Dance music today

[BrunoRepublic]

I dunno, today's music isn't all bad.

There's that trance track that just a fast-paced synth tone in G with the morphing filters. That one's really good if you're stoned.

Then there's that neo-soul one with two electric piano chords and the wailing diva... that's quite nice for the first 30 minutes or so, longer if you're drunk and/or high.

And then there's the new R&B one, with the very minimal rhythm track, sampled phrase repeating every four bars, with the Whitney-Houston-coming-down-from-a-coke-high yelps and the background chicks cooing in 17-part harmony. This one's really popular; I hear on the youth-market-oriented radio all the time now.

I always get a kick out of the one that samples a bar or two disco track and repeats it for hours.

And the housey one with the three-note organ bassline is quite good too.

Fortunately, I have no need to actually purchase any of these tracks. Today's music producers have managed to refine their product to such narrow specifications that one can no longer distinguish any of them apart. But it doesn't matter, since the artist is irrelevant today. It's all about the DJ, who if skilled enough, can actually weave something distinct out of all these non-descript patterns and textures.

I predict that in a few years, they will no longer bother to come up with artist or track names for dance music. You'll just see white labels with things like "house track", "euro track", "trance track", etc., written on them.

Then we can truly celebrate the death of individuality, and welcome the new age of global corporate conformity.

[DeepBeat]

On 2002-10-23 13:14, martinus wrote:
Hello !
Some new stuff worth listening to:
Hed Kandi: Stereo Sushi 3, fantastic!
Soulfuric Mix Sessons Double CD
Timewriter: Diary of a lonely sailor: soulful Tech/Deephouse
Stephanie Cooke: I thank you (shelter mix)
on King street rec.
Michelle Weeks: He is the light(Ubp mix)
on Soulfuric
Indeep(Not the 80's group !): Music is my life
Louis Benedetti feat David Ruffin jr: Show you my love (good Goldie Alexander coverversion) on Soulshine rec.

TELL 'EM MARTINUS! Here's some cool stuff.

[jazz_pilgrim]

Martinus,

Haven't got hold of Stereo Sushi III yet. What are the best tracks on it??

I'm still getting over that fabulous Mondo Grosso track from Stereo Sushi II !!! :grin: :grin:

[ladyboygrimsby]

If you want some great modern music, I can recommend the new Blaze album 'Spiritually Speaking'. It's not really like Voyage (the only tune I ever liked of theirs was Point Zero), it's more on the Salsoul tip. For beautiful downtempo music, Zero 7's 'Simple Things' is great and the new Cinematic Orchestra album is pretty good, too (the name of it escapes me). If you don't like any of those, then I'd conclude that it is, indeed, generational.

BTW, Hed Kandi is utter crap.

[zeca azevedo]

Hi everybody,

in the second half of the 90's, dance music experimented a wave of desconstructing songs, ripping off melodies, repeating rhythm patterns ad infinitum and using electronic sounds and textures. Dance music became very abstract just to keep on with some druggy experiences - ecstasy, etc. Anyway, I relate this techno fascination with something I like to call "technological fetichism" - the boom of the PCs everywhere created the illusion of a democratic comunity of information. This fetichism is historical and it will end - in fact, the beggining of its end happened in 9/11. All this techno escapism will be remembered as a sign of these times, nothing more than that.

Me, I prefer some songs with gourgeous melodies. Nothing against all contemporary dance music, of course, there's some good stuff in the middle of the techno flood.

Am I wrong?

zeca azevedo

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: zeca azevedo on 2002-10-24 10:20 ]</font>

[martinus]

On 2002-10-24 03:10, jazz_pilgrim wrote:

Martinus,

Haven't got hold of Stereo Sushi III yet. What are the best tracks on it??

I'm still getting over that fabulous Mondo Grosso track from Stereo Sushi II !!! :grin: :grin:

I like the tracks:
Rasmus Faber: Never felt so fly
Amy Helm: Own way home
Linda Clifford: Sunshine
RobinRush: After the storm
Simon Grey: One
Groove Junkies: Inside my soul
Stephanie Cooke: I thank you

[born2disco]

I'd say if you think all modern house or dance music is shit, you are definitely not looking in the right places!

Marky - I want to point you in the direction of ONE particular track from a couple of years ago which I think has the spirit of oldskool disco but is completely fresh new & funky. The track: 'Moody' (Joey Negro Club Mix) by Sessomato. You can find it on Disco Kandi 2 comp (tho most of that comp is shite, this track stands out). If you don't wanna buy the CD you could surely download it from somewhere.

This track rocks! And there is a helluva lot of new stuff in a similarly funky vain. If you heard some of our local house/garage DJs here in Melbourne I guarantee you would not be able to leave the dancefloor!

CIAO

[midas]

DirtyVegas is good
specially Days go by

[martinus]

Originally Posted by born2disco

I'd say if you think all modern house or dance music is shit, you are definitely not looking in the right places!

Marky - I want to point you in the direction of ONE particular track from a couple of years ago which I think has the spirit of oldskool disco but is completely fresh new & funky. The track: 'Moody' (Joey Negro Club Mix) by Sessomato. You can find it on Disco Kandi 2 comp (tho most of that comp is shite, this track stands out). If you don't wanna buy the CD you could surely download it from somewhere.

This track rocks! And there is a helluva lot of new stuff in a similarly funky vain. If you heard some of our local house/garage DJs here in Melbourne I guarantee you would not be able to leave the dancefloor!

CIAO

Sessomato "Moody" can also be heard on Joey Negro's Mix-compilation "Back to the scene of the Crime" on AZULI rec.(4-Vinyl unmixed or mixed Double CD).
Other fine tracks are:
Benjamin Diamond "We gonna make it"
Yolanda Wyns "I know you, i live you" (Chaka Khan cover)
Blaze "Wishing you were here"
Sunburst band "New york city woman"
Love station "Teardrops"
All good soulful funky housetracks in Joey Negro mixes.
Also it features re-edits of MFSB "K-Jee" and Brick "Living in your mind". The weakest track is the overplayed opener "American Dream" by Jakatta.

[Hannah]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this 'chat' lark but felt compelled to reply to the following comment by markydefad:

Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2002 6:30 am** *Post subject:
I hear you people, who's opinions I respect, telling me that there is all this wonderful dance music out there--yet I never hear anything remotely interesting. Nothing that makes MY feet wanna dance. Do I have to move to Europe to hear the good stuff???

Now I have been into disco and dance since god knows when but I only started to really LOVE it when I discovered 'L'America' @ the Emporium in Cardiff. This (if you have not already discovered it) is a superb club night which has expanded considerably over the past few years. They take on new talent, have fantastic residents and always manage to house some sublime talent from the US on their big nights. A majority of the music played is from the US and it kicks arse!! The mixture of headonistic beats and funky disco is what life is all about!

Despite being a proud citizen of England I feel it my duty to inform you that US house is the best dance music around and US DJs are amazing - esp. Joey Negro (!) So NO you definately dont need to come to Europe - you live in one of the funkiest countries in the world! (esp. NYC)

[DISCODISK]

Originally Posted by Hannah

Despite being a proud citizen of England I feel it my duty to inform you that US house is the best dance music around and US DJs are amazing - esp. Joey Negro (!) So NO you definately dont need to come to Europe - you live in one of the funkiest countries in the world! (esp. NYC)

HANNAH joey negro [dave lee] is most definately english!!

[nonkel808]

Originally Posted by born2disco

I'd say if you think all modern house or dance music is shit, you are definitely not looking in the right places!

Marky - I want to point you in the direction of ONE particular track from a couple of years ago which I think has the spirit of oldskool disco but is completely fresh new & funky. The track: 'Moody' (Joey Negro Club Mix) by Sessomato. You can find it on Disco Kandi 2 comp (tho most of that comp is shite, this track stands out). If you don't wanna buy the CD you could surely download it from somewhere.

This track rocks! And there is a helluva lot of new stuff in a similarly funky vain. If you heard some of our local house/garage DJs here in Melbourne I guarantee you would not be able to leave the dancefloor!

CIAO

Hey Borm2disco you mentioned one of my all time favorite house tracks.
I bought the 12" when it first came out in 2000, and it hasn't left my dj-bag since. I prefer the fantastic DUB ride version, being a dub-versions lover

But my alltime favorite house track still remains THE BOMB by the Bucketheads aka Kenny Dope (in the Armand van Helden re-edit), with its long intro; wonderfully well mixed with the long outro of Moody dub ride! :D


And yes, Joey Negro is an Englischman, also known as Jakatta, Dave Lee or SUNBURST BAND, wich is also featured on the Hedkandi album with the track "New York City Woman" Check out his Sunburst band album "Here Comes The Sunburst Band" Very disco! Very good! :)

greetz,
808
www.goldenlifestyle.be

[K-Bee]

All right - time to get involved in this.
I must say that I agree totally with born2disco's views on modern day dance music. It is a case of looking in the right places.
As disco/funk fans (as we all are around here, I suppose) there's no point in turning to all these tedious Ibiza compilations that sell by the truckload today. They are hard to ignore, though, since there all you see in the mainstream record shops.
I guess what we all really wanna see, is artists trying to reinvent the musical styles we all love. Artists who create new inputs and thereby are able the push the genre further.

Thankfully, these artists do exist. But you won't find them on any big selling compilations cd (mr Negro/Lee aside, I guess). I'm afraid we're mostly talkin US artists here. The likes of Blaze, MAW, Kerri Chandler and Jerome Sydenham.

But there's also good reason in turning to the german Compost label (Trüby trio and the Glücklich CD's) and some of the jazz house project coming out of Japan like Kyoto Jazz Massive. Also the "Respect Is Burning" collective (Dimitri From Paris a.o.) from France is worth mentioning.

I myself like most of the Hed Handi series a lot (especially the Stereo Sushi series). They have been able to steer clear of the obvious choices and personally they have introduced me to a lot of house & US based garage that I would never have discovered otherwise, not being a DJ myself. Even if they do put hit singles on their compilations, the mixes are always fresh and loads better than the well known versions.

Example: go to "Get get down" by Paul Johnson on Disco Kandi 1. Outstanding sample use of the old George Duke classic "Look What You Find" ('79) = way better version than the rather annoying original.

Mark Doyle of Jazz FM has done a great job methinks :)

So all 'n all: Quality dance music's out there if you're willing to search for it

[Hannah]

Boy do I feel silly! Well that just shows where you get when you listen to idiots (my ex). I actually met Joey Negro briefly - shame it was too loud to hear his English accent.

I haven't been clubbing for ages and I miss it terribly. The only House night I have been to so far in Devon was in Teignmouth. I spoke to the DJ - Jazzwax? - and he said that there are not many house DJs in Devon. Unfortunately a large percentage of people here like Hard House, RnB and Garage. The explosion of House that I saw in Cardiff seems to have missed Devon!

[jazz_pilgrim]

Originally Posted by K-Bee

I myself like most of the Hed Handi series a lot (especially the Stereo Sushi series).
Mark Doyle of Jazz FM has done a great job methinks :)

What do you think of the MONDO GROSSO track on Stereo Sushi 2? Would be interested to know ...


:)