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-- article on the dance music album

article on the dance music album

insightful? or retarded?



from: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2...olution_is.html

The dance album format of the future

At long last producers have stopped trying to shoehorn dance tracks into a rock album format. They're onto something good


Of course he's a clever swine: LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy

The solution is at an experimental stage and some of the results have yet to be peer reviewed in the relevant academic journals (Mixmag, Fact, that Earplug ezine). But after years of beating its head against a solid studio door, it seems that dance music might finally have the artist album cracked.

In the end the answer was devastatingly simple. LCD Soundsystem, Ricardo Villalobos and Luke Solomon have all recently delivered albums that disprove one of music's fundamental laws (that all dance music albums are crap) with the gallingly prosaic tactic of mixing their own album tracks together as if they were a continuous DJ-mix.

Genius isn't it?

For years dance music producers have been trying and failing to shoehorn their work into the album format dictated by rock. Rock albums work to a traditional 12 song pattern: declarative opener; mildly experimental third track; showpiece ballad every six songs; jaunty parting shot. Dance music, unless you're the Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack or Daft Punk (all of whom the purists would argue don't count), is implacably, irretrievably unsuited to that format.

The 12" single or the stand-alone MP3 is dance music's modus operandi. These are individual tracks with a specific basic function. They're meant to make people dance and are aimed primarily at club DJs. Which means they're built in such a way - beats first, hi-hat brought in after 16 bars, bass introduced, wonky digital motif begins etc - that makes them sound completely dull when they're compiled - naked, ugly and embarrassed to be there - as separate tracks on an album.

That is why we have Djs. They mix out the boring bits at the beginning and end and weave together a knowing, self-referential montage of the riffs, patterns, hooks, peaks, troughs, textures and atmospheres, as opposed to traditional verse-chorus songs.

What's that? You reckon if this takes off all dance music albums will be streamlined, one-paced snooze-a-thons? Rubbish! The whole problem, whether we're talking about UNKLE or Phats and Small, Sasha or Black Strobe, has been dance music's lack of self-confidence, with producers seeking to invest their albums with rock-like variations in tempo and texture. It leads to all sorts of problems with guest vocalists, rock mannerisms and guitars, ill-advised detours into alien genres and highfalutin concept albums. Concerned that they need to vary the speed and mood in the abrupt way a rock album would, every dance music album since 1988 has contained a limp ballad or its dance music substitute, the ambient soundscape. All of them total nonsense.

Contrast this with Robots on Luke Solomon's forthcoming The Difference Engine. Whilst keeping the beats steady, he loops an angelic croon round and around into eight minutes of the most pointedly emotional music you will hear all year, before seamlessly blending it into the next, much more upbeat track. Similarly, where would Ricardo Villalobos's Andruic and Japan (12 minutes of demented drums and gibberish about chicken giblets) fit on a normal album? On Fabric 36, however, it seems like a very natural mid-set breather amid the sinuous minimal techno that surrounds it. Some of those tracks, incidentally, are mere two-minute snippets which Villalobos quite rightly felt under no pressure to develop into "proper" songs as he might have done were they not interwoven in a continuous mix. LCD Soundystem's 45.33, meanwhile, with its unorthodox forward momentum and final implosion, unfolds with a naturalness that most dance music albums fundamentally lack.

James Murphy is a clever swine, of course, and has produced great albums in both forms - traditional and mixed. But he's a one-off. For the rest of dance music, the message is clear: the original continuous mix, not the track-by-track album, is the long-play format of the future.

I almost never listen to albums, so can't give any examples, but I find it really really really hard to believe that "LCD Soundsystem, Ricardo Villalobos and Luke Solomon" suddenly out of the blue found the revolutionary, perfect structure for an EDM album.

What this article seems to claim is that they were the first to make tracks specifically for the context of the album rather than for being played on their own. That seems like bullshit of the highest order to me.

Seems like the author started to listen to EDM in 2007

I've expressed my thoughts on this before. I just find most albums, any genre, to be mediocre. I'm extremely picky, and if half the tracks are dull... then that's that. Most artists just don't have it in them, they lose it halfway through.

I love artist albums, I've heard plenty of good ones. How this is revolutionary I have no idea..

Re: article on the dance music album

quote:

Originally posted by nefardec with the gallingly prosaic tactic of mixing their own album tracks together as if they were a continuous DJ-mix.

Ye Gods! No electronic producer has ever done that before 2007!

Despite the obvious bullshitting and lack of expertise in the article, it is probably onto something. While there have been great dance LPs that use the rock album template (Leftfield's "Leftism" and The Prodigy's "Music For The Jilted Generation" spring to mind), the best dance albums are much more cohesive and structured, which does owe a lot to the DJ. As dance music fans we're all used to listening to DJ sets with a larger structure, where context and development are important, and producers carrying it over into their albums is a good thing. That's one of the reasons why I prefer dance music albums.

However, the notion that this is new to 2007 is utterly ludicrous. I'd argue that the concept was done brilliantly by Orbital on the Brown Album back in 1993, which encapsulated a live set in a home listening experience. By finishing on Halcyon & On & On, the definitive "sun rising at the end of a rave" tune, they even made the album a microcosm of an entire rave. This is one of the reasons why the Brown Album is one of my very favourite albums: it did something new with the format and did it very well indeed.

Chab's artist album in 2005 was mixed.

edit: my 2 cents...I don't like artist albums that are mixed, because I still like to have stand-alone tracks that I can play out myself, or on their own should I not like some of the others.

Thus, I like albums "partly mixed", which have a definite flow and similarities between adjacent tracks, which make them seem mixed.

A perfect example is Alex Smoke - Incommunicado. Brilliant, brilliant album. A lot of the tracks are bland on their own, but as a whole, it's a complete journey; absolute genius the way it's strung together and conceived.

quote:

Originally posted by Beat Blog Chab's artist album in 2005 was mixed.

Shocking!

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Mystery Shocking!

I was disproving the article, and that was the first example that came to mind, schnapper.

quote:

Originally posted by sljiva Seems like the author started to listen to EDM in 2007

"hello I've bought 2 edm albums and this is one of them... this is liek way better then the other one"
Seriously... "all EDM is for clubs"


what have you been smoking?

especially concidering half the reason this person probably likes this album is its rock influences.

Also wtf is wrong with the intro, main dancey part, outro structure?

Its way better than anything with choruses

quote:

Originally posted by noikeee

sniper alert

Eh? I take it this guy isn't concerning himself with all those dancey ambient albums from the 90s, many of which were easily modeled in the same vein as prog rock albums from the 70s.

quote:

Originally posted by Beat Blog Thus, I like albums "partly mixed", which have a definite flow and similarities between adjacent tracks, which make them seem mixed.

Me too. Not having those few seconds of silence between tracks makes a world of difference. Oh, and fadeouts should be made illegal.

Ironically, LCD Soundsystem's first album is one of the very few I own that I really do regret buying.

quote:

Originally posted by Sykonee Eh? I take it this guy isn't concerning himself with all those dancey ambient albums from the 90s, many of which were easily modeled in the same vein as prog rock albums from the 70s.

yeah he seems to be rather clueless


in any case i was hoping it'd start a discussion on the appropriateness of the album with regard to dance music

I dont like mixed albums. To me it decreases the value of an album if it is premixed. If I'm paying up for an album I want all the tracks in their original versions, because if they're not then does that mean I need to go and buy the damn singles too after buying the album to have full versions of the tracks? I'd say the best option would be a 2 disc set, one disc with original tracks (no matter what order), and other one mixed. Some albums have had one disc with tracks, and another disc a DJ mix but with other people's tracks though. If I remember correctly Mark Norman - Synchroncity and Way Out West - Dont Look Now did this. Interesting format as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Elec I dont like mixed albums. To me it decreases the value of an album if it is premixed. If I'm paying up for an album I want all the tracks in their original versions, because if they're not then does that mean I need to go and buy the damn singles too after buying the album to have full versions of the tracks?

You're not really buying the album for the listening experience though. It sounds like you're a DJ after the tracks to mix with.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J You're not really buying the album for the listening experience though. It sounds like you're a DJ after the tracks to mix with.

So? Thats a valid audience...

and I agree... unmixed tracks+ a dj mix (usually with others tracks as well) to showcase some tracks would be great. In fact chuck in one track in the DJ mix that isn't released again till the next album and you've got an idea for promotion.

quote:

Originally posted by Darkarbiter So? Thats a valid audience...

Not really. You may as well ask for artists to mix together their singles, because everyone who isn't a DJ and just wants a good listening experience is also a "valid audience", and a much larger one. Don't fuck up the format. DJs have the single. Let everyone else have the album.

If an artist's album needs to be mixed to take out the boring bits... well, why have the boring bits in there in the first place?

In psytrance there are generally two types of artist albums: 1) a bunch of tracks in the same style for DJs to rip up a dance floor, and 2) a genuine artistic statement. Of course, either approach can fail, but the first one is dead easy for most producers to accomplish. Albums aimed at the DJ market are boring for home listening, sure... but that's like saying broccoli is a poor insulator--that isn't what it's for, brainiac!

quote:

Originally posted by basilisk Albums aimed at the DJ market are boring for home listening, sure... but that's like saying broccoli is a poor insulator--that isn't what it's for, brainiac!

I think thats a bit of an overstatement. Aimed at the DJ market being any dance song, you mean? I've heard many albums completely filled with dance 4 to the flour music that were absolutely stunning.

No, I mean albums purpose-built for DJ consumption. Psytrance is full of these--8 or 9 similar tracks lumped together with no discernible attempt at storytelling of any kind. Artist albums can feature nothing but DJ-friendly tunes and still sound good at home, but it usually requires a little more thought and effort than many producers in my field seem interested in providing.

yes, in that case I agree with you.

quote:

Originally posted by Darkarbiter So? Thats a valid audience...

It most certainly is, but I don't see why this would prevent you from appreciating the album listening experience just because it doesn't fit your practical concerns.

I'm with you on wanting unmixed artist albums, though. There are a bunch of tracks I wanted that I thought already had in unmixed format, so now I have to buy the singles. Still, if it's all thoughtfully crafted, I'm still very much able to enjoy the end-result.

As for the subject in general, the partially mixed format has been around for a decent period of time now, with the typical blending of the ambient outro-intro accounting for most of the 'mixing.'

quote:

Originally posted by Paradox Lost It most certainly is, but I don't see why this would prevent you from appreciating the album listening experience just because it doesn't fit your practical concerns. I'm with you on wanting unmixed artist albums, though. There are a bunch of tracks I wanted that I thought already had in unmixed format, so now I have to buy the singles. Still, if it's all thoughtfully crafted, I'm still very much able to enjoy the end-result. As for the subject in general, the partially mixed format has been around for a decent period of time now, with the typical blending of the ambient outro-intro accounting for most of the 'mixing.'

Partially mixed songs can still be used so long as its not at the start or end of the mix surely? If the albums constrcuted correctly you'll probably only want to use starter tracks for starter mixes and ending tracks for ending mixes.

Notice the fine blend of generalisation, ignorance and complete bullshit in that article.

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