Excision - 8 Bit Superhero

When did dubstep become a dirty word?  Ok, perhaps a better question would be when was it not, but regardless, today we take a look at a wonderfully filthy little track from Excision.


I really don't understand a great deal of the hate for dubstep.  It's truly bizarre to me.  Outside of the scene, it's decried as unmelodic and synthetic and within the scene, everyone seems far to desperate to point at someone else and say "that's not dubstep" the eternal rallying cry of the scenester, "That's not X".

First of all, noone ever said music needed to be melodic to be good.  Furthermore, every time a critic has criticised a genre for being non melodic, time has inevitably proved them wrong.  They said it about metallica while hailing zeppelin.  They said it about zeppelin while raving about the beatles.  Hell, go look up an early review of the beatles and you'll hear descriptions of "yowling guitars without melody."  And wrong.  Every.  Damn.  Time.

So you won't be hearing any criticisms like that here.  Equally, you won't be hearing any "that's not dubstep" from me.  I simply do not have the time for such attitudes.  That out of the way, this track stomps.

It's not quite a remix, but lifts very heavily from the megaman soundtrack.  But the tune is twisted and taken in so many seperate directions that it's 5 minute runtime breezes past, from the awesome, strutting, swinging intro to the introduction of the megaman sample, to the filthy bass synths that take over and duel with hyper distorted SID-chip lines, a fresh surprise waits around each corner.

Add in a wonderful shuffling rhythm (and in my mind, dubstep has always been more in the beat than the bass) and you get a kicking little track that should be capable of filling any dancefloor.

The album it comes from, X-Rated is fantastic too.  It features more than a few proper dubstep tunes, plus a few that break from the formula (the funktastic Oh No is a particular highlight) making for a really damn impressive listen.  It's definitely on the aggressive side of the genre overall, there are a few mellower tracks but that's not really what you pick up an excision album for.  8 Bit Superhero is probably the most accessible track though, particularly if you're a retro gamer.

Posted in: 8 Bit Superhero, Chiptune, Dubstep, Excision, Megaman, Music, Music Review, Wub