Dubstep, Brostep, Popstep, anythingstep

I think I have a good idea of what popstep is (examples being Katy Perry's "E.T." or Justin Bieber's "As Long as You Love Me"), but I don't see the distinction betweeen brostep and "real" dubstep.

Is "brostep" like the overproduced, commercialized counterpart to "real" dubstep? It would seem kinda weird, considering "popstep" would be the overproduced, commercialized counterpart to something that's already an overproduced, commercialized conterpart.

Please help out our The History Of Video Games page.

All I know is anything X-step is horridly repetitive in their instrumental structure. More so than pop music is currently accused of being!

Who the hell came up with the term popstep?

Oh, while I'm here:

This is Jump Up Drum 'n' Bass. This is Drumstep. This is Moombahcore. This is Electro House. This is Glitch-Hop.

Not a single one of those tracks is, or should be called, Dubstep.

This is an example of classic Dubstep. This is is also an example of classic Dubstep. This is (what some call) Brostep.

Just thought I should clarify, since the average listener for some reason can't tell the difference between any of these genres even though they should be incredibly freaking obvious to anyone with two working ears.

See also: my current sig.

Don't you hate non-vidya gaem mooziks to begin with?

edited 15th Apr '14 10:40:23 AM by PhysicalStamina

Popstep is a less-used term that refers to dubstep elements in pop music.

I.E.: If you consider brostep to be overproduced and commercialized, then popstep is even more overproduced and commercialized.

Please help out our The History Of Video Games page.

Technically dubstep is called dubstep because it is supposed to be a mix of Dub, the variant of reggae which tropes were codified mainly by one Lee "Scratch" Perry in the seventies ; and 2-Step, one of the many variants of UK Garage which was itself derived from a mix of slowed-down drum n'bass/jungle beats (assuming I don't have to explain what these are) and deep house/Garage house (mainly from the US, Chicago in particular).

Also as it turns out, this is mainly a technical term, since the "dub" part of the name seems most of the time to hark back more to dub techno (a mix of dub and techno, codified by the German duo Basic Channel at the beginning of the 90s) and it's very recognizable chord sounds.

But the thing is, it actually used to be a pretty great name for that kind of music because the music actually fit the description, i.e. 2-step (vocal house with a shuffly rhythm and a higher tempo, featuring a big round bass) + dub (techno) (a hazy mostly ambient-oriented variant of techno with really lush chord sounds) = Dubstep (stepping rhythms with vocal snippets, a generally hazy and sometimes chord-driven ambiance, all backed by a big round bass).

That track from Martyn I linked just above, that's dubstep to me. I don't care to name anything else that's been tagged with the genre name over the years.

A few more examples if you feel like exploring... Recommend checking any of the artists/labels linked for more.

edited 15th Apr '14 1:59:24 PM by Akalabth

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.

Part of what also defines dubstep in opposition to a lot of other dance genres is its use of the triplet-inflected half-time beat as its primary rhythmic mode. Most 2-step is a lot denser and more of a straight 4/4 or 2/4, similar to dancehall (to which dubstep is very closely related), but traditionally dubstep is, on its face, molasses slow, with the faster elements introduced as ornaments or accents to the implied beat, which is either twice or thrice as fast as the basic beat. Hence, "WHUMP-tapatap-SNAP-ratatat-tat." It's a swaying beat, not a jumping beat.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Stoolstep.

Wait, I think I messed that up.

edited 15th Apr '14 8:07:27 PM by Odd1

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

@Akala: I'm reasonably sure dub music originated before reggae did.

Honestly, I'm really not entirely sure most people know or even care that there's any difference. Most people just think anything with "wub wub wub SHWOOOOOM babababab" is dubstep, and most people don't even really seem to care enough for the genre as a whole to explore it anyway.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

To my eternal chagrin.

Maybe people would understand how I feel if I went around calling Nickelback Heavy Metal. After all, they use guitars, heavy metal uses guitars, so they MUST be heavy metal!

edited 15th Apr '14 8:47:09 PM by PhysicalStamina

People already do that

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Congo Natty: "London Dungeons"

Orbital: "The Box (Untitled Remix #2)". Wubs predating dubstep.

Amin Peck: "Running Straight" Wubs from 1984.

Orbital: "Beelzedub"

Bluetech: "Hanuman"

Hibernation: "Knowledge and Spirit"

I don't remember what my point was.

Yes I know, we're fucked.

However Dub grew originally out of reggae, not the other way around. As a term it was (and still is to a certain extent) used to qualify a kind of remix or version of a reggae track that would be more stripped down than the original both in terms of instrumentation and vocals, the purpose of said versions were to be used on dancefloors as usually the bassline and drums were more prominent. Then out of that the Dub genre took a life of its own in the 70s, specifically under the influence of Lee "Scratch" Perry's experiments with this sound in his Black Ark studio at the time.

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.

"Small" by Lamb: The true origin of popstep?

Wow, that is early.

Pretty nice, too.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

I like to point to this example as well. As far as I remember this is something like 2002. Yes it is closer to speed garage in its minimalism but it also sounds uncannily current.

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.

What kind of x-step would you say that is?

Please help out our The History Of Video Games page.

Curumin: "Treme Terra". Dubstep-soul from Brazil.

Alpha step, Omega step, Kappa step, sigma step...

couldn't resist

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Bearstep

Best anythingstep above. Bearstep for the win...

Bearstep is Bestep

there's also Cobrastep