Laymen are usually turned off by the element of repetition, but when looked at from different angles, there's incredibly complex patterns and tonal sequences to be noticed. Many pull from classical influences that aid to take you down a melodic journey. I'm not sure if it has the clout to stand next to Beethoven, but there are interesting nuances and intelligent structures that can easily go unnoticed. This new dubstep doesn’t seem interested in paying homage or advancing the rich, soulful history of some of its predecessors. Instead, it’s threatening music that was celebrated for complexity, not how quickly your eardrums are annihilated.
Considered by in large the black sheep of electronic music, American dubstep has online communities ranting. Traditionally beginning in South London, dubstep was originally recognized by its dominating bass and layers of synthesizers. However, the sound that has evolved is often referred to as aggressive robot mating calls. It's like androids screaming in your face relentlessly. This has left a bad taste of disdain in the mouths of the community, along with many other confused listeners. They’ve even given it a cute pet name, BROstep, in obvious attempt to stress we do not agree with this shit.
Americanizing culture is an eternal concept that’s contributed to the unflattering stereotype of lazy, simple-minded people only concerned with money. Sadly though, our tenacity to take something of meaning and then strip it bare, water it down and exploit it for money has sort of made us accountable. Bred under capitalism, the American music industry is only concerned with one thing, profit maximization. Music must produce mass commercial interest and attract the widest audience possible to survive. What results is a standardized structure: obsessively repetitive rhythms, manipulated effects and reverberating bass, all woefully drenched in 4/4 meter. Contrarily, Europe has leniency to focus on formal structure, sonic properties and theories about sound. There's more of a luxury to explore the intellectual areas of their music. European music is usually more artistically involved, opening thoughts for criticism and demanding focused attention. It’s art. So here we have a frank display of where two societies go with their ideas of music and art. On one hand, we have droning robots that exasperate the ear with belligerent bass lines and drops while, on the other hand, there’s popular music with subtle patterns between spacey atmospheres and thoughtful melodies.