Is original dance music dead?

[EdRyan]

Right. As a fan of electronic and dance music. I'm pretty sad with the state of affairs at the moment... Over the last few years, there has steadily been a stream of replayed/sampled tracks that are normally absolute rubbish imo. It's been getting worse. I can think of dozens of examples without really having to dig too far back

Freemasons - Uninvited
Peter Gelerbrom - Waiting 4
Seamus Haji - Last Night a Dj saved my life, Weekend, Nothing But A Heartache
T-Empo - Saturday Night, Sunday Morning
Shapeshifters - Chime
Gusto/Steve Mac - Disco's Revenge/Another Love (dubious I know. It's not like Gusto was original first time round)
Micky Slim - Jump Around
Utah Saints - Something Good

The list of rehases is almost endless. Some are ok, but for the most part they have been terrible attempts to cash in.

There are some good and credible acts left. I still respect people like Daft Punk, Groove Armada, Basement Jaxx, Plump Dj's. 'Recently' people like Digitalism, Justice, Simian Disco, Roisin Murphy's solo stuff etc. But they don't seem to crossover. So all people here is the recycled party tracks or the older,established acts.

It has really irked me as a Dj, that all I ever seem to get asked for is instead poor mixes of tired and tested 'classic' records. I really do think that genuine, electronic music is dying out. Labels need to stop the dross to make a quick buck, and instead look for music that can inspire and create longevity like other styles seem to have.

[Meander]

Not trying to be patronising but maybe you are not looking outside your genre enough. Love it or hate it Dubstep is coming up with extremely innovative stuff. Give it a chance and you'll fall for it, I know I did!

The trouble is that the 4/4 scene has been swallowed by the majors and corporate clubs. Ministry of Sound used to be a place to go to hear cool new sounds, now it is reactive as opposed to proactive, thats why you hear cliche'd stuff from them, the money, for them, is in the mass market.

[EdRyan]

Thanks for the reply. Dubstep isn't something that I've ever looked at. I like some D&B, but again because it's not my thing...I don't go hunting for the latest and greatest scene breakers. So i;m limited to people like Pendulum, LTK Bukem, Shy Fx, , J Majik, Pendulum (new album i'm not keen on), Roni Size etc..

If you can recommend some not too heavy dubstep, I'd go seek it out for a listen.

Ministry sums up what is often wrong with the scene. I'll agree, in the very beginning they did a lot to bring things forward. But these days, they are so busy putting their name to poor electrical/Dj goods that they seem to care very little about the quality of their music and compilations. They normally do an annual, a guide and an ibiza disc..they look after cream as well now. Basically the albums are around 70% idenitical and full of their expected or previous hits. It's a lazy and cheap way of doing things. They've managed to take Hed Kandi down the same way. Hed Kandi's rep used to be massive but well targeted. Nowadays they are considered a b label to MOS/Data...
They lost it years ago. I remember getting upto 7 promo 12"'s of one release, all with a selection of different mixes on. Like everyone else they've had to tuck their belt in... but to me that seems like a ludicrous amount of effort and money spent supporting one single....

There is still good music out there, but not consistently and of any particular consistency from anyone. When Defected first started, I knew I could pick up every release and know it was a track I'd play (or actually, because they used to buy everything in from elsewhere and get new mixes..I'd probably been hammering it in import for a couple of months!). Nowadays that's not the case. They are still one of the better labels, but they have some bad releases. Namely anything in the last 3 years from Bob Sincllar.... Feeeeelll the love generation... god that's a terrible track compared to I Feel For You...

[Meander]

I used to be into house etc myself and Defected was a great label, its a shame to hear they have gone to the dogs. I found the same as you, that as the more accessible compilations from the likes of Cream and Ministry came out, which promo'd more of the commercial side than what a DJ would put in his set at the time, the clubbers themselves changed to the more chart hungry crowds.

That and as you said, its too easy just to make a house remix of something and bang it out in the clubs, its a marketing tool for the likes of Rhianna.

No problem BTW, if you've never heard it, you have to listen to "Ghost Hardware" by Burial YouTube - Burial - Ghost Hardware

Its an instant classic, and I'm sure you'd appreciate it. Apart from that, try Skream (Skreamizm Vol. 2 is amazing) Digital Mystiks(anti war dub, bury the bwoy, hunter), Coki, Benga, Mala, Hatcha.

Thats the great thing about dubstep at the moment too, you mentioned Defected and how you could just pick up anything they released and trust it. I now do that with DMZ, Tempa, Tectonic and a host of other labels, which TBH is something that I haven't been able to say in recent past. Hope you like the stuff.

Sorry if I'm banging on about it but the great thing about dubstep is even though some of it sounds slow due to the half time rhythm, its actually usually around 140 bpm so can be mixed with alot of other styles (I've played a techno/dubstep set and people loved it)


EDIT:
Also try the Mary Anne Hobbs show on Radio 1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/maryannehobbs/

[EdRyan]

Defected is still generally a good label, but not as consistent as it used to be. I think the last track I got from them, that I really enjoyed was Jason Hates Jazz - Prey For Love. Since then, they've been ok but it's been nothing to write home about. They've also got hold of the rights for the Strictly name and back catalogue, and have been busy boshing that up on download sites. Along with the odd remix of the older stuff. That said, some of the new tracks have been pretty good.. I've been most happy with the Mood II Swing stuff.

The thing about people like Rhianna is that they need commercial exposure. That's why they get the mixes done...to get support from Dj's who buy into certain producers.. at the moment like Freemasons, Wideboys, Moto Blanco, Soulseekers, Axwell. There have been some wicked mixes over the years... namely Ben Watts of 'Heard It All Before', Liquid People of 'Without You' and the benchmark of Mood II Swing on 'Don'T Mess With My Man'.. are my 3 favourite 'dance' mixes of RnB tracks.

But when it comes to credible, new electronic acts (house,Db/dubs etc) I still think we're lacking anyone that has the potential to buck the trend of commercial nonsense.

I'll go find those tracks. Cheers !

[kedo]

I think it's a sign of the times that labels like the one's mentioned above, do all struggle to license and compile the bigger tracks, they have to sell units (to survive) and mass market oriented products by definition of their content, sell.

Defected do deserve props though, for every mainstream album that the label releases, they probably simultaneously issue 3 or 4 'artist' (original or mix) albums that truly represent the underground and reflect the integrity of the label and the artist. Fair play I say to Simon Dunmore (the label's head A&R) for maintaining this philosophy..

As for actually 'finding' new original dance music.. it is out there, but for sure it's getting more difficult to find with the masses of daily digital releases

[EdRyan]

I actually used to speak to Simon quite a lot, as I was friends with his cousin and we used to book through their artist management as well. I got sent the odd bit and would ring him to say thanks. Even when I said I didn't like it, he seemed to be ok because I was being honest and constructive about it. He'd normally laugh at me because I'd tell him to sign more records like Soulsearcher,Lenny Fontana etc. He said he was still looking lol. He's a sound bloke. He knows what he wants to do and I'd say he's doing it pretty well.

Yeah. We've all just gotta keep looking