Modern Pop Music

[Dhsu]

Example #1:

Kevin Rudolf feat. Lil Wayne - Let It Rock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsrkFNodBGQ

Just heard this on the radio for the first time yesterday, and it took me by surprise for two reasons: it doesn't preach at length about "bitches," and it successfully combines numerous different genres into one. The end result is pretty kickass, not gonna lie. It's very anthemic, very powerful, and very fresh.

That Alfonso Ribeiro shirt is the freakin' BEST.

[zircon]

I wasn't going to say anything abut Overcoat's post but you echoed my thoughts. I lost mad respect for them from Hold Your Colour onward, especially considering their bitch-out with Breakbeat Kaos/DJ Fresh and later the dogsonacid forum. Really they're a whiney bunch with far less talent than they perceive, though they did push for a level of production values DnB had not really seen before then and everything before Another Planet was ace (HYC was a good album but quite a few stinkers), but they rejected the scene that raised them and refused to acknowledge those that helped them get as far as they have.

Umm... who "helped" them? How did they "reject" the scene? It's their music, they can do whatever they want. They don't owe anyone anything. If you noticed none of their influences are other DNB groups. They always make their own style. Since HYC came out there have been countless Pendulum clones which is why they decided to do something new and what THEY wanted to do instead of just releasing more of the same. C'mon, if you don't like the new style, that's fine, but your complaints are otherwise not legit.

Also, I think they're probably the most talented DNB group out there overall by far. I've picked up a lot of DNB lately and it's all almost exactly the same. Pendulum makes use of some of the same sounds other artists do but they also integrate original vocals and riffs (rather than sampling EVERYTHING) and their hooks are far better than the simple Arabian scale i->iib nonsense you hear in virtually every dnb track. They deserve a ton of respect.

[The Vagrance]

Umm... who "helped" them? How did they "reject" the scene? It's their music, they can do whatever they want. They don't owe anyone anything. If you noticed none of their influences are other DNB groups. They always make their own style. Since HYC came out there have been countless Pendulum clones which is why they decided to do something new and what THEY wanted to do instead of just releasing more of the same. C'mon, if you don't like the new style, that's fine, but your complaints are otherwise not legit.

DJ Fresh helped them out a lot with their style and especially with marketing. They collaborated with a large number of artists who had similar sounds to theirs, such as Bulletproof and Fresh. They were also members of Dogs on Acid before they struck it big and were occasional posters on The Grid forum. DnB is a tiny, tight-knit genre where the producers and DJs interact fairly regularly with their fans and otherwise. They (specifically El Hornet) used to play Counter-Strike with other members of the forum.

The first sign of them being whiney was when DJ Fresh released Junglesound Gold, which included the Masochist VIP by them. They apparently didn't want this and posted on their myspace and on the forum that they didn't approve of the album and had a public feud with Fresh until their lawyers shut them up. They were also criticized fairly heavily for Slam and Blood Sugar around this time and started whining a bunch, talking about how shallow DnB is and how they are great because they are influenced by Led Zeppelin. It ended how pretty much all forum feuds end: with a huge bitch-out about how misunderstood they are and saying that they were never going back again (which it took them actually the second or third time for that to be true).

The main thing they've contributed to DnB has been dubbed the "pendu-snare", which is that fat snare sound that quite a few people are using now. The only notable copycats I'd be willing to point out would be Sub Focus and The Qemists, as Fresh had been doing a similar style as Pendulum around the same time as Pendulum.

Its not that I mind DnB artists doing something different than DnB (Adam F has produced rap tracks, Noisia is doing their House/Breaks thing as is Spor and Evol Intent, there are quite a few dubstep sideprojects, etc.) but Pendulum is simply bad at what they're doing. They're just as, if not more guilty of repeating the same sound over and over again with their atypical drums and cheesy lead synth, and the rock aspect sounds slapped on at best. Rob Swire is also an average vocalist at best.

Also, I think they're probably the most talented DNB group out there overall by far. I've picked up a lot of DNB lately and it's all almost exactly the same. Pendulum makes use of some of the same sounds other artists do but they also integrate original vocals and riffs (rather than sampling EVERYTHING) and their hooks are far better than the simple Arabian scale i->iib nonsense you hear in virtually every dnb track. They deserve a ton of respect.

The thing that a lot of people don't get is the complexity behind those "simple Arabian scales." DnB is largely about subtlety, with the exception of Jump-Up and that grimy Darkstep stuff. The melody is sometimes secondary; you have to listen to the vibe of the track. Liquid is all about this.

Its one thing to try to show melody in electronic music, but too often electronic artists feel the need to have it blaring on a lead going, "LOOK! HERE IS THE MELODY!" The best electronic music has always had a sense of subtlety and refinement to it. Matrix, Calibre, Noisia (The Distance is a perfect example), D Kay, Dom & Roland, Teebee, Photek, Ed Rush & Optical, Black Sun Empire, and many more have all done this. Even old Pendulum was this way (Vault and the Spiral are still great). Their songs have lost their depth though, its all whiney-synth with the same damn drums from every other song.

Pendulum's not the only one to have non-DnB influences. In fact, the best DnB artists have gone on record saying that they try not to listen to too much DnB.

Also, Pendulum wasn't the first to use original vocals. Most, if not, all of the vocals on Danny Byrd's new album were completely original, Fresh has used vocals, and Roni Size and Reprazent had MC Dynamite who rapped over most of the tracks (not to mention guest vocals on a number of tracks).

Pendulum got popular because they have easily hummable melodies, the way most artists get popular. Problem is, their songs have no depth and will not stand the test of time. Two years later and Slam is as annoying as ever, yet Voyager is still a heavy track. Pendulum is no different from any other mainstream artist, they took something good and cheesed it up.

You may think all DnB sounds the same, and thats fine, but once you hit that threshold where everything in DnB makes sense, then you'll appreciate DnB that much more.

[The Pezman]

Ah, I was hoping for a thread like this.

This semester I've been recruited to DJ two dance parties. I have DJed smaller events in the past, and there I was able to play a blend of styles: Reggae, rock, electro, and of course hip hop. But little did I realize just how serious the monotony of music desired was. The first time I was nearly kicked out of the DJ booth because I didn't have the twenty hip hop songs by the five artists people wanted to hear. The second time around I asked for music in advance, and it was more of the same. The worst of it? My roommates and I participated in Apollo Night (a talent show based on diversity and minority performance) with Dylan's All Along the Watchtower and we were booed off. I don't think any song or genre is destructive in itself, but when people only want to hear loud, aggressive, lewd lyrics with repetitive four bar backgrounds we have a problem.

[Mustin]

After thinking about it, listening to all of the music in this thread, and reading what people had to say, I just wanna say:

You either like it or you don't. So what.

For those of you wanting a revolution, the tide is going to start to turn pretty soon as the economy keeps falling so no worries for you.

In the mean time, keep listening to what you like, and use cool services like Pandora to find more music like that.

Word.

[OverCoat]

I still like Propane Nightmare >:V

Honestly though that's the only Pendulum song I've ever heard, lol

and no one liked the video?

[Audity]

Word, indeed.

I'm with a roommate right now that doesn't want to accept anything new or even be persuaded by anything ever (the other one seems like she would), and has an attitude about it. I can only wonder how many people are of the same mindset, and how I fear the consequences. If only I was more social LOL!!!1 I could give better insight. Sociality is the greatest incentive, after all. Thus, anything can change with it.

[Dhsu]

Ah, I was hoping for a thread like this.

This semester I've been recruited to DJ two dance parties. I have DJed smaller events in the past, and there I was able to play a blend of styles: Reggae, rock, electro, and of course hip hop. But little did I realize just how serious the monotony of music desired was. The first time I was nearly kicked out of the DJ booth because I didn't have the twenty hip hop songs by the five artists people wanted to hear. The second time around I asked for music in advance, and it was more of the same.

Meh, did you really expect otherwise? And there's no sense complaining that you don't like the music since the point of being a DJ is to play stuff other people like.

The worst of it? My roommates and I participated in Apollo Night (a talent show based on diversity and minority performance) with Dylan's All Along the Watchtower and we were booed off. I don't think any song or genre is destructive in itself, but when people only want to hear loud, aggressive, lewd lyrics with repetitive four bar backgrounds we have a problem.

Do you have a recording of this? It's easy to just say people have no taste, which is true, but it's also possible they were more unsatisfied with the quality of the performance itself than the song you picked.

[cobaltstarfire]

I still like Propane Nightmare >:V

Honestly though that's the only Pendulum song I've ever heard, lol

and no one liked the video?

I like it...and the song, but I don't know anything about music scenes at all. It didn't sound like any D&B I've heard before, but I've heard very very little of the genre. It seems hard to find good D&B though.

[OverCoat]

I don't really think it's drum and bass. It's kind of like alt rock mixed with... whatever zircon calls his music now. Big Beat?

[Xenon Odyssey]

I don't really think it's drum and bass. It's kind of like alt rock mixed with... whatever zircon calls his music now. Big Beat?

Somewhere I read that people have called it 'stadium rock.'

And I liked it too.

[sgx]

I don't really think it's drum and bass. It's kind of like alt rock mixed with... whatever zircon calls his music now. Big Beat?

It's still a mostly DnB style drum pattern, but they aren't really doing the amount of drum sampling and loop manipulation that is the norm for DnB. Their drummer plays it all live at the show (must be worn out at the end!)

I saw them last month in a Venue that holds like 300 people and it was the shit! Really intense and everyone was huge into it.

[Equinox]

After thinking about it, listening to all of the music in this thread, and reading what people had to say, I just wanna say:

You either like it or you don't. So what.

For those of you wanting a revolution, the tide is going to start to turn pretty soon as the economy keeps falling so no worries for you.

In the mean time, keep listening to what you like, and use cool services like Pandora to find more music like that.

Word.

Massive win on Pandora. I'm a subscriber.

Also win post.

[The Pezman]

Meh, did you really expect otherwise?

Yes, actually. Dickinson is far from a random sample of the population. People here are the future leaders: smart and interested in new things. Or so I thought.

And there's no sense complaining that you don't like the music since the point of being a DJ is to play stuff other people like.

If I agree to DJ, I'll play whatever they want, especially if they're paying me $150 and tell me what they want beforehand. The issue is that I think such a limited selection further decimates people's already poor taste.

QUOTE=Dhsu;481372]Do you have a recording of this? It's easy to just say people have no taste, which is true, but it's also possible they were more unsatisfied with the quality of the performance itself than the song you picked.

[noTuX]

Looks like Kanye West is doing some new experiments with his music.

I actually enjoy his new CD.

Love Lockdown is now one of my favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvK6Y92JNtg

[OverCoat]

I'm still waiting for this autotune-fest to end

[Mustin]

Third grader piano song! Hooray!

[shakes head]

God, I so loved K West on paper...

then I heard his music

Do like him on songs he didn't produce, though.

[zircon]

You may think all DnB sounds the same, and thats fine, but once you hit that threshold where everything in DnB makes sense, then you'll appreciate DnB that much more.

Pretentious much? I'm a big electronic music aficionado, I just think that DNB in general is a vapid genre. Almost as bad as electro house. I've done a DNB CD myself that has already been licensed and I have plenty of tracks in my collection. There are definitely standout artists... I like London Elektricity for example. My man Dieselboy is pretty awesome too (Philadelphia!) but I'd definitely put Pendulum up there as some of the best. Really, so much of DNB is just uncreative by comparison, and I'm not saying Pendulum always isn't either, but their style is polished to a mirror shine.

[DCT]

I'm still waiting for this autotune-fest to end

Aren't we all? *sigh*

[The Derrit]

Pretentious much? I'm a big electronic music aficionado, I just think that DNB in general is a vapid genre. Almost as bad as electro house. I've done a DNB CD myself that has already been licensed and I have plenty of tracks in my collection. There are definitely standout artists... I like London Elektricity for example. My man Dieselboy is pretty awesome too (Philadelphia!) but I'd definitely put Pendulum up there as some of the best. Really, so much of DNB is just uncreative by comparison, and I'm not saying Pendulum always is either, but their style is polished to a mirror shine.

To add onto this, I'd say most of Hospital Records, which is the label that London Elektricity runs, is very solid and worth looking into. Especially dannny byrd, he's not the most creative of the bunch but i personally love his sound.

[po!]

I'm still waiting for this autotune-fest to end

you'll probably be waiting a long loooong time

[Beatdrop]

I think it's important to note (as Audity did; thanks Audity) the difference between stupidity and ignorance. Over the years, I've introduced a large number of people who just plain didn't know any better to styles of electronic music that they've ended up enjoying quite heavily. On the other hand, consciously making a decision to shut out new things because they're not popular? THAT is true stupidity. And that frame of mind never got the world anywhere.

Also, Pendulum fucking rocks. Who gives a shit if they're DnB or not? They rock. Period. In Silico is still one of my favorite CDs ever. I think I like them MORE because they've strayed outside the boundaries of DnB and done something new by merging genres. I can respect that, because that's what I do and because it keeps me interested. Disliking them because they've stopped making pure DnB is the same as what I talked about in the paragraph above: ignorance. If you choose to dislike them because the sound just isn't for you, that's completely fine. But just giving it a listen and saying "This doesn't sound like 'Another Planet'" or "This sounds like 'Streamline,' but too different" and deciding they suck is utter lameness.

[The Vagrance]

Pretentious much?

All I'm saying is that you can't listen to DnB (or electro-house for that matter) the same way as any other genre. Its not pretentious and I'm not trying to say, "you just don't understand," although I guess that could be inferred. I'm just saying that you can't listen to DnB the same way as rock music, just as you can't listen to punk music the same way as classical.

And Pendulum's production values are very nice, but the more of them I listen to the more I realize how little depth there is to their music compared to, say, Sub Focus (who could easily be labeled as a Pendulum clone). I mean, Sub Focus is also rather shallow but if listened to quite closely, it is possible to tell that he's left a tiny little bit of character in his sounds as opposed to squashing them to death. Still, both have less traditional production values than a lot of other quality DnB.

I don't mind Pendulum leaving DnB, but the sound they've developed is just bad. They're a bad DnB group and a bad rock group in one. If they were doing music just like they're Pack of Wolves remix, I'd be all over it (that is still a heavy tune), but they're not.

[Native Jovian]

I'm just saying that you can't listen to DnB the same way as rock music, just as you can't listen to punk music the same way as classical.

What the hell does that mean? There are different ways to listen to music now? I thought the process of 1) put music on, and 2) STFU and pay attention was pretty universal.

[Beatdrop]

What the hell does that mean? There are different ways to listen to music now? I thought the process of 1) put music on, and 2) STFU and pay attention was pretty universal.

Yeah, I'm pretty confused, too. This topic got WAY out of hand. I'm pretty proud.