Originally Posted by
A.P.
Taken from Upfront 2004.
Really interesting read which will make you think about a few little things we should do to help keep the underground scene alive.
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Hello everybody out there in Upfrontland and welcome to a new column hosted by myself in which I've been given free reign in which to sound off about absolutely anything I bloody like (as long as I write something!!), so after careful consideration I've decided to take a topic each issue and say a few choice things about it (obviously my own opinions!), and maybe raise a few talking points/thinking points for whoever is reading...if I fail then by all means feel free to 'roach' this section of the magazine first...
The initial topic I've hit on to start the ball rolling is CROSSOVER, a word bandied about in music circles endlessly (almost as much as that other much vented and overused word UNDERGROUND...more about that one later). The enemy of purists everywhere who often defend their right to uniformity of vision as if their lives depended on it (especially the techno purists out there!). Fair enough if crossover means compromise, and the watering down of genres until they are half-baked versions of their original sound, but I would like to argue that it often means the opposite, especially at the moment where progress on a musical level between all our scenes (especially within our increasingly battered underground dance community) is getting more and more difficult. Why not take ideas from another musical genre and combine them with those of your own and see what comes out?It doesn't have to end up meaning 'crossover' in a commercial sense, but could result in some interesting new ideas, as well as breaking down some barriers...in the past this has resulted quite spectacularly in the formation of genres like drum and bass which came out of a fusion of hip-hop and u.k.rave.
Other examples are when psy-trance began crossing its traditional sounds with breakbeat, when house and techno began to fuse rhythm and sound to create new, more stripped down versions of themselves, when acidhouse and hard techno crossed, and even in the purist techno scene, when breakbeats and digital technology entered the mix (back in the early nineties breakbeats in techno were generally frowned upon as they were not produced by analogue machines), it produced the predominantly breakbeat/loop driven sound that dominates the hard techno sound today. As for electroclash, filterdiscohouse and other recent trends, they are all crossovers of new and old, and wouldn't exist if someone somewhere hadn't had the idea of crossing old with new.
Sadly, there is very little left to pioneer in terms of virgin electronic sound. Unless someone comes up with either a new sound source with sounds unheard of by the human ear, or a new concept in sound production and delivery (I haven't totally given up hope of this yet!!), the exciting changes that will continue to happen are most likely to be because of genre fusions, which will hopefully continue to result in something different on a musical level. Not only that, it gives people a chance to open their ears and minds to something different..
When something new comes it can often take patience and tolerance in order to understand how to listen to it. If you close your mind to all other music then you are never going to get into anything else. How often do you hear someone into techno slag off hardhouse or viceversa, or someone into psytrance condescendingly tell you that their music is far more musically complex than yours and you wouldn't understand it..or the acidtechnohead going on about 'death to house music'. It's all so childish and irritating (o.k., it can be fun when you're having a good discussion about music down the pub and not taking it so seriously)but just check out some of the 'dedicated' chatrooms and see how angry, opinionated,and closed minded people actually get!! There is nothing wrong with being opinionated about music, but there is nothing worse in this world than someone who is IGNORANT, AND OPINIONATED,because that is usually the combination that opposes change, progress, understanding, and tolerance, those things so precious in music as in anything else in life.
Sit someone down and play them something GOOD from a genre they know little about and they may gain a different perspective. They don't have to like it but they may learn to respect it and hear something in it that they do like. A producer who does this is someone who may just come up with something innovative, rather than finding inspiration only from his/her generic peers. Listen to a DJ who plays their own style but isn't afraid to play something in their sets that crosses over into another genre. A good DJ will play good music, period. A DJ who can rock a party, deliver his or her style, but can crossover genres,a nd still deliver is someone who has got to be admired. And a producer who can do the same, cross into different genres, but keep the integrity of their own has got to be onto a good thing!
Finally, that crossover has got to be a good thing for this, our underground dance scene. I think the last couple of years have sorted the wheat from the chaff. Gone are the chancers and dodgy promoters, make-or-break d.j.'s and egotistical 'artistes'. Whatever style you are into now, it's important we all fight our corner together if we are going to survive, and that means giving a bit more respect to each other. In the party scene we all have our place, but one thing is certain, despite our musical differences, if you are up for it now, its very likely you are up for it for the right reasons (ie.not just for the money), which also means having a lot more respect for what you are part of in the greater scheme of things. Great if hardhouse DJ's are playing London techno and some of those DJ's are playing alongside us. Great if happy hardcore people are getting into hard trance and a crossover is going on. Great if drum and bass producers have moved into nu school breaks, nu school breakers have moved into minimal garage, and so on, cos nowadays all of this music is underground, and the underground has got to survive. Less slagging, more positive vibes because we will only achieve a future if we learn to appreciate each others contributions and educate each other. By doing this we may just continue to move forward into interesting new territory.
