a new futurism in dance music?

Philip Sherburne at Frieze explores "a new futurism in dance music"

He starts by looking at the surfeit of retro-activity and recreativity in dance - Aphex's flood of vintage and vintage-sounding electronica, the instrumental grime trend - then identifies "wormholes" that have "begun to open up, leading to points unknown", suggesting - tentatively that there are "signs of a new kind of electronic music, one which couldn’t be confused for that of any other decade"

Evidence - FKA Twigs album LP1, Arca's Xen ("insectoid chatter, banshee wails and viscous keyboard tones"), Lotic and his comrades in the Berlin-based Janus collective....  

"On Lotic’s recent Heterocetera EP (2014), he freezes gunshots in time and space like a digital-era Eadweard Muybridge, while undulating metallic drones scan as the sonic equivalents of Frank Gehry’s non-Euclidean buildings"

.... and also the weirder edge of the PC Music zone: 

" Felicita, a PC Music affiliate whose 2014 EP Frenemies swims in Chipmunked Sprechstimme, seasick slide-whistle melodies and winch-driven clatterbeats, establishing an uneasy truce between nonsense and sensory overload that recalls Ryan Trecartin’s soundtracks at their most nightmarishly psychedelic"

Phil concedes that these moves are not "entirely without precedent. Arca’s Xen carries within it textural and rhythmic echoes of Harold Budd, digital dancehall and Purple Rain-era Prince. Lotic’s music interpolates the gelatinous riff at the heart of Masters at Work’s ‘The Ha Dance’ (1991), a ballroom staple, with the melancholy pings of mid-1990s Autechre and Black Dog Productions."

Yet "even when certain elements of the music have clearly traceable lineages, nothing about the final product sounds quite like anything that has come before.....   At their most extreme, they can convey, at least upon initial listens, the same sort of brain-rearranging rush that accompanied a first encounter with jungle or grime....  As beats come undone from conventional timekeeping and notes twist in the artificial winds, the brain struggles to catch up; you can practically feel new paths being blazed through your cortex, new neural networks congealing around unfamiliar tropes."

Sherburne points to a key rogue factor behind the weirdness:  queer theory,  trans sensibility, a sense of the body as "malleable, grotesquely beautiful and fundamentally post-natural".

Cross reference perhaps with works like Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity by (the late)

José Esteban Muñoz, who wrote that "queerness is that thing that lets us feel that this world is not enough, that indeed something is missing”.... 

or Judith Halberstam's work on queer temporality (In a Queer Time and Place) which explores the idea that "queer temporality destabilizes linear time and challenges the prescribed heterosexual narrative" (which arguably underpins ideas of progress, growth, (re)production, moving-forward, etc, and identifies retro-campy decadence with "sterility" and immaturity) 

or Elizabeth Freeman's "temporal drag" and "queer asynchronies" in Time Binds 

earlier thoughts of mine on Arca and Phil's first broaching of the "something new's happening" idea when reviewing Xen for Pitchfork

sample spotting saddo #294943884747477

!!!!!!!!!!



bit shocked Dilla nicked, like, the whole song from 10cc, pretty much

Sky Joose / SkyKap

and that's only a portion of the total Sky Joose tune output, plus I haven't included alter-egos Frontline Syndikate or Skynet

then an identity tweak with the transition to UKG














and then this incredible darkstep tune



can't find its equally ace flip "show you" though



aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand

that's they call it

a

continuum

FOLKS!


big up your chest Amos Hugh Bellot

burial records

(via this 75 Greatest Tunnel Bangers List at Complex, as flagged up by Corpsey at Dissensus)

we will control all that you see and hear (bad boy tune)

known and loved that track (without knowing the artist or the track title) from this Don FM session, which i must have listened to 300 times



but never heard these other On Remand tunes










or this remix of "Controllin'"

And the other artist on Crack House Productions







 did Crack House Productions become Underworld Vinyl?

why did Vertigo start mispelling their name  on their second and final release?





Mysteries for the ages

"e suona ruvido..." - Osiris - Hooligan Rufftapez Vol. I

THREAT #1:: Osiris - Hooligan Rufftapez Vol. I (side B) by Paynomindtous on Mixcloud

TRACKLIST::
The Return Of The Donut - Cloud Nine (1992)

Dub War (Chapter One) - Dance Conspiracy (1992)

Surgery (Ordinary Mix) - Dj Doc Scott (1991)

Euphony (Just For U London) - Bodysnatch (1992)

Hardcore Helmet - Cosmic Brian (1992)

Knowledge - Metalheads (1992)

Close Your Eyes (Optikonfusion!) - Acen (1992)

Every Body E - 3 Rude Bwoy (1992)

Rave On The Nile - The Bab'e'lon Crew (1992)

Ware Mouse - 2 Bad Mice (1991)

Atheama - Nebula II (1991)

Sunday Raver - Son Of God (1992) (?)

Breakage 4 (I Bring You The Future) - Noise Factory (1992)

So Tight - The Man With No Name (1993)

Lord Of Null Lines (Foul Play Remix) - Hyper On Experience (1994)

Bells Of Dawn (Jumping Jack Frost Remix) - Ratty (1994)

A Touch of Darkness - DJ Lee (1993)

The Execution - Gwange & Spinback (1994)

Bastards - Blackman (1994)

Darkrider - Rufige Cru (1992)

Black Rose - Hokusai (1996)

Dred Bass (Original Mix) - Dead Dred (1994)

Clint - Area 39 (1994)
Other Side Of Town - Elementz Of Noize (1996)

Ruffest Gun Ark (DJ Rap Mix) - Top Cat (1995)

Greetings Jungle - Half Pint (1994)

Phat & Phuturistic (Part. 2) - 
Little Matt (1994)

Complete Control - Cool Hand Flex (1993)

High Tech - Dj DD Hass & Extensive (1992)

Johnny (Original '92 Mix) - Johnny Jungle (1995)

A1 - Suburbia (1993)

High Tek Dreams - Ed Rush & Optical (1997)

Wanton Conduct - Source Direct (1999)

Chill Out - DJ Fokus (1993)


Dubplate Culture (Original Mix) - Soundscape (1997)

We launch the Mixcloud channel through the 'THREATS' series. THREAT #1 is a powerful 40-minutes-long mix by Osiris, called Hooligan Rufftapez Vol. I (side B). Here you can find the lastest stuff the young dj from Milan put out. Osiris did welcome our proposal to mix up different old-school hardcore / rave tracks so good that the output to that is a vorticose and loose selection of music. Actually, that's 'ardkore music we're talking about (see the name: Hooligan Rufftapez). Below you will find the tracklist. Everything has been tracked down and hyperlinked to the matching discogs release, together with the release date. Talking about personal infos about him, it's possible to find some checking at his FB page.

The podcast opens with an immediate siren-like sound (mainly videogame-derived, not the typical airhorn hip-hop). It's the big gathering. Won't take long till the Hoover sound comes up. Since here, the mix does an unstoppable recap about hardcore music, both considering the history - he's been using tracks from '91-'92 in the first minutes, than we went back to '97-'99 through the end of the mix - and the mood of those years. We really feel we're in a rave. We're living back in that early-days bubblegum-rave reality, before the black-genre diaspora, before junglism, before 'intelligent' productions. A hedonistic and unawarely-happy world in which music is free from any kind of labeling, far away from some rave-hits hitting the chart. Here rule mermaid-like feminine voices, terrorizing breakbeats, frequent LFO / 808 State and hip-hop / ragga tributes paid through sampling. Here it's possible to live in a total human and cultural mix-up, wearing dazzling and baggy pants, taking some Eeeees... And your face still smiling.

As the times goes by the choosen tracks are from a later period which could eventually be as labelled jungle, as the breaks go faster and mental-er. At the end, the mix is some of an intense look at the UK Dubplate Culture, which used to be a completely de-individualized culture, free of barriers. In other words, that's one of the most hardcore (both in the punk and in the dancefloor sense) and most exciting culture / music ever revealed to happen in the Industrialized world. We wish to thank Filippo for being so kind and enthusiastic in mixing this podcast for us. Please enjoy it. Support Osiris.  

"You’re not that crazy lad you were before. Sad to admit, but so it is. You’ll never experience those sensation, those emotions again. You sink your hands in the cardbox full of stuff and every single item carries the most beautiful memories. The best days of your life. The freest, you never had worries nor responsabilities. Flyers, tees, porsters, invitations, membership cards, records (so many records!) and tapes. You went mad for tapes. Best thing ever were those Saturdays in which you and your posse used to lock yourself at your place, smoking and spinnin’ records. In those afternoons, it ofted happened that you recorded the session, ready to become the soundtrack for those long car trips to the parties. You find yourself looking at this tape and you’re immediatly teleported twenty years in the past: mid-nineties, T.P.’s banged up Eclipse and never ending late summer night. You remeber it all: four of you on that car, cops had blocked every road to the location and you with your pockets full of stuff decided to avoid police checkpoints by taking secondary roads in the countryside. That night you didn’t see the massive stages nor the huge crowd dancing, but the most stunning dawn ever. In the fields, you crazy guys raving on the grass at the sound of this tape, celebrating life in the name of a carelessnes you never had again in the next years." words by Filippo (Osiris) 

Somali dancemix / "Ethiopian Girl"

this mix - one side of a tape put out by Cayk Recordings and purchasable here - is fairly variable stuff, as is so often the case with African cassette archaeology.... but moments of magic fade in and out through the golden fog of analogue-decayed-with-age that make it worth sticking with it

one of the more magical bits is the tune near the end,  Dur-Dur Band's "Ethiopian Girl"

which despite the title is some sort of a cover / rewrite of Londonbeat's 1990 smash "Thinking About You" (#2 UK; #1 Billboard)



now a dude on YouTube says "Ethiopian Girl" is the original



sole commenter says, 'nah, mate', though

???

more Dur Dur Band



this is that 80s Ethiopia / Somali stuff Ariel P is into (and did a naughty with), right? Deng-era slickfunk.

anti dance stance

"Effeminate, lascivious, amorous dancing, (especially with beautiful women, or boys most exquisitely adorned in an infecting womanish dress on the open stage, where are swarms of lustful spectators, whose unchaste unruly lusts are apt to be enflamed with every wanton gesture, smile, or pace, much more with amorous dances) is utterly unlawful unto Christians, to chaste and sober persons; as sundry Councils, Fathers, modern Christians, with ancient Pagan authors and nations, have resolved.

"Amorous, mixed, effeminate, lascivious, lust-exciting dancing, be it of men, or women, on the stage or elsewhere [is] a dangerous incendiary of lust; an ordinary occasion of, a preparative to much whoredom, adultery, wantonness, and such effeminate lewdness: a diabolical, at least a Pagan practice, misbeseeming all chaste, all sober Christians, especially in their Christian festivals and solemnities; I would our English nation would now at last consider: who for their part spend the Christmas season, with other solemn festivals, in amorous, mixed, voluptuous, unchristian, that I say not, Pagan dancing, to God's to Christ's dishonor, religion's scandal, chastity's shipwreck, sin's advantage, and the eternal ruin of many precious souls.

"I would the dancing, wanton (that I say not whorish) Herodiasses, the effeminate, sinqua-pace, Caranto-frisking  gallants of our age, together with our rustic, hobbling satyrs, nymphs, and dancing fairies, who spend their strength, their time (especially, the Easter, Whitsun, Midsummer, and Christmas season) in such lewd, lascivious dancing, would  not only abandon all such dancing themselves, but likewise withdraw their children, especially their daughters, from the dancing-school.

"Witness their [the Pagans]  dancing priests, who on the solemn festival days of Cybele, Bacchus, Mars, and other pagan deities, danced about the streets and market place with cymbals in their hands, in nature of our Morris-dances (which were derived from them) the whole multitude accompanying these their dancing Morrises, with which they honored these their dancing-idols. Yea, witness the common practice of most idolatrous pagans, who never honored, saluted, or offered any public sacrifices to their idols but with music, songs, and dances; dancing about their temples and altars, to their honor;  from which practice our dancing at Wakes (a name, an abuse, derived from the ancient vigils) or church-ales have been originally derived.

Dancing, write they [a host of classical and Christian authorities], yea even in Queens themselves, and the very greatest persons, who are commonly most devoted to it, hath been always scandalous and or ill report, among the Saints of God; as the Councils, Fathers, and authors plentifully evidence, who have condemned dancing as a pomp, a vanity of this wicked world; an invention, yea a work of Satan which Christians have renounced in their Baptism, a recreation more fit for pagans, whores, and drunkards, then for Christians."

- William Prynne, from Histrio-Mastix, 1632

Ipswich rave

Retrohandz? "Jungle terror"?

Jungle Terror explained by The Zeusian

"The genre that I’m referring to is created by a Netherlands DJ and producer named Wiwek. His productions get played around the world at all the festivals such as EDC, Ultra, Tomorrowland and HARD to name a few. The genre is called Jungle Terror. It combines Dutch House synths, steel drums, Tropical Bass kicks, jungle noises, monkeys, elephants, birds and any exotic animal sounds in a track."

Moombahton meets Johnny Morris!

Some examples according to the Z-man:











And another from Retrohandz




Those are all quite old - this one is bit more recent



Sounds like a more frenetic, tribally version of trap.

You hear quite a few tunes in this "Turn Down For What" vein bunged in the mix shows on the rap station Power FM  here in LA - usually the weekend mix show, vibing people to get ready to go out presumably. 

This one reaches gabba levels of flail and blather

retro rave flyers

via DJ Mag, some flyers made for Shane Meadows's final series of This Is England, set in baggy-trippy 1990

If I didn't already know they were ersatz, repro-antique jobs, and just saw them, would I think they were the real thing?

Impossible to say, of course.

But I think they all look not-quite-right, the only one that gets close enough to seem like a period artifact is this one:



and perhaps the first one





Similar not-quite-got-it with the actual series, judging by the trailer - clearly trying really hard to get the actual naffness of acid fashion, but just somehow 25 years of style and grooming advances creep in and make things a little bit slicker and cleaner than they would have been back in the real-deal day





What i find most disconcerting about old rave footage is the dancing... how unwieldy and basic most of it looks, from the outside -  from the inside, on E, you feel incredibly fluid and loose, the dancer you always wished to be - but it doesn't necessarily look that to bystanders