A Sentimental Note on Dubstep

I miss old dubstep; the real, good stuff that made me walk and walk and walk and get lost in my own head in the best possible way. Lost, not in my own deep thoughts, but solely on the sounds, the layering, the counts, the components of liquid melted bass that together made my insides warm up like a shot of Scotch. Sonically, the sounds were deep and nurturing, and had this matriarchal feel to them, perhaps in part due to Mary Anne Hobbs' influence on the sub-genre during this period (sidenote- as sad as it was for her to leave her late night BBC 1 radio show, I am of the opinion it was a wise move on her part. She had essentially raised the Bristol scene to a near pinnacle, and could anticipate that the future of dubstep was now out of her control and thrown free to the masses. She got out at a time that would diffuse her association with a genre that was heading in a wobbly direction with increasingly less attention to sound fluidity as it reached the mainstream).

Of course, there have still been great albums that have left me smiling to myself while walking down the street, but it isn't quite the same as that initial feeling I had when I first entered the world of dubstep. I'm not saying I want to be in the pure, simple state I was in before the genre, I merely want the fun of listening to it for the first time all over again.

The Best Dozen Albums of 2010

Witch-house, glo-fi, doomstep, glitch-hop, drone. If nothing else, 2010 was a year of intergenre marriages that further tested the entire “music genre” entity, and had most music devotees annoyed with the clichéd questions of taxonomy. Notwithstanding its slightly electronic leaning tendency, this list is compiled of (what I believe to be) the overall best albums/EPs released in 2010. N.B. Best played LOUD.

1. Forest Swords- Dagger Paths

2. Mount Kimbie- Crooks and Lovers



3. Flying Lotus- Cosmogramma



4. Four Tet- There is Love in You



5. John Roberts- Glass Eights



6. The Black Angels- Phosphene Dream



7. Balam Acab- See Birds EP



8. James Blake- CMYK EP + Klavierwerke EP




9. Bonobo- Black Sands



10. Caribou- Swim




11. Pantha du Prince- Black Noise



12. Eleven Tigers- Clouds are Mountains

A riddle

I am universal.
I make some people very wealthy.
I kill some people.
I make some people fit and strong.
Some people hate me.
Some people love me too much.
I am not a religious entity.

Dolomites

See you in 2011?


The Brenta Dolomites from Mike Randolph on Vimeo.

OoOooOooo

Violent, intense sensuality? Check. Video from Nosaj Thing's Drift Remixed album. Yummy. 

Oh Pariah!

My mind has been racing lately. So many ideas, not enough (read: NO) time to follow through with any of them. Music, business, creating, sewing, traveling, planning, decision making. A friend over at 283 has this to say:

...ultimately, isn't fear the most immediate yet overlooked obstacle to living the way we should? I came to the realization this morning that fear has become not only a hindrance, but a safehouse, a comfort for me. I fill every spare moment I have with work, fearing that free time will lead me to the daunting task of thinking about and making decisions about the direction of my future. At the same time, I am using this lack of free time as an excuse for why I have been unable to nurture any of the prospective seedlings that are bursting through my frontal lobes. In all my pragmatism, this cycle is completely illogical, and I recognize it as such, which makes me want to shout even louder, "FUCK YOU FEAR".

But please, don't be afraid of this:

Characters Who Don't Dig Jive Talk

  "They adopt the lifestyle of the jazz musician, including some or all of the following: dress, slang, use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic humor, self-imposed poverty, and relaxed sexual codes."

Fjällräven Kånken

I like classic, practical things. Given that 50% of my job is in finance, if I calculate the per usage rate of this new purchase, I am making an extremely economical decision. Enough said:

I want all of them, but I think Rusty wins.

xoxo

Dreams of Kerala

I want to make out with you, to this, on a rainy Sunday, the sun burning orange, about to retire.

Shiveries

Gold Panda_You from c.lotti on Vimeo.