goldie collaboration?

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

Richard Bensam wrote:
----
However, if it did materialize, I wonder if the drum 'n' bass kingpin
would
be wise enough to engage Kate's services for something other than
vocals.
The focus of our collective affection is a supremely talented composer,
musician, lyricist, and producer -- but whenever she's called in to make
a
guest appearance on someone else's recording, she's invariably used as a
backing vocalist and nothing more.  As if she was just another singer,
as
if that was the most interesting thing she can do.  I'm not knocking her
singing voice, OF COURSE, but she has a lot more to offer.  A really
sensible artist with taste and discernment would say, "Kate, you use the
Fairlight better than anyone else.  Would you come up with some cool
sounds
for this track?"  An even braver soul would say, "Kate, would you
produce
this track?"  I think I've heard that she has rebuffed requests like
this
in the past, but just asking her would still show discrimination and
insight.
----
I _told_ ya'll that a lot of techno/jungle artists revere Kate! Goldie,
for those who don't know, is the poster boy for jungle, a hybrid of
techno, jazz, hip-hop, soul and dub marked by hyperkinetic percussion
and deep bass tones. A variety of sub-genres have emerged since jungle
coalesced out of the rave scene around 1992; the music now runs the
gamut from near-ambient, "intelligent" jungle to gut-wrenching
"darkcore." Goldie is somewhat of a controversial figure, hailed by many
for bringing the music to a larger audience, denounced by others for
overhyping himself and trying to dominate a diverse underground scene.
He had a long and very public relationship with Bjork and a long and
very public rivalry with Tricky, another electronic artist who reveres
Kate.

I agree that Kate could be used for more than vocals. Atmospheric sound
effects are a key component of some sorts of jungle--synth washes,
sampled string effects, etc.--exactly the kind of stuff she helped
pioneer with TD and HOL. But a Kate vocal on a jungle cut would rock! A
lot of times, when the tracks do use vocals, it is sort of the
dance-music-everydiva syndrome--anonymous. But a truly first-rate vocal
can make a track a classic.

I don't know that Kate could or should really produce jungle. The
foundation of the music is electronically sampled "breaks"--individual
drum noises electronically sequenced, altered and perverted and then
sped to near inhumanly fast speeds of 160 beats per minute. Ditto the
bass--it is a precise art creating the pulsating, sometimes atonal
basslines that reel in the jittery percussion. This is a genre that is
explosively creative at the moment, but it is still a genre with a
specific foundation. Kate would have to spend a lot of time with Goldie
or whomever to understand how the music gets created. Unless of course
she wanted to end up like David Bowie, completely clueless and trying to
exploit a type of music he knows nothing about.
--

    Brian J. Dillard * mailto:dillardb@pilot.msu.edu
Relativity, the Music Webzine That Doesn't Discriminate
          http://pilot.msu.edu/user/dillardb/