Of course I mean elements of acid-techno/acid-house, but it's possible there were elements of the psychedelic involved as well. Because the new music that Vex'd and Scuba have been working on (independently) are incredibly trippy. I just heard an exclusive preview of a new tune by Vex'd on Mary Anne Hobbs' BBC1 Radio show and I have to tell the world about it. It's absolutely gorgeous!! Big heavy sounds that move slowly. Think dubstep on Robotussin! The bass line meanders like a huge sea creature ambles across the ocean floor, deep DEEP underwater. The melody twists and transforms as it glides through dense dark drums and bass. This track would be ideal in a documentary of our first successful voyage to the bottom of the sea (which of course isn't possible yet). Futuristic meets primitive!
2 songs later Mary Anne played a new tune from Scuba, off his upcoming LP Mutual Antipathy. Pure bliss! Psychedlic ambient atmospheres like England is famous for, thanks to Orb, FSOL, etc. Dubstep has become super psychedelic since Benga + Coki's "Night" first hit the dancefloors. The Scuba track offers another take on the deep sea dubstep sound but slightly closer to sea level than the Vex'd tune. The Scuba track causes a sense of weightlessness, tickled by sparkling synths that bubble away into layers of atmospheric electronica.
I can't wait to get both albums on vinyl and play them under the stars on huge, bass-heavy speakers.
To hear the Mary Anne Hobbs show, it will be archived on her BBC page for 1 week:
My Trusted MOGs
I just looked up the tracklist from her show and found the titles of these 2 tunes:
Vex’d – ‘In System Travel’ Scuba – ‘From Within’
My Trusted MOGs
I'm not completely fond of Dubsteb. One of my favorite radio DJs plays that stuff since two years up and down and bores me with that. But if you like Dubstep, you might check it out: www.vinylizer.net. You need a playfm account to listen to it, but it's free. Anyway, I'll check out this show, somehow you made me curious about this two tacks. Are you djing? Are there already dubstep parties in the U.S.?. Dubstep just entered Germany like a half year ago or so and still is deep, deep underground ;).
My Trusted MOGs
Just listened to the show. That "UK Cup Clash" was bizarre. They were more occupied with shouting and tooting than actually playing music. What a strange competition. And the people should decide between the two guys based on this short music snippets between all the noise they made in between? Bizarre ... .
My Trusted MOGs
yeah, that's the funny thing about soundclash, Hermes - a lot of it is about history and the music's culture. most of the fans in the audience know every word of the original songs, but the singers sing special versions just for soundclash. so, in a way, it's like rooting for your home team, or the one who plays more cleverly. there is so much inside meaning and common experience being shared each time a tune comes on. And, of course, the winner is decided by crowd response, so the "deejay" (who is the one on the mic, what we call an MC) is trying to whip the crowd into a frenzy for the win! i'm dying to write about this topic at length, but i think it's a bit too much for posting on MOG...
My Trusted MOGs
Well, I'm not really deep into Reggae and Dancehall. But even if you would take my favorite bands and mix them with all the history behind it and all the different kinds of connotations, this still would be making me angry somehow by just playing snippets and tooting all the time - the tooting remind me a lot of soccer games. I mean it seems to be not about the music anymore, but more about the event, more like some cheap animation show. Sorry for my incomprehension. I'm the one, who stopped going to the local Drum'n'Bass parties when the MCs became to predominant and the quality of music took a back seat. The worst thing for me was that most people didn't even care, as there was this one big mouth in front, that was animating the crowd constantly with his monotone throw-ups. It's the same thing that upsets me on Dancehall parties, why I visited only a few. But with regard to Dancehall I unterstood, that they principally can't live without predominant MC, that it's intrinsic part of the culture. But in Drum'n'Bass you can live very well without the ape onstage. It's a kind of egocentrism, that I can't stand. IMHO the MC should be one instrument of many, not more, not less. But that's usually not the way, that they look at it. Maybe I'm just not the one for such mass events, where it is all about, that the mass gets one whole, that is "directed" by the one guy onstage. Huh, sorry for all the lamenting, but it was not only once, that MCs destroyed the party for me. Hey, but write about it, and if it's too much for you for MOG. post it somewhere else and MOG the link. Maybe I can somehow understand it, even if I can't enjoy it ;). I mananged to do the same thing with soccer.
My Trusted MOGs
"they principally can't live without predominant MC, that it's intrinsic part of the culture. But in Drum'n'Bass you can live very well without the ape onstage."
that's where you hit it. the soundclashes are not about the music itself, they're more like soccer games. there are teams competing against each other. and the whole thing started with the Jamaican soundsystems, each with their "toasters" or MCs. they only exist together and not separate.
i completely agree with you about DnB. i occasionally listen to old DnB tapes with Mickey Finn or someone chatting over them, but only for nostalgia. I can't stand going to any live event where the MC won't shut up and let us enjoy the music!
loads of people don't like soundclash for lots of different reasons. i happen to love it, but i also deeply understand it and the history and music involved. but i certainly wouldn't listen to or attend a soundclash if dancing was my main priority. they're just totally separate things.
just like no one would attend a football game to dance and nor attend a club night to root for your favorite team. seen?
i love that we are discussing this! like i've said before, i really want to write about this for my next book, so these conversations help me immensely! thanks!!
:)
My Trusted MOGs
Good that I didn't hurt you with my somehow acid comment ;). After having posted it, I had my doubts, if I hit the right tone. Sometimes, there are cultural differences between the nations and continents, that make it a bit difficult, to communicate the message. You Americans are usually overly nice in the perception of Germans, so I'm sometimes a bit afraid, if I just write, like I would speak here - just in your face so to say. So if that should happen at any time, just give me a hint and I'll try to work on my style.
Well, good that someone, who's into soundclashs, explicitly writes, that playing music is not the primary purpose of a soundclash. Now I can live with that, and respect it somehow, even if it's not up my alley. I'd be interested in that book, that you're writing on. Is it only about Reggae, Ragga, and Dancehall? Btw: I never heart the real difference between Dancehall and Ragga, but as I sad, I never invested that much time to find out more about those genres and the differences between them. The only thing, that I quite like is electronic dub and electronic music, that incoporates dub elements. If should not have listened to Makossa & Megablast yet - my absolute favorites in that genre in last half year - you can do that here: http://mog.com/Hermes/blog_post/85833.
My Trusted MOGs
cool thanks Hermes! so far your tone has been splendid, so no worries! it's nice of you to speak freely here. i'll be checking out Makossa & Megablast now. i'll get back to you about the rest.