Okay: the first dubstep song I ever heard was Various Productions, back in 2004:
I remember the song seeming pretty well known: Wiley (I think) constructed the excellent Sinner Riddim out of it, for example. We can hear a lot of the elements associated with dubstep: wobble and bass weight, most obviously. But here’s the b-side to that track:
Straight up sea shanty.
And though in truth I can’t say I knew much about dubstep back in ’04, I was definitely aware of this weird throwback-folk tendency within the last couple of years in British electronic music. So I take Mr Blake at his word when he says he’s trying to make his idea of early dubstep, before it was formalized into the heady RnB stuff on Burial or that wobble-centric “bro-step.”
Which one reason I take issue with Ryan Dombal’s review of the Enough Thunder EP in this morning’s Pitchfork: James Blake is not declaring himself an Artiste by covering folk songs, he’s just continuing in the broader dubstep tradition as he sees it (as I see it too). And why bother announcing that he’s better than Deadmau5, Skrillex, et al.—that is just self-evident.
I can’t fault Mr Dombal for finding Enough Thunder boring. On my first listen I did, too. But it’s not supposed to be exciting. It’s supposed to be comfortable: why else would somebody bring in Bon Iver (read flannel blanket)? And there it succeeds.
Maybe I am just tired of Internet pundits hating on the trajectory of still-evolving artists. Let the fucking flowers blossom.
