- Autumn talk, part 1: Why copyright is now about tools, not works
- Autumn talk, part 2: Bass and place, meaning and abundance
- Autumn talk, part 3: Greyzone communities
- Autumn talk, part 4: The method of Kopimi
- Autumn talk, part 5: Afterthoughts
Music as an activity which can not be accessed at any time and place, which can not be copied losslessy, which is not portable but place specific. That’s the desire that the ubiquitousness of individual MP3 listening awakens; its own inversion, in a sense. So what does that mean? Certainly not artificial barriers imposed on software by force of law. If we talk about how to anchor the digital within space and time, the most forceful example is probably sub bass.
Bass-centered music can not really be experienced anywhere, because of the very physical need for very large speakers to produce very low frequencies. It is not very portable. You can transport it in an iPod, but you can’t listen to it in headphones during the transport. All you can listen to is a simulation which will in best case let you remember the bodily feeling of the bass. Nothing wrong with that – but the musical value is then not really in the hearing of a track, but rather derived from the association to memories from and anticipations of real physical presence at collective activities.
In fact, sub-bass is almost never an individual experience. These frequencies have less respect for physical architecture (ask your neighbours), if played at the volumes that bass-centered music demands (bass does, however, have more respect for human ears than higher-frequency sounds).
Dubstep is a phenomenon, rather than a musical genre. It is defining itself through a combination of certain internet protocols on the one hand (shoutcast webcasting in real-time interaction with IRC channels), and on the other hand a few clubs with extremely powerful bass woofers, primarily in southern London. On the third, there are indeed record labels, integrated with the clubs, releasing most tunes only on vinyl. In short, dubstep’s material constellation is one possible way to create meaning out of abundance, by integrating the very analog with the very digital. It is not a coincidence that dubstep, as an extremely bass-centered musical phenomenon, has emerged in parallell with file-sharing networks.
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[...] Post a Comment Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked * Name * Email * Website Comment ‹ Socialdemokratisk kulturpolitik Möjligtvis liknande inlägg: Autumn talk, part 2: Bass and place, meaning and abundance [...]
Skream “[Dubstep] reflects dark murky streets and sinister nights, the sound of decaying London and its frustrated communities, stuck out in satellite towns and sink estates with nothing but a PC and freely available software to channel their frustration into.”
There is a lot south London has in abundance of, like a massively multicultural heritage with large African and West Indian communities – lots of garage, drum-and-bass, and reggae – all topped up by the poor white working class, dreadlocked squatters and free rave survivors. South London has given rise to The Clash and, 20 years later, dubstep.
Now, and as a South Londoner (incidentally) I might be slightly bias, but my best guess is that dubstep would have emerged without file-sharing networks… but it might have never spread quite so far so fast.
Dub owes a lot to the south London squat scene, which was an early adopter of filesharing networks (I remember almost all squats I visited or lived in during the early 00 had one PC set up purely for filesharing purposes). Squats and squat parties (and the soundsystems) did much to catalyse the mashup that is dubstep.
Does dubstep feel the same when it’s played in a south London squat party, the Mass (if your ever in Brixton, resist the temptation to go there, it’s a tourist trap), in a New York club, or on an iPod… absolutely not, regardless how big the base. As with selling, you can download low frequencies, high frequencies, and the midrange tones, but not much else.
The biggest contribution filesharing and social networking sites have made to what is now mainstream dubstep is access to distribution. Squats and filesharing are merely an outlet for those that cant afford to participate in the mainstream – it was done on a PC by folks who had no money for instruments, vinyls, recording equipment, hiring big clubs (and don’t even mention clearing samples). It’s a pity that much of the debate around music and filesharing is about trying to justify the value of music beyond royalty payments to big studio bosses. Like music does not exist unless it has an EMI contract. Music is culture, and emerges as such. When Napster came along I remember people getting exited about it because they could upload their own music for others to download, not because they could download big names for free. People don’t remember that now, but filesharing has always been primarily driven by those who wanted to share and create, rather than rip something off. Chances are, in 20 years south London will give rise to another music phenomenon, making due with what’s available – plenty of culture, frustration and whatever is affordable.
[...] Post a Comment Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked * Name * Email * Website Comment ‹ Gult Möjligtvis liknande inlägg: Autumn talk, part 2: Bass and place, meaning and abundance [...]
[...] some Rasmus thoughts on the issue way back in 2008: “Music as an activity which can not be accessed at any time and place, which can not be [...]
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