Thursday, January 1, 2015

some thoughtful comments in the comment section to Dom's deeptech piece, in amidst usual and expected chaff on the lines of "it's just house music innit", "this kind of subgenre nitpicking is wot turned me off dance big time", "this is nothing new", "the dancing's nothing new either" etc etc

one particular exchange worth pulling out, a naysayer who at least puts the effort in to do a humorous spoof frame for the naysaying, and then a nice rejoinder:

Whisky101:
OK class...quiet please..
I SAID QUIEETT...JONES take your finger out and face the front.
Right open your text books on page 37..and we'll begin with classifications of contemporary dance music using the Synth scale on page 22..
Now then can anyone tell me the classification for the TR-808.....anyone..
Good answer Taylor...could be 80's SLOWSOUL or late 80's HOUSEMUSIC....any names..
Bradley...any names.....good effort there Bradley..Loose Ends and ...and...and...anyone....Steve Hurley...good effort...
Now individual instrumentation ...let's jump forward a decade and BENSON...yes you sir....
...don't know sir....no surprises there then.....Kennerton..any offers....
Good effort young man....but no....that was a 909 and we'll come back to that next week...Hendley..what..speak up...no that was much earlier Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing but a ...HEY STOP GIGGLING AT THE BACK...YOU SOUND LIKE A 303 WITH THE BATTERIES DYING........
This is why I totally and utterly refuse to get drawn into conversations about style and genre's.
Dance music has always been driven by the available technology and because of the fact that now the technology is more readily available is also means that there is a lot more shit out there and the quality of the DJ's out there has dropped dramatically.
Where are the ground-breakers and pioneers...the Brandon Blocks, the Sasha's , the Levan's and the Hardy's.
With the technology at their disposal you'd think they'd be attempting to stand out from the crowd not limit themselves with labels like "Dub-Tech" or whatever the hell is the latest software is allowing them to produce.

to which Jaymos replies: 

  • 01
    That is a rather lengthy post for someone who totally and utterly refuses to get drawn into conversations about style and genre.
    Technology does not drive electronic music, it simply makes it possible. Musical preferences, lifestyle and their own understanding of the technology all shape the sounds people make.
    Jungle first emerged as very sample driven, with many tracks featuring rare groove and reggae samples. This was not dictated by technology. Grime was the product of mostly poor, often angry, young urban teenagers, who had a preference for Hip Hop, Dancehall and other MC driven music. Again, made possible by available technology not driven by it.
    When it comes to house music I just can't see how anyone with any knowledge or real feeling for it could hear all the different sounds, coming from every corner of the planet and then declare that all of that is driven by the available technology.

Think that's rather a good point about how the tech state-of-art is only one determinative element in the make-up of a sound  -- there is also social energy and elective tribalism - and drugs, and .... a bunch of other factors.

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