If you've been following Skream's progression over the last year, the following quote (which came from the end of the "No Sleep Til Croydon" RBMA show from last week) cannot be a shock:
“It’s the last dubstep show I’ll play until further notice. Dubstep is just a name now. It doesn’t have a meaning any more and the movement is over. It’s like the end of a relationship but it’s ended on a high.
I’ve done dubstep since I was 14 but there’s no way I’m going to be dictated to. I stopped because I’m not inspired by it any more.”
You could already hear it in the way Skream's production has moved out of the 140BPM range into 130 and other tempos, as well as the obvious shift of his sets, which have recently incorporated more house and disco, which he credits to Daft Punk: "They’ve put the craft back into producing records. There’s so much work gone into it. I can understand how it’s taken them five years to make it. I’ve got a new disco record called Rollercoaster and after listening to Daft Punk I’ve done a lot more live recording."
DAD's thoughts? We're not mad. We don't necessarily agree that the entire genre is dead because Skream is no longer inspired to make it, but he's not the kind of producer to champion something that he's not feeling. When dubstep was gaining popularity a few years back, when he just started calling anything in that 140-140 BPM range "bass music," to escape whatever connotations people were putting on the scene. What will happen to his show on BBC Radio 1, though? He and Benga host the "Dubstep Show" - will it be getting a different name?
For those wondering where that leaves Magnetic Man, don't fret, their second album will be coming: "Our last album was a classic, so the second one is never going to live up to it. This one is a whole new concept.”
What are your thoughts? Is dubstep now dead? Was it already dead for you? Can a genre "die?"
UPDATE We've added tweets from Skream, who wanted to clarify that he never said "dubstep was dead." Looks like he was misquoted, and he mentions that there were quotes that did not make the final piece.
