Anyone Seen the Movie : "GROOVE???

[markydefad]

I stayed up waaay too late watching this indie film from 2000 on HBO last night.

Since it was set in San Francisco (see how beautiful that sounds) and was about going to the warehouse district in the middle of the night to dance to music under the influence of "love"--I thought I might get a little pang of nostalgia.

Well, so so. Not really.

BUT the amusing thing to me was the way they built up the opening record that was to be played by each of the DJ's at the rave. They were shown kissing their vinyl, saying prayers, placing the needle on their record and then the camera focused on the mixing board as they brought their debut disc "into the mix". As each record hit the crowd, they cheered wildly and the DJ jumped up and down as if he had won the, oh... the World Cup???!!!!

NOW, my comment is that I could NOT TELL ONE RECORD FROM ANOTHER....SO what the hell was going on here? AND, I'm NOT just being contrary, EACH RECORD SOUNDED EXACTLY LIKE THE ONE JUST PLAYED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What am I missing??? Why the extreme care repeatedly given to this ritual in the movie as each DJ did their gig? WAS IT THAT LATE that I couldn't tell the difference between one jackhammer song and another? I actually thought it was too loud and would wake my neighbors, BUT I persisted.

Did anyone here see this flick? Care to explain it to an old geezer--"Slightly worn, but dignified and not too old for sex"???? And that's a favorite line from an ABBA song--NOT a come on.

_________________
Make My Feet Wanna Dance!

Markydefad

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: markydefad on 2002-06-10 15:10 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: markydefad on 2002-06-10 15:12 ]</font>

[BrunoRepublic]

One-word answer: drugs.

For clubbing kids today, drugs are not an enhancement to the experience, but a prerequisite. A rave-frequenting acquaintance of mine unintentionally summed it up perfectly:

"I don't actually like any of that music at all. But when I'm on e, I can dance to anything. It all sounds great!"

Yes Marky, it really does all sound the same. Aside from the odd moment of near-listenability, it is monotonous, repetitive, lifeless, shallow, lifeless, and completely mindless. ...just like the automatons who are out there partying to it.

Lest anyone accuse me of bias, let me state that this is coming from someone who has spent over 15 years listening, studying, and composing electronic music.

...and people don't understand why I've basically become a hermit!

PS: Marky, are you still going to send me those tapes?

[ruoffended]

If you want my point of view, i use to go to these party, this music is made by the same software , thats why they all sound the same , and in lots of cases , you have no intro and no conclusion , just the middle part of the track , and practicly no instrument at all ITS ELECTRONIC MUSIC and those were so boring the people i was with were so stoned ( we use to call them flying saucers , flying everywhere ) anyway very boring, personaly hate this kind of music , without feelings ,emotion or a message , the only message i can understand from this music is that the people i use to meet in those partys were people with frustrations of lifes , most of the time very agressive and negative , so i stopped going at those anyway i like music with real instruments and i like keyboard only as an addition to the music not a substraction or replacement of instruments , thats it.....RU

[markydefad]

I hear ya Graham, BUT I'm NOT being facetious when I say I could not tell the new song from the old song. SAME RECORD--AND YET the crowd went wild. Now I realize the director told them to jump and scream--but it was like mixing "Superfreak" into "You Can't Touch This"--same exact rhythm track--and NO lyrics. NOT ONE human voice was heard in the soundtrack music to "Groove"-- No screaming diva sayin "Let's get soakin wet" every once in a while. NOOOOOO. Just an electronic beat ("oonce, oonce, oonce" music as Funky Dude called it). And yet the crowd screamed in delight when each new soundalike record was mixed in. Hmmmmmmm????

Now since the crowd doesn't give a **** what they are dancing to...what would happen if another type of dance tune were mixed in??? Would they immediately start barfing their guts out? Be taken in ambulances to the nearest hospital? Start massive lawsuits against the party planner for "harshing their buzz"?

Could they dance to a Giorgio Moroder electronic tune from back in tha day? Or is it simply that it would not sound as repititious as they are accustomed to? I'm curious what would happen if an non-conformist DJ played more melodic music at a rave? Would the ravers leave? Boo and hiss and vomit until they got their way?

Sirius, you play at those Balls in Vienna--what would happen if you played RAVE Music to your crowd??? They gotta be young kids--or am I wrong there? What is the bottom line here?

Who made "Rave Music" just an electronic beat with no vocals--no melodies, JUST A BEAT? And why has NO one ever challenged that concept of music? Hey, you can play that--but couldn't ya mix in something else every so often???

Obviously not. Since they don't.

[Nano]

Hey guys, I used to think like that but later I discovered that music quality at these parties depends a lot on who's the DJ, because, as you know, they do a lot more things now other than just playing the track.
A couple of years ago I went to a "so called rave" in Buenos Aires. There were a lot of DJs playing back to back (one of them was chill-out Spanish master José Padilla). I went there for Laurent Garnier, the French guy who did a lot of work on the FNAC label. I was boooring myself with cold techno stuff and when the guy came in, about 2 AM, well in ten minutes it was a whole other thing! I danced for hours and left craving for more (had to work the next day).
Also Fatboy Slim was here, but that night I couldn't go. But from his records, that guy kicks ass! Same for Propellerheads.
I didn't see "Groove" but read several reviews of it, and it seems what happened was that it's a Hollywood retelling of the rave scene as the classic juvenile movie. From what Marky says, they didn't spent much on the soundtrack.

[jim]

From checking my Tivo,the film is on this Thursday night at midnight (eastern) on HBO6 (HBO Zone, ONLY on Digital Cable) and will replay on the main channel a week or so later around 3:25am (Boston/New york time)