Show me some melody in modern electronic music.

[highkoo]

Is that really a thing?

[ZenPunkHippy]

Seems pretty common.

Nothing wrong with moshing, I used to love it at punk and metal gigs, but on the dance floor? Not so much ...

Peace,
Andy.

[ras.s]

Here's one with sweet melodies for heavyweight skanking, whatever in a rub-a-dub mood or for stepping in King David style, alone in the bedroom or by the bassbox in the dance, sufferer style out of Bristol ..



Reggae still carry plenty of melody and mood.

[highkoo]

common.

Well, thats interesting.
I cant imagine that catching on at actual "Dance Parties".

I was once in a pretty serious pit while Weezer was playing though, so I guess I can believe anything.

[cron]

un-interestingly in your face

Man, thats a good way to put it.

First, I am a fan of dubstep in general, although the more 'roots' stuff, and the newer it is, the more I hate it, apparently. But, Im ignoring the distinction here, because I think I know what kind of music you are probably talking about. And of course, Im just ranting about the all the new chaff. Theres always good stuff.

I was just on SoundCloud cruising around.
I will listen to some stuff that is fairly 'in your face', just to get a taste of it.

Sonically, I can find it pretty interesting, even when it is abrasive. Thats why I think I still listen. But, the arrangement that seems to go along with it is almost infuriating. It makes me angry.
They cant stick to a groove at all. Im realizing that now that in itself is a thing. They dont want to stick to a groove. Groove isnt a thing.
No idea is sustained for more than eight bars, maximum. No subtlety is maintained. So a track might hit on a couple of cool things. But, they are a couple out of fifty that only happen for a bar each.
It is exhausting and empty to listen to over a length of time.
I dont mind abrasiveness, but to what point? If its just there to be sustained at all costs, wtf? Every track sounds like a preset demo.

And the effect on me is is that I dont care, cuz it seems that they dont.
They might hit a good groove, and I think "Cool!", and then they drop into another unrelated loop two bars later, and I think "You silly bastards."

But I guess that all also describes some of my music too.

Yep yep, there was a time when dubstep was all about subtlety, space, and bass (as in actual bass - low frequencies, not mid-range squall). On another note, the word "bass" now refers to what we used to call the "lead", which says a lot to me about how far dubstep has moved away from its roots (and indeed lost its only connection to actual dub in the process).

There's a Porter Robinson track called The State which, quite apart from the right wing ranting throughout, illustrates everything wrong with contemporary dubstep to me. This whole idea of the 'drop' being king. No tension and release please, we only want the drop! ReleasereleasereleaseMDMArelease. This track takes it to such a ridiculous extent that you get 4 and a half minutes' worth of build up in a 6 minute track leaving you around a minute and a half's worth of dancing content. Dull as dishwater. Except the drop, of course.

[highkoo]

the word "bass" now refers to what we used to call the "lead", which says a lot to me about how far dubstep has moved away from its roots (and indeed lost its only connection to actual dub in the process)

Yes!
"Basslines" now have no bass freqs in them!

Ive started associating this reversal with doublespeak, etc.
We have always been at war with electro house.

[ZenPunkHippy]

Here's one with sweet melodies for heavyweight skanking

The voice during the intro reminded me of Audio Active (Japanese dub band). Quite heavy in places, great band!

[ghettosynth]

Sonically, I can find it pretty interesting, even when it is abrasive.

Sure, that isn't it by itself because I can enjoy some pretty abrasive music. Jungle had this attribute as well but, in many sub-styles, it managed to avoid the "music for people with short attention spans" problem. I'm also a fan of acid-techno and I really miss chicago, as opposed to U.K, style hardhouse. I don't think there's any bigger combination of silly and aggressive with perhaps the exception of HHC, which, believe it or not, I prefer to most of what I hear that's labeled as dubstep.

They cant stick to a groove at all. Im realizing that now that in itself is a thing. They dont want to stick to a groove.

Bam! That is exactly it! It's the thing that I hate about progressive trance styles as well. At least trance gives a nod to a groove in between the silliness of its "OMG I'm being lifted to the next level" builds. I think that it is in part driven by the shift in venues and attitude among attendees. EDM events are concerts where your focus is on watching the DJ. This is a conscious activity, not a subconscious activity and it requires that the DJ keep you entertained with constantly changing riffs. In the extreme it's taken to Steve Aoki levels of obnoxiousness where the audience is waiting for the "DJ" to throw a cake at them. Lip syncing with the record is a performance (eye-roll). Which of course, douche-baggery aside, is the standard way of thinking about music concerts. Classical audiences (for both connotations of the word) are expected to sit there and watch the performers. It's therefore not surprising why outsiders don't understand the culture and look in and think, "that music is pretty repetitive, I can do better with my constantly changing melody." Well, in a sense, in today's EDM market, you can, you just can't expect your audience to appreciate your melody unless it's either sugar coated or wrapped in sonic barbed wire.

No idea is sustained for more than eight bars, maximum. No subtlety is maintained. So a track might hit on a couple of cool things. But, they are a couple out of fifty that only happen for a bar each.

Yes, which never allows you to drop into a subconscious attachment to the music. The lack of predictability means that you don't ever experience the joy of locking your body in synchronization with the rhythm. I think that for people that have experienced this, there isn't really a substitute.

It is exhausting and empty to listen to over a length of time.

Exactly!

[ghettosynth]

Seems pretty common.

Nothing wrong with moshing, I used to love it at punk and metal gigs, but on the dance floor? Not so much ...

Peace,
Andy.

I disagree. There is something fundamentally wrong with moshing. It's really nothing more than male posturing. It's intrinsically violent and, in practice, almost always completely disrespectful of the space of others. Ok, I get it, it's the merging of youth cultures and I've never much been a fan of hardcore music or culture so I'm not much of a fan of the cultures merging. Moshing is antithetical to the dancing experience that I'm talking about. It's fairly close to random motion in that your motion is not only a function of your own movement but also of being struck by others with no particular relationship to the music's timing.


http://www.npr.org/2013/03/22/174962714 ... owdy-crowd

While he was watching, he realized that the motion of people in a mosh pit looks kind of like molecules moving in a gas.

"It was basically just this random mess of collisions, which is essentially how you want to think about the gas in the air that we breathe," he says.

[codec_spurt]

Seems pretty common.

Nothing wrong with moshing, I used to love it at punk and metal gigs, but on the dance floor? Not so much ...

Peace,
Andy.

And E.

You're just getting old. Admit it. You feel it deep in your heart but you just can't face the unbelievable truth.

What you really want to do is go out, neck a couple or three, with all your best mates, take your top off and flash your not inconsiderable tits, tattoos and all.

Then, just as you are coming up on a new wave, with all your friends, in marvelous synchronicity, some young bogun buck comes along and twats you in your head, just as you are reaching your own personal nirvana. "No mate, I don't have a light". And even better, all his mates twat your mates too. Full of win. It's the new 'tune in, turn on, burn out'. Sorry, 'Turn on, tune in, drop out'. I've been listening to The Sisters Of Mercy too long.

No offense to boguns of course. Some of my best friends are Zef.

Just keep going out, you'll get used to it.

[ZenPunkHippy]

"No mate, I don't have a light".

That's fine, just don't ask to borrow my god damn phone 'cause I be postin' @ KVR!

[ZenPunkHippy]

I disagree. There is something fundamentally wrong with moshing. It's really nothing more than male posturing. It's intrinsically violent and, in practice, almost always completely disrespectful of the space of others.

I never suggested it was anything like dancing, and would never expect or or want to see this type of activity at a dance music festival. That would be horrific.

Hardcore / metal / punk is generally aggressive music, and moshing fits in with the that attitude. It was not always a male dominated activity either, it's origins are in the reggae / dub skank that was part of the early UK punk scene ... but the mosh pit has changed over the years, as anyone who was there in the 80s will tell you. It is now an extremely aggressive, male dominated activity. Not good for lots of reasons.

Anyway, that's a totally different topic!

Peace,
Andy.

[Sendy]

Now that I think of it I consider Jungle more dancable than drum and bass. While jungle has most of the weight on the one and had plenty of events between the main heavy beats (ghost snares, little rolls, filter pops, extra beat layers playing peek-a-boo) that allow you to pick and choose what parts to respond to (essentially a bit like weaving your way through a maze), drum and bass is all jiggajiggaBOOF jiggajiggaBOOF like an express train. It's a unicursal labyrynth with one entrance and one exit, and those ubiquitous kick drum buildups that start off slow and build up to semiquavers and then there's a snare and silence and drop? That just makes me feel like gouging my eyes out with the nearest thing. Bonus points if there's a riser, woop-woop siren or noise blasts. >_<

I don't know why but my mind and body respond much more to that fractured kind of breakbeat style. House and regular percussion music was the last thing I came to appreciate and now I love a lot of it, it still gets me more interested if there's a bit of clever off-beat-ness in there. I guess a dance track is like a racetrack, you want curves but not 90-degree ones because you'll just crash

[codec_spurt]

"No mate, I don't have a light".

That's fine, just don't ask to borrow my god damn phone 'cause I be postin' @ KVR!

You're a class act mate.

I'd just leave you to get on with it.

[codec_spurt]

It is now an extremely aggressive, male dominated activity. Not good for lots of reasons.

Anyway, that's a totally different topic!

Peace,
Andy.

Well, one of the best reasons to go out and go off on one was the girls getting their tits out - There we are lads - have a good look at that! I'm in a room predominantly dominated by males, yet I feel safe enough to flash my breasts for you all to have a good look at. At the same time I saw other males look away, scars on their head and say to me, in all honesty, "I used to be a football hooligan". Every time the men looked away. The girls felt so safe, they all got them out! It was insane. Like a full on feminist movement.

Pussy riot, my f**king arse.

I think Andy what you are saying is that the ladies might not feel so safe as to do that in this new male-aggressive society. I'm not a girl, but if I was, I wouldn't.

And that has got to be a bad thing.