Re: Love-Hounds digest V12 #379

["Brian J. Dillard" <dillardb@pilot.msu.edu>]

Ronald Girardin wrote:
> NOOOOOOO!  please!    "disco" or "dance" remixes ALWAYS destroy the song.

> It's interesting (not really) how today's music market demands these
> "techno"-"hip-hop"-"ambient"-"rave" nonsense.  Aren't there enough mindless
> and brainless artists out there to do that kind of crap??    :-P
> 
> Tori has tried it, and tried it, and tried it again....and it still doesn't 
> work.   When an artist can't decide whether or not he/she is a "dance" 
> artist, this is when it becomes a question of money.  

> Kate, don't waste you time on such banalities.  you're music is above that.

I would think that fans of Kate Bush--a brave pioneer in the use of sampling 
and other electronic instrumentation--would have more of a clue about the 
world of electronica. TD and HOL wouldn't exist without the Fairlight, the 
drum machine and technologically sophisticated production techniques.

I can only agree that, for a pop artist like, say, Mariah Carey who releases 
a batch of bad mixes for every single, yes, it is a question of money, it is 
a question of artistic integrity, it is a question of total shite. And in 
Kate's case, shoedance was a similar load of bollocks, although I blame it on 
marketing people rather than Kate.

but to lump drum-n-bass, hip-hop, etc. into one categore--crap--is a bit 
narrow-minded in my eyes. don't denounce all electronica based on what you 
hear on the radio--it's the underground stuff that you never hear unless you 
seek it out and explore that is some of the best music being made today. i'm 
talking plastikman, tricky, spring heel jack, omni trio, aphex twin....

Just as Kate has refreshed and enriched her sound over the years by turning 
to a variety of musical styles and influences, she could (and SHOULD, IMHO) 
turn to the myriad sounds of modern urban music for further inspiration. 
what's the difference between collaborating with the Trio Bulgarka and 
collaborating with a techno-wizard, except that DJs scare the hell out of 
people who don't understand them.

Ron's argument rests on a number of flawed assumptions:

1)that dance music sucks
2)that live instrumentation (the original celtic flavor of TRS) is somehow 
superior to electronic (those drum machines . . . .)
3)that remixing--the belief that songs can survive and even thrive in a 
number of incarnations--is always solely commercially driven.

i don't want to waste a lot of list space arguing something that i so far 
seem to be the only one interested in, but it just pains me to see kate 
choosing collaborators like Prince--people who are past their prime, IMHO, 
although I do love WSILY and "My Computer"--when she could be working with 
other people like her who have something new to say.

Take Everything But the Girl, who escaped the hell of insignificance by 
exploring the links between their original sound (bossa nova) and current 
electronic dance music (jungle, aka drum-n-bass). Todd Terry's remix of 
EBTG's "Missing" spurred Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn to immerse themselves in 
drum-n-bass (a clattering, time-distorting mix of sampled-n-processed 
percussion, electro-strings and rumbling bass textures) and produce their 
best album in years: Walking Wounded, which draws on hip-hop, drum-n-bass, 
house and other sounds yet retains their immaculate songwriting skills and, 
on some tracks, their acoustic simplicity.

--end of raver's rampage--

Brian Dillard
dillardb@pilot.msu.edu