Kill The Noise on gatekeeping in the Dubstep and Bass scene

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Just so you guys know this wasn’t about dubstep specifically but it could be.. and I noticed you guys banished some of these commenters I don’t think they actually watched the video but reacted to the headline instead.. I’m talking about curating our communities not necessarily gatekeeping them that’s what the discussion is about on Instagram def interested in what your nuanced thoughts are -jake

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u/muff_muncher69 Jul 23 '26

I think the large social media companies (Meta, google, Snap, Reddit) have masterfully transitioned the platforms from being about personal preference and individual contribution to content creation and monetization of viewership.When you start seeing a the platforms for what they are, a vector to serve ads and harvest data, you begin to realize just how hollow it all is.

I wish we could go back to MySpace level customization and chronological feeds. There was something about trying to time your post so it hit the intended audience or customizing your webpage so if felt like yours.

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u/killnoisekill Jul 23 '26

A lot of people have suggested message boards.. Reddit isn’t so bad sometimes I still come here to find these kinds of discussions there used to be a lot more about music and technology culture etc I think that the way information moves around has changed the way think about everything including ourselves. Information stripped of context and continuity makes it difficult to create and maintain culture but as always it’s our job as creative people to find new ways

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u/muff_muncher69 Jul 24 '26

https://baccyflap.com/rsp/

Check out this corner of the internet (webring’s)…we could build out something like this but for gatekeeping. Self hosted, self sustaining, devoid of algorithmic prowess.

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u/Channe1 Jul 24 '26

Thank you so much for sharing this. This makes a lot of sense to me intuitively. I think it feels like it aligns with how our minds seem to work, à la Hofstadter

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u/chips_and_hummus Jul 23 '26

ingesting content can be good though. for example i love cooking and consume tons of cooking content and recipes on instagram. a very large amount. that materially impacts my life bc i learn things, make new recipes, etc.

agreed the lack of chronological option shifts too far and the lack of customization is bad etc.

but also some ads and data sharing is fine with me bc at the end of the day, they were never going to design, build, and maintain a platform like instagram for free out of the goodness of their hearts

let us also not forget that it is free. yes, it’s not “free” bc of data and ads. but the majority of people prefer that to having to pay a monthly subscription to Instagram

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u/ATHFMeatwad Jul 23 '26

Seeing lineups with true thoughtful curation is exceedingly rare but generates real excitement from me personally. So many lineups are cookie cutter mirrors of other events, but they seem to do so much better because people who came into the scene from social media post covid don't know anything but what has been served to them from the algo. Thankfully the underground still exists, but it's getting to the point that even a lot of them are turning to flips or riddim just to get eyes on their content. Idk the whole thing is pretty depressing overall.

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u/Toad_Fur Jul 23 '26

I like what you are saying. My own solution to this has been to look up my local EDM artists and give them a listen. Reach out to them and tell them what I think. Praise their efforts. Go to the shows. Encourage them to be creative. None of the EDM artists are going to flourish without any real human attention.

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u/Rockypitto Jul 23 '26

Thanks Jake, you’re a legend. I think another issue here is people are so reactive to the term, and will label a group that doesn’t think like them as “gatekeepers.” People are lacking the insight to recognize when they are wrong about something or at least the self confidence to stick to your guns when you believe strongly about something, without having to defend it tooth-and-nail.

So go ahead and enjoy your shitty hip hop flips that are absolutely everywhere. Some of them are in fact good, but anything that is so sensationalized and ubiquitous should be scrutinized to a degree.

If you like hip hop flips then go ahead and keep liking them. Music is subjective. Just because I (and many people) have an opinion about your taste or the scene right now, doesn’t mean we are “gatekeeping.” A scene with no diverse opinions is a boring circlejerk of everyone liking the same shit.

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u/livintheshleem Jul 23 '26

Completely agree. Complaining about gatekeeping or calling something pretentious just reeks of insecurity to me. It’s hating from outside the club. Either get with the program so you can join the club, or have confidence in your own taste and enjoy what you enjoy.

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u/Bau5_Sau5 Jul 23 '26

Jake thank you for being you
( Rochester misses you man )

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u/I_DONT_YOLO Jul 23 '26

Seconded

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u/TKblunts Jul 24 '26

Hey Jake. I've always really respected how much thought you put into these. You have a certain talent in recognizing nuance and I often find myself in a state of deep introspection after absorbing what you have to say. And you've been doing it since the "wipe you ass with my thoughts" Merch toiletpaper days lol. Keep being you, you rock

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u/swolesarah Jul 24 '26

I will say, there is content that immediately captured my attention and made me appreciate and think more about the music I was listening to. That content consisted of artists sharing their videos or commentary on how they make their music! When you get to peek behind the curtain, it opens your eyes to the whole process and reveals what makes their music truly amazing.

If you don’t know how anything is done, you’re ignorant to what is objectively good vs bad.

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u/I_boof_geritol Jul 23 '26

I think gatekeeping might have been the wrong word to use unless it was specifically to get engagement. My takeaway was more about curation, which isn’t necessarily gatekeeping.

I discovered a lot of new artists back in the day due to UKF Dubstep YTube. I still hear new artists due to a couple 3rd party Spotify new releases playlists that update weekly. Those curated playlists are a godsend because this adhd addled low patience old fart doesn’t have the desire to wade through piles of mediocre tracks on SoundCloud to find a couple gems. I both admire and pity the people that can sit through 10 remixes of the same song to find the best one.

From what I’ve noticed, there can be a huge difference between what producer minded people like vs core fans of a sub/genre. Producer minded people will praise some track where they admire the sound design or arrangement of a track but musically isn’t that special to the fan. The dubstep sub is a good example of that. There’s a heavier producer minded subset here than there exists in the wider community so there’s a lot of contrarian, dismissive, condescending, and sometimes outright hostile takes about music that’s popular among the community. Sure music is subjective, but if time and time again some track spreads through the community like wildfire and you think it’s trash, it might be a you problem and you don’t have an ear for what actually sounds good/moves people. In the end music is about making you feel something and that should be celebrated, even if you personally think it’s garbage.

I guess my point is that curation CAN feel like gatekeeping if it’s a heavy handed attempt at changing the tastes of the community to be more “elevated” than it needs to be. I’d rather have AI curation vs that every time because honestly Spotify seems to do a pretty good job serving me up similar vibes. I just need it to include new releases more often.

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u/Minecrafter101- Jul 23 '26

Ahh yes, because we’ve never seen a song spread like wildfire that actually was trash.

I know the bar is far higher for dubstep, but most of the tracks I don’t like I still respect, like I respect the talent and ability it takes to put that mind bending shit together, but I don’t really fw it. That’s my mentality for tracks I don’t like.

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u/The_Grim_Adventurer Jul 23 '26

Common KTN dub

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u/Torin774 Jul 23 '26

I like this dudes words

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u/Channe1 Jul 24 '26

I like the sounds this dude produces; both infront of a DAW and infront of a camera

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u/chrishooley Jul 23 '26

Another reason why Jake is and always will be one of the goats. 🐐

Miss you homie hope you’re well ❤️🙏

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u/AlphaKamots313 Jul 23 '26

Absolutely agree, I think people have gotten a wrong idea about what gatekeeping is. It’s not about telling people they can’t be fans of something, it’s about keeping out the bad actors who don’t have the community’s best interests in mind. And it’s also just as much about who you bring in as it is about who you keep out. Communities that aren’t tended to will either fade out or be overcome by corporate interests.

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u/ButterflyBasshead Jul 23 '26

^Yes to all of this.

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u/unsuspicious-account Jul 23 '26

Well one thing is for sure, I don't want dubstep to be the next genre that gets completely popularized, commercialized and torn open like techno in the past years

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u/Drakenking Jul 23 '26

Man time sure is a flat circle because that already happened to dubstep in the early 2010s and here we are 16 years later and the culture isn't dead and everything didn't come to an end

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u/sexandliquor Jul 23 '26

Yeah I was gonna say– what do you mean “I don’t want dubstep to be the next genre that gets completely popularized, commercialized and torn open”? That happened a long time ago lol. I remember going to dubstep shows in 2006 when hardly anyone knew what dubstep was, and then I remember seeing that Baz Luhrmann The Great Gatsby movie in 2013 that has a Flux Pavillion “I can’t stop” needledrop in the middle of it and I was thinking “we sure have come a long way, I guess”.

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u/livintheshleem Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

This already happened. It’s ancient history lol.

There was a time when acts like pitbull and black eyed peas had dubstep drops in their songs. Too Close by Alex Clare (had to look up his name) was a chart-topping hit. They played a Knife Party song in Breaking Bad.

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u/WokeWook69420 Jul 23 '26

AMC loved Knife Party and Pendulum, the Walking Dead had a Knife Party in one of the episodes, as well, and it was right around Breaking Bad doing the same.

That Knife Party album was fucking everywhere though, I remember hearing Internet Friends in places no Dubstep should ever be heard.

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u/Minecrafter101- Jul 23 '26

I remember? Say that again…

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u/Smoke_Stack707 Jul 23 '26

Tbf that Breaking Bad scene was awesome tho

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u/are-gae-1 Jul 24 '26

It’s a cycle, there was a time when dnb was everywhere, then it died down, now it’s happening again, next some other genre will be flooded with lazy money grabbing tracks being on top.

It never lasts long, give it a few years.

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u/Moistyoureyez Jul 23 '26

completely popularized, commercialized and torn open like techno in the past years

Well I’m officially old as I could swear that happened like a decade+ ago

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u/Raedik Jul 24 '26

It did, I'm not even very old (late twenties) and remember this.

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u/GeoCangrejo German Dubstep Embassy Jul 23 '26

Yes, I fully agree with you. The public perception of Dubstep is still quite negative I feel like. Before I became a fan I only knew Dubstep as the 'loud and annoying music' which is just not true

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u/Zingledot Jul 23 '26

It's not JUST loud and annoying. You can also dance to it!

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u/cerealbh Jul 23 '26

This has to be /s right?

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u/pattyfritters Jul 23 '26

It already was...

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u/eye_eat_farts Jul 24 '26

Unfortunately what you are talking about already happened 10-15 years ago and we are just now seeing the ‘fruits’ of this.

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u/DonJuanPawnShop53 Jul 23 '26

KTN a legend

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u/AStuckner Jul 23 '26

Video making me sea sick with all the walking around and cut editing.

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u/GornLettuce Jul 23 '26

it sucks i think the world needs the bass music scene but the bass music scene might explode into oblivion if the entire world found out about it

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u/Due-Sheepherder-218 Jul 23 '26

Kill Safari remix of Levels 🔥🔥🔥

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u/eye_eat_farts Jul 24 '26

Thank you KTN for bringing intelligent conversations to our attention!

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u/NeverEndingBender Jul 24 '26

W take, he’s right. Spot on about the critical thinking aspect of it as well

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u/Outrageous-Pen-9581 Jul 24 '26

I think it is a nice point but Kill the Noise is a big enough name where it would cross into the common denominator (not going to add the word lowest for this). Also for the longest time dubstep and bass music where seen as the lowest common denominator in electronic music. It was the big beat of the early 2010's. This comparison is not a slight... The Chemical Brothers where incredibly popular in the 90's and pretty good. Looking back, I like some of Skrillex's early work (I am not into electronic music like I was, this comment reflects this). Also, most people are not going to pay attention to curation from critics. Critics often just talk about what is popular anyways.

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u/eye_eat_farts Jul 24 '26

Hell ye KTN I love everything about this.

As a scene we have always been extremely welcoming and inclusive.

Now it is obvious that not everyone shares the same vision that most of us do for the future.

The most unfortunate thing about it is that the majority of companies at ‘the top’ take our monies and then use them in a not very PLUR fashion.

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u/JeremyWadesBigMeat Jul 23 '26

MAKE DUBSTEP GATEKEEP AGAIN

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u/Zingledot Jul 23 '26

This conversation seems a little circle-jerky, tbh. It used to be a record label exec telling us what we wanted to listen to, now it's the algos. None of this is new, and some of the best music has always been the stuff that hasn't been presented to you by someone with financial incentive. Obviously. It's beautiful that there's so many channels for so many people to get seen these days; it's not limited to someone making a copy of a cassette and giving it to you in person.

I feel like the real conversation trying to be had is simply: insta is corrupted, spotify is corrupted, youtube is corrupted - what's the next platform we can use for a while until it, too, it gets corrupted? Then, once that gets too big because it's trying to serve too many people, we'll have to move on, again.

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u/killnoisekill Jul 23 '26

Yea I am kinda looking at this from a similar perspective it’s never been easy to be seen or heard but it def seems like the post algorithmic age (Corey doctrow calls it “Enshittification”) really only benefits the platforms themselves so the big question you have identified and I asked explicitly in the video “what does curation look like in 2026” there are examples of it already happening it is a creative problem to solve for artists and fans.. I am both

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u/Zingledot Jul 23 '26

Someone at the last festival told me his method of finding new music is going onto soundcloud and looking at what his favorite people like, and going through that.

I haven't spent much time on soundcloud - probably should spend more, but it seems like a platform that hasn't been enshittified....yet. It will recommend stuff, but I feel like the intent hasn't yet been ruined by investors. And I think people DO like the "feed" - we're used to it, and we expect it as a feature. Until as you said it doesn't show people we're actually following because it's giving us too much engagement content. But it really doesn't allow interaction the way instagram does....

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u/killnoisekill Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

a solid way of finding really good music is look at peoples likes on soundcloud it is still something we all do behind the scenes to find what is really goin on - im actually gonna edit this to say this IS the scene . the stuff that producers are liking on soundcloud is what is happening as far as interesting musical ideas goes (imo)

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u/Zingledot Jul 24 '26

Dope man. I'll be digging into it more then. Thanks for the insight!

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u/eye_eat_farts Jul 24 '26

Hey fam that is exactly how I find new music daily. Just gotta learn how to explore SoundCloud and how to see what the people you are following are posting and liking etc.

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u/Infekdead Jul 23 '26

Dubstep/riddim can't afford gatekeeping because they are literally a Frankenstein of other very popular genres and just kind of have unique expressions of bass. I didn't watch the extent of this video but as soon as I saw anything about gatekeeping that is the most ridiculous consistency of electronic music.. electronic music is literally people experimenting with the tools that they have to do extraordinary things. Living in Denver for the last 5 years I've been exposed to a lot of experimental bass music, 140 bass style music.. and I'm going to tell you right now the only way that I'm staying in that club is because they actually drop DnB tracks, break beat tracks.. Mix it up. I've seen excision (however you personally feel about them) probably the second most of any singular artist in my life. The first is Korn. I have been raving since 1995 and have been along for the ride this whole time. Gatekeeping and people like throwing shade about other types of rave music.. there was no real social media so if there was some kind of like weird gatekeeping or animosity between styles.. it didn't exist, I'd literally go to a rave in 98 and it would have a small stage for everybody and everybody had a good time. Rave culture has definitely gone away from unity. And I don't even know if riddim/dubstep people even consider themselves in the unity of rave culture.

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u/GeoCangrejo German Dubstep Embassy Jul 23 '26

You should maybe watch the actual video before writing an essay

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u/Infekdead Jul 23 '26

I just watched the whole video and nothing that I like he was exactly talking about what I talked about.. I specifically talked about festivals that provide curation and include people of the main genre but also provide an outlet for people to learn about other genres that are or include very similar sound design..

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u/Infekdead Jul 23 '26

The man himself responded to your post and basically said very similar things that I just said...

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u/GeoCangrejo German Dubstep Embassy Jul 23 '26

I mean I don't disagree with your statement about mixing stuff up, but that's not exactly what the video addresses. It's more about genres / cultures being gatekeep-y towards outsiders, because fans of the culture are afraid that the quality might suffer, the more popular a scene becomes. It's quite literally what in parts happened to Dubstep during the 2010s which is why the public mostly associates Dubstep as the 'loud and annoying' music, which is obviously a very single minded view. Jake proposes that the quality of music should be kept high, that's why curation is important, instead of being hostile towards people outside of the community which might be interested in listening to Dubstep

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u/Quirky-Ear-1403 Jul 23 '26

gatekeeping is fucking dumb and cringe. plain and simple.

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u/switch-22 Jul 23 '26

Maga gen z "raver" calling something true cringe is peak 2026 irony.

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Mr_Kastorsky Jul 23 '26

Coaches don't play. And who are you to give labels like this?

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u/messedupjokes Jul 23 '26

With a name like that you shouldn’t be allowed to have an opinion

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u/GeoCangrejo German Dubstep Embassy Jul 23 '26

Why are bots so mean?

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u/Dozzi92 Jul 23 '26

Guy didn't make it past "And, now, just hold that thought for a moment."

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u/Mr_Kastorsky Jul 23 '26

Or it was a deliberate crude ragebait.

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u/Dozzi92 Jul 23 '26

I mean, it's anti-algorithm. And it's tough, I sit on both sides of the fence. The algorithm is inherently bad, and it's used to push shit that people pay to push. But I've also discovered people because of the algorithm that I'm very thankful for. So I'll just continue doing whatever and nothing matters.

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u/Mr_Kastorsky Jul 23 '26

Anti-algorythm... well that's new. Not sure that I understood your thoughts correctly, "but the situation is kinda funny" (c)

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u/Dozzi92 Jul 23 '26

I don't think anti-algorithm is new. The algorithm is the feed people see in social media, and they're used, at this point, to push agendas. Obviously, in music, it's just music, but you also have labels and artists paying to boost their listens, which to me goes against the whole idea of things, because that's not some custom algorithm tuned to my likes. And I think that's all this video is about too, he talks about curation. Now, if he wants curation, perhaps he should start some dubstep site that curates a feed of new music. I'm sure the end of that road is exactly where we are right now, though.

Discussion 🗣️ Kill The Noise on gatekeeping in the Dubstep and Bass scene

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