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17.04.2002, 19:38 | #1 |
Hardcore Head
Registriert seit: 20.01.2002
Ort: 科隆
Beiträge: 9.288
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April 17th: State of Drum & Bass
Ist gerade bei mir reingeflattert: Ganz unterhaltsam !!!!!
April 17th: State of Drum & Bass: My personal take: Last night I played at my crew's monthly for its second occurrence. We played house for the first couple of hours while people slowly rolled into the spot, Art Bar in Columbia. It's on Tuesday nights and Art Bar runs a $2 house liquor special then. So, as people slowly started to get their swerve on, they'd start to inch their way to the dance floor. Soon we had a small, but vibing crowd on the floor that were grooving, smiling, having fun; there were a couple of failed attempts at breakdancing, and a few people brocking out old school hip-hop moves. Classic buzzing dance floor business. People started talking to me about how shocked they were to see me dropping house tunes and wondered if I was going to play drum & bass later. The people were feeling what was going on, so I let the kid I played back to back with keep going, as he was making the floor groove. But finally I got back behind the decks and proceeded to play drum & bass-couple of old cuts, several from the last few months, and a variation of styles. It was great fun, and the party slowly dwindled while I brought it the music down to minimal drum & bass, finally ending with a tune on Dispatch by the classic act Hidden Agenda. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and we're excited to do it again next time. So, this is drum & bass in the year 2002? I have no idea. And I don't even want to try to answer what drum & bass is in 2002: it's style elements, its politics, its artfulness, etc. For once in my life, I'm pretty unconcerned with trying to explain the music in these terms. Is it a culture? Sure, I guess in some ways it is. But how would you define that culture? Thousands of folks who spend hours online on any given day bullshitting about pretty much anything and trying to score the latest promos off Red Eye or Chemical? Is it the cargo pants, DC shoes, and random electronica t-shirt? Is it anyone who hangs out on DOA? Or Forward Bound? Or US-Jungle, Arena, etc, etc? Does the music define the culture? If it does, what happens to you when you're listening or playing other music? Are you not a 'true playa'? DnB might be something you listen to 30% of your time instead of 90%. Does that make you less of a junglist? You missed out on "Inner City Life," "Demon's Theme," "Terminator," "Original Nuttah," and "Bomb Scare" when they first came out. Does that rule you out? In our attempts to discuss all these things on message boards and newsgroups we always try to address some sort of rough rule or standard about drum & bass culture and drum & bass music. Yet, rarely do we agree on much. Among my closest friends online-that I share a lot with as far as 'principles' of music and so forth-there are fairly significant discrepancies about the aesthetics of drum & bass, what goes into being a good DJ, what we're trying to do with the music, how we like to play it. And these ideas only come together when we're listening to some good tunes and all enjoying it-maybe with beers in hand, maybe without. Usually with beer. And that's when I'm pogoing to some mental tune that Fresh just dropped, a few hours after commenting on how I'm not really feeling the whole 'dark bombs' side of dnb. That's when you see peeps doing some kind of running-in-place salsa dance to some Marky tune when that very day they posted how the Latin sound is contrived and simply a 'flavor of the moment." Or when people brock out to "Grimey" despite firmly believing that Dillinja has sucked since his last few classics on Metalheadz. All these grand notions fall to the wayside for the important part of the music: Dancing. Partying. Getting your swerve on. Acting a fool. Brocking out. Having that release. And most importantly, having a good time. I've been into drum & bass since '96. That's longer than a lot of you people, and not nearly as long as other headz. It sort of puts me in the middle. And being in Columbia, South Carolina, being a 'junglist' is a chore as much as it is my favorite art and pasttime. I had to carry equipment with me every week for a radio show for well over three years. I knew noone in town who liked the music until a year into my show. And when I finally started to meet a few people they were solely in to jump-up when I was really feeling Photek, Metalheadz, Boymerang, Adam F. and those types of peeps. It wasn't until another year had gone by that I met another kid into drum & bass other than jump-up. And through those years there was very little happening in the party scene aside from the same jump-up sets (with a few variations in records.) for a couple of years. If we wanted records, we had to drive over a hundred miles at the minimum to buy them. Then at some point, the station got 1200s and a premixer connection. There were several folks around who had a knowledge of drum & bass, and a few that even played it. Drum & bass djs were actually becoming more on point and more diverse playing out as well, with several sounds within drum & bass starting to surface. After trading up road trips for online ordering, finally we got a record store right here in town that sold drum & bass. Things were starting to build into a little scene right here in Columbia. But since then there's still been loads of setbacks and disheartening things happen. I graduated, which was good. But then had to turn over the radio show. Egos have come in to the scene, fucked up the vibe, and then left grumbling. Venues and clubs either shut down or start losing interest in having nights there because of the pathetic antics of people who tried to throw nights there in the past. And of course, politics, politics, politics. And this all happening through a period where jungle fell to arguably its lowest point and then started becoming revitalized. All this leads up to some basic feelings that have come over me in the last few months. First, I couldn't remotely care about the artistry of drum & bass any more. That isn't to say I don't appreciate drum & bass as art-and amazing art at that. In some cases I do. But I think I've come to grips with the fact that most drum & bass-even tunes I play- isn't doing anything that artistic. Most of drum & bass, jungle, hardcore, and most of dance music have been 'tracks'-that is music that was put together to play to a dance floor and for people to shake to it. And for the first time in my life, that seems like it's absolutely o.k. When an artist comes along like Orion or Polar or Photek or Adam F., I absolutely love it. People like Bukem and Omni Trio who have managed to make evocative music that's dance floor oriented are some of my favorites, even if their most recent attempts have been weak by comparison. But I'm not at the point where art dominates my notion of the music anymore. Maybe that's good, maybe it's bad. But it just doesn't seem important. As long as creative people who have passions to express do so with the music, everything will take care of itself without me having to worry about it. And in between the tracks that rapturously take me away, I can bop and have fun to the ones that aren't as evocative, but groovy none the less. Secondly, jungle is not my life. I know, many of you are probably dismissing all my thoughts on drum & bass now since I'm submitting that fact. But it's true. I love books. I love comic books! I like drawing. I like "The Ozbournes" and "The Simpsons." I like HOUSE music. And dub, and punk, and glam rock, and David Lee Roth. I've been heavily involved with drum & bass music everyday for the last 6 years of my life-trying to help organize nights in my town, playing on a radio show, co-creating Americandnb.com and contributing to other websites, going to parties, buying records, sharing info online, etc, etc. But jungle is not my life. And I don't think I want it to be. That's not to say I don't love the music and other junglists, because I do. But it's not my life. Third, fuck it. And that's the most important part, and one that I still have troubles with today. (Case in point-"The Nine" at Miami this year.) But seriously, fuck it! At different points over the years I've contemplated stopping being involved with the music at all because of either debates online that frustrated me about general air of nb or because I was tired of seeing top ten lists look so similar time and time again or because I heard an uninspired set and started thinking, "this is what drum & bass" had turned into. But there's always been some great tune that pulled me back into it. Or some really fun night out that made me want to play records more. Or some truly inspiring set (most recently Orion in Charlotte) that made me want to keep pushing myself with the music. But as for having this burden of aesthetic principles, keeping it real, standing up for the music, and all that shit-fuck it. It's muddied my joy for the music. I know what I'm about and what the music is to me. That and my balls is all I need. So, to follow this. Yeah, I'm gonna probably go off on some topic in the future on some message board. And yeah, I'll probably comment about some aspect I'm not feeling. I'm sure there will be moments where my love for the music or my hatred of narrow mindedness will overtake the attitude that I think is the most healthy: fuck it, and have fun. So, be ready for me to get hypocritical up in this piece. But, what do I think of the state of drum & bass in 2002? It's great. It's terrible. It's as bad as the most petty thing I want to bitch about and as great as the aspect that I big up the most. It's music that is as viable now as it ever has been, and will continue to reinvent itself when the next great soul comes along to push the envelope. And right now, I'm enjoying it, and just can't be bothered with the semantics. Respect kids, and apologies for the crosspost. Cheers, jp Written by: Jason Paddock
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"Ich distanzier mich von allem, was JVXP jemals geschrieben hat. :)" |
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17.04.2002, 20:39 | #2 |
Senior Head
Registriert seit: 28.04.2001
Beiträge: 147
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Ich würde mal behaupten der gute Mann is mit dem was er sagt
nicht alleine auf dieser Welt. Ich würde sogar sagen das jeder der sich in eine Sache so reinhängt irgendwann Gefahr läuft sich selber zu sehr abzu turnen und sih beinflussen zu lassen.Aber dann kommen halt eizlene Nächte, Partys oder Tracks die einem selber dann wieder beweisen warum man das macht.So wie er das beschreibt OK -ist nicht sein Leben.Aber er wird niemals davon wegkommen:-) Kann mich auch noch gut an die Zeiten 97-98 erinnern wo ich dachte und das wars jetzt das ist die Innovation von Drumm&Bass einfach nur noch BUM SCHak-Bum SChak und Röhährrrr.Aber man bleibt dran und belehrt sich selber eines besseren. Cu John |
17.04.2002, 23:11 | #3 |
Guest
Beiträge: n/a
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Hm, kann das schon alles irgendwie nachvollziehen. Alle labern sich über die unwichtigsten Dinge tot (meistens ist man mittendrin), keine Platte gefällt einem mehr, Partys findet man öde und einem wird klar, dass es noch andere, wichtigere Dinge gibt.
Und dann kommt ein Tune, der einen wieder fesselt und klar macht, warum man Zeit und Geld in die Geschichte investiert hat. |
18.04.2002, 12:14 | #4 |
Guest
Beiträge: n/a
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mmhhh, gibts das auch in ner kürzeren version...nicht dass ich kein englisch kann, aber das ist mir jetzt schon ein bißchen zu arg...
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21.04.2002, 14:03 | #5 | |
Hardcore Head
Registriert seit: 24.10.2001
Ort: calgary, wilder westen
Beiträge: 9.761
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Zitat:
Im grossen und ganzen stimme ich Jason zu, aber ich denke nicht, dass man mir DnB madig machen kann. Sollte ich nicht mehr in irgendwelchen Foren, Emaillisten oder sonstwo rumsurfen, keinen Bock mehr auf Parties/veranstalten haben, dann würde ich immer noch DnB bei mir im Zimmer rinsen. Denn all die ganzen Asis da draussen können mir nicht annähernd geben, was DnB mir geben kann. Hendriks |
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21.04.2002, 14:29 | #6 |
Hardcore Head
Registriert seit: 20.01.2002
Ort: 科隆
Beiträge: 9.288
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True, bro, true !!!!!
Thomas
__________________
"Ich distanzier mich von allem, was JVXP jemals geschrieben hat. :)" |
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