Burial

[BrotherLovesDub]

Boxcutter - Sunshine VIP - Oneiric

what genre is that song?

[kid cue]

Originally Posted by BrotherLovesDub

Boxcutter - Sunshine VIP - Oneiric

what genre is that song?

it sounded like dubstep the first time i heard it, and i was sad that more producers weren't exploring in the same way. are you done?

Originally Posted by BrotherLovesDub

yeah, no shit. i tend to want fewer genre titles.

[BrotherLovesDub]

not quite done. what genre would you file Various Production under?

maybe i do have too narrow a definition of dubstep. i'm unsure now, but it's something i want to explore.

[kid cue]

i don't know. trip-hop? :P

a few tracks sound like grime--that "Hater" instrumental has been versioned and remixed by a number of grime artists. it makes sense, given the way it sounds.

[joethelion]

I've always sort of grouped Various Production into the whole 'dubstep' category / scene... but sort of in the way that Massive Attack & Tricky were 'trip hop' - yet at the same time very much not

I think as time has progressed, there was this really emphatic sense that you had to category each style of music within a box... not only to 'make it easy' to find specific sounds you'd want (as someone purchasing music) but also to give a sense of unique identity within each genre. Like, the producer now has a name/craft to identify with. (like, "I work with wooden furniture so I must be a carpenter")

but the only problem is - the categories got way way way way too specific, while musicians simultaneously started crossing genres (there's a clever quote that David Byrne said about this on "Sessions @ West 54th" a while back, but I forget it - I think I have that show recorded somewhere...)

and genre's - in general - have become pretty pointless. Like, how would you classify someone like Sebastian, Justice, or Digitalism? I've heard each of them described as "electro"... but they sound remarkedly different than to say - Tiefschwarz, Mylo, Two Lone Swordsmen, or even The Egyptian Lover & Afrika Bambaataa - who have also been classified as "electro"

[kid cue]

i think the only reason Various Production get grouped with dubstep is becasue dubstep gets name-dropped for no reason whenever critics write about them. but i agree, the micro-genre labels have become increasingly pointless, partly because it seems people are getting tired of it, and partly because the music itself doesn't seem to care too much. today there's a certain idea of "dubstep", "minimal", etc, but i think the names only stick because of a few broad musical qualities (low-end, crunchiness, etc) and the scenes that form around them. this can only be a good thing IMO

[BrotherLovesDub]

Various are less dubstep to you than Burial? I completely disagree. alright, Various obv. do many diff. genres but they've also done tunes that are much closer to the sound of dubstep than Burial. guess what? Dubstep dj's vibe off/play Various cuts! i guess i would be OK with defining some songs of Burial's as dubstep but mostly his albums sound like Ambient albums that are influenced by 2step, dub and dnb. It's not that different to The Orb's first couple albums except when the Orb were making those records, the pillaged genres were diff; DnB and 2step had yet to happen so they took elements from other sources. if you're willing to say Various are not a dubstep artist for some of their songs being clearly outside the genre, why don't you make that distinction for Burial?


btw, i wouldn't describe Various to someone or label/file Various under Dubstep either. while they've made some Dubstep tunes, they're not so easily categorized. same as Burial in my book.

[jose m]

balearic ???????

[kid cue]

Originally Posted by BrotherLovesDub

Various are less dubstep to you than Burial? I completely disagree. alright, Various obv. do many diff. genres but they've also done tunes that are much closer to the sound of dubstep than Burial. guess what? Dubstep dj's vibe off/play Various cuts!

that's fine, i don't really listen to Various and i've never heard them played out, so it's my personal dubstep mind that doesn't care. they may have made tracks that have archetypal dubstep qualities, but they don't have the same social-cultural-musical resonance that Burial has (not just for me but for everyone), even if none of his songs resemble the "standard dubstep template" as much as 1 or 2 Various songs. as far as "dubstep" goes, Various mean about as much to me as Squarepusher appeals to my junglist side (ie 0.1%).

i guess i would be OK with defining some songs of Burial's as dubstep but mostly his albums sound like Ambient albums that are influenced by 2step, dub and dnb.

i don't see what the point of making this distinction is. you say you aren't preoccupied with genre labels but you clearly are, insofar as they help you find the "truth" about what an artist's genre DNA is. fine if Burial sounds like ambient that has dnb in it, but RIGHT NOW he is also a dubstep artist making dubstep records that emerge from the dubstep scene. Mala draws from house and makes dubstep. ditto Loefah for hip-hop. what's the point? everything has the potential of sounding like such-and-such album that is influenced by such-and-such genres.

[BrotherLovesDub]

certainly Burial isn't part of the Dubstep scene. he's going through great lengths to not be seen as coming from any camp. i think you are making a distinction between Burial and Various because you think Various is cheesy while Burial has cred. Various and Burial are both on the periphery of Dubstep. Neither deserves to be labelled Dubstep.

If you asked Burial what kind of music he makes do you think he'd say Dubstep?