According to Skream, the Magnetic Man album is hitting #4 on the UK charts. While I can’t universally endorse anything that could potentially be embraced as Trance-Step, I will admit that a few of their tunes are guilty favorites and I hold no grudge against the group. If anyone’s going to make money pimping the genre, it might as well be the originators instead of unfortunate outside interlopers.
In the meantime, Ollie Jones keeps it moving, returning to Rinse FM sans Benga for “one night only” to reprise his O.G Stella Sessions show solo. Beginning with Skream’s pick for “first Dubstep tune ever” in Horsepower Productions’ Elephant Man remix before segueing to material from their forthcoming album, Skream proves that pop turn or not he still has his ear to the underground. Spinning deeper than he’s given credit for, he mixes for the eyes down crowd and peppers the proceedings liberally with exclusives and remixes for those preferring it raw and uncut instead of “featuring John Legend”. And that’s something that I CAN fully endorse.
Download:
MP3: Skream – Return of the Stella Sessions 13-10-10 (via Rinse FM)
8 comments
Twitter Trackbacks for Passion of the Weiss » Blog Archive » Sach O: Return of the Stella Sessions [passionweiss.com] on Topsy.com says:
October 14, 2010 at 9:53 pm (UTC -7)
[...] Passion of the Weiss » Blog Archive » Sach O: Return of the Stella Sessions passionweiss.com/2010/10/14/sach-o-return-of-the-stella-sessions/ – view page – cached According to Skream, the Magnetic Man album is hitting #4 on the UK charts. While I can’t universally endorse anything that could potentially be embraced as Trance-Step, I will admit that a few of their tunes are guilty favorites and I hold no grudge against the group. If anyone’s going to make money pimping the genre, it might as well be the originators instead of unfortunate outside… Read moreAccording to Skream, the Magnetic Man album is hitting #4 on the UK charts. While I can’t universally endorse anything that could potentially be embraced as Trance-Step, I will admit that a few of their tunes are guilty favorites and I hold no grudge against the group. If anyone’s going to make money pimping the genre, it might as well be the originators instead of unfortunate outside interlopers. View page Tweets about this link [...]
khal says:
October 15, 2010 at 4:03 am (UTC -7)
i had a convo with my boy Elucid about the whole Magnetic Man thing, and he was thinking the same thing inre the “pop turn”, in regards to Benga. And then i had him listen to a new Benga single. The whole reason they are called “Magnetic Man”, I think, isn’t because “Skream + Benga + Artwork” sounds dumb (although it does), but I think it’s to kind of separate their pop-leaning dubstep side and their normal stuff. Skream’s album was good, and had some proper bangers on it, but he’s making some SERIOUS tunes. Hatcha’s been playing a tune of his that Kiss FM has given like 4 different names, but it’s the oddest, most disgusting dubplate I’ve heard. These guys are a new breed – they can make really anthemic tunes like “I Need Air”, and keep that totally outside of their serious bassline destruction.
At least, that’s my thought. I say let ‘em run with it – even if I don’t like the John Legend shit.
samsonite says:
October 15, 2010 at 5:13 am (UTC -7)
…they’re obviously eager to keep their credibility intact by producing rough dubplates etc but at the same turn they’re gentrifying the music they purport to love and support etc by producing watered down shit aimed at the charts and their bank balances. you can’t have it both ways. yes they’ve done the leg work and probably think they deserve a pay day but all magnetic man is going to do is further increase all the wannabee’s trying to produce dubstep. having said that bogore and his ilk already did a pretty good job. i honestly can’t believe those mugs from jls are incorporating dubstep into their sound – the results should be both hilarious and alarming in equal measure.
Sach says:
October 15, 2010 at 7:07 am (UTC -7)
Agreed Khal, they seem really self-aware of the whole pop thing; if you ask me the best tune on the Magnetic Man album is “Crossover” and how often do you hear a self-reflexive pop tune about a genre going pop? As long as they keep it real on their underground material I’ve got no beef with them getting that Columbia money. Besides, I’d probably pay decent money to see them play those tunes in their giant festival lazer cube set-up anyway.
khal says:
October 15, 2010 at 7:58 am (UTC -7)
hah yeah i’ve heard a LOT of good things about their live show. Actually, their recent Maida Vale live session videos are up
http://youdunknow.co.uk/2010/10/magnetic-man-live-maida-vale/
Sach says:
October 15, 2010 at 9:31 am (UTC -7)
Samsonite: I don’t think it’s fair to link Magnetic Man to Borgore though. Borgore (and Mt Eden, Skrilex, etc) are the conclusion of pushing things harder/faster/whiter/dirtier but they’ve got zero pop appeal. Their fanbase consists of white raver kids searching for fucked up music to get fucked up to and there’s a longstanding tradition there: Gabber, Belgian hard techno, electrotrash, D&B at it’s worst. I expect within a year the brostep audience will have moved on to Drumstep or something even harsher anyways.
Magnetic Man make pop Dubstep designed to appeal to kids who’d dismiss Borgore and co as mindless noise. Sure there’s LFO bass but the main appeal is in the vocal tracks. It’s music for big festivals. I concede to your point that it’ll probably inspire less talented people to make some awful music though.
khal says:
October 15, 2010 at 12:31 pm (UTC -7)
@Samsonite you’d be right if Skream and Benga just came in with Magnetic Man. Skream has BEEN appealing to pop sensibilities – one of the first truly big dubstep tunes is Skream’s “Midnight Request Line”. And don’t forget Benga & Coki’s “Night” from last year. They have been towing the line between “pop dubstep” and “underground dubstep”, but just like Roni Size and the Full Cycle crew went on to mass appeal with Reprazent (although not on the level of Magnetic Man, it would seem), Skream & Benga are doing the same, IMO. I don’t see Magnetic Man as a bad thing at all – dubstep has appeal on a number of different levels, moreso than Drum & Bass and other EDM genres. I’ve been championing refixes my boy DJ Nappy does of dubstep tracks, b/c the flows Southern rappers use fits so well over nasty dubstep tracks.
If it was about them “keeping their credibility”, as you said, then they’d be purposefully whoring themselves out to radio for support. do you listen to regular UK radio? BBC Radio 1 AND 1Xtra, among a number of other DJs, are championing this stuff. It’s a natural progression, and I see these guys using Mag Man to help push the sound to the masses, who will no doubt then pick up Skream’s recent album, and discover some of the harsher/darker/more underground sounds that they can make.
Sach says:
October 15, 2010 at 6:52 pm (UTC -7)
Other random thing about this podcast: Skream is one of the most hilariously low key hosts in the history of radio. The bit where he sheepishly apologises for spilling beer on the console before seguing into some Mala is gutbusting.