Went to see UK dubstep/d&b duo Nero the other night at Royale in Boston, which was one of the more depressing venue experiences I've had in a long time. Not because the space isn't cool, which it is, or that the show wasn't effing banging, which it was I suppose, but because of the way giant night clubs like that are a microcosm of the American police state (also via having to hang out in proximity to people in their underwear who have study hall tomorrow). Everyone is considered guilty until you're proven really guilty. Of what? The most egregious crime in the known universe, teenagers having alcohol in their possession. Here's my review of the show in the Boston Globe below, plus some video examples that I think might go some small way toward helping you old people/culture dunces figure out what dubstep is, like three years too late.
In case you missed my last blatant grab at page views, check out What the fuck is dubstep anyway? and Somehow people still don't know what dubstep is from the PTSOTL archives.
In the evolution of any sub-genre, as it lurches, protozoa-like, from the fetid puddles of cool onto the mainstream shore, it must inevitably assume some characteristics of pop. This is when the early adopters curse the cruel hand of musical Darwinism, and promptly abscond. For dubstep - that most emblematic cultural expression of contemporary youth - this moment has passed. As dubstep ambassadors to the pop arena go, you could do a lot worse than UK duo Nero; and a sold-out DJ set by Nero’s Joe Ray at Royale on Thursday illustrated that the transition process was in able hands.
Bouncing around in front of his knobs in whatever sort of conjuring-sleight it is that DJs do, Ray led the crowd through a set that leaned heavily on the duo’s recent apocalypse-themed record “Welcome Reality’’ - although the show may have only seemed like the end of the world to the parents of a clubbing teenager.
“Doomsday,’’ a 2-step influenced track of martial brass blasts, classical string samples, and massively whirring noise, dive-bombed into and out of the crowd like an errant biplane struggling to gain elevation. It segued into “Guilt,’’ which, like many of the group’s recent chart hits back home, features a glass- and heart-shattering vocal from collaborator Alana Watson. Like Nero’s best songs, it softened into pensive passages of disquieting high-pitched notes that expanded toward either vanishing point on the horizon before a slow build toward the bass drop. For a moment, the crowd seemed suspended in midair before descending into a flurry of bass notes, buzzing and whirring like mechanical saws swinging from all directions. It was as subtle as a box of sequencers plonking down the stairs, but it felt like a visceral approximation of the track - its body-pushing bass ushering the conceptual into the physical space of the club.
Or you could simply say Nero excels at taking hits of the past - The Jets’ “Crush on You,’’ Hall and Oates’ “Out of Touch’’ - and dressing them up in the style of the moment. Pop music by any other name still dances as sweet.
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OK, if "words" aren't really your thing, here's a pretty good illustration, via Nero, about what is dubstep, and what isn't dubstep. Ready? See if you can discern the pattern here. It shouldn't be too hard, unless you're a fucking moron, which isn't out of the question if you read this blog.
DUBSTEP:
NOT DUBSTEP:
DUBSTEP:
NOT DUBSTEP: (PS remember this? An Unnecessarily Exhaustive Analysis of the Video for Hall and Oates’ "Out Of Touch")
DUBSTEP:
NOT DUBSTEP:
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3 comments:
haha, you went to see this crap?
I was working in this instance, but that probably doesn't excuse the fact that I've been listening to this record on heavy rotation since it came out.
I still don't get it.
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