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Dubstep needs a new direction.
Monday 17th June 2013 | Kledion
The electronic dance music genre (also known as ‘dubstep’) was recently criticised by dubstep DJ/producer and Tectonic label boss Pinch. He stated on MixMag “For me the innovative spirit of the early dubstep years drizzled out around 2008. For five years it hasn’t been king of the hill”. Funnily enough, it was around this time that dubstep was gaining much deserved recognition in the commercial world. So perhaps his comments were rather an attack on the commercialisation of his much beloved genre or maybe upon the artists which sold their passion to a homogenized sound. Either way this would appear a strange observation from a music label boss - calling to question where his interests lie. It is a bitter taste to a genre which still remains loved deep in the underground.
Dubstep first emerged in the late 1990s with the earliest dubstep releases dating back to 1998. It is still a young genre which has needed to be nurtured by artists to find that ‘something special’. Although, at its foundation it remains very much an experimental sound as is all great music, with much potential to grow further.
The spirit may have drizzled from commercial dubstep but its spirit still lingers and breathes underground, growing stronger by the day. If anything the distinction of commercial dubstep and underground has only strengthened its genre. Commercial dubstep has given the genre a mass audience unto which it can market itself whilst promoting the lesser known tunes to those curious lovers of music. To some devoted fans they realise it as only ‘true dub’.
Pinch's opinion that dubstep is losing its place as ‘king of the hill’ suggests that he is sad to hear that a genre so new is at a halt as a result of artists limiting themselves within the sound. It could be argued he instead is calling out to artists to go that extra mile and find the new sound and to experiment further with it. He realises its potential to become great. Fusion genres have since added some innovation to the genre but it has not become its own. It can yet become ‘king of the hill’ if there is a will for it.
Dubstep artists to look out for:
Written by Kledion Halili
