This is in no way associated with punk, save for the fact that Skrillex,
a.k.a, Sonny Moore, was the second singer in the band From First to
Last, who were straddling that fine line anyway…
Dubstep is popular. It’s a form of electronic music that’s been around
for over 15 years and is only now in its limelight as far as mainstream
is concerned. From what I have read and noticed, Americans took what was
once a flourishing, down-tempo, dubby/groovy based music and
bastardized it into what is now known as, “Brostep.” Brostep, unlike
traditional dubstep production styles that emphasize sub-bass content,
accentuates the middle register and features "robotic fluctuations and
metal-esque aggression" according to Wikipedia.
An easier way to understand is to think of Transformers having sex with
lots and lots of heavy dropped, WUB WUB WUB WUB, and you’ll have a good
picture of what this is like.
Skrillex has become the scene leader and is often the reference point in this type of trendy music. His second EP, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,
is what most people who have never listened to dubstep will probably
get first. Brostep is to electronic music as beatdown hardcore is
to…well hardcore, or deathcore to death metal, or country music to
farting. There really isn’t any merit to this release except for the
title track which is rather catchy and harmless. If you had to just pick
one current dubstep type song to pretty much sum up the trend, this
would be the one. Sampling the excited cry of the girl who became famous
for stacking cups on YouTube,
Moore ushers in a pretty brutal drop after letting listeners get a bit
comfortable at the start of the song. If you ever wanted to just let it
rip and show off to your friends, that first drop is nigh impossible to
top for those with virgin ears listening to this “music.”
There isn’t any redeeming quality to this release. It is what it is; the
proverbial nail in the coffin to what was once a decent sub-genre of
electronic music. Despite what has happened, there are still some very
good dubstep artists out there like Burial, James Blake, Benga, Milanese
and Scuba. Those who like deathcore have now found something else to
latch onto, and other acts like Korn have jumped onto the bandwagon,
thus releasing their recent dubstep influenced album, The Path of Totality.
And from what’s happening currently in the scene, expect the Biebs to
be using this on his next release. 2012 is around the corner…
