I might change my user name & BlueSky to “reactionary Blairite on E’
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the concern has always been there. sometimes justified, for instance the great techno reset of 95 when the funkier chicago relief type records started coming through, the really fast trippy stuff had its day.
The slower detroit house in the late 90s and 00s. theo, kdj etc, good antidote to euro bosh and filter house overload.
Some of the ‘chug’ sound, opening up room for more swing, although I still think it could do with getting dubbier and less eurodisco.
the switch of the pirates from jungle to 2step garage after the overload of lumpen womp womp jump up.
But that doesn’t rule out fast electronic music in my opinion, for example the detroit electro stuff of the likes of Stingray etc runs at 150-160 and is often more cerebral than a lot of 128 bpm house and techno. the chicago footwork producers were doing cool things with rhythm at faster tempos. like mid 90s ghetto house deconstructed and reconstructed. and Ugandan Singeli is just nuts.
Whilst it’s easy to make fast music that is obnoxious, it’s equally just as easy to make slower music that is middling and bland.
It’s about how you hear it.
My pal dances at double speed to tunes I hear at half speed.
Regardless of bpm.
He just hears it differently.
I’m a bassline swayer. Slow. He hears different patterns.
There’s no right or wrong.
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The politics of dancing
Maybe I should read it.
Edit: Ordered a copy.
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70s dub is good for calibrating the ear to hear at half speed.
carl cox knew the score 91-93
sadly the dance music press with its anti-black tendancies christened it ‘turbo psycho nosebleed rave fodder’ or some such inanity.
Good to see that’s changed, in no small part due to the likes of Richard Sen etc. Thank God.
But read any mag from that era and the neoliberal desire for the product to match expectation with no surprises, no disorientation, nothing too radical or brash, it’s all there. people always want a nice steady vibe. the aural equivalent of instagram vintage filters, so it’s ironic to see the same type of people lambasting social media djs.
now where’s that Coxy tape?
ah yes. 'ere we go
Sounds like a Sleaford Mods tune
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Dub is the ultimate steady vibe, and I say that as huge fan and buyer of it for over 30 years.
wouldn’t call this the ultimate steady vibe, but horses for courses!
Maybe by steady I mean metronomic or rhythmically unengaged (I don’t think I do, but this sort of term is muddy…)
Although I will never understand the rockist/indie idea of listening to dub versions without the vocal component of reggae, be that songs, or sound system tapes with toasting.
Standalone dub sets on london [pirates have always been extremely rare in my experience. You’ll get rare groove, dancehall and roots sets but rarely any dub sets.
Of course steady vibes in and of themselves are not problematic, and in certain contexts are sublime (proper deep house, ambient techno etc.) But the obsession with it in dance culture is annoying. no, please do not trance out, for once, face your fate!
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I just listen to loads of dub. I don’t overthink it. Lloyd Bradley taught me a lot and going to nights.
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check this for some pretty zealous dub techno https://www.discogs.com/master/96303-Mr-James-Barth-Stealin-Music
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Over the years, as i get older/go out clubbing less and less, I listen to/buy more and more Reggae & Dub. I love the fact that the same record can be chill as fuck and a dance groover depending on the context. Dance music in it’s purest form imo.
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War in a Babylon fits this bill I think. It can be dropped in at peek oompty boomty time and delivers a bassline that will have every bahookie in the room shaking.
Do you think that dub sets are rare on radio ( i agree that they are almost non existent now and were even back in the true london pirate days) because heard through a radio, dub doesn’t get to showcase its true qualities?
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it’s possible. though the 90s pirates did play jungle with a lot of abstraction, but you could make a compelling case that the frenetically double timed breaks were more amenable to radio than the loping, tumbling drums of dub. It’s a discussion I’ve often had with mates. very curious omission. obviously dub was absolutely massive in the london reggae community, but in the dances and with toasting. one deck selector mayhem! no need for mixing!
I’m probably the last person on earth to tell anyone how to spend their money but this seems obscene.
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Old man shouts at cloud rant, but…
The internet is not very usable any more.
A youtube video on how to give CPR has two adverts you have to watch before it shows you how to do a lifesaving act.
I tried to click through to have a sneaky look at an expensive property next to where i used to live and this is the amount of the article i could see through the ads.
Google’s AI overview regularly brings up insane shit like this
Or this…
If you showed someone from 2000 what the internet is like now, they would think your computer was infected with malware…
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Erm! 