular says something for the state of mind people are really in these days. It’s a lazy genre and will not last I hope. Death step can suck my sweaty balls. Dub step can fuck right off and die. And fuck you if you really think this is a valid way of making music. Hell, Ministry and Nine Inch Nails started doing this shit 20 some odd years ago, but guess what? Live, they have an actual band recreating these sounds, not using the electronics as a crutch. Maybe The Browning live will be better. Who knows, I don’t really care. To be perfectly honest with you, I won’t go out of my way to find out either. If by chance they play a show I’m working, I’ll keep an open mind. Until then, fuck you. There is a reason I prefer so much hardcore and basically the heavier side of music. It is real. You can hear it and see it. These guys are killing themselves to entertain. This overuse of dub step and all this shit is just plain lazy.
While I’m at it, I’ll piss off some more people here...Buckethead. Wow. I had the unfortunate experience of sitting in the barricade about two years ago during his set. Over the years I had heard so many people rant and rave about this 'mysterious' man that wore a KFC bucket on his head. It was made out to me that this guy was a bad ass. I sat there expecting…something. What I got was a tall, lanky nerd that used an iPod as his backing band playing mediocre, at best, guitar. He didn’t use a whammy bar or a million peddles. He had old NES (Nintendo Entertainment System for those of you not old enough to know that) style buttons on the guitar body that he randomly pressed. My life was wasted away as I watched this guy masturbate sloppily all over the crowd as he played the most retarded shit and passed out and traded toys with the crowd. Yes, toys. Dollar Store toys at that. What the fuck?
Again, here I go pissing people off...what the fuck is with people getting so fucking hyped up over this 'new' style called "Djent"? Really? "Djent"? Fuck "Djent". Thanks Periphery. Why don’t you call it what it really is? Meshuggah-core. The saddest part of it all is that a vast majority of fans that love this 'new' style have no fucking clue who Meshuggah are. I hold these bands responsible for this. Kids are kind of lazy these days (reoccurring theme here) and they have no respect for the bands and music that influenced the stuff they like. Periphery, After The Burial, Veil Of Maya, Volumes… speak up guys!! Teach your fans! Let’s do a Meshuggah tribute CD with all of you and blow peoples’ minds!!
Ok, that was a short one, but my point was made quicker than I thought. I hope this makes up for me missing last Thursday though. As usual, if you don’t like what I have to say here, then go fuck yourself.
Recommended listening: Stray From The Path - Rising Sun and The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne.
It's not so much new as it is a reimagining of the past. It takes the basic noises made at raves and warps and distorts the bass, altering it and making it do more than the usual 808 drop. I suppose in small doses it wouldn't be so bad, but alas, small doses do not exist. Instead, it has become a trend, as does everything, and it is blasted in clubs and cars around the world for hours on end. The droning, pulsing, pounding warbling is constant and remains annoying. Back in 2010, I found a cool remix of a Whitechapel song, 'Of Legions' on YouTube. It was called the Catalyst Dub Step Remix. I had no idea what it was other than a good remix. It kept the cool intro and added all this new noise and ended with what Whitechapel had already done. I happened to think it was pretty cool. Then the other dub step remixes started to emerge, blending music I loved and this dub shit. Those sounded pretty good. It kept the original flavor of the songs, with the dub infused into it. Then along came Big Chocolate, remixing Suicide Silence tracks and later the 'death step' group, Commissioner. He has since done just Big Chocolate. Sad to say, that stuff is ok at best. It is a trend after all. It will eventually die. Enter now the 'death step' movement, and the band leading the charge is The Browning. This is everything wrong with this genre. It has the generic breakdowns used by every metalcore and deathcore band around and will dumb it down by adding dub step. The new album actually bored me to the point of tears. I seriously almost nodded off. By the 6th track I was merely torturing myself. Why? The occasional groovy breakdown, since I’m a sucker for a good breakdown (thank you Pantera for 'Domination'). Regardless, I am a firm believer in stretching your wings. I defended Fear Factory and still do for releasing two remix albums. Why? Because they didn’t mix all of that into what they were. It was treated as a separate entity. Yes, by all means, add a few pieces here and there of electronics to add some atmosphere, but to write around it is just plain stupid. An example of a band that does do it right though? Look up a band known as Enter Shikari. I cannot stand this band’s music on CD, but live it is monstrous. Ask the thousands that saw them at this year’s Warped Tour. Either way, I guess what I’m trying to get at here is this: I grew up finding new music and bands. Bands: live people making music. I think the fact that electronic 'music' is so popular says something for the state of mind people are really in these days. It’s a lazy genre and will not last I hope. Death step can suck my sweaty balls. Dub step can fuck right off and die. And fuck you if you really think this is a valid way of making music. Hell, Ministry and Nine Inch Nails started doing this shit 20 some odd years ago, but guess what? Live, they have an actual band recreating these sounds, not using the electronics as a crutch. Maybe The Browning live will be better. Who knows, I don’t really care. To be perfectly honest with you, I won’t go out of my way to find out either. If by chance they play a show I’m working, I’ll keep an open mind. Until then, fuck you. There is a reason I prefer so much hardcore and basically the heavier side of music. It is real. You can hear it and see it. These guys are killing themselves to entertain. This overuse of dub step and all this shit is just plain lazy.
While I’m at it, I’ll piss off some more people here...Buckethead. Wow. I had the unfortunate experience of sitting in the barricade about two years ago during his set. Over the years I had heard so many people rant and rave about this 'mysterious' man that wore a KFC bucket on his head. It was made out to me that this guy was a bad ass. I sat there expecting…something. What I got was a tall, lanky nerd that used an iPod as his backing band playing mediocre, at best, guitar. He didn’t use a whammy bar or a million peddles. He had old NES (Nintendo Entertainment System for those of you not old enough to know that) style buttons on the guitar body that he randomly pressed. My life was wasted away as I watched this guy masturbate sloppily all over the crowd as he played the most retarded shit and passed out and traded toys with the crowd. Yes, toys. Dollar Store toys at that. What the fuck?
Again, here I go pissing people off...what the fuck is with people getting so fucking hyped up over this 'new' style called "Djent"? Really? "Djent"? Fuck "Djent". Thanks Periphery. Why don’t you call it what it really is? Meshuggah-core. The saddest part of it all is that a vast majority of fans that love this 'new' style have no fucking clue who Meshuggah are. I hold these bands responsible for this. Kids are kind of lazy these days (reoccurring theme here) and they have no respect for the bands and music that influenced the stuff they like. Periphery, After The Burial, Veil Of Maya, Volumes… speak up guys!! Teach your fans! Let’s do a Meshuggah tribute CD with all of you and blow peoples’ minds!!
Ok, that was a short one, but my point was made quicker than I thought. I hope this makes up for me missing last Thursday though. As usual, if you don’t like what I have to say here, then go fuck yourself.
Recommended listening: Stray From The Path - Rising Sun and The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne.
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