Is Dubstep Just Genius Avant Garde?

    An argument for why making music sound like dying robots is actually crazy hard. Wub wub wub, bitches.

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    What does PBS want you to think of when you hear dubstep? Italian futurists of course. Over 80 years ago, the fringes of the musical community were experimenting with the concept of machines as musicians and noise as music.

    In fact, they argue that dubstep is not only awesome but without nearly a century of priming, our ears wouldn't even hear it the same way:

    Dubstep. Is. Awesome. While some people may hear noise, we hear
    amazing musical genius. The aural creativity of Dubstep, and its
    embrace of inharmonic sounds, makes it the most recent member of the
    long-established Avant Garde community. There is a long history of
    avant garde musicians and thinkers promoting the concept of noise and
    non-instrumental sounds as MUSIC, much to the horror of their
    audience. But over the past century, changes in technology and music
    genres have primed listeners, allowing mainstream audiences to enjoy
    the beautiful noise of Skrillex, Bassnectar & the whole Dubstep
    movement.