When dance music goes bad

[boyofbadgers]

I've spent a fair chunk of this morning reading this ILM thread about new-not-quite-dance people, MSTRKRFT. Leaving aside the worrying PRML SCRMesque splng, the thread is probably not worth reading in full. It's mostly the same old indie-dance vs dance-purist arguments rehashed around a new band

Comments

[chezghost]

"it's dance music for people who don't actually like dancing"

this is a big straw man that's getting dished out all too easily now i think. but i interpret it as really meaning 'dance music for people who don't like soul and i do pretty much mean that in the cliched 'black' sense which is a thorny issue i know but still lingers when it comes to understanding why things are how they are. from one straw man to another i suppose!

anyway i personally found Big Beat and Techstep very enjoyable and easy to dance to. With the latter it was a case of immersing yourself and locking into the pattern of breakdowns, hooks and sheer density of it ala Techno and the rave connection. With the former it was the freer, funkier vibe of it all, being slower and so interchangeable with Funk-based music from any period (esp. given that that's where the beats usually came from). If you never got much chance to dance to older Hip-Hop then you might not see the appeal, because Hip-Hop beats today are usually quite a different beast from what they used to be and a lot tighter and sparser by and large.

the Breaks thing is weird because all the ingredients are there and if you like Electro it should make sense. often it totally did but i remember going to Fabric for the first time and being bored rigid by Layo & Bushwacka in the end. Prob. a bit unfair tho as this was more likely down to it being 3am and me being knackered on that basis. I certainly liked a bunch of Breaksy stuff between '99 and '03.

Re: meaning of life

[boyofbadgers]

Fair enough on the straw man, which is why I qualified it in the next sentence.

The older hip-hop thing is something I hadn't thought of before, but it definitely applies in my case.

[boyofbadgers]

The soul thing is a seductive interpretation but not quite right. There is SOMETHING going on there tho, which Ronan touched on a bit:

it really gets on my tits when people are like "oh that moody depressing minimal stuff", it's that thing where people call music which makes you actually think or use your brain or have a feeling "depressing" when it is neither happy nor sad, it's more complex than that, and that is the point of good house and techno.

[atommickbrane]

Are you saying that it is Intelligent Dance Music? :)

House IS a feeling

[boyofbadgers]

Hahaha. No, quite the opposite, it's about the FEELING. Plus I don't rly agree with the exact words Ronan wrote, but he is reaching for something very important which I think is underappreciated/underanalysed.

[chezghost]

perhaps "dance music for people who are RUBBISH at dancing" is the correct answer.

i wonder if Ronan there was referring to my declaration of Fairmont's 'Gazebo' as really bleak sounding, which i thought was dangerous for what is a more 'abstract' dance track - instrumental, minimal yet intricate. i'm not saying someone else couldn't have heard it and thought it was joyous, but i do find that very odd myself. as it turns out the little argument about the track made me think about it and appreciate it a lot more.

i would dance to it but i wouldn't consider it any more fun than dancing to Justice!

The right attitude to have

[katstevens]

Ppl who are RUBBISH at dancing who will still dance to things! Even if they are sober! I applaud this. Even if it is a bit weird to watch.

Re: The right attitude to have

[chezghost]

yes it is the way fwd