Electronic Music
Discussion
Where does the 'dance' genre go from here do the people think?
Was just musing the other day, out of all the 'super-clubs' only MOS is still open, Fabric is now closed in what appears to be a very odd ruling, Space in Ibiza has now shut as well as the bloke is retiring. 'EDM' is still popular in the States and among the younger fans, but go to any 'dance music' festival and you'll see what I consider to be the main acts (people with a history, a back catalog, some reputation) pushed into a side tent because someone with a top 40 hit is on the main stage.
Everything changes I guess, from the days of unlicensed raves through to the club scene, from the birth of trance and the decline of early/acid house music. Maybe I'm getting older and wistful, but trance music, and 'proper' dance music does seem to be in decline to be replaced by manufactured pop. The 'Steve Aoki' generation of showmen and performers, rather than the DJ's and producers who wrote what they wanted to write, rather than what they thought would sound good on the radio.
That said, there is some excellent talent out there still, it just seems to have lost its platform.
I think the whole state of affairs is very sad. The club scene in this country has been hammered while at the same time there is more space on radio than every before for 'pop/EDM' music. Its important we keep the platforms open for those who want to perform and those who want to enjoy the music. Dont blame the venue for people taking drugs, the more you increase security on the door the more people will neck before coming in. If drugs are going to be blamed for the closure of clubs we need a more sensible policy for controlling the banned substances.
Was just musing the other day, out of all the 'super-clubs' only MOS is still open, Fabric is now closed in what appears to be a very odd ruling, Space in Ibiza has now shut as well as the bloke is retiring. 'EDM' is still popular in the States and among the younger fans, but go to any 'dance music' festival and you'll see what I consider to be the main acts (people with a history, a back catalog, some reputation) pushed into a side tent because someone with a top 40 hit is on the main stage.
Everything changes I guess, from the days of unlicensed raves through to the club scene, from the birth of trance and the decline of early/acid house music. Maybe I'm getting older and wistful, but trance music, and 'proper' dance music does seem to be in decline to be replaced by manufactured pop. The 'Steve Aoki' generation of showmen and performers, rather than the DJ's and producers who wrote what they wanted to write, rather than what they thought would sound good on the radio.
That said, there is some excellent talent out there still, it just seems to have lost its platform.
I think the whole state of affairs is very sad. The club scene in this country has been hammered while at the same time there is more space on radio than every before for 'pop/EDM' music. Its important we keep the platforms open for those who want to perform and those who want to enjoy the music. Dont blame the venue for people taking drugs, the more you increase security on the door the more people will neck before coming in. If drugs are going to be blamed for the closure of clubs we need a more sensible policy for controlling the banned substances.
This
Artists becoming bland, commercial, MOR is nothing new. Massive fan of Chemical Bros in the 90s but find their work uninteresting since the 2000s.
Machinedrum and Lone are artists I really admire ATM.
KAgantua said:
it became old hat and the music ran out of ideas...
It's easy to go back to 4/4. Massive fan of Fabric since the day it opened but on the last few years its Friday line-up looks disappointing with Groove Armada billing which goes to show the state of dance music in the last couple/few years as there is hardly anything to replace dubstep - helped with the branching out with the 'bass music' but some of the dubstep producers have moved away into techno/dub techno.Artists becoming bland, commercial, MOR is nothing new. Massive fan of Chemical Bros in the 90s but find their work uninteresting since the 2000s.
Machinedrum and Lone are artists I really admire ATM.
I don't think the shutting down of venues and nights has much to do with the genereal interest in music, but more the interest of a person's entertainment of an evening. Venues are shutting down, but how they expected to survive with a 2/7 trade (Fri\Sat) I don't know,
I think most venues will struggle if they limit themselves to a certain style - there's a lot of fans out there to cater for but most will manage a night or two a month, rather than a night or two a week. There's no reason why a venue cannot cater for various genres during a given week/night.
I think most venues will struggle if they limit themselves to a certain style - there's a lot of fans out there to cater for but most will manage a night or two a month, rather than a night or two a week. There's no reason why a venue cannot cater for various genres during a given week/night.
Radio 1 Friday night: 7-10pm - Annie Mac, 10pm-1am - Pete Tong, 1-4am B. Traits. Dance music has got a great platform and the tracks I've saved from these shows in the BBC Music app are at least 50% dance/4-4.
Loads of interviews/guest mixes from many DJs, plenty of mixes on other mid week shows, ie something like 3rd Thursday eve of the month - there was a guy I'd never heard of playing some great new tracks.
And that's not even mentioning 6 Music and their electronic output. AFAIC dance/4-4 has never been better represented on BBC radio at least.
Loads of interviews/guest mixes from many DJs, plenty of mixes on other mid week shows, ie something like 3rd Thursday eve of the month - there was a guy I'd never heard of playing some great new tracks.
And that's not even mentioning 6 Music and their electronic output. AFAIC dance/4-4 has never been better represented on BBC radio at least.
It's the death of the superclub the OP is writing about, rather than a decline in the popularity of dance music. The ones mentioned were never that great anyway. Stuff like the smoking ban doesn't help either. I think the scene has moved on, every festival will normally have a DJ tent that will be packed.
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