# Hip or Hype: Chillwave vs Dubstep



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

What's your opinion on these current (well, the last few years anyway) darlings of musical fashion?

Are they basically modern day shoegaze and jungle/drum'n'bass respectively?


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

I hate chillwave, total pitchfork garbage. I haven't heard anything by Washed Out or whoever that wasn't done better when shoegaze and post-rock were the in things. The funny thing is almost anything called "coldwave" (as in a sort of French post-punk in the 80s) is a million times better. Maybe "chillwave" is a fitting name; lukewarm, left out of the fridge for hours.

Dubstep has an obvious superficial appeal (WOW, BASS), but to me the songwriting is boring. After the first bass drop of a track nothing gets developed, you've basically heard it all. Apologists are quick to talk about the distinction between "brostep" and the real deal, but I've yet to be impressed by the latter category. It's just musical candy, I can see why it's popular party music but there's nothing lasting about it.

The big problem I have with both of these genres is they celebrate superficiality. They evoke images of youtube and awkward, entitled 20-somethings with septum piercings typing "ironic" things in all lower case, all trying so hard to seem like they don't care when they really do.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

I find it hard to distinguish what exactly they are, what seperates them from other genres. When does slightly psychedelic lo-fi electropop become chillwave and when does bass heavy drum'n'bass become dubstep?

I had a listen to Fabriclive 37 with Caspa and Rusko, which is supposed to be a proper dubstep album. It was listenable but not my kind of dance music, still less annoying than a lot of music that gets called dubstep.

I like some bands that might be chillwave but I'm not sure. Sun Araw, Forest Swords, Duck Tails, any of these chillwave?

All I know is kids love dubstep.


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Argus said:


> I find it hard to distinguish what exactly they are, what seperates them from other genres. When does slightly psychedelic lo-fi electropop become chillwave and when does bass heavy drum'n'bass become dubstep?


It's true, little labels don't really matter, the music does. But the thing is a lot of this music on a conceptual level seems like it's designed around the genre (and by extension, the annoying "hipster" marketing myth) rather than having a natural, uncontrived relation to it, which is what makes it feel faddish, insincere, lacking identity, etc. to me.

Everything old is new again. I've noticed trends work in cycles, and now that "darkness" is passe, tweeness, fashion obsession and brainless party mentality is coming back with a new face. Lady Gaga, crunkcore, modern indie rock, chillwave--all signs of this, albeit from radically disparate ends of the market. Our modern glam/hair rock, basically. I really value artists who work outside this stupid dichotomy and write music that is personal to them.

Not to get too abstract. To summarize, I don't enjoy these two genres.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Regressivetransphobe keeps abreast with recent developments in music.:guitar:

Pretty hip for an octogenarian.

Anyway, I really like this kind of stuff:











That's what Popol Vuh would've sounded like if they were from the American West Coast.


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