A good article. Keep in mind the tongue in cheek tone to this one.
The Month In by Philip Sherburne
Everything feels fucked up. The environment, the economy, war, terrorism, an unraveling Constitution, obesity, reality shows, the coming 2012 apocalypse meme-- it's hard to be optimistic about much these days.
The music industry in general is widely considered to be one big bum-out, of course, from gripes about shrinking sales to corporate consolidation, from RIAA brainlessness and Mac avarice to the high price of gasoline making it harder for underground bands to tour. A glut of offerings has resulted in unprecedented declines in festival ticket sales and even a few high-profile cancellations. Even the things we thought positive, like the internet, are showing hidden costs. The Long Tail is coming back to bite us in the ass, claim some critics, who argue that an explosion of musical options has translated into a narrowing of tastes.
Even electronic dance music, which once spun blithely under a yellow smiley face, seems uncommonly sober these days-- self-critical, nail-biting, a buzzkill to the extreme. Minimal, of course, was the straw that overflowed the glass of Red Bull. Scapegoat or no, in the last 18 months, the ubiquitous and yet strangely ephemeral genre has become a lightning rod for every conceivable critique. It's too soulless. It all sounds the same. It's lost touch with the roots of "real" dance music. It might not be surprising to hear a DJ like Diplo tell Pitchfork, "I go to a club in Berlin and I want to kill myself." But even within the scene, everyone complains about minimal, leveling complaints that often seem indicative of a much wider unease.
Griping seems to be endemic to the times. Disco fans complain about the proliferation of disco edits. Dubstep fans bemoan the genre's calcification into a turgid parody of dread. For a critique of the blog-house scene (aka electroclash 2.0), look no further than its loyal (and hilarious) opposition, Hipster Runoff. Maybe it's just the internet that makes people irritable. The comments section of BrooklynVegan is full of blasts at "Euro douchebags," suggesting a disturbingly xenophobic tendency in American indie culture. The mnmlssgs blog's recent attempt to critically assess the mythology behind Detroit techno quickly devolved into namecalling. The dance-music threads over at ILM are thick with vitriol. Part of the problem, certainly, is the rampant incivility that's crept into the world of Web 2.0-- as Homer Simpson would put it, "Democracy doesn't work!"-- but it seems like the mark of a true fan has become the ability to bitch more loudly and strenuously than anyone else. (But then, listen to me: I sound like an aging fogey with an axe to grind and a fading sense of history, when I need only pull out my yellowed copies of Maximum Rock & Roll to remind myself that irrational passions and combative discourse weren't invented yesterday.)
Still, dance music is suffering from some very real maladies, many of them economic. Record sales are declining-- labels that once could confidently move 1,000 copies of a 12" single now struggle to sell 250-- and legal downloads, while presumably growing, aren't taking up the slack. In the U.S., a falling dollar and rising petrol prices have jacked the price of an import 12" single to $12 or more-- and that's when you can find a record in shops (or, indeed, a record shop) at all. Recent high-profile closures of key dance-music distributors are both a symptom of a market in crisis and a cause of further problems: Unless you want to resort to mail-ordering from Europe or the UK, it's all but impossible to get your hands on most overseas vinyl these days.
Even if you can get the stuff, and even if you decide that it's worth shelling out $12 or more for two tracks you could purchase digitally for $3, playing vinyl is increasingly a pain in the ass for DJs, between carry-on limitations and rising fees for checked luggage. (I recently shelled out $80 to check a record bag I had carried into the UK on a flight out of Luton, owing to security restrictions that prohibit travelers from carrying aboard more than one bag. Forget about that "personal item.") The airlines' increasing behind-the-scenes disarray is translating into more lost luggage. (Remember Radio Slave's CD-only performance at MUTEK, after the airline misplaced his record bag.) And foreign DJs who want to play the U.S. without going through the onerous and expensive process of applying for an artist's performance visa are forced to forsake the black wax and perform only with a laptop, or risk being turned away at customs and immigration.
But above and beyond our current economic woes (and the coming environmental ones), the prevailing anomie feels spiritual. Or as Simon Reynolds noted in a blog post a few months back, "something I realized with a slight shock earlier this year, in an unlikely context-- Germany, travelling on the autobahn-- ...is that I don't believe in beats anymore." Reynolds describes how listening to OutKast's Idlewild "suddenly got me flashing on the excitement of tracking the BeatGeist all those years, following each advance towards the brink of total dysfunktionalism, every startling new balance struck between mechanistic and swinging...an adventure, a way of listening to and conceptualising about and feeling music, that began for me really with jungle, blossomed with 2step and street rap and nu-R&B and dancehall, then entered a tawny golden autumnal phase with grime... and then thinking about how it was all underpinned by a quasi-mystical faith in beats as somehow figurative: a belief that the tremors that each breakthrough by auteur-producer or scenius alike sent through the state of pop somehow correlated with or could be equated to tremors through society...
"After a good decade at full-tilt, that particular structure of affect and belief has faded away for me now, or for now (something could bring it back, possibly, but what that would be I can't even begin to imagine). Beats are just beats again: cool, funky, useful, invigorating, inventive."
I don't think Reynolds is alone in his dismay. You don't have to be a formerly wide-eyed raver to mourn the complacency behind today's dance music-- or more precisely, to mourn the atrophy of a particular sense of optimism, of possibility, that once seemed encoded in particular rhythmic structures and the ceaseless advancement of electronic music's shifting stylistics. Dance music is once again a lifestyle product, a soundtrack for entertainment. That's not entirely a bad thing; lord knows we could use some distraction these days. But even dance music's hedonism feels perfunctory, pre-programmed. I used to be enamored of Berlin techno's never-ending parties, but these days I wonder if the obligation to defer closure isn't hurting the music itself. Unless you're talking about a ritual music like gamelan, music isn't really intended to be consumed in 12-hour shots. A party culture (and drug culture) predicated upon parties that never end can only result in a music that thumps dully away without surprise or meaningful variation.
Last December, Ewan Pearson-- a formidable producer and one of my favorite DJs-- confronted a number of dance music's maladies in his monthly column for Grooves magazine. Titled "The Supreme Overlord of Dance Decrees...", the column was a 13-point manifesto addressing everything from economics to aesthetics to clubbers' etiquette. The proclamation was at least partially tongue-in-cheek and certainly suited to Pearson's own tastes ("No house or techno record shall exceed 122 bpm in tempo, and, further, every other release must contain at least one track that is 118 bpm or slower. There will be no exceptions"). But even in its self-effacing pomposity, Pearson's manifesto serves as a telling diagnosis of the ills plaguing the decade's dance-music scene.
Dance music has plenty of rules-- some of them good, some bad, all of them unwritten-- but where are the manifestos? Inspired by Pearson's column and Matthew Herbert's "Personal Contract for the Composition of Music", I decided to solicit similar manifestos from a number of DJs, producers, critics, and label owners. Out of 100 or so artists contacted, only about two dozen got back to me; I don't know whether the low voter turnout stems from a sense of complacency, a distrust of manifestos, or neither. (Thinking about the quantity of unanswered emails in my own inbox, I can hardly get mad at the non-responders.) Those who did reply, however, offer valuable insight into contemporary dance-music culture. Their answers are variously perfectionist, prejudicial, economic, historicizing. At least one of them, I suspect, is viciously ironic. (You decide which.) But what I appreciate most is the way that all their answers underscore the ethical dimension of aesthetics-- the belief that a track is never just a track, a reminder never to take anything for granted.
Todd Burns (Resident Advisor)
http://toddlburns.com/
No more disco re-edits.
Kate Simko (Spectral)
http://www.katesimko.com/
Make a full EP or LP completely sober and with no one else in the studio with you-- no exceptions. Struggle and search on your own; it makes you grow.
Derek Walmsley (The Wire)
http://poplifeblog.blogspot.com/
Tracks should be mastered either professionally or properly (i.e., for full impact) or by yourself and with careful attention to detail. No more laptop-mastered tracks with boomy, cluttered, overdriven dynamics.
You can compress a maximum of two sound elements per track. Everything else must be more or less uncompressed.
Each DJ set must have at least one moment where it stops, goes to silence for a few seconds, and then starts afresh. Too many DJs play sets that are, conceptually, endless.
Each artist must release at least one 7" or 10" per year, to encourage conciseness. Disco samples should be rationed. If a producer does use them, I encourage a "mouth to tail" philosophy of use, whereby as many of the elements of the original track as possible are used on the same track at some point.
Michael Baumann (Jackmate/Soulphiction)
http://www.myspace.com/jackmateakasoulphiction
There shall be no further distribution of MP3 files, but proper WAVs at least, because you don't produce on proper equipment to listen to a shitty, compressed algorhythm.
The delay between the release of vinyl and its digital release should be at least one month.
Live acts just using a laptop should be called "semi-live." That's already common in Holland.
Please don't call slowed-down, boring minimal techno with strings or two chords on top "house music"!!
The tempo of a DJ set should at least vary by +/- 10 bpm.
Monty Luke/ML Tronik (Mothership/XLR8R)
http://www.mltronik.com/
If you can't do it in real life, don't put it on a mix CD. I'm listening to a mix right now by a dude on Dialect Records. It's so obviously an Ableton mix-- one major bit of a record looped for minutes on end while he mixes two other records on top of it. It sounds great, but if you can't pull that off at the club, don't even bother.
Simon Reynolds
http://blissout.blogspot.com/
Whenever, as a producer, you feel yourself flinching a bit from using an idea or a sound or an effect, hesitating on the grounds that it's maybe a wee bit cheesy, then I would say just to push right past that feeling and go for it. Do it twice over, even. There can never be enough monster riffs or cheap tricks in dance music; there can definitely be a surfeit of just-so subtleties.
Dave Aju (Circus Company)
http://www.myspace.com/daveaju
7-Step Dance Music Production Honor System:
1. Try to emphasize content over form.
2. Challenge yourself. If it seems too easy, it is questionable at best.
3. Personalize all sounds, effects, and arrangements wherever possible.
4. Refrain from releasing or submitting any track that:
a. sounds like it could be the work of another producer,
b. sounds redundantly like other works of your own, or
c. only evokes the emotion of being in a club.
5. Treat every track as you would a loved one; support and encourage its individuality, and never misguide or manipulate it for popularity purposes.
6. Study and consider the history of dance music and make every attempt possible to carry on its creative and positive traditions while respectfully avoiding mimicking, re-treading, or capitalizing on its origins for content.
7. Honestly question your motivation and objective, particularly if your interest in dancing and dance music is a result of certain chemical experiences.
Professor Genius (Thisisnotanexit)
http://www.myspace.com/professorgenius
Before that track you just made goes out into the world, ask yourself: have you just made something that would knock you out if someone else was the author? Would you need to own it and listen to it again? Or does it just blend in with everything else out there (ho hum)?
Are you being honest? If not, shouldn't you be doing something else?
It's ok to play more than one minute of a record in a mix. It's even ok to play an entire song (at times).
Pick a stranger in the room who's dancing and play for them all night (if possible). This will hopefully ensure a minimum of self-indulgence on your part.
Mike Shannon (Cynosure, Plus
http://www.cynosure-recordings.com/
Thou shall not chart thyself... that means no remixes [by you or of your own tracks] and nothing on your label-- an unwritten rule that somehow was lost in time.
Techno should be as faceless as possible... no need to put your pretty face on the cover of your ugly techno record. (Whatever happened to faceless techno bollocks!?)
Strategy (Community Library, Kranky)
http://www.community-library.net/strategyhome.htm
DJs shall respect their roles as stewards of musical history (not simply musical trends) by keeping accurate set lists and an online record of their play activities, and will share information openly with fans, center-label trainspotters, etc. Furthermore, audio documentation and relationships to radio and net broadcasters are encouraged and expected.
DJs shall respect their roles as stewards of musical culture-- as fans of the highest order-- by communicating their gratitude to labels, artists, and producers whose work they are performing.
Producers, musicians, and artists shall respect their roles as cultural producers by dedicating numbers of vinyl pressings to devoted DJs in kind and offering communication about their work, their intentions, and their artistic desires to the DJs who are performing the work.
Producers and DJs shall respect the history of techno, house and disco by collecting actual vinyl and establishing an understanding of their roots, not just in dance music, but in all musical forms, doing their best not to copy the sounds of the past but to draw on the inspiration of originators and honor their legacies by innovating with previous risk-taking practices humbly remembered and cherished. Risk-taking shall be the guideline for all music deemed "good" by fans, artists, labels, DJs, etc.
Labels shall respect their roles as cultural producers by maintaining a dedication to actual manufactured formats; to shops who remain open in spite of rising rents and costs; and to paying artists who produce the work (when profit exists). Most of all, labels should help shift trends by offering products that differ from whatever trend is staling on the shelves. It is not the label's role to give people what they want-- it is the label's role to provide what people did not know that they will soon be wanting.
Fans shall respect their roles as cultural consumers by always asking for something more, something different, something visceral, something real and above all something that sounds good. They should be proud to pay for the work.
Jordan Czmanski/ Juju & Jordash (Real Soon)
http://www.jujujordash.com/
FACT: In-the-box, laptop-only productions sound LIKE sh!t.
FACT: Plug-ins effects DO NOT sound as good as hardware units.
FACT: It is a sin to think that a tape delay emulator is dubby.
FACT: A synth output sounds much better than any laptop sampler or soft-synth.
FACT: As useful as they can be, physical modeling synths sound HARSH and have NO SOUL.
FACT: God made the audio sequencer, the Devil made the "quantize" button.
FACT: Surprises in music are a GOOD thing. Knowing what's coming up each 16 bars is BORING.
Pheek (Archipel)
http://www.myspace.com/pheekmoozik
DJs are not allowed to pose for their official presskit picture with sunglasses.
Promoters will not use "the best" in their artist/event description.
Spamming DJs on MySpace with promos is irrelevant.
Anyone claiming to play live should at least have a minimum of 50 audio clips in Ableton and play at least 85% of them.
DJs must smile at least once per representation.
Clubbers must make an effort to listen to music on the dancefloor, and if they need to talk, to leave it.
Clubbers will have to stop complaining that DJs/laptop artists are boring to watch. It was never meant to be entertaining. DJs are there to put music on, so if you're more concerned about the show than the music itself, you're simply in the wrong place.
Joakim Bouaziz (Tigersushi)
http://www.myspace.com/jimibazzouka
As a DJ:
1. You shall play with a lot of attitude (Bob's advice).
2. You shall play at least 80% of recent club hits.
3. Blogs are better than record shops; don't worry about the poor MP3 quality because you can't hear when you play everything too loud.
4. Never play more than 30% of a track before the next one, and NEVER play a record till its end.
5. You can play disco, or older music, but only if it's your last track (this means you're cool).
6. You shall make an extensive use of the cue button on your CD player (this means you're a technical DJ).
As a producer:
1. No tracks below 125 nor above 135 BPM (what for?).
2. You shall always overcompress your tracks; it makes you sound huge and this helps hide the poor quality of your sounds (heavy distortion may also do the trick).
3. You shall use a lot of Supatrigga and Beat Repeat to make your tracks sound technically impressive.
4. There should always be a big break between the second and third minute for hands-in-the-air action, then bring everything back in.
Randy Jones/ Caro (Orac)
http://orac.vu/
The phrase "peak time" is banned. Writers will refrain from using it to describe dance records or anything else. Furthermore, producers will not make tracks with the aim that they will be played at "peak time."
Peter van Hoesen (Time To Express, Lan Muzic)
http://www.t2x.be
Every DJ playing out should dance for at least one hour with the same crowd he/she has been DJing for. We need more dancing DJs!
Lee Jones (My My)
http://www.myspace.com/justmymy
No tracks should contain accordions, African tribal chants or other token ethnic gimmicks.
Any new artist sending demos over MySpace should be refused a record deal from any label for the rest of their life.
Laptop PA's should never last more than 60 minutes, and performers should do more than simply play their tracks and add effects.
Cheesy house vocals deserve the same fate as dark, pitched-down vocals, in my opinion.
Remixes should contain at least one recognizable element from the original.
Seth Troxler (Esperana, Circus Company)
http://www.myspace.com/sethtroxler
Be comfortable.
Be cool.
Keep 'em guessing.
Mr. G (Proof, Rekids)
http://www.mr-g.org.uk/
Dance music should some have good weight-- and not be thin!
Dance music remixes must take more than two days.
Before you get into dance music you'll have to take a test to confirm you musical history, to be released to all at a later date, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm so no faking then eh?
No one name should do more that 10 remixes a year. Make another album so we can see what ya doin'.... As you know, there are many other good producers!
No long faces or attitudes please! Come on, this should be fun-- you gettin' paid, ain't ya?
Ain't no real money, you know, you gotta do it for loooooove.... Heehee.
Producers must make half of their tracks without reverb or delay...now we're talkin'!
Radovan Scasascia/ Secondo, AM/PM (Dreck, Soul Jazz)
http://www.dreck-records.com/
Producers shall never pursue the goal to make their music sound like someone else's music.
In fact, all producers shall start from scratch if they produce something that sounds like someone else's music.
The public and producers alike will not take music for granted.
Producers and DJs shall make re-edits for their own consumption only (be it DJing or listening) and will not release them as commercial products.
Cristian Vogel (No Future, Tresor)
http://www.no-future.com/vogel_microsite/
Techno music is not important; it is nothing.
Techno music can strive to be as empty as possible.
Techno music can be poetry about the ecstasy in the universe.
Techno music should give awareness, not take it away.
Techno music is too good at describing our cyclic existence.
DJs should strive to enlighten.
Techno music needs to be kind and rest.
Marco Freivogel/ Exercise One (Lan Muzic, Mobilee)
http://www.myspace.com/exerciseone1
Live is live, play live with Live!
Never try to be new. If it happens, it happens...
A track has to catch a moment. Record all your sessions!
Make a track with a friend every week.
Ableton is an instrument.
Pro Tools is a sequencer.
Do not only produce for the DJ.
No more plicky-placky.
Nobody owns music. It comes to you and it leaves you. Music has its own way.
Finn Johannsen (Macro Recordings)
http://www.macro-rec.com/
Mediocrity is not a virtue.
There is a direct connection between the devaluation of music and artistic irresponsibility.
Status won't necessarily last longer by being fully exploited.
Every trend you follow is trend less you could set.
For every older record you may disrespect, there is a blueprint you may imitate.
Every preset you use is an idea less that you could develop on your own.
If a virus wipes out every preset in existence, you might have to stop producing.
If you change your musical style, you could consider using the one you just left behind on the one you get into.
For every edit you make that just streamlines the original material, there is a DJ is capable of using just the original material you just deleted in the process.
Don't release something that you won't care about in the near future. You may block somebody who does.
You would be better off investing all you can afford into the mastering, distribution and design of the release you totally believe in, than investing the least possible into mastering, distribution and design of all the other releases you don't really believe in.
Mixing is overrated; selection is not.
The performance aspects of digital DJing are alarmingly disproportionate to the convenience aspects of digital DJing.
Charts and playlists don't oblige, they just give examples.
If you don't earn enough money by DJing, you will not necessarily earn more if you start to produce.
If you don't earn enough money by producing, you will not necessarily earn more if you start to DJ.
If you don't earn enough money by producing and DJing, you will not necessarily earn more if you start a label.
There are more phrases to illustrate a positive feedback than "full support," "top tune," and "will play."
Your demo as a Sendspace link in the MySpace inbox of the label of your choice will not give the impression that there is some thought behind your choice.
if you are not in the mood to party, stay in.
Jacopo Carreras (Lan Muzic)
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... le&friendI...
As a son of the Revolution, not the one of the 1960s, but the French one, I ask myself, why be funny, let's be serious. I state:
1. Minimal is dead.
2. I love spheres.
3. Marx is dead, and capitalism is following.
4. MP3 makes my digestion uneasy.
Gamall Awad (Demon Days, Backspin Promotion)
http://www.demon-days.com
NO TO MANIFESTOS.
