Tis I, here again wid more thoughts about subcultures. Just wanted to share something which I was thinking pretty hard about last night and found interesting.
In case you didn't know what the internet is, it's a medium where you can document information and communicate with others, and such information can be accessed from all across the globe, from anyone with a machine able to access it. It also has a place called Newgrounds and it's the coolest fricking thing ever holy shit.
Anyway, it has made a new medium for to subcultures form.
Ok, me being a UK dweller, let's talk about punk and reggae. Reggae started because the British hated Jamaicans and punk because they hated. Poor people I guess. If you were a fan of these things I'm guessing you grew up in a place where bands and musicians preformed these things regularly, and shops sold the records and people appreciated them and whatnot (MOSTLY of course). And as such, there's like a clothing style and even and accent associated with it, noteable places associated with it, stuff like that.
NOW let's talk about Neobreak culture. Where is it based in? Where's it from? Who? Wha?? Yknow??
(Neobreak being the name I bestowed onto the modern "breakcore" scene which isn't actually breakcore to avoid mislabelling. Essentially combinations of atmosphertic and ambient DnB and Jungle and that whole aesthetic along with it. i made a post some time ago about it).
Now, it obviously has main figures like Sewerslvt and Usedcvnt and whatever the hell else. It has a style to the music, it's got stuff going on. But it's not like punk or reggae. Because it's not in the real world. It's on the internet.
Let's break it down for a second. What kind of place is associated with it? You COULD say the UK, but hang on one second. Just about every genre it's inspired by is from there, sure, but if you think about Jungle for example, it's just as real as punk or reggae. It was played at shows. Hundreds of millions of raves, everywhere. Neobreak isn't played anywhere, and I would go as far as to say that it's not played anywhere because none of the appreciators are even old enough to GO to a rave. (In a few years, maybe when Gen Z start becoming mostly 21+ and all the current 21+ers have ppl to go with).
It wouldn't make sense to say that because an artist was, Idk, let's say, Australian... That there will be many fans in Australia. Because it's on the internet, and anyone listens from anywhere around the world.
There's no shows or band practice involved, its not played in any bars or whatnot. There's no reason for it to be linked to a location because it's all online.
Even the CREATION is all dematerialised. If you look at the way Jungle was made in its prime, there's machinery everywhere, there's sampling equipment, all of that, and if you played stuff live you would even have some real life stuff going on, even if it is mostly just mixing records on a DJ set. Also Jamaicans and black people singing/rapping in microphones over it, that was real as anything. Neobreak is completely digitalized, and you just need a DAW and you're good to go. (Some MIDI keyboards help too, like in my case. They seriously do, if you wanna produce then get a cheap MIDI controller or two, it will help loads).
As far as I'm aware, there isn't any Neobreak fashion, but if there was I'm guessing it would rip off the Egirl movement (so by extention it would just rip off emo and goth culture :P I think the Japanese and Korean street fashion fusion is cool as fuck though). Which would suck for everyone else but, I mean, think about it, That would actually be kind of cool. If it had it's own clothing style associated with the music and aesthetic. But it doesn't, because it doesn't really need to. Not yet anyway.
It DOES have a kind of mood and reason for the movement, I will give it that. It's like a centre for broken, terminally online, depressed teenagers, all on some kind of spectrum (autism of LGBTQ), who all have some kind of trauma or pain. And I think that's kinda beautiful about it. Also to all the people who trash these kids for mass-reproducing stuff in Sewerslvt's aesthetic, I don't get why you're so mad. Like, who cares. Who actually cares. Every genre evolves and gets taken in a new direction, that's what it does, that's why it bloody exists. And of course it's not all gonna be amazing, they are literally babies and most of the time it's their first time producing something proper. So cut them some slack, and maybe in time, you will see the scene alter as they grow up and get better at producing and find their artistic voice a little more.
The mislabelling as "Breakcore" is what annoys me and is pretty much the only problem.
Also I get that Sewerslvt has done some horrendous things in the past, but I believe that you can like an artists work without liking the artist. I still appreciate her for being a pioneer of the 2020 Neobreak Revolution, and maybe one day I'll do a post drooling and glazing her discography.
Anyway, my point is that I just think it's interesting how neobreak is an example of a culture which is so strong yet cultivated all in a medium where nothing physical or real is felt.
This is by no means anything new, I just thought it was fun to think about.
There is no place on earth associated with it, shows aren't played, records aren't even bought, its all online (except for a few vinyls and CD's here and there with more famous artists). There's no clothing style, the art aesthetics are all digital, and it's just not implemented the real world in its appreciation like its predecessors. And if you're a fan of the music and aesthetic, you likely know nobody else who is, because there's like 5 fans in total and we're all spread across the globe.
Yet everybody just feels like they can relate
I guess words are a mo
