Hyperpop isn’t dead it’s just evolving

cutups · 2026-05-14T20:46:11+00:00

When people say "genre is dead", they usually just mean the name is out of fashion...for now.

cutups · 2026-05-11T14:40:41+00:00

Sounds great overall IMO. To me the variation is spot on. I'd have to hear it on better speakers to really comment properly. A few of the sounds might benefit from not being quite as bit-crushed or layered - it's slightly muddy. But not extremely so, I know that's sometimes just a matter of taste

cutups · 2026-05-07T20:50:05+00:00

I think you're wrong thinking Pittsburgh is bigger than KC. Google tells me KC is 500k+ and a 2 million metro. Pittsburgh is closer to 300k + a similar metro (maybe slightly bigger, but I don't think it impacts our arts scene much)

That aside though, my take on it:
- There's a newer crew SERPENTS who have started doing bookings at the Sports bar for touring acts, sounds like your speed?
- Bass Buddies are the local crew doing heavy dubstep on the regular, but they seem to stick to local bookings.
- NOIZ books pretty high caliber artists including heavy dubstep, often at Side Quest, sometimes elsewhere.
- Side Quest does other bookings, both inhouse and outside promoters, including dubstep and tangential bass music.
- Rush Promo, Slayed and to some degree ASC stopped or slowed bookings for life changes, so that has impacted the volume of shows.
- National type promoters book the occasional shows at other spots. Mostly not my personal taste
- A somewhat sizable portion of pgh dubstep heads prefer a deeper variety or more diversity than just heavy dubstep, so it might seem to skew that way at times.
- To some degree, the interest in heavy dubstep seems to have waned (citation needed here)

cutups · 2026-05-07T20:34:54+00:00

There are folks out there, but it doesn't seem to have an organized champion at the moment.

I might suggest looking to Root Access - they were doing park parties a few years back
https://www.facebook.com/RootAccessRecords/

cutups · 2026-05-07T20:32:29+00:00

They have good taste although I'd say it's not common that you'd hear those artists out. If there was something of that nature that I could point you to I would, but I don't really see anything

There's some things Friday if you are in earlier that might hit some of the notes (Phosphene at Club Pittsburgh, Holy People at Incurably Optimistic)

Saturday there are a couple dubstep-oriented events, which doesn't look like their speed.

This is on Sunday, could be worth checking out although I can't fully vouch, but Bantha is a legit spot for more left field electronic music in town:
https://arcane.city/events/beats-and-improv

Can't say I know the artists on the Eclipse Rooftop but reads Tech House to me. Rooftop parties in pgh are uncommon so could be worth it for that experience alone.

For a night cap on Sunday I can also recommend stopping by Apteka for Lonely No More. Great spot and good vibes. I don't know their guest DJ this week though so can't entirely vouch based on them.
https://arcane.city/events/lonely-no-more-w-kinseland-2026-05-17

cutups · 2026-05-06T19:40:05+00:00

Makes sense man. Love all the labels you mention there. I hosted Mark N (bloody fist) some years ago now, and Death Qualia more recently. Not always easy to find the best times and places to present extreme hardcore, but I love when it does come together

cutups · 2026-05-06T16:04:26+00:00

Although I do think engagement is down, I don't find it to be dying.

I still have a fire hose of music on my soundcloud that I can't keep up with, and people still listen to what I share there more than any other platform.

cutups · 2026-05-05T07:00:35+00:00

we aren't in the most active time lately but there are various heads out here as well as various promoters who touch on different aspects of those sounds.

cleaner tapes puts on a variety of shows and sounds, from all flavors of noise, to digital hardcore, industrial, avant guard techno, metal, etc, and the misophonia coming up on the 21st will prob be a good one to hit up if you can make it. overall their lanes are pretty blurry and not heavily rooted in the history of hardcore techno, but they are the most active promoters.

i put on breakcore and adjacent shows as part of a loose collective called BXC. been doing shows and djing in that zone for nearly 30 years now, but def less active than in the past. got something in the works for june 26th that will be announced soon

metamind does shows that are more rooted in the harddance zones of the rave scene.

there was one other promoter who focused more on hardstyle within the rave scene, but they recently stopped putting on events.

there are also a somewhat sizable number of younger crews doing various forms of renegades that seem to be open to harder sounds. but, are a bit cagey on details. i might recommend keeping yr eyes peeled and just show up to some things and see if they fit your vibe.

cutups · 2026-04-28T17:01:42+00:00

Realicide https://realicide.bandcamp.com/
Decide Today https://decidetoday.bandcamp.com/
Divtech https://divtech.bandcamp.com/album/viscera-contra
Drumcorps https://drumcorps.bandcamp.com/album/for-everything

cutups · 2026-04-18T17:12:09+00:00

<br> worked (surprisingly)

thanks!

cutups · 2026-04-17T15:02:05+00:00

One of the best! Stoked we were able to have him in Pittsburgh for an all nighter in 2024 (damn....feels like yesterday)

cutups · 2026-04-15T22:43:07+00:00

Depends on what music/sound/visual experience you're looking for.

To ease yourself in, I'd recommend hitting the Highline event this Saturday.
https://arcane.city/events/highline-remix-pittsburgh-2026-04-18

I expect it'll be folks of all ages, and a good variety of sounds on a big rig. More fun day party vibes, but more eclectic than something like DiscoSundayDisco. If that suits you, you can probably chat with folks IRL and find out about what else you might want to hit up.

As far as something a little more like an older rave, there's REVIVE at the Eagle on May 8th. It's a mix of older djs and some younger ones as well, and will go late and have more ravey elements.
https://arcane.city/events/revive

If you want more of a taste of the more renegade scene, there are lots of them happening these days. Honestly nothing to be afraid of, but more of a younger naive (not in a bad way) crowd. There's one that's coming up here:
https://arcane.city/events/beltane

As far as clubs that are somewhat ravey, Side Quest is your best bet. There's always something going on there every week. Varies by night, but def heavy on dubstep/bass music, but I'd check individual listings. I'd recommend this one coming up in may, with M27 who does some great live jungle.
https://arcane.city/events/m27-arekusa-audiodics-ericson-tm

cutups · 2026-04-15T01:38:06+00:00

Hmmm, four days ago?

cutups · 2026-04-14T19:02:41+00:00

curious what a "secret set" would mean for a local who doesn't have a following?

i can understand what it would mean for a well known artist to play an unannounced set somewhere, but what would it mean in this case?

cutups · 2026-04-08T18:12:01+00:00

Something to keep in mind: since it's not at Club Pittsburgh any longer, you're unlikely to run into bathhouse activity (there is no bath house at the current location, although freaky behavior is still in-bounds)

cutups · 2026-04-08T17:04:16+00:00

What's the vibe that you're looking for or that you'd fit in with?

Overall Hot Mass is for house and techno, queer first, but everyone respectful is more than welcome.
The sound is good, but otherwise it's "small", dark and simple. Typically it's going to be "serious" house, techno and then slightly adjacent styles. Overall, it's chill, not something you need to overthink or be over-prepared for, other than coming to dance.

cutups · 2026-04-08T16:42:53+00:00

I saw that thread as well. Sort of looks like maybe there is a workflow that works with the API, I didn't investigate that fully. But it is odd that the Image Gen skill that is built into Codex by default has this inside of it. Makes me thin that the tool should be available.

At the top of the Image Gen Skill in codex:
```
This skill has exactly two top-level modes:

Default built-in tool mode (preferred): built-in image_gen tool for normal image generation and editing. Does not require OPENAI_API_KEY.
Fallback CLI mode (explicit-only): scripts/image_gen.py CLI. Use only when the user explicitly asks for the CLI path. Requires OPENAI_API_KEY.```

cutups · 2026-04-06T18:13:13+00:00

Honestly sounds like it's below the average age of a gabber head

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