Of course it was just a joke, but with the Klaxons actually releasing records that bother the charts and glowstick makers turning a profit for the first time this millennium, New Rave somehow stuck.
Neatly disowned by its instigators, (stand forward Shit Disco and the before mentioned Klaxons) new (or nu) rave has like every scene ‘discovered’ by the NME before it , filtered down from the slightly ironic London trendies to suburban kids looking for something to piss their parents off with. And for this reason and the factual evidence of teenagers sporting yellow plastic fila boots and smiley badges it’s worth at least a cursory glance.
Supposedly the newest incarnation of disco and punk, new rave has unlike its predecessors (punk funk, indie dance, big beat, electro-clash etc…) the acclaim of not actually having any connection whatsoever with its readily quotable title. The Klaxons derivative student rock, vaguely backed up by a mis-firing drum machine has little relation to any form of ‘repetitive beats’.
Their often quoted love of nineties dance music actually boils down to piss poor interpretations of Graces ‘Not over Yet’, not actually a rave tune, but a pop handbag crossover remixed by the nemesis of underground dance music Paul Oakenfold, and ‘The Bouncer’ by Kicks like a Mule, one of many novelty hardcore tracks that helped to kill the original scene.
The indifference to any original rave scene was highlighted by the NME who famously described original ravers as “twats in baggy trousers” All very clever but actually a round up of NME’s pop picks from the early nineties uncovers such gems as Carter USM and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, in light of this I wonder in which context the word twat was actually used.
Whilst there is no benefit to be had by reminiscing about 25,000 people watching the sun rise in a field etc. etc. but what is worth noting is that Acid house and its offspring rave is the only genuine post punk youth culture to actually make a difference. Its year zero made it alright for white people to dance, show some emotions and successfully for a few years at least managed to sidestep the last twenty years of guitar led hegemony, notably somewhere punk failed.
What new rave has done is simply added a fluorescent paint job to the tedium of four lads on stage being worshipped by many. Pop music in 2007 bears a distinct relationship to the sound of the mid eighties where blandness and a total lack of danger were celebrated above all else. New rave is actually only a sub genre of something that, if possible is even more dreary, i.e. the back end of what was once termed ‘indie’
If it’s possible in hindsight to learn from history, surely the acclaim given this substandard rock is the obvious signal of a last stand by the current cultural shift. Hopefully there is something genuinely new and exciting being brewed up in a teenager’s bedroom somewhere in suburbia. What ever is it cannot come too soon, and I hope to god its more interesting than a bass/drums/guitar band trying desperately to reference a deceased musical legacy in order to court controversy.
Friday, 27 April 2007
Classic Album- League Unlimited Orchestra- Love and Dancing
Originally published in 'One Week To Live' Magazine - May 2007
Classic Albums
League Unlimited Orchestra -Love and Dancing
The Human League? Don’t you want me Baby? Dancing round handbags in backstreet suburban nightclubs?
Well, actually yes and no; before The Human League descended into a haircut induced parody of themselves they started life as a credible and experimental electronic dance outfit that owed as much to electro-funk and disco as Top of The Pops.
Created from the ashes of punk, the Human League rejected the standard three chord chaos of punk’s year zero and instead utilised emerging synthesiser technology, funded by mundane day jobs as computer programmers. These electronic experiments were a world away from the new wave of punk bands then sweeping Britain, making The League not only unpopular, but also hugely controversial in their native Sheffield.
Flying in the face of their detractors, the group began flogging their experimental demos around record companies to near total indifference. The only spark of interest came from Island records supremo Chris Blackwell who suggested the group try a more pop orientated direction.
Armed with this new inspiration they returned to Yorkshire and enlisted the talents of Phil Oakey, a local ‘face’ whose only real credentials for the role was his asymmetric haircut and his pop star bravado. This new line up comprised a different Human League and resulted in the breakthrough album ‘Dare’ a pop smash that went on to break the group worldwide and seal their reputation at the vanguard of the emerging new romantic scene. However the bands success was not totally down to foppish hairstyles and catchy chart friendly compositions, an instrumental part of their success lay with their producer Martin Rushent.
Rushent, a veteran UK producer who had worked with artists as diverse as T Rex and The Buzzcocks, fed the groups elements of pop hooks and synthesiser experimentation into his desk, and came out with the classic Human League sound of Dare. Featuring the hit singles Don’t You Want Me and Love Action. The rest of course is history.
However Rushent was more than a journeyman producer, his innovative and futuristic production style led him to take the bare bones of Dare and remodel it in his studio to create something quite different and in many ways much more significant.
Released under the name "The League Unlimited Orchestra" as a tribute to Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra, Rushent crafted an instrumental dub version of the album aimed squarely at the dancefloor. This new ‘version’ contained songs from Dare along with a version of the track "Hard Times", which was originally the B-side of Love Action.
Finally released in 1982 “Love and Dancing” is one of the most underrated and influential British albums of the decade. Listening to it now it’s hard to believe it is not a modern creation. The rock hard beats and mammoth synth sounds of tracks like Hard Times or Love action sound more like tracks created in a sweaty Berlin basement in 2007, than the product of a suburban British record producer in 1981. As the tracks effortlessly glide into one another with a funk fuelled groove and pulse, snatches of the pop hits we all know and love slide in and out of the mix to create genuine moments of brilliance. Its safe to say that this is not only the best dancefloor album by a White British band in the 1980’s but the best dancefloor album created in the eighties full stop.
Take a listen to the album, and it’s easy to see the connection between German Krautrock, New York Electro and ultimately the house and Techno sounds that captivated British Youth in the late 80’s. The reason that house and rave culture overtook the country so comprehensively was that the funky electronic sound was already familiar to many. Love and Dancing is one of the reasons behind this recognition, and for that it truly deserves the ‘classic’ status; in addition it sounds bloody great today and genuinely stands up against today’s electro house soundtrack.
If you need any further proof of how ahead of its time this album was Richard X's saw no harm in sampling 'Things That Dreams Are Made Of' in it's entirety for his 'Finest Dreams' single. Also George Michael's 'Shoot the Dog' samples large chunks of 'Love Action' to brilliant effect.
If you like this try:
Soft Cell- Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing
A Certain Ratio- Early
Cyberton -Clear
Georgio Moroder – Best of
Blondie- Parallel Lines
New Order Substance
Yello - 1980-1985 The New Mix in One Go
Kano- Kano
Classic Albums
League Unlimited Orchestra -Love and Dancing
The Human League? Don’t you want me Baby? Dancing round handbags in backstreet suburban nightclubs?
Well, actually yes and no; before The Human League descended into a haircut induced parody of themselves they started life as a credible and experimental electronic dance outfit that owed as much to electro-funk and disco as Top of The Pops.
Created from the ashes of punk, the Human League rejected the standard three chord chaos of punk’s year zero and instead utilised emerging synthesiser technology, funded by mundane day jobs as computer programmers. These electronic experiments were a world away from the new wave of punk bands then sweeping Britain, making The League not only unpopular, but also hugely controversial in their native Sheffield.
Flying in the face of their detractors, the group began flogging their experimental demos around record companies to near total indifference. The only spark of interest came from Island records supremo Chris Blackwell who suggested the group try a more pop orientated direction.
Armed with this new inspiration they returned to Yorkshire and enlisted the talents of Phil Oakey, a local ‘face’ whose only real credentials for the role was his asymmetric haircut and his pop star bravado. This new line up comprised a different Human League and resulted in the breakthrough album ‘Dare’ a pop smash that went on to break the group worldwide and seal their reputation at the vanguard of the emerging new romantic scene. However the bands success was not totally down to foppish hairstyles and catchy chart friendly compositions, an instrumental part of their success lay with their producer Martin Rushent.
Rushent, a veteran UK producer who had worked with artists as diverse as T Rex and The Buzzcocks, fed the groups elements of pop hooks and synthesiser experimentation into his desk, and came out with the classic Human League sound of Dare. Featuring the hit singles Don’t You Want Me and Love Action. The rest of course is history.
However Rushent was more than a journeyman producer, his innovative and futuristic production style led him to take the bare bones of Dare and remodel it in his studio to create something quite different and in many ways much more significant.
Released under the name "The League Unlimited Orchestra" as a tribute to Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra, Rushent crafted an instrumental dub version of the album aimed squarely at the dancefloor. This new ‘version’ contained songs from Dare along with a version of the track "Hard Times", which was originally the B-side of Love Action.
Finally released in 1982 “Love and Dancing” is one of the most underrated and influential British albums of the decade. Listening to it now it’s hard to believe it is not a modern creation. The rock hard beats and mammoth synth sounds of tracks like Hard Times or Love action sound more like tracks created in a sweaty Berlin basement in 2007, than the product of a suburban British record producer in 1981. As the tracks effortlessly glide into one another with a funk fuelled groove and pulse, snatches of the pop hits we all know and love slide in and out of the mix to create genuine moments of brilliance. Its safe to say that this is not only the best dancefloor album by a White British band in the 1980’s but the best dancefloor album created in the eighties full stop.
Take a listen to the album, and it’s easy to see the connection between German Krautrock, New York Electro and ultimately the house and Techno sounds that captivated British Youth in the late 80’s. The reason that house and rave culture overtook the country so comprehensively was that the funky electronic sound was already familiar to many. Love and Dancing is one of the reasons behind this recognition, and for that it truly deserves the ‘classic’ status; in addition it sounds bloody great today and genuinely stands up against today’s electro house soundtrack.
If you need any further proof of how ahead of its time this album was Richard X's saw no harm in sampling 'Things That Dreams Are Made Of' in it's entirety for his 'Finest Dreams' single. Also George Michael's 'Shoot the Dog' samples large chunks of 'Love Action' to brilliant effect.
If you like this try:
Soft Cell- Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing
A Certain Ratio- Early
Cyberton -Clear
Georgio Moroder – Best of
Blondie- Parallel Lines
New Order Substance
Yello - 1980-1985 The New Mix in One Go
Kano- Kano
Thursday, 5 April 2007
April Update
So this is my blog- new to all this stuff, but wholeheartedly expect that no one will ever read it !
I have been asked by One Week To Live Magazine to write some classic album reviews so I thought I would archive them here. Who knows, could be the start of the book one day........
I have been asked by One Week To Live Magazine to write some classic album reviews so I thought I would archive them here. Who knows, could be the start of the book one day........
Classic Album Kraftwerk The Man Machine
First Published April 2007- One Week To Live Magazine
Classic Album
Kraftwerk The Man Machine
Capitol 1978 (Re-released 1995)
In the all encompassing universe of electronic music that now surrounds us, it was the unlikely combination of four synthesisers experts from German called Kraftwerk who provided the big bang. In fact Kraftwerk were so far ahead of their time that the rest of the world has spent twenty five years inventing new musical genres in an attempt to catch up. House, techno, hip-hop, trip-hop, synth-pop, Hi NRG, trance, electroclash: Kraftwerk's influence looms over all of them. In fact it's impossible to imagine what popular music would sound like today if Kraftwerk had never existed.
By the time they released The Man Machine in 1978 the band had already unleashed the metallic funk of Trans Europe Express on an unsuspecting world, and the sound of Kraftwerk had already made the world sit up and take notice. Years ahead of any so called contemporaries, Trans Europe Express melded synthesized melodies to rigid precision beats, that were picked up and wholeheartedly embraced everywhere from the hip hop godfathers of the Bronx to, the insipid English boys in the back bedrooms of Sheffield.
With its Russian modernist El Lissitzky cover design and songs about robots and dehumanized cities, Man Machine cappitalised on this early success, and delivered a concept for the band that represented the next step in world domination, whilst manufacturing a landmark for modern music.
Opening single ‘The Robots’ is probably Kraftwerk at their most self referential, featuring mechanised bleeps over a punchy rhythm, the band set out their stall early, declaring themselves as Robots, and in the process creating a blue print for electro- hip hop. This robot concept was taken even further by Robot dummies taking the bands place on stage, a strange concept at first, but one that ideally represents the ideas surrounding melding of man and machine that the album was trying to represent.
Alongside The Robots Kraftwerk biggest and perhaps best know track is ‘The Model’; a strange tribute to high fashion and glamour, delivered here in a deadpan German monotone. This is a track that would be rendered a ludicrous novelty by any band other than this. Charting at number One in the UK at the height of the New Romantic era over two years later ‘The Model’ managed to ignite another whole genre of pop single-handedly, simply by being light years ahead of its time.
The beauty of this album however lies not in its leftfield pop hits but the intelligence and sophistication of the remaining tracks, to discover ‘The Man Machine’ at any stage of your music listening career is to open a whole new perspective on electronic music and its place in modern culture.
The polished sophistication and intense electronic concentration of the rest of tracks such as ‘Spacelab’, ‘Metropolis’ and particularly the sublime ‘Neon Lights’, combine rhythm, emotion and melody in a way which has yet to be bettered. Kraftwerk were not working in an experimental avant garde bubble when producing this album. Dispelling the stereotypical German coldness, the band managed to immerse themselves in contemporary funk and disco, producing the groove and rhythm that give the synthetic textures and chords their pulsing charm. To produce a landmark record of this quality of breadth today would be an extraordinary feat, but to virtually rewire the DNA of pop music nearly thirty years ago in a way that manages to sound contemporary and relevant today, is truly an amazing accomplishment.
If you have even a passing interest in electronic music of any genre, this album is an absolute necessity. The electronic sound Kraftwerk pioneered has become so embedded in our culture that it remains a template for the majority of today’s dance, pop and experimental music; despite this Kraftwerks music manages to remain fun and hugely listenable. Many so called ‘influential’ bands music today just sounds primitive and jaded; Man Machine however remains the benchmark for future electro pop disco and is as electrifying and essential as ever.
Tobold Hemming
Classic Album
Kraftwerk The Man Machine
Capitol 1978 (Re-released 1995)
In the all encompassing universe of electronic music that now surrounds us, it was the unlikely combination of four synthesisers experts from German called Kraftwerk who provided the big bang. In fact Kraftwerk were so far ahead of their time that the rest of the world has spent twenty five years inventing new musical genres in an attempt to catch up. House, techno, hip-hop, trip-hop, synth-pop, Hi NRG, trance, electroclash: Kraftwerk's influence looms over all of them. In fact it's impossible to imagine what popular music would sound like today if Kraftwerk had never existed.
By the time they released The Man Machine in 1978 the band had already unleashed the metallic funk of Trans Europe Express on an unsuspecting world, and the sound of Kraftwerk had already made the world sit up and take notice. Years ahead of any so called contemporaries, Trans Europe Express melded synthesized melodies to rigid precision beats, that were picked up and wholeheartedly embraced everywhere from the hip hop godfathers of the Bronx to, the insipid English boys in the back bedrooms of Sheffield.
With its Russian modernist El Lissitzky cover design and songs about robots and dehumanized cities, Man Machine cappitalised on this early success, and delivered a concept for the band that represented the next step in world domination, whilst manufacturing a landmark for modern music.
Opening single ‘The Robots’ is probably Kraftwerk at their most self referential, featuring mechanised bleeps over a punchy rhythm, the band set out their stall early, declaring themselves as Robots, and in the process creating a blue print for electro- hip hop. This robot concept was taken even further by Robot dummies taking the bands place on stage, a strange concept at first, but one that ideally represents the ideas surrounding melding of man and machine that the album was trying to represent.
Alongside The Robots Kraftwerk biggest and perhaps best know track is ‘The Model’; a strange tribute to high fashion and glamour, delivered here in a deadpan German monotone. This is a track that would be rendered a ludicrous novelty by any band other than this. Charting at number One in the UK at the height of the New Romantic era over two years later ‘The Model’ managed to ignite another whole genre of pop single-handedly, simply by being light years ahead of its time.
The beauty of this album however lies not in its leftfield pop hits but the intelligence and sophistication of the remaining tracks, to discover ‘The Man Machine’ at any stage of your music listening career is to open a whole new perspective on electronic music and its place in modern culture.
The polished sophistication and intense electronic concentration of the rest of tracks such as ‘Spacelab’, ‘Metropolis’ and particularly the sublime ‘Neon Lights’, combine rhythm, emotion and melody in a way which has yet to be bettered. Kraftwerk were not working in an experimental avant garde bubble when producing this album. Dispelling the stereotypical German coldness, the band managed to immerse themselves in contemporary funk and disco, producing the groove and rhythm that give the synthetic textures and chords their pulsing charm. To produce a landmark record of this quality of breadth today would be an extraordinary feat, but to virtually rewire the DNA of pop music nearly thirty years ago in a way that manages to sound contemporary and relevant today, is truly an amazing accomplishment.
If you have even a passing interest in electronic music of any genre, this album is an absolute necessity. The electronic sound Kraftwerk pioneered has become so embedded in our culture that it remains a template for the majority of today’s dance, pop and experimental music; despite this Kraftwerks music manages to remain fun and hugely listenable. Many so called ‘influential’ bands music today just sounds primitive and jaded; Man Machine however remains the benchmark for future electro pop disco and is as electrifying and essential as ever.
Tobold Hemming
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