Yeah man same here, always thought Sleeper was one of the good eggs in the scene. Even booked him for a couple nights and he came across as a really chilled and humble guy. It really is a shame to hear this, although I would like to hear the other side of the story as well.
Its funny you say that, I was too. The early days of Crucial, like their first 10 or so releases, i honestly thought they were the next greatest thing to happen to dubstep and used to follow them religiously, copping every release and listening to every Crucial podcast. I dont really listen to them all that much anymore, occasionally draw for Operator Dub and Yen Pox in the mix though.
Still think Sleeper is a wicked producer and selector, his set at System was probably one of the best sets I’ve seen and was super cool seeing how big a reaction he was getting
Funny, it’s the opposite for me. I started paying attention around 2018 (then again I spent the last two years before that ignoring dubstep in general).
Whatever happened is not new in any sense. Plus, Sleeper deleting not only all his socials but the bandcamp links for Crucial (very dick move) is putting more oil to the fire. Anyone who’s purchased music on the Crucial bandcamp but didn’t download it are completely done in, they’ve got no access to that music anymore.
Even before this Crucial didn’t release anything over the summer, if it wasn’t the label slowly shutting down, I thought it was at least an extended hiatus. Wonder who’ll step up now that one of dubstep’s new-school flagship labels is now dead in the water. I’ll still appreciate how you could tell Crucial releases from other typical 140. The vibe of the label was on point from the art direction to the tracks.
I just don’t get the motive behind all this. I mean running a dubstep label isn’t going to make you rich so dicking people over for money doesn’t seem like much of a reason to do this. There’s easier ways to make more money. Running a label for the bragging rights and the pussy maybe? Or is it incompetence?
Worst case scenario is that he’s actively screwing over people and deleting his socials in a futile attempt to cover his tracks. If we’re not assuming the worst, I’d just say he’s super overwhelmed and in a very uncomfortable position at the moment, although his silence isn’t helping much.
Funny thing is, before this whole mess went public, a few days before Sleeper was selling test presses according to his Crucial insta stories. Probably has no effect on this story.
That’s the most sus part imo. If it is a case of not wanting to deal with the reactions atm, this deffo won’t help and I can’t see how deleting everything helps with that
The deleting Bandcamp thing does seem pretty shady but perhaps he’s taken everything down to wait for the dust to settle before making a statement/ telling his side of the story. Would be interesting to hear what he has to say. It does seem odd that you can purchase something on Bandcamp but can have your access revoked if the artist removes it.
What’s interesting though, looking at the response on social media, people have been very quick to grab their pitchforks. Perhaps its just the time we’re in now with this whole cancel culture thing. I seem to remember some stuff about Medi not paying some artists e.g. Dark Tantrums and there was just a small reddit thread and maybe a couple posts on here about. Not trying to defend Sleeper or say what Medi did was okay but its interesting to think about.
The likeliest outcome imo. Deleting the bandcamp (been said a million times in this thread already ) might seem like he’s purposefully removing the benefit of his own doubt ADDED with his lack of communication with his label signees. However, given the predicament he’s in, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was super panick-y and anxious about this whole situation, and if he’s waiting for the right moment for his own statement, it’s better sooner than later.
I thought everybody agreed that Medi was being woefully managed within the past few years? altho recently, as the past couple years, they have gotten their shit together a litttle bit minus removing the Medi head artwork.
) might seem like he’s purposefully removing the benefit of his own doubt ADDED with his lack of communication with his label signees. However, given the predicament he’s in, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was super panick-y and anxious about this whole situation, and if he’s waiting for the right moment for his own statement, it’s better sooner than later.
altho recently, as the past couple years, they have gotten their shit together a litttle bit minus removing the Medi head artwork.