July 20, 2005

Clownstep


Clownstep
Originally uploaded by infinite.
Whilst writing a review of Hysteria I've been pondering the roots of the 'Clownstep' label. I might have known that Dylan had something to do with it...

Clownstep
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"Clownstep is a pejorative term used to describe a certain type of sound found in the electronic music genre drum and bass. The sound is typified as having a 'wobbly' bassline, simple beat structure and/or a large amount of swingbeats.

The name originated from producers Dylan and Keaton. Keaton created the term as a description of Shimon & Andy C's single Bodyrock, due to its swingbeat sound that inspired an image of clowns dancing. The phrase was popularised by Dylan on the drum & bass webforum Dogs On Acid. The phrase was censored by the site's moderators, appearing in posts as "*********", due to its derogatory usage. A "clownsteppa" smiley was spawned, and now appears in DNB-related forums worldwide.

The meaning of the term is less a musical description than an insult within the world of internet drum and bass culture, particularly the dogsonacid forum, which is renowned within the scene. The term clownstep may be applied to any drum and bass artist that falls from favour - even the synonymous description of 'wobble' is almost meaningless as the deep bass sounds of many drum and bass tracks would be described in these terms by many listeners.
 This article about a music genre is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clownstep


I particularly like the bit about wobble bass....

1 Comments:

Blogger Zico said...

chavstep

7:34 PM  

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