Generation Bass
August 27th, 2008 | by jg3 |Just a few days ago when I was talking about how electronic music has finally broken out of stagnation for the better part of a decade, Mary Anne Hobbs (MAH) has put out a follow up to her sound-breaking Dubstep Warz program, Generation Bass.
- MAH
I first experienced dubstep by downloading a recording of Dubstep Warz and, honestly, it didn’t leave the CD player in my car for weeks. It was new. It was nasty. It was funky. It was breaky. It was rump-ramblin’ low. It was intelligent and listenable, too. I knew the drought was over.
And, as usual, I was late to the party. I pulled that down in early ‘o8 and it was recorded in ‘o6. Now, last week to be exact, MAH has produced a follow-up program that has the dubstep world vibrating. Generation Bass follows a little different forum than Dubstep Warz. Where DW brought seven keystone dubstep producers to demonstrate dubstep for about 15 minutes each, GB brings those same now legendary producers back to the decks with some narrower rules: pick one new artist and showcase their work for a quick set. So here the musicians are far more important than the selectors, execpt in the amount of trust that is assumed to the selectors. No doubt that several of the producers picked artists from their own label stable, but somehow I’m not cynical about it. These new producers are largely unsigned and the label owners are looking to get new music for themselves and pick up skilled new folks to roll with them.
So, as I write this I am only halfway through the Generation Bass special and I have yet to form a complete opinion but I think that it is a notable event in the world of experimental, electronic music. And for anyone who loves their subwoofer. If you’ve got any curiosity and two hours, give it a rip. Be warned, though, the selectors tend to talk over the tracks big-up’ing them in that UK style, which doesn’t usually fly stateside (eg, with me).
Enjoy!
Filed under: music
One Response to “Generation Bass”
By chrism on Aug 28, 2008 | Reply
I like the Dubstep Warz track, though the initial advertisement… I’d like a way to skip past the spoken word biits at the front, and sometimes the speak-over is a little much.
Good tunes though, thanks!