Opinion: Scuba vs. Zomby

Scuba is insufferable, that’s well known; it’s even been covered in The Mancunion before. However, this is often acknowledged in conjunction with labelling Zomby in the same way, unfairly in my view. The latest twitter spat between the two resulted in Zomby being unceremoniously scrubbed from the bill of WHP’s Modeselektion night, allegedly on Scuba’s demand. This left many ticket holders greatly disappointed at being deprived of a rare chance to see the elusive Zomby. The recent addition of fellow masked DJ, but purveyor of mediocrity, SBTRKT to the line up only heightened the devastated pangs at what might have been. Others favour Scuba. I fall firmly on the side of Zomby and I offer this compare and contrast to explain why you should too.

Zomby is a talented and versatile producer, adept at creating tunes across many genres from jungle to UKGarage.  Scuba has deteriorated from making credible techno music to filling his sets with Ibiza trance anthems that I bet the ‘bros’ at the main stage of Creamfields really love. Sure this criticism is just personal preference and I‘m sure I appear snobby, but hey this is my opinion piece.

Musical differences is not the end of it. Both DJs are frequent twitter users and their conduct on the social network has been a decisive factor in creating their love/hate status. In my view, Zomby comes across as a loveable dick. Sure he goes off on arbitrary rants at people but everything he says is so wrapped up in hyperbole and ridiculousness that I can’t believe anyone takes it seriously. He also provides excellent cultural commentary like “His fade is terrible”, said of Kim Jong-Un, and tackles social injustice: “superman was arrogant..he chose to pick who to save at will usually white americans ..racist and also elitist”. Scuba on the other hand exudes smugness with every loathsome tweet he spews. These range from mocking the suffering of the recently deceased, “Whoever at Apple made the decision to use .m4a as the itunes audio format should be subjected to a long and painful death. Actually that’s probably already happened hasn’t it?”, to plain self-infatuation which the fulfilled promise of a naked photo at 40,000 followers demonstrated.

Perhaps Scuba is also playing a character, surely no one could genuinely be so arrogant? Wrong. This is evidenced by the most damning factor of all, he’s a misogynist. This was proven by his public agreement with the statement “Feminism is not so much an ideology as a minority of women attempting to assert control on other women”. Only a sexist would twist the most recognised female empowerment beliefs into anti-feminist bile. I’ve strayed from opinion to objectiveness here, right?  Meanwhile, Zomby has stated his political views as “not in protest against anything but shit music and shit clothes..and bad fades” – a noble pursuit, I’m sure you agree.

So if you’re at Modeselektion, make sure you’re on the barrier during Scuba’s set, wearing a V for Vendetta mask and shouting abuse. #TeamZomby.