IS THERE ROOM FOR "NEW OLD SKOOL?"

[SlavikSvensk]

another blackout member and i recently got into a discussion about whether there is room in techno for people now making old school style tracks. he doesn't think there is, that techno should move forward. i disagreed, thinking that sometimes you move forward by re-examining the past.

i listen to old chicago house, acid or detroit techno records and love how much space there is, how stark and emotive the music can be. so i've been making some tracks on the side that are basically old style tracks updated with today's technology. i'm wondering if anyone else out there is doing the same thing, or listening to music along these lines...

[eyes without a face]

of course there is!!! i know exactly where ur coming from mate

i must admit nothing sounds better in da clubs than the real old skool stuff, but alot of old-skool sounding tracks have just as effect on the clubs!!!

i like to try and get a bit of old skool in my tracks, usually with the synths or piano lines, and getting that nice accccciiiddd bassline going at times is just wonderful!

OLD SKOOL FOREVER!!!

[SlavikSvensk]

that's right...some of us will always wave the flag for the classics!

but we're not just going backwards. we're going back to the "phuture" ;)

north west of england or USA? or elsewhere?

[Mattym]

The whole User/Player idea of just rehashing old loops is novel for a while, but then just bores to death.
Why not just play the bloody originals?

[SlavikSvensk]

yeah, but that's not quite what iw as talking about. user samples loops and updates the beats so djs can throw them around. that's fine, but like you said, kind of boring after a while.

what i was thinking of is totally original tracks, but trying to capture some of the old school chicago and detroit aesthetics...the sense of space, the types of sounds, the feeling of naive abandon...

[Mattym]

In that case....bring it on
Any recommendations?

[SlavikSvensk]

i'm working on it! closest thing i can think of is the new james cotton ep. not for everyone, but i think it's definately interesting.

[eyes without a face]

the best example i can think of in commercial techno at the moment would be Bryan Zentz - DClash

its a big, commercial number that sold well on Intec, but that riff is old skooooollllll, classic Yamaha keys!

also, quick plug, i did an old school house track sampling Dejure - Sanctuary. check it out

www.scottgray.btinternet.co.uk/The_Realm.mp3

its been submitted to Underwater records too

[Mattym]

Just sampling old tracks like 'Sanctaury' though has nothing to do with trying to recreate an organic feel in music & creating tracks with a different aesthetic approach. I can totally understand where you're coming from Slaviksvensk, but am rather confused eyeswithoutaface,how just using a few samples, whether they are actually from 'old skool' tracks or sound as if they are, can be seen as a different way of creating music.
Artists used to let their machines 'go for a walk' (granted with certain imperfections, see 808 State- Newbuild) and often create beauty (the list is too numerous) & now although you get quite a few exceptions to the rule, there is a certain formula which is stuck to. I would also say that a lot of the more repetitive tracks made at the time had a certain roughness which is sadly lacking today- stuff like Poindexter's Computer Madness, Work that... etc...
I don't produce, so these are simply observations from a music-lover's point of view.
I shall try to find & have a listen Slavik to the Ep which you recommend.
Cheers

[MARKEG]

1 word: B-Rave.

Check it out.

Now this is forward if ever i heard it.

[Mattym]

1 word: B-Rave.

Check it out.

Now this is forward if ever i heard it.

Agreed, brilliant stuff.

[Komplex]

I hear ya. I grew up on that old shit when I was a little boy. It got me started with electornic music and sometimes I get a bit jaded with todays electronic stuff. Lots of it is soo shitty. But then you have to remind yourself that back then, most of it was shitty too.

It's only the good tracks that have stood the test of time.

I like to play around with doing older style tracks but nothing serious. Maybe the style should be pushed a bit? Get that lame ****ed up 80's electro-trash shit out of the way...

[eyes without a face]

yeah of course, il be honest i didnt even know what that vocal sample was off until id finished it and played it to a few people hehe

[SlavikSvensk]

yeah, there was tons of crap before. there is always tons of crap. but now i wonder if most people who "love" techno have any understanding of why the old stuff was so great; because it was evocative, it was naive, it was enthusiastic.

i'd like to get some of that back, and also re-explore some old territory with new production techniques and technology.

[massplanck]

They only different i can see between now and then in the fact that people didnt have supercomputers to do everything for them then. It was just you and couple of drum machines + synths and. No ****ing clicking!

[SlavikSvensk]

and no loop cds...
and no subgenres...

but hey...i still think it's more about the person than the technology. i stopped using my mpc because i found i kept making the same kind of track and couldn't get out of that pattern...

[Little Fella!]

I love that term 'stark and emotive', describing the Chicago sound from the mid 80's....

I would love to capture the essence of tracks such as Jungle Wonz "The Jungle" and the obvious, Nitro Delux "This Brutal House" - I gathered about 9 different mixes of this!

Fond moments with mi Goodmans Powermaster!

[DJ Vinyl Junkie]

Do you guys not know about Warehouse Wax records....
www.warehousewax.co.uk

New Old Skool!!!!

[Electrictribe]

Do you guys not know about Warehouse Wax records....
www.warehousewax.co.uk

New Old Skool!!!!

Or the multitude of other small labels that have cropped up putting out a range of new material with an early rave vibe, spanning the tempo spectrum from breaks to DnB

Names to check out of the top of my head are

Total Recall
Nu Underground
Underground Feeling
JSA
Hardcore Will Never Die
Hardcore Projektz
Buzzbee
2Fresh
Bassrock
Sharkfin

Penfold :)

[Electrictribe]

almost forgot

www.hardcore-breaks.com info portal site