Pt1


"A Few Tips on Terms and Common Practices in the Rave scene

San Francisco has historically been the epicenter of many subcultures and, given its current reputation in the techno music scene, today is no different. What most people know of rave culture comes from sensationalized reports of out-of-control parties and drug overdoses. But raving cannot be so easily simplified.

Whether raving is an escape, a party or a spiritual experience depends on the person. On the whole, however, the underground rave scene is about people from all walks of life trying to connect within a modern culture that is increasingly individualistic.

Raves and their large following in America can be difficult to pin down and define, wild beasts that they are. This ambiguity even within the ranks of the scene make it doubly confusing for those that don’t know what a rave is to begin with, let alone what the culture that surrounds it might be like.

Few can agree on more than a couple of basics in defining raves: They are gatherings of people for the primary purpose of listening or dancing to music, often programmed under the guidance of the disc jockey (DJ).

It’s been nearly ten years since raves have been active in the United States, so raves take on many different forms and ideals these days. At root, raves are a British phenomenon, having sprung into action nationwide in England in the late Eighties. There, as in the States, raves resulted from a cross-cultural mix of musical and social influences and began as largely illegal ventures that evolved into legal, well-produced and organized massives at one end, and small, word-of-mouth parties at the other.

Raves have been described in a myriad of ways, nothing truly capturing their essence for everyone. Newscasters and tabloid television anchors have characterized them as "deadly teenage orgies of sex and booze [where] there’s no way for police and parents to help," while ardent ravers use words like "family" and "community" to describe their experiences. This discrepancy reveals a vast gray area that’s far closer to the truth. Drugs (but not particularly alcohol) are an indelible facet of the rave scene, good and bad, but are certainly not their singular purpose by any stretch of the imagination.

A rave can describe a party of 50 on the beach, or 2,000 in a warehouse. It can be 300 in an intimate club setting, or 12,000 in a giant, downtown block party organized for a movie shoot (as there was in Los Angeles about six years ago). Legal or illegal, small or large and with a baffling array of different sounds, there are more types of raves to choose from than colors in the rainbow.

Similarly, you may see some commonalties in what ravers look or dress like, but this will vary widely among regions and party sizes. Many ravers who like to get into the spirit will dress up in whatever way makes them feel free. This can take the form of hats, wigs, whimsical jewelry or accessories (toys, stickers), baby attire (including pacifiers) or other creative or homemade attire.

Depending on the type of party being thrown, raves are announced in a variety of different ways by the event’s organizer, commonly referred to as the promoter. Expensive flyers might be distributed to hip clothing and record stores and at other raves or clubs. Or it might be strictly word-of-mouth (on the street and through e-mail), controlling the information so that only a certain number of people show up. Many promoters and production companies use the Internet to publicize events, through calendars on web sites or through mailing lists organized by region or by specific musical interest.

So how do you get there? Larger, legal events may print the location on their flyer or advertisement but more underground parties often involve some effort on the part of participants. There might be a voicemail number to call on the day of the event to get directions to the party, or to a map point, another location where you buy the entrance ticket and a copy of directions. Hours of operation are generally in the late night hours, though daytime raves have grown in popularity over the years, as have weekend-long festivals."

"Central to a good rave is a selection of DJs to steer the party in the desired sonic directions. Most DJs still use turntables and vinyl records, though with increasingly more deluxe digital mixing units available on the market, some, though not many, are defecting to compact disks. The DJ uses two turntables and a mixer (sometimes with other add-ons like effects units and laptop computers) to blend different songs together. The act of DJing is often referred to as spinning.

At raves, many DJs hope to make seamless mixes, where it’s difficult for the listener to tell when one record ends and another begins. When the rhythms of two records are in sync with each other, DJs say they are beat-matching their records. When the beats are clashing because they are not the same tempo or phrased properly, DJs are creating train wrecks. Obviously, train wrecks are to be avoided at all costs, for fear of disturbing the dance floor and possibly humiliating the DJ.

The music being played at raves include a vast combination of sounds that marketing executives like to call electronica, a term that ravers generally disdain. The term greatly simplifies the vastly different flavors of electronic-based dance music — some have as little to do with each other as country and punk do.

Some promoters like to book a series of DJs that specialize in different musical styles, crafting a progression of new sounds over the duration of the party. Others prefer to hone in on one style and have it going all night long.

The rave in GROOVE features a spectrum of sounds presented by different DJs. The chill-out room, where people go to relax from dancing, features DJs spinning lush, soothing ambient music that’s often beatless or rhythmically sparse and designed to be an unobtrusive enhancement to the surroundings. On the dance floor, DJs spin house (the direct descendant of disco), techno (hard, machinelike beats), trance (hypnotic rhythm and exuberant melodies) and jungle (a rapid, highly syncopated sound with inventive basslines influenced by hip-hop, reggae and techno that’s also referred to as drum & bass). Aficionados of these different styles have even more sub-categories to dissect and describe the sounds, which may further confuse the issue for the interested newcomer.

Those for whom raves are unfamiliar might suspect that they are merely occasions for people to take drugs. This view has unfortunately been supported by ten years of biased media attention in the United States. But, as in other thriving subcultures that have left their important marks on American history, there is a richness in the rave community that has yet to garner the same coverage.

For example, the vast number of independent businesses that have sprung from people’s participation in the rave scene would astound outsiders if properly quantified. Clothing lines, magazines, record stores and labels, graphic designers, musicians and producers — these are just a few examples of the vibrant, creative force of the rave scene in this country. It would be difficult for the culture to have existed and flourished if it were only drugged-out, hedonistic kids escaping their parents’ not-so-watchful eyes.

But while the rave scene’s more productive and positive outgrowths don’t get that much attention, the stigma of drugs has not been entirely unwarranted. Plain and simple: some people that go to raves — just like some people who like to go to sports events, concerts, fairs etc. — seek the enhancement of illegal drugs like Ecstasy, LSD or GHB to add to the multimedia experience of music, visuals and human interaction that raves provide. Others turn to legal stimulants like coffee or Red Bull (a potent, carbonated energy drink) or natural enhancements like proper sleep and exercise to help maintain the energy to dance all night long. Unfortunately, it is the excesses and the bad judgment of the few that have canceled out the good deeds and behavior of the many, leading to a one-sided, often sensationalized view of raves.

GROOVE focuses on one night at one underground party in San Francisco, a city with its own rich local scene. With origins in the city’s gay nightlife, San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area has, for the last ten years, developed as one of the epicenters of rave culture in the U.S. Any night of the week you can go to a club or party and hear house or jungle DJs play to enthusiastic audiences. Few cities can speak of the same diversity and options.

At the same time, the San Francisco Bay Area has undeniably secured a place on the global dance floor map; it’s known worldwide as a rich source of talent for both DJs and producers. And while certain regions of the country might be known in electronic music circles for specializing in one particular type of sound, the Bay Area has the distinction of representing a wide array of innovative sounds. GROOVE's soundtrack reflects this diversity, with both established and up-and-coming local artists featured alongside the national and international talent that inspires them. The organic process by which this film was cast and created mirrors the collective spirit of throwing raves, which helps lend to the authentic feel of the party captured in "



Taken from www.groovethemovie.com

So it was an advertisement for the soundtrack of that movie? interesting


but seriously, that is an alright read if you didnt know much about 'raves'.

Actually quite informative for someone who has no idea like my dad. I've told him what i do and he knows but doesn't understand. Maybe i'll show him this

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I remember telling my mum about what it feels like when you've popped a pill and a great track comes on. I must have described the sensation pretty well (almost got a bit of a rush as I was remembering it) because she really got into it - I honestly think if I'd pulled one out of my pocket there and then she'd have been up for it!

Anyway, back to the topic (always a struggle for me) it was interesting to see them referring to a chill-out room - is it just me or are chillout rooms an endangered species? I remember when I first started going to trance clubs in the UK about 5 years ago chillout rooms were an important part of the clubs, usually with their own DJ and a thick haze of dope smoke Now there are mass-market "chillout compliations" released every week but ironically the chillout rooms in most clubs seem to have been removed in favour of cloakrooms, VIP rooms or just to squeeze in a few more punters...

Is there a Cliffs Notes version?

I don't wanna read all that

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