Pissed off about playin a shit set last night

I dont really DJ much these days. I pretty much gave it up almost 4 years ago. But i got a set at Outbreak @ Timbuk2 in Bristol last month and it was good. Everyone was into it, i played loads of old classics (DnB), and i was enjoying hearing those tunes again as much as everyone else.

Last night tho was a different story, nobody gave a shit. The room i played in was dead all night and the vibe in the club weren't to good either. Basically i couldnt be arsed to play anyway and i couldnt wait to get off the decks and out of the club.

Just makes me think that DJing an old Blackout set now n again can be fun but i really dont wanna make a habit of it. I aint bought any tunes for years and i aint really bothered whether i play out or not. So i dont think i'll be in any hurry to DJ there again. Once was enough for me, maybe i'll av a go again next year or something but thats it for now.

Moving on from Drum n Bass

Not that long ago i used to love drum n bass, i practically lived for it. Anyone that remembers Underdog will know how passionate i was about the music then. I suppose a lot of shit went on at the time that made me want to step away from that scene. It doesn't help that now as i get older i see more and more youngsters at DnB nights and increasingly less of my older friends.

I'm sure the kids that are into it now really enjoy it and i don't wanna sound like some old fart when i say "Its not as good as it used to be" but it really aint. Like all genres there are high points and low points. When i was doing Underdog from around 99-04 DnB went through quite a change. Tech-step started to get more inventive and interesting, producers started mixing their influences into the tunes and there was a lot of real creativity, the whole genre became varied and interesting.

Right now, all i hear in DnB is the same shit as the next tune. Its all so formulaic, same beats, same basslines, same sounds. Theres hardly any real innovation in DnB right now and that bores me. My tastes have always been varied, i grew up on heavy metal and i think theres so much scope within electronic music to really push back boundaries. Problem is these boundaries are so fixed in place thats its really quite hard to break em. Every genre has its own tempo and its own definitive formula for what works. DnB isn't alone here.

So where does that leave those artists that want to make something original? How can anyone really try to be different when each every scene encourages the artists to be the same? Its that which perpetuates the steady fall in quality that has become so evident within DnB. Where a few years ago, producers tried something different in their music, those ideas have become the standard and now its all the same again.

Pendulum are trying something different now, like em or hate em you have to give credit for that, but it seems like they've been cast out of the DnB scene. No surprise when you consider that the biggest names in DnB are the same DJs who were around 10-15 years ago, hardly cutting edge.

Infact, i think thats where a lot of the problem lies. The scene has been manufactured in such a way that the select few who were there at the beginning are the ones that are at the top now. Still the big names on a flyer, these are the ones getting the respect for playing tunes made by the lesser-known producers. The old boys are the ones charging top-dollar to do something anyone with a pair of decks can do (often better). The whole dubplate culture perpetuates this heirarchy even more.

No wonder then that a lot of people are moving towards dubstep now, buts thats just another genre with own set of developing rules, dubstep will have its time, there will be a commercial point and everyone will hate it and probably go back to DnB, and so the cycle continues.

The point i'm getting at is that drum n bass, like any genre is ultimately going to be restrictive. A killer tune has to fit within a given set of rules in order to work. The tempo has to be the same in order to mix it with any other DnB tune. All that really matters is the drop anyway, the rest of the tune is just filler.

All of this is why i feel so disillusioned with drum n bass right now. I still enjoy the tunes i used to love, the classics. But right now i'm far more excited by the vast wealth of good music that exists outside of that scene. In this day and age of the internet theres no need for something as closed as the DnB scene to dictate to me, you or anyone whats good and whats not.

electronic artists that just use loops.

I posted this in a forum discussion about whether people that just used loops can be called musicians, i try to avoid using them myself but a lot of artists use them extensively:

Theres a number of so-called "producers" that make tunes using predominantly loops, samples and downloaded midi data, often their tunes ultimately sound unfinished. Its clear to me why that is, those electronic musicians that put more into their compositions also put more into their production. Sculpting a tune from start to finish is not a simple task so cutting corners at any point will effect the quality of the end product.

That said tho, sampled beats are still commonplace and anyone who uses an amen break does so because they want that sound. On top of that a lot can be achieved by chopping beats up, mangling and generally fucking around with em to the point where they barely resemble the original recording. Also many genres of dance music are defined by their beat, anyone wanting to make tunes that fit that style might aswell just use a loop. Personally, i get great satisfaction out of creating my own beats but i often like to layer up some drumloops behind it. but then i dont like to make tunes to fit a genre.

As for collage artists then yes, you should give credit to their work, but a great deal of their talents come from finding the most obscure sounds/beats rather than picking up the latest time+space cd and creating a generic house/dnb/dubstep/whatever tune.

What about presets? I'm not gonna deny i've used a few of them with very little tweaking, however layering some preset pads from an obscure freeware vst or using an already perfect string sound in your sampler is different to building a tune in reason using only the factory soundbank.

Most rock/pop music tends to use the same 1-4-5 chord progressions, is that really that far different from using loops? Most dance music sounds similar to everything else within its own genre whether based on loops or not. A large number of respected musicians owe much of their sound to their (largely uncredited and therefore unrecognised) engineer, while many others simply rehash the same formula over and over and call it a new tune each time.

No disrespect to those that can make good music based around loops, personally i feel more original when i know i've made it all myself.

Mixing opinions with music...

How many great artists have avoided politics within their music, instead focusing on the fun side of life? Quite a lot. Sure theres been a fair few great political bands, but theres a lack of it within the electronic world. Dance music is ultimately disposable, its great while you are on the dancefloor, a good tune should lift your mood for five minutes or until the DJ gets bored and brings in the next tune.

At the moment the few tunes i have are still in an instrumental form, but these are really just demos, as such unfinished. Ultimately i hope to actually say something with my music. These random blog posts are really a different way of expressing what i want to say.

Problem is in saying things that might be controversial. Sure, i've got a bit of a problem with religion, but then i've also got a problem with anything that encourages prejudice and hatred and the way i see it the major religions all do that in some way. That doesn't mean i hate religious people, i take everyone on their own merits. If someone has a spiritual belief i disagree with that doesn't make them any less of a person in my book, like i said i dont like prejudice and hatred.

We all need to be prepared to have our ideas about the world challenged if our society is going to "evolve". I might not agree with you on everything, but i can respect that you have your own opinion provided it is just that, your own. Not just an idea you have been told and believe unquestioningly.

I don't really feel like typing any more today. I just hope that people aren't put off my music by the things i post here, infact i hope that when its all finally put together it will all make sense.