subtronics falling off?

[u/mfdoomlover2]

i’m not tryna be contrarian and this might be a hot take but has anyone else just not been able to stand his music the past ~2ish years. i think subtronics is one of the greatest acts to ever exist in bass music and he has done a lot to revive the scene and catapult it to the forefront of edm, but it really feels like he isn’t trying anymore and just satisfying the desires of the market. ever since “itchy scratchy”, i’ve noticed him trending towards these meme type hooks that go into completely random and non-cohesive drops that don’t really make sense in the context of a whole composition, especially for someone as skilled as him songwriting wise. Don’t get me wrong, i still think he is an incredible artist and relatively recent tracks such as a final breath and eyes cut deeper are phenomenal, but even eyes cut deeper feels like he just refried his crystallized remix nachos and threw original vocals over it. like you’re telling me the dude that made scream saver and spacetime is the same guy who made bird phone. don’t even get me started on this new id “dolphin cannon” cuz like wtf even is that shit. what are yalls thoughts?

[u/Busy_Yogurtcloset648]

I’ve been saying for years he was the front runner of the absolutely no fading or mixing just drop into drop renaissance.

It’s like his friend, I can’t remember his name, but he was 2017-2020 chopping and he was painted as this mythical dubstep being, but honestly, even with the names of usabyflow, it’s mostly theatrics and the mixing is far from elite sounding, with often rough mixing. Mixing a song takes 10-20 seconds of active deck touching, 20-30 seconds to cycle a song through. He relies so have on lasers flames and heavy drops to make the scene seem heavy.

My friend made a good point though, we’re seeing these huge names who have pumped out some crazy songs do show after show. They’re finishing a show to get on a plane to go to another show. I saw an interview which his manager said they’re on track to do 180 shows this year. That’s 1 every 2 or so days. Him, ray volpe, tape b, crank dat, ally cat, just don’t have the time to sit around and bust out music like they used to so they rely on a formula that got them here.

[u/BalanceRight7768 → u/Busy_Yogurtcloset648]

you're thinking of squnto, the dude who ruined dubstep by introducing the mega chopping shit thats only just started to die a decade later.

[u/SpartansATTACK → u/BalanceRight7768]

and then he ruined his own career by having a super public homophobic and anti-semetic mental breakdown online.

I hope he's gotten the mental health help he needed

[u/thatinsuranceguy → u/SpartansATTACK]

He has. He was in a research chem induced psychosis. He's doing a lot better now. He posted recently, go check it out.

[u/SpartansATTACK → u/thatinsuranceguy]

well that's good to hear. everyone deserves to feel all right

[u/sharples06 → u/Busy_Yogurtcloset648]

A not so relevant side note. Skrillex was popping 250+ shows in 2011- 2013. Shows the levels to this.

[u/NetworkMachineBroke → u/Busy_Yogurtcloset648]

Squnto maybe? He was big into his "Megachop" sets around that time

[u/SmokeABowlNoCap]

It's because he isn't taking any breaks. He's one of my all-time favorites but I would love for him to disappear for a year and come back rejuvenated with something to say. Imagine if he blessed us with a new Wooked on Tronics installment after a hiatus. That being said I'm sure his mindset is that he's the biggest he ever has been and he doesn't want to lose that spot while he's in it. His recent interviews suggest that he has a lot of anxiety about falling off and that it leads to him overworking himself

[u/Ok_Word_9591]

I like lots of his songs still but I absolutely hate the way he mixes, sometimes he just needs to let shit breathe

[u/BookSmoker → u/Ok_Word_9591]

Same - And he needs to let the microphone breathe without him talking into it constantly

[u/Sea-Ad1755 → u/BookSmoker]

I feel like he’s stayed off the mic quite a bit recently compared to like 4-5 years ago.

[u/surfz]

Nothing really hit the same anymore since fractals

[u/MasterDRU21]

Idk about fall off considering he is probably the most successful he has ever been but his new stuff just isn’t really for me

[u/Few-Treat4618]

Also not a huge of his newer tunes but I just saw him absolutely demolish radius in Chicago on a Thursday. He definitely has not fallen off. He played a ton of old bangers for older fans too

[u/sir_bumble]

I miss the old subtronics, thats what you call riddim days were so wild for me

[u/Diligent_Athlete_287]

He’s chasing the bag now. He’s still an OG and I wouldn’t go so far as to say he’s selling out but if I were in his shoes, I’d ride the wave as much as I could and rake in as much cash as possible. Not sure if him and Level Up plan to have kids but they’re set for life if he keeps it going the way he has been

[u/MrMidnight115 → u/Diligent_Athlete_287]

I think they’re set up for life as it stands. Even if they both quit music tomorrow

[u/Adept_Airline_239 → u/MrMidnight115]

If sub and level start their own festival you know it’s selling like hot cakes lol

[u/Apaulddd → u/Adept_Airline_239]

He already does, cyclops cove

[u/IIIWIDEIII → u/Diligent_Athlete_287]

Yeah this is the answer. He insnt innovative because he doesn’t need to be anymore. He’s WELL established and can just play shows eveywhere all the damn time. Nothing is challenging him. He’s at the top and winning.

[u/Comfortable_Job_266]

Fibonacci pt 2 was the only release in the past couple yrs I've enjoyed. Not a fan of the viral tiktoks turned into songs bc yeah I agree it doesn't sound cohesive or that great. I fucking hate bird phone. Love Mr tronics but not personally into the newer stuff

[u/gnome08]

There comes a point in every major artist that "makes it" where a lot of their shows start sounding pretty similar. I've seen this for alot of his sets. I think subtronics has lost his novelty, but that doesn't take away his original talent imo.

[u/AlphaDebugger]

I’ve also been feeling what you’re feeling, but I unironically really like bird phone (a weapon to make sick doubles/triples). Besides that I haven’t really liked any of the releases since his latest ep but he is still a master on decks imo

[u/eagle9er9er]

The meme music is just garbage for my taste. I will say he has some unbelievable production from his team but his live sets are also exhausting with too much mixing. Just play out a song ffs.

Respect to those who love his stuff, just not for me anymore.

[u/DubstepIsGood]

Love subtronics but bird phone is bad imo but itchy scratchy is good even if the vocals are cringe i like the song

[u/PleasantSubject2759]

fwiw subtronics has been doing meme shit in his songs since day 1

[u/ludichris_speed]

My friends and I thought the exact same thing at elements this year

[u/meat-machine-5070]

Saw him twice this year, both times awesome. He played a lot of classics though.

[u/Toga_Goat]

Subtronics fell off in 2019 and ya’ll are only just starting to catch on

[u/IIIWIDEIII]

Subtronics is cashing in. You have already missed the best shit by about 10 years. He is just getting paid now that’s all. It is his job now.

[u/Pleasant_Skirt_6895]

Meme music now. Hope he gets back to his roots

[u/MrMidnight115 → u/Pleasant_Skirt_6895]

He’s been using memes since the beginning. Wicked Witch was originally a meme. Thermal Expansion is meatwad from aqua teen hunger force. Nitros Mafia was another meme. I think Wooked On Tronics was the only EP/album without a full blown meme for the drop, but my memory could be failing me

[u/Comfortable_Job_266 → u/MrMidnight115]

Ya but all of those songs are good and the recent ones are ass

[u/Melinoe2016 → u/MrMidnight115]

Idk if a sample like meatwad is considered a meme but he does also sample always sunny a lot.

[u/FrenchTrenchHours]

Dolphin Cannon slander will not be tolerated

[u/After-Imagination947 → u/FrenchTrenchHours]

Youre the last person in here that is allowed to talk about whats allowed and what is not allowed.

[u/FrenchTrenchHours → u/After-Imagination947]

Fuck 🥲

[u/mfdoomlover2 → u/FrenchTrenchHours]

i’m sorry but it’s awful

[u/sportsbuffp]

Those kinda songs are what he came up on if anything. Now they just have the production value of tesseract

[u/Melinoe2016]

I’ve seen a lot of Subtronics sets since 2019. Worst ones I’ve seen recently are some of his festival sets. Northcoast 2024 was not for me but the after at house of blues was amazing. Again Beyond wonderland Chicago 2025 was pretty mediocre. I wasn’t a big fan of the set he did at uic arena in like December 2023? His December 2025 navy pier set was Also not great.

Buttttt his 4 night run at radius was some of the best stuff I’ve seen from him in a while.

You really gotta hit the after parties or long runs where he plays more of his catalog and more doubles.

[u/TrialByFyah]

I’m hardly a big Subtronics guy but Bird Phone slaps lol. Can’t stand Eyes Cut Deeper though. Being intertwined with viral meme culture is hardly anything new for the genre anyway.

[u/NeuRoX_Audio → u/TrialByFyah]

Yeah but cyclops beat him to it didn’t he? Snd isn’t cyclopses better it’s like we’re. We all realized we were making a wub or a frog nose maybe it’s parallel
Maybe one copied the other but when you have 2 artists pushing it…. Doesn’t it stop being art and start being propaganda

[u/TrialByFyah → u/NeuRoX_Audio]

I’m sorry but I don’t understand what any of this means

[u/BalanceRight7768]

its almost like making music exclusively for clipping and festivals isn't actually that substantive

[u/Accomplished_Tea5416]

Yeah I like his music and I think most dubstep fans do too!