"no one can put us down 'cuz we keep it underground" 8)



so yes, I'm not worried about dance dying because, well... I mean, obviously if there are so many of us on here worried about that, then there must be lots of others like us and enough of a collective thought about this to keep it alive, whether it has to go further underground or what. Heck, there are even people here who make music, good music, so if no one else, we are the future of dance music, and we'll always have that passion and when the mainstream forgets all about good music then eventually, down the road, we'll wake them up and remind them! Until then, we still have our classic dance records and until the government writes and enforces a strict ban on good music (!) and a genocide of people like us X-D then the soul of dance music will never die! We don't need the awards or the radio or even the clubs!



If I can listen to a single track (i.e. EBW6) while out on the street and barely be able to keep from breaking out in joyous celebration in the middle of the business district of Hong Kong, then certainly dance music will never die.

Caroline Sullivan Escribi�:

The Brit award for Best Dance Act, introduced in 1994, will be dropped from next year's ceremony, because, say the organisers, "Dance music has lost its impetus and one has to fine-tune the awards to keep apace of public taste." Next up, presumably, will be a rash of indignant graffiti scrawled by glowstick-waving ravers, using a slogan adapted from the twilight days of punk: "Dance ain't dead!" But it rather appears that it is, to judge by the performance of the new album by one of dance's certified superstars, Norman Cook.

Four years in the making, Palookaville peaked at 14, and slipped out of the Top 75 three weeks later. This despite the fact that Cook had attempted to move on from his 1990s big-beat sound, even boasting that Palookaville features "real instruments". Meanwhile, the Chemical Brothers, who turned geek into chic during the golden 90s, are tentatively wondering whether their January 2005 album Push the Button can "revitalise" dance music. This from a group who were once so influential that they convinced live audiences that it was mind-blowing to watch two pallid men labour over computers for an hour.

Pallid men??? Labouring over computers??? Caroline Sullivan suuuuuucks.

Nicely done, you brought up some interesting points here that I agree with for the most part.

Alchemist Escribi�:

Wow, is that Caroline Sullivan article bitchy or what?

Either menopausal, or it's just that time of month!

Alchemist Escribi�:

She doesn't seem to be a big Chems fan either.

She's allowed to have her opinions about the band, if she wants to be critically constructive about their live shows that's fine - it's too bad that her bitter commentary overshadowed the intent of the article: What's up with dance music, why does it seem to be losing ground, etc?

Alchemist Escribi�:

"This from a group who were once so influential that they convinced live audiences that it was mind-blowing to watch two pallid men labour over computers for an hour."



Unfortunately it does seem that the golden age of 'electronica' is long gone. I, like most of you guys, was the kid of this electronica period in which i discovered Chems - '96-'98. Back then this genre of music was something fresh and exciting. There were so many good 'electronica' bands besides The Chemical Brothers, like- Prodigy, Crystal Method, Fat Boy Slim, Air, Underworld, Daft Punk, Orbital, Death in Vegas, Faithless, Propeller Heads, etc.

The golden age didn't strike us here in the states until 1997, then it exploded. But there was a steady rise from about 1991 on til that point. It came in various forms from house to industrial. There were stalls from 1991 to 1997 to consider - I remember when grunge music came about and it kind of squashed the growing dance music/culture that surrounded it. Grunge was also a backlash of bad 80's hair bands. So in 1997 we had Prodigy, the Chems, Crystal Method, Fatboy and all this stuff exploded in a big way and electronic music had truly arrived above ground. You started hearing it on American radio, and putting it alongside your typical rock-of-the-moment, electronic music was totally different and fresh. It was a very good year, and it went up strong til about 3 years ago then started to peeter out. Electronic music, though good stuff is still coming out of it, seemed to lose mass interest. America is a very hard place to break, a hard place to conquer in terms of music. Our memories are short and we're spoonfed a lot of bullshit and we're told what to listen to.

Alchemist Escribi�:

Today most of these bands still exist ,but thier new releases are so uninteresting that they get barely any airplay even on the alternative radio stations.

I mean the debut album 'Moon Safari' by Air is considred one of the best albums of the '90s and is also one of my favourites, but since than Air have become very 'boring' (toooo slow and mellow albums).

I think that's a matter of opinion. ;) Starting with Moon Safari (or Premiers Symptomes) Air have always had a mellow, retro, lazy day vibe. The rest of their records including Virgin Suicides which was dark in comparison have followed the mellow rule. I just loved Walkie Talkie. Yes, it's mellow, it's slow, but that's what I like from Air. If Air started putting out hard pounding techno thumpers, I'd be horrified!

Alchemist Escribi�:

Crystal Method seemed to have used the same formula over and over again making their music into repetative, boring sounds usually used for the Playstation games.



Prodigy weren't doing anything for the past seven years and when they finaly realese a new album, its a dissapointment- 2 ok songs, the rest -forgetable and useless (now it feels like it was never released- nobody talks, listents or gives a fuck about it).

I think Crystal Method have honed into their production abilities. I can't be bothered either way - Vegas is still a stormer but does sound dated. Tweekend had a harder sound but was, imo, a bit uninspiring. Though Legion of Boom is considered their 3'rd record slump, I'd say the production is very slick and streamlined, but overall uninspiring. If I know my Chemical Brothers and Sisters from the old vmg list, I think they've accused the Chems' Surrender of the same thing.

Alchemist Escribi�:

Fat Boy Slim - I'm not even gonna comment on his last album, i mean what the f**k was that.

It only grew on me because my husband liked it. There are a number of skip-over songs that prevent this from being a strong record. But it's Fatboy, it is waht it is. Nothing deep, nothing more or less. I give the guy credit for trying different things. I kind of like the Dick Dale-esque guitar riffs in a couple of songs. You may be able to take the girl out of California, but you can't take California out of the girl. ;)

Alchemist Escribi�:

The rest of these bands seem to be in the process of 'dying' so we shouldn't expect anything from them in the future.

Hmmm. It would be sad if they all started dropping like flies. It would be the end of an era. But there's always the future. I've been through the past, I don't want to hang onto it forever.

Alchemist Escribi�:

Right now the commercial dance music seems to have evolved into Djs remixing the old '80's tunes, but hopefuly this wont last for long time.



For all these reasons I realy hope that 'Push the Button' will be an excellent album that might restore the belief in the electronic music for all those crapy music critics and more importantly for us- 'kids of electronic revolution'

Here's hoping, but people's tastes change, adapt, turn 180. A lot of these kids of the electronic revolution have moved on to other things, that's just the way it is. They might easily be reigned in again or lost until the next wave of... whatever that might be. Putting the pressure on Push the Button is a tall order, but we'll see what happens. I could care less about most critics, but it is kind of sad to read their public slams against artists you like and understand.



I still think Ms. Sullivan sucks. Maybe she had a horrible club experience. Maybe she got acid instead of e, who knows. ;)

simple as:



dear c.sullivan if you read this fuck you.

Funny, they were having this conversation over on a dance music production forum that i go to a few weeks ago. The main man of the site is music producer rick snoman. I don't recall what conclusion everyone came to but as people said, dance music came from the underground and as such will always have an underground scene. Pop music always takes elements of whatever dance music is popular at the time diluting it's impact i think.

Well, i still strongly believe that 'Push the Button' will be the last hope for the electronic music to revive (at least in this decade).

After hearing 'Galvanize'...hmm...I have my doubts, but i guess we'll all know the answer once we slip 'Push the Button' cd into the player on the 24th of January.

I guess it depends on your definition of "dance" music. If it's some of the crap I have to watch on TV like Erick Prydz or the likes, then it should die a horrible death pretty soon.



Problem is that some of the later, more innovative acts just don't get their broad audience or airplay, so they remain undiscovered. Which is fine for our little eliteist circle of course. ;-)





Those folks from the UK can be glad - at least they HAVE dance music. We only get some really huge acts, the rest is rubbish. Never heard a Hybrid tune on german radio...

Caroline Sullivan sounds like a cock, who clearly doesnt have a clue about the chems live shows!

Going underground would be cool. Infact i would prefere my music to be unpopular then you dont get every fucker listening to it. I hate the idea of commercialization. Shoot Caroline Sullivan and the likes of Dj Sammy, thats whats really killing dance, i hate cheese trance and trance in genral!

I don't mind Hard & Progressive trance...But it all depends on the artist

Alchemist Escribi�:

I mean the debut album 'Moon Safari' by Air is considred one of the best albums of the '90s and is also one of my favourites, but since than Air have become very 'boring' (toooo slow and mellow albums).

What's goin on here people? Talkie Walkie is an excellent album, c'mon!

whirlygirl Escribi�:

If Air started putting out hard pounding techno thumpers, I'd be horrified!

That's it girl, that's exactly what I think

Can it be genrally said its dieing in a commercial sense and is going to go underground?

ever kind of music goes from good patches to down patches and back again and i think that the last year or so has seen in a decline in commercial sales yet it has seen some of the best music in years.

the whole concept of underground is a strange thing. its all down to your own perception. to me underground just means outta the mainstream. i mean people can get very snobby over this term and what is and what isn't underground.



then again underground can just be a great form of transport to get round london!!

There's elitists for every music genre.



Throw out the rule books that define what is "real" and what isn't. If it's good and you like it, who cares if it's above or underground. Sure when things go commercial it's annoying - you kind of want to horde the good stuff for yourself. But trends pass. I'm of the opinion music should be universal, anyone can like it, it shouldn't be a class division.

Carola_mc Escribi�:

whirlygirl Escribi�:

If Air started putting out hard pounding techno thumpers, I'd be horrified!

That's it girl, that's exactly what I think

don't mess with air. they've changed but still are best french electronic performers... electro-nics

Fully agree that mainstreamification (yes, new word!) tends to dilute any genre's sound and integrity, but unfortunately, it's a struggle enough to get any decent dance records over here as it is. I can't imagine if dance "died" in its heartland how stranded North Americans would be. Thankfully we get some imports in Canada, but they're far and few between (which is why I jumped on the first copies of Primal Scream: Live In Japan and Kasabian: Kasabian as soon as I could; still, no Chikinki or Mylo as of yet). Absolutely no real distrubution over here, no critical mass for popularity. I can get Basement Jaxx, Chems, Prodigy, Crystal Method, but anything new? If I want to wait a year or so.

watch out for FC/Kahuna, they are fantastic, although some of their stuff is stolen from Tom and Ed ;-)

I've come to the conclusion in the last few years that good dance music is still around, you just have to look for it. For example, on Radio 1 you probably won't hear a single good dance record during the day but tune into The Blue Room on Saturday or Sunday at 5am (or record it!) and they play some great stuff. Some of what they play is a bit mellow for some people but I love the show. They played a track called 'Media Friends' by The Soft Pink Truth a few weeks ago which I loved, so I went out and bought the album which is a good listen.



I sometimes wonder what critics want to see from music, artists get criticised for going in a new direction whilst some are criticised for doing the same thing. Don't forget as I have mentioned before there is a 'build em up tear em' down nature in the UK which is rather sad. Its a case of "You've sold a few records, now piss off". I still think the Chems do it better than anyone else around, whatever the critics say.



The Guardian is crap anyway!

mc marsh Escribi�:

The Guardian is crap anyway!

the independent is great. the photos are great, don't know what the words are like though