iMedia: Dancing to Dubstep

About a month after its release, this video was catapulted into the internet spotlight. It is a five-minute dance to a dubstep remix of Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks."

This video demonstrates a number of cultural phenomena that are reshaping both music and dance.

Most obviously, it demonstrates the rapid increase in the popularity of dubstep. Derived from two-step, breakbeat, and drum and bass (DnB), dubstep combines relatively slow (less than 60 bpm), sparse drumbeats with complex synth parts and a totally unique type of synthesized bass (called wobble bass), the sound of which is difficult to describe (you'll hear it after the bass drop at 1:28). The bass drop, another integral feature of the genre, is the culmination of the intro, which is usually amorphous in comparison to the rest of the song.

Whenever I introduce dubstep to friends, I append four words onto the end of my spiel: "It's an acquired taste." Dubstep is, for most people, nothing like any music they've ever heard. The sounds that come out of it are difficult to replicate with any instrument, or even the human voice. For many people, it's discomforting to hear. Keep in mind that the song in the video is extremely "soft" dubstep - "hard" or "hardcore" dubstep uses significantly more distortion on the drums and bass, and usually utilizes minor keys and lots of tritones.

Why, then, is the genre so popular? Blog searches for "dubstep" (especially on Tumblr) yield such confusing results as "IT MAKES MY ARMS FEEL LIKE CHAINSAWS."

It is my personal opinion that dubstep is the poster child for a whole set of genres that are changing the way we see music. For a very long time, music has been limited to use in specific activities - dancing, for instance, or religious ceremony. Of course, many genres of music are best enjoyed when sitting back and paying close attention to the notes themselves. At this point in time, however, I think many genres (dubstep, DnB, dream, ambient, neo-orchestral) are being used almost as a sort of background music - that is, turn it on and let it run for a long time, regardless of what you're doing. Many dubstep mixes are written to be seamless, multiple-hour works.

The video also points to a phenomenon which, in my opinion, is making music better: remixing. Remixing, in the modern sense of the word, has been around since the late 60's but has recently taken off in a totally new direction. Remixes of popular songs were usually restricted to genre - if I wanted to remix Run-DMC's "It's Tricky," it would sound pretty similar to the original, just with different organization. More recently, however, cross-genre remixes have begun to emerge, where a DJ will take songs from literally any genre and turn it into house, dubstep or the like (Beethoven's 5th is a fairly common techno remix, and MGMT's music has seen popularity with all electronic genres). Even more interesting is experimentation with converting techno and electronica into rock or orchestral. The remix in the video is a perfect example, as it uses almost exclusively samples taken from the song itself.

Though I am not a dancer, I can distinguish between different styles on sight, and I'm especially good at recognizing more modern, "underground" styles. Dubstep has had a profound effect on the underground dance scene because it doesn't feel like any other genre. There is no "approved" way to dance to dubstep. While styles like house have very distinct and continuous four-on-the-floor beats, the feel and energy of dubstep varies wildly from one song to the next, and even between sections of a single song.

This early in its life, a lot of people have dismissed dubstep as being a fad that will be forgotten in a few years' time. I, for one, will not forget the impact that it - and the culture it brings - has had on music.