Love In C Minor

I had a day off work to recover from a large night out partying for a friend’s birthday. That usually means blobbing on the couch, some Facebooking (it’s a verb now) and reading tweets. I follow King Britt who posted a link to a documentary on the history of house music.  It’s 2 hours 15 minutes long but given I had little to do, settled down to watch.  If you’ve a passing interest in dance music or even wondered where those boom boom sounds evolved from – I suggested you check it out.

Having grown up through disco then into the rise of house and beyond, it was a story I was mostly familiar with but hearing first hand from the people who created the sounds and developed the scene was fascinating.  The doco is littered with amazing seminal tunes and traces the origins of house in Chicago right through to the UK Garage sound of 2001. What’s great is to hear the evolution of sounds and the creativity of producers who added, subtracted and constructed new music to create new experiences on the dance floor.  Here’s a few things I learned:

• The Roland TB-303 synthesiser  was originally a machine for karaoke, and the DJs didn’t know how to use it, so just twiddled the knobs and recorded the sounds – acid house was born.
• The Orb’s Little Fluffy Clouds vocal is a sampled talking from Rickie Lee Jones.
• Much of the music wasn’t as considered or contrived as you’d expect. Armand van Helden said he just makes beats
• The UK was more influential in the development of house than the US – where is still remains an underground sound
• Criminal Justice Bill and Public Order Act was introduced in the UK in 1993 in order to curb the rave scene and people marched in protest

I’d like to see dance culture and music from 2001 to the present documented -  while there hasn’t been the same groundbreaking shifts in sounds (in my opinion) there’s funky house, more garage, drum & bass,  minimal, dubstep and nu-disco, plus the recent merger of dance/electro and US hip hop.

Edit: Thanks Jason for the corrections.

Inhabiting the murky world of underground dance music  as I do,  the genre that continues  to influence is disco. It’s now been several years of edits, reworks and remixes – some of which are standout and some are not. Just when I think the re-edit is done with, some clever clogs will pop up with a fresh take on a classic. Check out Late Nite Tuff Guy’s “I’m The Man Who Loves U” who makes this supergroup sound deep, cut up and funky while keeping the sweetest of melodies.

At the same time there’s continued and renewed interest in original tunes.  Horse Meat Disco tour the world playing nothing but original disco at festivals and top clubs everywhere, plus many a house or techno DJ will drop disco into a set.  There’s a myriad of articles about why disco remains important and still relevant on the dancefloor, so I wont go over that except to say that there’s an abandonment and freedom that much electronic dance music doesn’t quite allow.

Enter Escort, the 17-piece disco orchestra from Brooklyn, NYC.  Over the last 5 years, some have stopped sampling and reinterpreting and started making their own disco true to the roots.  You’ll hear live instrumentation, song structure,  melody, lyrics and groove.  Hercules & Love Affair were one of the first groups, but have since moved into a house sensibility. Escort have not and produce music that sits alongside original disco. It doesn’t blend with anything from 2012 and stands proudly apart as art of a different kind.

They’ve had some underground success with a couple of 12” but recently completed and released their first album. In the process they’ve honed their live act and what a cracker it is. I’ve seen Chic, Sunburst Band, Hercules & Love Affair and many soul bands (who skirt disco) and Escort are up there with the best.  They’re incredibly tight, very funky and a little jazzy.  Their set consisted of the early singles and tracks from the album plus a couple of covers “There But For the Grace of God” and an amazing cover of Gino Soccio’s “Dancer”. The latter perfectly suited to Escorts horn section and three vocalists.  It was one of those gigs where there was little break between songs, not much banter and no slow jams. A proper party.  My only criticism, if I had to have one, was that I’d love to have heard some extended workouts and breakdowns.

Tunes: Cocaine Blues,  All Through the Night,  A Bright New Life

Final word:  Hands down my favourite live gig of the last 12 months.

Beatport have just done a feature on disco in 2012 with playlists and interviews with some of current disco scene-shapers including Todd Terje, Joey Negro and Greg Wilson.  There’s some quite varied opinions, with some even hating disco and others thinking its all just dance music anyway. It’s fair to say that disco still rules in some form on most dancefloors especially the underground scene. There’s not a gig goes by where I dont here Chic “I Want Your Love” in a DJ set. If you’re not hearing some of these sounds when you go “out out” then you’re in the wrong clubs. Period. All of those interviewed are among my favourite producers or DJs. There’s lots of links in the article, so get exploring if you’ve an interest or keen to find some new (old) music. Here’s an amusing clip of the (last-mentioned in the article) track which just happens to be one my all time favourites as well. It’s an edit of the 11 minute masterpiece. 

Emeli Sande “Our Version of Events” (buy)

Emeli Sande released her debut album t “Our Version of Events”. Having won the Brit’s Awards Critics Choice and delivered three outstanding singles, it was about time her album dropped. I saw her live last December at Koko, London and she was polished. I’d heard the entire album live, and was mesmerised by her talent and song writing. So, I approached the album with apprehension due to some less-tahn-favourable reviews, but bought it regardless. I think it falls just short of brilliant due to what sounds like a little restraint in the arrangements. She could have gone in an edgier, direction – as Nellee Hooper did with Bjork’s Debut, hence the Leona Lewis or Alexandra Burke album comparisons. But hell, she’s written with Alicia Keys and is the Brit newcomer. She should be huge this year and definitely has a sound the US would buy. Here’s a review of some of the tracks:

Hope. Stunning and worth the album price alone. Worthy of Alicia, Leona or any soul diva. I melt when those strings come in at 2.00 mins.and I’ve replayed this time and again already. This song made me cry at the concert. What a softy. 

Clown. Beautiful. The strings on the first chorus give me chills. Enchanting middle eight. A personal, elegant song.

Suitcase. Solid, soul ballad. It could benefit from a more raw, emotive , extended ending to give it that kick into amazing.

Heaven. Superb, career-defining song. A best-of single in 2011 hands down.

My Kind of Love.I was waiting for more percussion and it feels restrained or like a single edit. Great song though. Could be a 4th single with a re-swizz.

Daddy. I prefer this recorded version to the many live performances I’ve heard now. Perfect trip-hoppy percussion and the crisp Massive Attack-style strings really snap.  Drama, drama.

Next To Me. Smart 3^rd single choice. A bit Motown, a lot soulful and very urban.

This is the performance that sold me and thousands of others. Overall, a much better album than I expected. 7.5/10

Maverick Sabre “Lonely Are The Brave” (buy)

OK, so I’m writing this short review and read a tweet from Popjustice that Marverick is part of the New Boring. I know what they mean in that it’s a safe sound (in order to sell units) and he’s not a Gaga-attention grabbing pop star. Whatever.

This seems like a companion album to Emeli ‘s. This debut album is  modern, urban soul some of which reminds me of a male Amy Winehouse. Maverick has a distinctive voice (either you like it or not) but I like it, a lot. Wikipedia described his sound as post-dubstep, or reggae-fusion. LOL at the new genres, but I expected a more hip-hop affair – perhaps I was expecting a Streets-like album, but instead it’s soul of the horns, strings, bluesy, Plan B type.  He’s from Hackney, is 22 years old and featured on Professor Green’s 4th single “ Jungle” as well as collabs with Chase and Status. Mostly though, you’ll hear a personal, gritty and honest album. I need to play this a few more time to get under my skin but I tweeted that I thought it was 15% better than Emeli’s. I’m not sure now.

I Need. Scratchy, old Hammond organ soul.  His first single.

Let Me Go. OMG I love this. Portishead sample, harp sweeps, dramatic chorus. Up there with pop song of 2011 for me.

Cold Game. Mid-tempo string-laden. “I don’t want to live this way, but sometimes there‘s no other way”.

DJHistory.com posted an article written by Simon Frith in 1978 with his perspective on disco music. I’ve read mountains about disco over the years and consumed mountains-worth of it – but this is a slightly different perspective – definitely with the rose-tinted specs off.   The infinite spaces of disco.

Tonight, we popped down to our local pub for their 8th birthday night – it promised some 80s and 90s house and good times. It was a little patchy actually, but some stellar tunes were dropped, namely Alison Limericks “Where Love Lives” (a tune I could listen to all night), Ten City “That’s the way love is” , Shannon “Let the music play”, and Mariah’s “Dreamlover” (amazing). Then it seems a lot of Whitney was being played. I saw a guy on the dancefloor pass his phone to a stranger to read what was on the screen. I guessed something had happened, then it dawned on me as Whitney toon after Whitney toon was played. We’ve lost her. And we were at an impromptu tribute night.  And while I can’t say I was a massive fan and I loved everything she did, I respect that voice. But she was troubled.

We’ll have weeks and months of tributes and there will inevitably be questions and speculation about her death. But, whether you agreed with how she lived her life, it always came back to the legacy that she leaves and that’s her talent. She had a gift, a voice, a shining light that captivated millions. We all desperately wanted her comeback in 2009 and tour to be successful. Actually “Million Dollar Bill” was great. She dropped some soul on us, and threw down that voice. I recall a moment or two on the dancefloor with that song. But sadly, the hits didn’t come and we all relegated her to whatever the media told us about her. Her light has gone out.  R.I.P girl – you’ll live on.