Dance music: Right and Wrong · 6:32pm Nov 15th, 2013
Every so often I hear that today's dance music sucks compared to what was about in the 80's and 90's, usually by people mumbling about "EDM". I completely disagree, even though old dance music is one of my favourite styles of music to listen to. Case in point? Have a listen to this:
It has everything I could ever want in a house tune: an effective buildup (with a merciful lack of an over-exaggerated drop), sharp and staccato drums, and a syncopated melody set against a straighter drum beat. And possibly the best thing is that this isn't some kind of obscure or underground hit, this gets played on mainstream radio and commercial clubs. This is number 1 in the UK singles chart right now. And it's not a one-off happening, either. Only earlier this year we had another successful gem in the form of White Noise by Disclosure. I loved that tune from pretty much the first time I heard it, because it reminded me of old Detroit Techno despite being a fresh release. I think it's safe to say that dance music is doing pretty well right now. It's actually danceable and fun, if nothing else.
So where does the "dance-is-dead" attitude come from? It's probably from those who still can't get over the American wave of popular Dubstep, Electro House, and Trap (as well as completely stupid subgenres like "Drumstep" and "Moombahcore"); all lumped together in the term "EDM". How anyone can dance or have fun to something like this is beyond me: (listen to the original, it's much better in practically every way).
That sort of thing is awful, if you ask me, but thankfully it's old news now. 2011 was two years ago now, plenty of time for music to change. I don't know what the clubs in the USA are playing right now, but things are at least looking up over here in the UK. Screw "rocking out" to Skrillex, people want to dance again. And it seems that the producers want to as well. If legit house music can be popular enough to be played in a barbershop (which happened when I got my hair cut a few days ago) then I think there's plenty of reason to be optimistic.
AWHYEA Doctor P in da house...yeah no, he pretty much ruined that song. :T
but yeah I was wondering about that...has brostep/whateverthefucktheythinkofnextstep seemed to have died out? I remember it being insanely popular in 2011 and in the beginning of 2012 but now I barely ever hear about it. I mean it could very well just be because that's when I stopped listening to that stuff completely so I've lost touch with the fanbase. It does seem to be less popular these days though.
1511588
I think it's at least quietened down as a music scene. I guess it must've just been a passing fad that's mostly been forgotten, which is a bit of a relief to me. Even with pony fan music it was mostly like "my-bass-synth-is-this-distorted", rather than "here's-a-funky-rhythm-for-your-feet" (which is why I jumped on board the whole Equestrian Hype thing when it was properly going). And it's not just house music that's come back, there's also some pretty great d'n'b being released:
1511729
Well mlp got popular right as brostep was getting popular so I do believe there's some correlation to that. But definitely bravo to you and equestrian hype for going against the norm and making some great stuff (even if I'm only hearing about it recently now).
I may have to start listening to some dnb more, I haven't been on a dnb kick in quiet some time!
1514117
That is probably a point. It's almost a shame that so much of the really popular pony music is still tied to brostep. And thanks, too. Equestrian Hype was started by one guy who liked old dance music and MLP, and I guess he just wanted to make something fun and different. It's still going now, as it happens, and we released that Jungle Vines EP you might remember from a month or two ago.