Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Skrillex
Dubstep is really not my genre, but way back when I first saw it, this song changed me in quite a profound and unexpected way. When I first heard it, it was the most exciting, truly alien music I had heard - and it took me a good week or two to first process it and to find a way to connect this song back to the canon of music that I knew. Beware SCARY bass drops starting at 2:10 til 2:40 :)
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What you said about not knowing what to make of it because you couldn't relate to it musically or tell where it fit, that is exactly what I went through the first time I heard Skrillex and dubstep in general. It was so completely different and alien that I didn't know whether to love it or hate it. The key that finally let me understand it is Aphex Twin. If you look back at any of AFX later work, you can see he's heading in this direction. I would imagine somebody not familiar with IDM listening to "Come to daddy the Pappy Remix" for the first time would have a similar reaction to us listening to Skrillex. WTF did my ears just listen to?
ReplyDeleteThis is the song/video I'm speaking of. Listen to what he's doing with the beat glitches, stutters, and loops, and you can see that dubstep just took that a step further and added it to the bassline as well.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W7nIfSEjP4
ReplyDeleteWoa Mikkey - that's some disturbing viewing... I see what you mean, in terms of the evolution of music. I'm reminded quite a lot of the Monolake song that Mark posted - and not only because of the eerie sound effects :)
ReplyDeleteThe thing about dubstep is that it has... alongside that technical brilliance and innovation - this crazy reggae influence. I found this wiki article really helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubstep#Structure.2C_bass_drops.2C_rewinds_and_MCs
The mixture of the two (reggae and electronica) was so unexpected when I first encountered it, something like discovering a ... science-fiction rasta. This song, 'Tarantula' by Pendulum (2005), seems to be about such a character. I love how the wild & outlandish music helps to characterise the character being described by the singer - interestingly enough in the same way that the eerie music in the Aphex Twin helps to bring alive the eerie character in the video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kJ09FpWoaM
Tarantula is great for describing that jump from reggae to dubstep because of the way the first version of the refrain (with syncopated reggae guitars and even a hint of a West African style brass section) transitions quite quickly into the 'future' - dubstep :)
Of course, this song was released 7 years ago and is quite tame by today's dubstep standards. Especially after Skrillex.
Massive! Time to fix you up something here right now!
Shotta, hitter, serial killer
Go-a your funeral and all drink out your liquor
When you are bury we a-stand next to vicar
Fling on some dirt and make your bury a little quicker
Shouldn't test the youth them in the Tommy Hilfiger
Hug up ya mama, say sorry to ya poppa
All-a get number for ya little sister
I true be cold like Alaska freezer
Black tarantula, time for the massive come sing ya
Black tarantula, don't play with my style I might sting ya
Black tarantula, you want me inject me bacteria
And if ya body goin' stiff and your spine goin' numb
Now come fi get some...
[...] (This is a re-post of a reply I made to Mikkey Magic here) [...]
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