Sacred cows from the dance canon that are now irrelevant

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Why are dance music threads always so polite, enthusiastic and enjoyable?

Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 8 December 2003 10:39 (twenty years ago) link

Sorry I just came over all PLUR for a moment there.

Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 8 December 2003 10:43 (twenty years ago) link

speaking of being polite, i'd like to apologize for my typos in the above posts. While some of you all are about to have lunch or tea or whatever in england, it's 5:30 am in brooklyn and I can't sleep because I was out all night and I'm verging on delirious...

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 8 December 2003 10:47 (twenty years ago) link

I felt fucking bullied into liking dnb -- looking back there's hardly a tune I'd ever want to hear again. Dance music journalists must've been weak-minded cunts is the only answer I can think of. Bukem and his label must have been the most over-hyped musicians in history.

'Hideaway' is still amazing, 'Music Sounds Better With You' came out round same time as 'You Can't Hide From Your Bud' but is still the turning point... actually, let's get down to the question who here gets down?

Provincial highstreet clubbing is all about the Neptunes sound. Boring seven minute build-ups are boawrin. So radio edits are the shit, always.

Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 8 December 2003 10:54 (twenty years ago) link

"I felt fucking bullied into liking dnb -- looking back there's hardly a tune I'd ever want to hear again. Dance music journalists must've been weak-minded cunts is the only answer I can think of."

Yeah, how fucking weak-minded to get excited about the most obviously exciting musical development of the nineties!

"Bukem and his label must have been the most over-hyped musicians in history"

This statement has a better chance of standing up, but even then by linking the two together you imply that Bukem and dnb were synonymous which is wrong wrong wrong.

Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:19 (twenty years ago) link

fuck this thread!

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:35 (twenty years ago) link

am skimming thru and gettting annoyed, but i lack the energy to argue

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:38 (twenty years ago) link

De'Lacy - "Hideaway"

This comes across as really thin and watery. I think we expect monster bass with everything now, and dance tunes that don't have it really suffer.

this i find extraordinary. this is a true classic and the trademark Deep Dish swish metallic beats are pretty tough and dirty - and how can you say it's not bassy? get a proper system!

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:42 (twenty years ago) link

listened to a bit of 'Timeless' for first time in years recently - it was better than i thought i would find it, no real problems with 'prog jungle' here

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:43 (twenty years ago) link

nothing sounds more dated than Kraftwerk

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:46 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, how fucking weak-minded to get excited about the most obviously exciting musical development of the nineties!

Well, I dunno if it was the most exciting next to what was happening in hip hop, but even then there was no sense, in a lot of publications, of proportion. I suppose most were written for DJs who did get thru 20 new records a week, but not enough writers said 'this is dull', and a hell of a lot of it was and is (i'm talking late jungle/dnb here).

N-Rique (Enrique), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:48 (twenty years ago) link

i would agree there. Alex Reece was a one-trick pony and if you didn't like jazz you were screwed. i liked a couple of tunes on his album (Out Of Time esp.) and his remix of Kenny Larkin's 'The Groove'. i think Goldie and Bukem get some unfair stick, there were a lot of great tunes on Good Lookin' and especially Metalheadz - i didn't even get that tired of the seemingly endless retreads of the Angel/Sinister theme

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:54 (twenty years ago) link

Derrick May in general to be honest. How many 18 year olds could sit through all of Innovator?

I'm 20 and I love Derrick May. I think lots of 18 year olds could get into it, it's not obtuse or weird, I would say Strings of Life sounds the most dated, whereas Nude Photo or Beyond The Dance still are pretty solid affirmations of house/techno as weird and wonderful music.

Jacob's second list strikes me as a very good one, mind you Don't You Want Me by Felix is an odd blueprint for the filter disco sound of the late 90s I always feel. It does sound pretty iffy now though unless pitched up heavily and even then.

Papua New Guinea really is top of the list, it owns this thread I agree.

On the subject of Kevin Saunderson, I couldn't disagree more! Stuff like Velocity Funk and Pump The Move still sound brilliant to me, just need a bit more pitch perhaps.

I think a Hideaway is an interesting suggestion. It's a track which has almost ceased to seem like a dance classic and become just a classic to me. I could see a similar argument for Music Sounds Better With You except it did become the blueprint for loads of pop and dance songs after it.

I think CHIME is a now irrelevent, take that canon! Smokebelch II also irrelevent now I agree. Both are good, better than Papua New Guinea but dance has moved beyond "I am spaced out of my mind dude play me heavenly weird noises". Not far beyond but beyond nonetheless.


(as an off-topic, how hard to track down is that Klein and MBO album? slsk maybe?)

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:56 (twenty years ago) link

'Chime' is the same as 'Music Sounds Better With You' -- an uplifting piece of music, period. I've never danced to 'Chime' but I still play it a few times each year.

Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:02 (twenty years ago) link

also, unfinished sympathy isn't even a dance track!!! hahaha!

I agree, I like Chime, but it does fit the thread I think, in the sense that it's no longer relevent to dancefloors. I don't think including something here has to be a diss.

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:04 (twenty years ago) link

'Dance canon' and 'what works on the dancefloor' are two different things, surely? If you do play 'Positive Education' it's a clear nod to the past, and ppl will acknowledge that. (Personally I've always found it incredibly boring.)

Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:14 (twenty years ago) link

Klein and MBO LP came out on Atlantic in the USA, so it's pretty easy to find. The 12" of Dirty Talk with the more popular instrumental mixes came out on 25 West, so both can be found, especially around NYC. Dance Sing, a weird label that did US releases of euro stuff put out a later single I got recently called Keep In Touch, that I love. Another instrumental of Dirty Talk is on the Perfect Beats comp, and the instrumental of Wonderful was bootlegged on the Automan series, the same vol, 4, as La Bionda's Wanna Be Your Lover. But the whole LP is pretty solid, suprising for dance music and italo-disco especially.

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:19 (twenty years ago) link

Over a hundred posts and everyone still loves each other! That's the power of love in the ecstasy generation. I love you all so much *hugs*

colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:27 (twenty years ago) link

Well it's a matter of opinion Enrique, yes what works on the floor isn't exactly the same, but I think what we're discussing here are tracks which only work as a nod to the past. Chime would work on the dancefloor aswell but how much energy has that sound really got left? The thread title does say sacred cows so presumably all these tracks would get massive reactions but I imagine Jacob is suggesting that people in dance are now mining different fields for classics.

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:28 (twenty years ago) link

Colin pass the water! NO NOT DAUGHTER. WHAT? GET OUR COATS.

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:29 (twenty years ago) link

He he, good on you Ronan for being young and appreciating that early Detroit stuff. I cannot tell you how depressing it is when people still feel obliged to assert the superiority of the music they grew up with, not matter what generation they think they belong to. Old fogeys, young fogeys, same diff.

colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:33 (twenty years ago) link

it's funny how I say "still sound great to me" about Kevin Saunderson, still sound great since you heard them TWO YEARS AGO.

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:37 (twenty years ago) link

Strings of Life is getting unnecessary hate -- I've never danced to it, but driving though the English countryside the other evening, it was sublime.

Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:42 (twenty years ago) link

I love it but it's far from my favourite May track.

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:44 (twenty years ago) link

But someone upthread said the no beats version on 'Relics' is great, and it sure is.

colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:49 (twenty years ago) link

The stuff that is now irrelevant to me is the stuff I thought was rub at the time (orb, fsol, coffee-table d&b, filter loop) The stuff I liked in the past, generally I still like now. I think Bomb the Bass' "Beat Dis" is still great, very nearly as good as "Pump up the Volume".

Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 8 December 2003 13:22 (twenty years ago) link

I think it's great too, Pash!! but as Ronan (Man of Oats) said, including something here just implies that its time has gone e.g. would anyone use Beat Dis as a template for their new acetate?

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:27 (twenty years ago) link

'Beat Dis' was a sample collage secondarily and that kind of thing is indeed dated, tho the fairly recent popularity of 'Intro Inspection' and whatnot suggests it may not quite be that irrelevant as such.

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:30 (twenty years ago) link

US house/garage based hits DO seem to have passed us by tho. where's the Kim Syms, Rosie Gaines or Ultra Nates today?

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:31 (twenty years ago) link

the same place they are in this country.

fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:32 (twenty years ago) link

i.e. nowhere.

fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:33 (twenty years ago) link

sometimes i think jungle ruined me for all other dance music.

fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:33 (twenty years ago) link

US house/garage based hits DO seem to have passed us by tho. where's the Kim Syms, Rosie Gaines or Ultra Nates today?

hmmm. the last track i heard that had that good 'ol kym sims vibe was the "maurice's livegig mix" of "bills, bills, bills". i think when r+b gets this storming there's not really any call for that stuff anymore.

vahid (vahid), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:37 (twenty years ago) link

also whither Robyn S? i think diva/soulful house is as unfashionable as FSOL, drum n' bass etc. - but they all had a good innings

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:39 (twenty years ago) link

to be honest when i said saunderson sounds dated,i've only really heard big fun,good life and a few others,but it was those two in particular that i meant...
smokebelch two got played at a rave a while ago and went down really well...

robin (robin), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:56 (twenty years ago) link

well Saunderson was last seen by me dragging out 'Good Life' for that Latiny remix a couple of years back - not a patch on the original and a pretty wasteful effort

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 17:11 (twenty years ago) link

Smokebelch II always sucked. Weakest piano melody ever, and the beats are pretty limp too.

Whereas Saunderson continues to be the most underrated Detroit geezer of all.

bugged out, Monday, 8 December 2003 17:13 (twenty years ago) link

(And probably the one who had the most lasting influence too--UR being the only competition--cos he did the Reese bassline)

bugged out, Monday, 8 December 2003 17:15 (twenty years ago) link

b-b-b-but derrick may invented IDM and juan atkins invented microhouse! and don't forget that juan atkins did "clear"!

vahid (vahid), Monday, 8 December 2003 17:19 (twenty years ago) link

i like Smokebelch II - it's all about the pizz. strings

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 17:20 (twenty years ago) link

I suppose one of the thinks I like about "beat dis" (apart from the sort of clockwork funkiness of it) is the way the samples are never quite in time w/the beat box, so you get this kind of pushing/pulling feel. In that respect, I suppose it is "irrelevant", I mean now you'd just timestretch everything so all the beats line up. Another thing I like about it is the kind of idiot joy of the thing, the way one sample after another lines up, like listen to this! now listen to this!! now listen to THIS!!! etc. It makes me feel happy!!

Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 8 December 2003 17:25 (twenty years ago) link

I really don't think it's fair to blame Derrick May for IDM. Despite what tico tico said about pianos and synth washes, most of his stuff is actually pretty stripped down and rhythmic. (Would be more accurate to blame Carl Craig, if we must blamne someone--he did invent ambient techno after all.) Can't really see the Juan-microhouse connection either, to be honest; I see him more as a bridge from the past than to the future.

bugged out, Monday, 8 December 2003 17:45 (twenty years ago) link

Pashmina otm, well articulated dude

stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 17:51 (twenty years ago) link

> Over a hundred posts and everyone still loves each other!

Personally speaking, I'd like to give a good kicking to some of the philistines who've stuck their heads over the parapet in this thread...

Palomino (Palomino), Monday, 8 December 2003 19:18 (twenty years ago) link

Musical Mobb - Pulse X

Shahid, Monday, 8 December 2003 19:19 (twenty years ago) link

haha have you listened to the bulk of ukg twelves still coming out these days?

fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 December 2003 19:28 (twenty years ago) link

at least 50% are still variations on "pulse x".

fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 December 2003 19:29 (twenty years ago) link


Under Mi Sleng Teng would sound pretty terrible to a young person I think.

Shahid, Monday, 8 December 2003 19:37 (twenty years ago) link

i was actually gonna say "under mi sleng teng" as much as it pains me.

fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 8 December 2003 19:38 (twenty years ago) link

whatever. songs about weed = more popular than ever!!

vahid (vahid), Monday, 8 December 2003 19:52 (twenty years ago) link


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