Dance music! With Guitars!!!

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

So bloody everything is "rock and dance" fused perfectly nowadays. Or lots of stuff is reviewed like that, but isn't it just a kind of elusive dream? There have been few songs that have satisfied both genres in my opinion, the only one I can think of off-hand is "Shoot Speed Kill Light" by Primal Scream.

However I also think The Contino Sessions by Death in Vegas is worth looking at here, because it primarily relied on a dance formula but used guitars for most of it.

Er is there ever a happy medium? And is Shoot Speed Kill Light the best song ever or what?

― Ronan, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I wish I hadnt said nowadays.

― Ronan, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

er I suppose I'm operating on a particular assumption of what is and isn't dance or electronic which may need to be discussed also. and I'm sure there are albums I haven't heard which might be good examples too.

― Ronan, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I remember being cautiously positive about the approach taken on The Contino Sessions but more and more it seems like a casualty of this fusion idea - instead of a rock band adding dance element but crucially missing the point of dance music, Death In Vegas sounded like a dance act going all rock and crucially missing the point of rock - for all its displays of aggression the album sounds really prissy and clinical (of course its inexplicable use as background music where I work has helped my ardour cool much faster than it might have otherwise).

Two recent songs which are quite obvious in their attempts to fuse house with lotsa guitars: The Chemical Brothers' "Star Guitar" and Infusion's "Legacy". The former more energetic, the latter more songful, but I like 'em both. Neither of them are a "perfect fusion", but such a thing seems pretty impossible to me.

― Tim, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I suppose I could mention "Soon" again... ;-) However, I like Tim's point in that -- what now, as opposed to then, is trying for that the best? Can it even try for it at all? Are all 'rock goes dance' attempts doomed to be sneered at for being years behind the times in terms of sonic approach? Are all 'dance goes rock' attempts similarly bound to apparent cliches?

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

For some reason I keep thinking of the annoying trend of rock bands to just stick in strings leaving them sounding tacked on and stupid. And I think it's the same with this rock dance thing. Er, the reason MBV and IMO Primal Scream succeed is based on a more general eclecticism in their sound. er it sounds silly, but you get the feeling that MBV could try anything and pull it off, same goes for Primal Scream, of course the common link is Mr Shields.

Er I suppose I'm more talking about what makes good bands good rather than the issue at hand.

― Ronan, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

er Spiritualized for example used to be praised for the strings being intrinsic to the music. but with strings its probably a more difficult thing to do, I would have thought it would be easier for rock and dance to come together, but seemingly not.

― Ronan, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

i find laika's 'silver apples of the moon' danceable, but then the samplers are as prominent as the guitars so perhaps this disqualifies it.

― keith, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

i got into soul and dance to *escape* guitars. i certainly don't want people bringing them back in

― michael, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

you got into soul to escape guitars?

― ethan, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

well, and because i liked it, obviously. but the guitar in soul and reggae tends[*] to be a 'clean' sound (i.e. non distorted), and used lightly as part of the rhythm section, or in doowop with delicate arpegiated lines. Indie/rock guitars tend to be noisily strummed chords, which is normally what these rock/dance crossovers are using.

[* Sly, George Clinton etc can fuck right off, noisy bastards]

― michael, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Well there's your problem. You don't appreciate the *volume.* ;-) Besides which, the downside of 'clean' funk guitars is that they inevitably remind me the slow slide down towards Level 42.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

i do appreciate volume. but i want the drums and bass to be loud. and funk guitars do definately *not* remind me of Level 42.

― michael, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

You're a fortunate man. (Please note I'm talking about a certain kind of sound which you perhaps unintentionally made me think of. ;-))

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

To get back to Ronan's question re Primal Scream and MBV, my theory is that both bands (at least PM on "Screamadelica" as I don't have "XTRM-whatever") were benefited by attempting to emulate the feel of dance music as much as the specific sonic material. On "Screamadelica" Bobby swoons as much as a house diva, and the tracks are generally closer to ecstasy- plateaus than songs-proper. And Ned mentions "Soon", but even elsewhere on "Loveless" the tracks are so drifty-blissful that they sort of resemble grooveless house-music, which is what makes "Soon" work so naturally and easily (although I maintain that that track is not nearly as danceable as it *sounds* like it should be). This sort of thing is a fine balance though, which is why Seefeel are also included but Slowdive aren't - though I haven't heard "Pygmalion" which is apparently the closest they get to dance music.

― Tim, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

HOW COME NO-ONE'S MENTIONED PAR-T-ONE'S GENIUS "I'M SO CRAZY" YET?!?

― Mind Taker, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

the shoegaze sway is the only dance that can be done to 'pygmalion'.

― keith, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

"I'm So Crazy" is a lot of fun, but isn't it just the same as Armand Van Helden's "Little Black Spiders" and Basement Jaxx's "Where's Your Head At" only, um, not made by a famous house artist?

― Tim, Sunday, 6 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

--------

And is Shoot Speed Kill Light the best song ever or what?

--------

Yeah.

The thing I always wonder about is: why doesn't anyone use guitar samples the way the Young Gods do? Surely there is a lot of room left to use those swirling/snake-like samples?

― Omar, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

(level 42 = pinnacle of soul)

slide "down" indeed...

― mark s, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

um what about new order and a certain ratio?

― mickey, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

'Little Black Spiders' has always to my ears sounded half-arsed (like most of 'Killing Puritans', actually); 'Where's Your Head At' wore off after about ten or so listens, and is probably the weakest track on 'Rooty'. Tho I know many will disagree...

Anyway, 'I'm So Crazy': it's supposed to be some sort of an INXS mash- up, right? Dunno, sounds more like Sham 69 or something, Oi! house.

― Mind Taker, Monday, 7 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Yes, Oi!-house it certainly is. Sort of like the chorus of "Where's Your Head At" looped.

(half-arsedness of Killing Puritans partly redeemed, methinks, by the shattering brilliance of the last track "Conscience".)

― Tim, Tuesday, 8 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.