I take the piss out of Coverdale, but he had his place in history.
Fucking great singer. Fucking amazing singer. Great front man. The real deal. When he had that band behind him, he was on fire.
Coverdale played up to that whole 'pimp' thing, so he got the licks to go with it. He's a fucking great singer, superb frontman, and those that worked with him said he wasn't as much of an arsehole as they expected him to be.
Quite an accolade.
I should be so lucky if they every put that on my grave.
If you are in to DnB you'll already know it, but if you are just starting out making DnB it's a great resource for learning. I don't have an account there, but I read now and again.
Other notable Techstep artists are Dom and Roland, Noisia (signed to Roc Nation - Jay-Z's label), Ed Rush and Optical.
I love the simplicity and brutality and groove of Techstep. I like different genres of DnB and even old school 'Jungle' is still one of my favourites.
I ventured in to Neurofunk and Liquid territory but I pulled back because it was getting too flowery and prissy.
For me, Techstep is the perfect blend of futurism that portrays our current and soon to come (even greater) dystopia. It pairs perfectly with Brutalist architecture. I see the beauty in it.
Quadrant 6 is a good 'un:
Like a lot of great art (is music 'art'?) it is deceptively simple.
Imagine being 18, off your fucking nut on Class A drugs, in a sweaty box with a sound system that is ripping your trousers off your legs while you are ripped off your tits on Speed! Fuck yeah. Everyone should try that at least once. In between going to church of course.
I probably need to take this to the Drum and Bass thread we have here. I might even drop a couple of my tunes. Stuff no one has heard before. Not a soul. I have a soundcloud. Just got a few hundred clicks and plays on my Techstep stuff.
It is characterized by a dark,[2] sci-fi mood, near-exclusive use of synthesised or sampled sound sources, influences from industrial and techno music, and what some writers have described as a "clinical" sound.[3] Although described as having a "techy" feel, techstep's relationship with techno should not be overstated. It shares the technique of creating a high-energy collage from abstract, synthetic noises, including samples, bleeps and squelches: it rarely uses instruments that have not been processed by effects. Similarly, quantized drum-machine kit and percussion sounds are favored over naturalistic human breakbeats. However, it usually adheres to drum and bass norms in other regards, especially in terms of musical structure, with the emphasis on the "drop". Techstep saw jungle music's obsession with bass change, from aiming for low and deep to exploring timbre, artists aiming to outdo each other with ever more distorted and "twisted" bass sounds.
I find producing music to be a most meditative exercise. But I can go deeper in to the zone and for longer with Techstep. It stretches me to the absolute limits with my technical ability while still pushing the boundaries of what is 'musical' and what is not.
Is it 'art'?
Fucked if I know...
Dom is probably the best known and most prolific producer of this genre. A very down to earth guy that will chat with you on the biggest producer forums (Gearslutz) when he is around.
He don't smoke dope no more and has a family now, but he still makes Drum and Bass. Refining his art. A master of his craft. A man who has attained mastery.
I hope to gain some protégés before I shuffle off this mortal coil (see my 'producer' thread). But kids these days know it all.
In the meantime, I'm cataloging my work and slicing it all up and putting it all out there for free via the big software companies. Might even get paid!
If you want to get paid, you got to do shit for free!
DJ Krust is a down to earth guy that does workshops and seminars and various 'outreach'.
Drum and Bass is a very 'Black' and 'White' scene - by that I mean it has just about equal representation across the races. More so than Hip-Hop even, which tends to be more of a 'Black' thang.
It's easier for a white producer to be taken seriously* in DnB rather than Hip-Hop. Contrast this with the original 'Jungle' scene which was very much a black thing, unless you were a white chick (they might let you in to the club ;-)).
*But then again, who cares about being taken seriously?
Is it 'art'?
I doubt it.
Another interesting thing about Drum and Bass is the fact that it was the last musical genre invented. Quarter of a century now. Still nothing else.
You could argue that Dubstep is a genre, and I might concede that. But for me it's more the milking of a 'Song that sounds like that'. I know others would disagree. That's ok. But after Dubstep, then ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER MUSICAL GENRE HAS BEEN INVENTED.
And Dubstep while gaining great popularity has not hit the same heights that DnB has. It's massive in Japan, in Brazil, in Germany, all over the globe.
Superstars like Dom and Roland and Ed Rush and Optical still go to Japan first class and play to packed clubs and get treated like Gods.
Then again, it's not my life. But I like it a lot.
I also like Country and Nashville stuff. I like all kinds of shit.
Music for me is not 'art'. Shittier the better. But a Bach Fugue is not to be sniffed at (unless crying tears of joy).
Bob Marley nailed it when he said: "Music like dirt".
And if this does not make you weep tears of joy, of longing, of knowing, then there is no hope for you -
Best played by a real orchestra somewhere in downtown Vienna.
Play it at births, play it at funerals.
(play it when you are banging your girlfriend out and pulling the bitch's hair like Patrick Bateman on acid, for all I care!)
“Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is THE BEST.”
Music might be The Best, and it might bring people together, but it still divides people. Black people don't like it that you make Dub Reggae, White people say you can't be Black and play in a Death Metal band.
Fucking jungle bunnies, coming over 'ere and playing their bloody jungle music!
From the film 'Babylon' - a must watch for anyone interested in how race relations really play out.
Lost count of the times I ripped "Bloody Jungle Music". Lost count of how many times everyone else has ripped it.
But even though music does divide us to an extent, it also connects us and joins us together and makes us whole, as a people, as a society. To an extent.
When Grooverider goes over to Japan to play to a packed club, they don't care about fucking jungle bunnies coming over 'ere and playing their bloody jungle music at all times of the day and night - even if they are among the most racist of peoples on the planet. I use the word 'racist' advisedly.
Talking to a Japanese girl earlier today actually trying to book a hotel room in Germany. She sounded totally TschGerman Jah! I was taken aback when she said she was a Jap. I was complimenting her on her English. Very warm, very intelligent, great sense of humour. Really got in to the banter with her. The other German women, not so much.
(05-10-2019 06:27 PM)Rigsby Wrote: This is for my boy debeguiled:
In this shit world. It's good to know there are men that can still love.
I luv u bruv and all my RVF brothers.
Time for sleep now.
New battles tomorrow.
We may not win the war, but as long as we fight the battle inside.
May God help us.
First Off The Reservation posts a picture of me and Kona as gay buttbuds.
Now you are posting me songs by man-wimminz.
Bro' it would never happen, but let's just say 'what if'???
If you ever got a chance to bang Grace Jones, you would indeed be a 'sissy' for saying "No, I don't feel comfortable with that..."
Only real men bang Grace Jones. Ask Dolph.
I get it that some 'men' aren't in to black wimminz, that's ok.
But regardless of whether you wanted to bang her or not, she has made some of the greatest records of the 20th Century. She is a very under-rated singer. The production by 'Horn' is second to none. A real ensemble going concern. From Ray Cooper on percussion to Sly and Robbie on the drum and bass, respectively.
These guys were old and knackered then, they will be totally fucked now:
Ed Sheeran?
We don't need no cock-eyed ginger perverts!
I'm going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
Gonna pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I'll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I'll get up and do it again
Amen.
Say it again
Amen.
See how he eyes up Sally James at 1:18 - like a lion looking at their lunch.
Sally James was hot as fuck.
I bet Cozy banged her out in the dressing room like there was no tomorrow.
Check out the kid at 6:30 in the video.
Keep in mind this guy was the the hottest property in the world in the drummer stakes at that time. In the most exclusive of bands (Rainbow). He was the no.1 top of the tree drummer in the whole world at that point. He liked to drive fast motorbikes and fast cars. It was a fast car that would kill him not much later.
Cozy Powell - absolute legend.
Lived fast, died young.
Probably banged out Sally James in a dressing room somewhere.
Currently listening to "Love's Train" by Con Funk Shun, last song played was "High on Sunshine" by The Commodores, next song up is "Can't Hide Love" by Earth, Wind & Fire.