Belleville One defines hardcore - in this Rapido special report on UK teknorave - as the absenting of funk and soul - "the less funky the better"
While also expressing anxieties about this tendency:
"I hope it's reached its limits now - if it goes any further it might as well be rock and roll" - Kevin Saunderson
Still, KS was shrewd enough - mersh-cenary enough - to go along it, while the going and the getting was good
Paring back the funk and the soul
Even slingin' a break underneath a Mentasm lick
What did Juan & Derrick have to say about these tunes, I wonder?
Let alone Eddie "True People" Flashin' Fowlkes
I mean, they are great tunes but they are utterly generic - wholly submerged in the Belgium-meets-Essex sound of that season
The auteur signature completely dissolves, as far as I can hear
Getting Grooverider in to remix 'Up Tempo'
The original 'Straight Outta Hell' feels a bit more distinctive - more psychedelically disoriented
But here's a thumping jungle remix
And here's another thumping jungle remix
Crikey, this is some cover
Bonus Britcore flashbacks
3 comments:
Fascinating post.
Simon, have you listened to any Brazil Funk coming out lately? Especially the stuff on the YouTube channel 24por48. A lot of it is incredibly avant garde and futuristic sounding. A lot of the skittish bass heavy beats sound almost grime like but without ever being connected with grime. Here’s an example of some of the stuff:
https://youtu.be/XPjVBOoIoms?si=8thZRph5X2qlP5J2
I have heard some of the new skool stuff. Tend to find the unrelenting jabber of the voices a bit wearing. Like no gaps at all - one voice drops out and another one comes in immediately.
It is certainly pushing that pain-pleasure threshold thing to an avant-leaning pitch. "The phuture will be harsh and banging" - very like gabber or early grime when it seemed to be not-quite-music.
But I shall delve into 24por48
May used to go on in racially couched terms about how he atkins and sanderson not needing pills to feel the funk, in criticising the rave scene.
I get how they might look down on looping breaks as beneath what they were trying to do with drum machines and synths but Saunderson was very much mistaken about the lack of funk in hardcore.
Surprised in retrospect that may didn't embrace hardcore seeing as they're were more women to "charm" in the hardcore scene than the techno scene.
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