Sacred cows from the dance canon that are now irrelevant

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (256 of them)

I think 'French Kiss' is absolutely relevant today given the darker, minimal tone of a lot of house music...partly through electroclash. 'Energy Flash' too. these are tracks you could presumably still drop today and be met with general approval were it not for just how ubiquitous they remain. if i heard 'Washing Machine' in a set now i'd go mental, but that's partly because i was never familiar with it for so long - it was just another one of those tracks i'd only heard about.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 12:23 (eighteen years ago) link

'beat dis' might be irrelevant to contemporary producers, but the basic moral beauty of the thing remains inspirational today.

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 16 August 2005 12:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Was "Give It Up" ever popular enough to make sacred cow status? Because my impression is that desipte how much I completely adore and ove it, it's almost completely irrelevant to what people want to dance to now.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 12:27 (eighteen years ago) link

it's evidently the mid 90s stuff that is now deemed irrelevant and has been re-evaluated in the process. 'Exit Planet Dust' is the prime example (along with 'Leftism' I suppose, Underworld having escaped the expiry date trend gun with more intact). In 1995, a dynamic sonic tour de force with the Chems amalgamating love of JB breaks, European techno, bone-crunching NY electro, psychey/droney folk etc. to excellent effect. In 2005 it's widely seen as a stodgy, amateurish forerunner to better things. Though it's relevancy depends on whether you still see the Chems as influential today. They've moved on from it somewhat (though their album template does remain more or less the same) thus it's hard for me to berate their first effort because as lumpy as it may sound now it's also got the spunk the latter work naturally lacks due to repetition of formulae).

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 12:33 (eighteen years ago) link

'Give It Up' was HUGE at it's time, a top 5 hit even (a year after it first surfaced). I think you're right though Dan, looking at things now, you'd never know it existed.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 12:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Surely Exit Planet Dust is still the second best album The Chemical Bros ever made? "Life Is Sweet"! "Chico's Groove"! "

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 12:47 (eighteen years ago) link

SteveM otm re Lil' Louis and it's current relevance. I've got the album 'the world of Lil Louis' and the single 'You called me' is a blueprint for someone like Miss Kittin.

For me Exit Planet Dust is like drinking Belgian fruit beer. Intriguing, a little strange, outwardly appealing but having to take more than a few sips is more than the body can stand. Whenever I hear 'The brother's gonna work it out' and the crunching bass and beats comes in, I'm praying for the record to end.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 12:54 (eighteen years ago) link

I utterly love Belgian fruit beer :) But I played 'Exit Planet Dust' far too much and haven't really listened to it in the last five years as a result.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:00 (eighteen years ago) link

Still love 'Life Is Sweet' though. The Daft Punk remix would probably still work today too.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:01 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't think the Chems did anything embarrasing until Surrender but I know that no one else agrees with me. "Chico's Groove" is a total beast.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Admittedly when I pull it out these days I usually go straight to the second half of the album - if I wanted to listen to the first half I'd probably just play Dig Your Own Hole instead.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Actually, when I really think about it, "Loops of Fury" is maybe the best track they ever did!

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:11 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't really care if "beat dis" (or for that matter "pump up the volume", which is even better) is relevant or not. it rocks! It's great! I'd have to say that I can't think of anything in the field of dance music I've heard in the last 18 months-2yrs that I've liked even a tiny little bit.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:16 (eighteen years ago) link

But this thread is/was about relevancy, not what rocks!

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Not a big fan of the M.I.A.?

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:19 (eighteen years ago) link

I suppose. I don't really care about relevancy, though.

(x-post not esp bothered one way or the other, Dan)

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:20 (eighteen years ago) link

Yay with all this Exit/"Loops"/Dig talk. (When it is positive.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:20 (eighteen years ago) link

relevancy hates fun!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:21 (eighteen years ago) link

It's an interesting question to me because, up until maybe 2000-2001, I'd say that dance music was the last genre out there where irrelevancy was one of its defining characteristics (ie, "that's so six months ago" was one of its defining points, moreso even than pop music, particularly since the local pop stations have taken to programming in an "old-school" top-40 hit or three into their playlists). What with the one-two punch of the mashup scene and the electroclash boom, a gigantic dose of r---ism appears to have been injected into the genre and suddenly all of the discourse is about canon and signifiers to past tracks etc etc etc. A thread like this, which would have been laughable 6-7 years ago, now makes sense.

I wonder if we're watching the normal life cycle of a major genre being played out here.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Dance is dead, ergo dancing is dead, ergo we must have all your legs, they are not needed.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:27 (eighteen years ago) link

I mean I still love everything mentioned on this thread but recognise that some of it sounds 'dated' or indeed might as well have never existed for the lack of it's influence in anything going on today. And it is interesting to think of tracks that fit that description.

'Give It Up' is a good example because the 'tribal beats' thing has seemingly disappeared entirely from the Dance palette this decade. Plus, the way that track is structured follows a certain model which I'm not sure exists anymore. The marimba-like riff that comes in halfway through really lights the whole thing up and it feels more like a pop song than an underground club thing as a result. But this line was blurrier then and now seems much more clearly defined. Or maybe I'm wrong and there are similar recent examples of a similar thing today.

Talking about tracks like this in terms of their crossover success I often find useful but then the charts seemed more relevant then than they do now too. I was just thinking that you may well get a 'French Kiss' sort of track in the top 3 today if the gimmick was plugged well enough, but you don't seem to get sublime instrumental dance tracks in the charts today like you once did with 'Pacific', or maybe even Robert Miles 'Children'! So what is their relevance, in that respect?

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 13:27 (eighteen years ago) link

four months pass...

interesting thread, which i'd missed before.

also:

6th Feb - The Source feat. Candi Staton - You Got The Love (Positiva)

is on EMI's release schedule for 2006 - any ideas what form it's going to take this time?

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 18:20 (eighteen years ago) link

OOh!

Let it be Gabba!

Why hasn't there been an old-skool/jungle-techno revival lately?

― Wogan Lenin (dog latin), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 18:27 (eighteen years ago) link

i think dance music dates faster than any other genre, mostly due to the combination of the simplicity of the music itself, and the vast amount of producers out there waiting to be heard. the thing is... dance music is also timeless in ways that a lot of non-dance oriented music isn't. the only thing that gets played out fast is the voices, beat-styles, or even just changing scenes due to outside factors. if a song inspires dance, it doesn't matter how old it is. there are only so many target BPM ranges you can dance within. there are a limited number of unique rhythmnic pulses. the foundations essentially stay the same - it's the decorations that change. that's why there have been (white label) remixes of these sacred cows pretty much every year since they came out.

― could be on drugs, who knows, Tuesday, 10 January 2006 21:18 (eighteen years ago) link

the new version of 'You Got The Love' is exactly the same as the remix from ten years ago but with weaker drums. utterly worthless.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 11:06 (eighteen years ago) link

Why hasn't there been an old-skool/jungle-techno revival lately?

Presumably there has been a bit of this within the scene itself - people like High Contrast remixing 'Renegade Snares' etc.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 11:09 (eighteen years ago) link

landcruising

― Yawn (Wintermute), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 11:11 (eighteen years ago) link

to my ears, right now landcruising certainly sounds more relevant than innerzone orchestra

― jcartledge (jcartledge), Saturday, 14 January 2006 06:15 (eighteen years ago) link

Fezaffe, why you break heart?

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Saturday, 14 January 2006 23:03 (eighteen years ago) link

three years pass...

Jacob, do you know the new version of "Hypnotic tango" by Master Blaster? Maybe you should give it a try...

― Rudolf (Rudolf), Monday, December 8, 2003 10:01 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

L.. O.. L.. you've gotta be kidding, right?

― dan138zig (Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr), Saturday, 18 July 2009 02:42 (fourteen years ago) link

It's so rediculously over the top, i love that version. Their album is great too.

― Siegbran, Saturday, 18 July 2009 08:33 (fourteen years ago) link

I mean these guys don't give those italo tunes the reverential treatment at all like the Bunker dudes etc but totally maintain the utter cheesiness factor - 00s style.

― Siegbran, Saturday, 18 July 2009 08:39 (fourteen years ago) link

seven years pass...

we need one for rock/indie/etc

― i n f i n i t y (∞), Monday, 15 May 2017 20:03 (six years ago) link

The ultimate goal of pop is to eventually (or rapidly) become irrelevant, so congrats to everyone listed in this thread!

― everything, Monday, 15 May 2017 20:14 (six years ago) link

Is that the official statement

― i n f i n i t y (∞), Monday, 15 May 2017 20:22 (six years ago) link

we don't need anything for rock/indie

― brimstead, Monday, 15 May 2017 23:10 (six years ago) link

some sort of vaccine maybe

― The Remoans of the May (Noodle Vague), Monday, 15 May 2017 23:13 (six years ago) link

plenty of syringes in use among artists of all genres

― i n f i n i t y (∞), Monday, 15 May 2017 23:15 (six years ago) link

Ryan Adams strikes again.

― how's life, Tuesday, 16 May 2017 09:53 (six years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.