too much revivalism? is dance music stagnating?

[DJoe]

if you knew anything about vapourwave youd know youre two years too late with that joke

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

No it's truly cutting edge u just don't understand it

[finji]

Burmese war chants

[exfox]

from a French perspective - ie that of a scene that has suddenly known a boom over the last few years, mostly focused on techno -, this heavy nostalgia mostly seems to come from the fact that a lot of people have come to the sound fairly recently, started throwing parties / doing shows and stuff and need to legitimize themselves in a culture that has always insisted on its lineage/history (through sound references, recurring samples, etc).
thus embracing excessively its codes, leading to a generalize idea that proper releases only use TR 808, reference old school techno and only gets released/DJed on vinyl. I'm generalizing of course, but that's not too far from truth - I know quite a few Parisian techno producers who even get international recognition, who only came to the sound as cocaine made its return in Paris' nightclubs and suddenly built armadas of vintage gear that's worth thousands of euros. which leads to conservatism spreading throughout the scene, marginalization of other styles or newer sounds (some people have started complaining about too many people shouting "when will the techno start?" at nights).

mind you, I'm not at all saying "fuckin n00bs lol" - it's more this insistance within electronic spheres (and popular music in general) on history/knowing your stuff/knowing where that culture comes from/etc + the idea of legitimizing yourself through refering to codes/general values of the culture that will show you as knowledgeable. that, and the effect of Internet as well - acceleration of culture with most things becoming accessible on a daily basis, news and records spreading more quickly than ever, and the culture of irony that comes with it that I believe plays a role in making things appear stale so fast (aka for some reason it looks cool to say "lame" on the stuff people begin to be excited about, which ultimately will make people think it's effectively lame in three weeks whereas it could have developed further).

I still think there are interesting spheres that are pushing stuff forward though - labels like Livity Sound or Hessle Audio, people like Mumdance, Acre, Alex Coulton, Sharp Veins, ...

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

I'm pioneering a new genre ATM.
Vapourthroat
Tuvan throat singing. Chopped and screwed with reverb
Truly next level

[hubb]

There's happened a lot to change the climate entirely recently.
Some trap stuff is so exotic it's ridiculous. With beats that are as inventive as other more electronic bits of music that usually demand a looooong history to get to that level of reflection.

It's also ok now to be a ½ closeted gangster crooner talking about weed AND rave drugs like ilovemakonnen and then have a guy like drake curate it in the mainstream.

or kanye putting basicly any formerly weird reference into the big mainstream.

someone like future, i mean what is he? is he some weird super star type guy who cant really sing like an elvis or something. Definitely new.

And that is just in a few states and stuff with bloody vocals tbh.

It might be that it's the first time in a while where the good bits aren't a british invention.. . ?

[DJoe]

can you point me in the direction of some good current trap. from what ive heard im not too keen but i havent exactly dug deep

[AxeD]

Yeah those guys that promote drug use to appeal to young kids and contribute nothing to
any artistic scene whatsoever. Overpriced 'fashion' brands excluded.

It's like punk, but without the music.

[RKM]

something i've been wondering myself, eagerly looking out for something really new to come along

these things probably happen quite slowly though man, stuff like garage and funky doesn't just arrived fully formed and named, but i get you about stagnation a lot of tunes sound like old ones,

i think what we need is a new drum beat, that always defines a scene haha

[Harkat]

can you point me in the direction of some good current trap. from what ive heard im not too keen but i havent exactly dug deep

CHIEF KEEF - WAYNE

[+] Spoiler

FATHER - WHY CAN'T I CRY $$$

[+] Spoiler

SPACEGHOSTPURRP - BLOODY MARY

[+] Spoiler

SICKO MOBB - HOES B GOIN

[+] Spoiler

YUNG LEAN - VOLT

[+] Spoiler

[nobody]

[DJoe]

@harkat. yeah i like a few of those but not really dance music. i think hiphops got lots of interesting shit going on at the mo. but yeah its dance music im talking about really.

[AxeD]

Interesting for sure.

[exfox]

harkat that yung lean tune is bangin'!

[Johnlenham]

Wasnt it 130 type sound for awhile? Vogue/ballroom kind of stuff? "weightless" stuff seems to be picking up but not exactly "club" music

I kind of care but kind of dont, could argue theres too much music as there is, I sure as fuck cant keep up.

Edit: that yug lean could do without the vocals, then its just kind of synthwave which aint bad

[RKM]

i love that yung lean tune

but do you think it's weird that a lot of hip hop/other stuff gets dismissed as tumblr/meme

what would they be without the internet tho still just tunes, even if they are shit ones

listening to that mr mitch album, feel that 'grime' stuff might be drifting further from it's origins, maybe into some new melodic instrumental vibe, i hope so cos i think there's promising producers with an ear for a tune being held back by tryna be fact mag's 2015 uk grime

[Harkat]

the whole "it's for internet fuccbois" thing is easily dissmissable and will be forgotten by history IMO. Same thing as all sorts of rubbish back in the day, like people hating bob dylan for playing electric guitar or whatever.

The "fake" internet stuff is merging with the "true" street stuff now anyway. ILOVEMAKONNEN, OG Maco and Father are definitely influenced by Lil B and guys like that, and they're actually from Atlanta. And Yung Lean isn't musically that much wackier than modern Chief Keef. Ballout from GBE (keef's gang) did a fucking stomper of a tune with Lean earlier this year:

[RKM]

yeah like yung lean has dumb lyrics but chief keef has some pretty fucking dumb lyrics too

i really gained a much nicer perspective on music by trying to enjoy stuff cos it's different/ on its own merits, sorry if that's vague, i mean like listening to trap when i stopped trying to compare it to 90s hip hop became so much more fun

and on the internet fuccbois thing, i listened to that spooky black album a ridiculous number of times last month and that was the most 'meme' ting ever

[Phigure]

imo its the other way around, stagnation leads to revivalism as people try fall back on "proven" dance music forms in the face of a current lack of inspiration/imagination. obviously this lends itself to abuse along the way

i mean historically we got new types of music, particularly dance music, by them growing organically out of small communities and staying isolated/underground for a while, which gave each of them the time to develop their own unique flavors and characteristics. the internet has completely disrupted that, and when you throw in the idea that the rise and fall of dubstep was also pretty "violent" for the dance music scene as a whole, i'm not surprised that we're currently in a period of stagnation where we're currently trying to pick up the pieces (if we can).

there was an interview with aphex after syro dropped where he more or less says the same thing regarding the internet and the growth of music scenes

The holy grail for a music fan, I think, is to hear music from another planet, which has not been influenced by us whatsoever. Or, even better, from lots of different planets. And the closest we got to that was before the Internet, when people didn't know of each other's existence. Now, that doesn't really happen.

i think only time will tell if we'll ever experience something like that again.

chief keef is probably the closest right now lol

[wysockisauce]

Theres some kid on his computer making the next big thing as we speak. Give it some time.

For now, Trap is definitely THE genre to explore. And i would say it is most certainly dance music. I see people getting down to it on a weekly basis. Maybe it doesn't cater to the atmosphere of a small dark room full of sweaty tru heds, but is that necessary for music to qualify as "dance music"? Idk.