Paul-s

Yes. They are just about making and moving product. End of. They want to create a market place that they have total control over. NO musicians involved, no historical or cultural connections to weigh them down. It's total co-optation of a dance and music scene that has survived decades of these grifting promotors (of shite) trying to own it. Thats why they stick together and collaborate. One gives a positive 'fantasy' review, the other gets an AD slot on the website, one is invited to teach others how to dance (like a div), one gets paid to do an Instagram or TikTok promo of an album and so on. It's vacuous, influencer (dimfluencer) culture. It has no room for soul, or history or spirit or life. Its only about profit and soul sucking. They are the new manifestation of bootlegger's. Cynical, soulless, tacky, cheap and desperate.

Spot on!

First Edition Book Release - INSTA(NT) SOUL - Paul Sadot ‘Why am I writing this? It’s a question that I asked myself many times, and after much reflection and soul searching, I returned to the answer that I must. My soul needs to set things straight... View full article

Looking forward to my copy landing!

I have written about this in my book which is out soon. We held up the printing to add an update about this AI product. I unpick Andy Rix interview with Colin Day (the programmer). Here is an extract: Perfectly crafted, with intuitive lyrics and gorgeous melodies, Riker have taken Fantasy Soul to a whole new level…” — Kev Roberts, DJ, promoter, and author of the bestselling book The Northern Soul Top 500. (Charly, 2025) I don’t really have to make an extended critique here, because, for anyone who collects 45’s, dances to Northern Soul music from the 60’s-80’s, is on the scene and recognises soulless AI generated music when they hear it, the interview with the creator Colin Day, tells it all. These extracts are taken from an interview conducted by Andy Rix (2025) where they discuss this tailormade disaster. So, I will let Day articulate his soulful process of generating music for this new fantasy world, a landscape that these purveyors of Northern Soul products see as the future of Northern Soul music. My comments run throughout: DAY - "Well, by the time the eighties roll around, my career was kinda tugging me away, and I had a lot less time. Wigan had closed and it felt like the last days of something.” Well, of course, he stopped when Wigan closed. Only someone who did that would dare to make this disconnected excuse for soul music. When we carried on underground, collecting music non-stop, dancing non-stop, traveling hundreds of miles, keeping the scene alive via a small, dedicated community of souls, throughout the 80s, 90s, 2000s, he gave up! Last days? For him, yes, he’s one of those individuals who thinks a Wigan-centric lens defines the scene. It doesn’t of course, and it is only applied by those who gave up, or never travelled beyond the Casino at that time. It is an ignorant assumption that the scene didn’t carry on without their part-time commitment, or post Wigan Casino. It is a myopic attitude and assumes that we didn’t carry on dancing to newly discovered old 45’s throughout the decades that followed. DAY - "As for the vocals, yeah, it still blows my mind that they come straight from the software. It’s amazing how lifelike and expressive they can be—spooky, really. All those subtle nuances— the mouth noises, the breaths, those little swoops up into the right note. I get tingles all the time—it’s so cool." It blows my mind that anyone who says they respect the incredible original artists would be narcissistic enough to believe this is acceptable. Spooky, but not with Sue (if you get it you get it!). I never thought I would read the words “the vocals(...) come straight from the software”! It makes me sad to see how quickly these corporate, profit-seeking, Northern Soul hijackers, sell their soul to AI. But it’s not surprising if you look at their track records (or is it algorithms!). Celebutantes (soulebutantes),World Championships, Top 500s: commodities, commodities, commodities. It all reflects a certain attitude to the music and the scene itself. In my opinion, it is a total disconnection from the source, the soul source, and a deliberate attempt to coral it all into neatly packaged PayPal-ready, shopping baskets. With this cynical attempt to replace the original artists with auto-tuned, computer-generated, passionless, simulacrum, they have totally exposed themselves as a collective of mercenary soul snatchers. I mean, if Mr Roberts thinks this is gorgeous and intuitive, need I say more? He exposes his soul right there in that statement. It will probably be in the next update of the Top 500! Number 1 - Hal 9000 and The Halitosis Band – Stinky Get Funky. It certainly leaves a bad smell in the air. To me, it doesn’t sound right. I can tell the difference, it’s a visceral reaction, it’s ingrained in my soul from decades of listening to the original artists on the original vinyl. Those beautiful 45’s with their flaws and crackles and the variety of circumstances that they were recorded and produced under. I love the lo-fi, slightly out of tune Tijuana brass that accompanies the slightly off-key voice of a very young Bernetia Miller. The story behind her making the 45 is just as incredible. I love the raw, soulful voice of a young Darrow Fletcher, who, despite his phenomenal talent, had to eventually give up his dreams of stardom. It’s my respect and love for the artists, those incredible musicians who often went through trials and tribulations to make the music that changed my life, that pushes me to speak out about this Northern Soul heist. As a fifteen-year-old, they rescued me from a place I was struggling with, and they never stopped doing that throughout my life. Hence, I find this computer-generated crap, made by capitalistic marketeers, totally insulting to the Northern Soul scene I know, and to the artists that gave the soul of their ‘living’ beings to making it. ©paulsadot 2025

Not according to the interview with Andy Rix: DAY- Yeah, so obviously, the song has always come first—I’ve got worked that out on guitar… lyrics can take me an age… chords, melody. As for the prompting and programming, you’ve really got an infinity of choices. Where do you start? Production style, vocal arrangement, tempo and key, the phrasing and the changes—but it’s a dark and unpredictable art. The software is a beast, and it doesn’t always behave. Plus, it’s got no taste. It’s full of data, but it’s never been on a date—you know? DAY - As for the vocals, yeah, it still blows my mind that they come straight from the software. It’s amazing how lifelike and expressive they can be—spooky, really. All those subtle nuances— the mouth noises, the breaths, those little swoops up into the right note. I get tingles all the time—it’s so cool. RIX - So, does it work like a library? I mean, can you just order in someone who sounds like David Ruffin, Levi Stubbs, Valerie Simpson, or even Bessie Smith? Or is it a bit potluck? DAY - Well, the software will give you endless options and yeah, you can clone just about any voice, but I won’t. If something sounds close to an established artist, I move on. It’s about respect—plus, what’s the point anyway? I only want to do something original. It's difficult to comment on something so disconnected from the reasons I love Northern Soul. Auto-tuned, lifeless, loveless, spiritless, cynically profit driven attempt to totally disconnect the scene and the music it was built upon from its roots. Only my humble opinion of course.

Bandwagon...jump on comes to mind. Don't give a F--k if it makes a quick buck! Soulless, synthetic and lacking any depth and connection to life. ....sits alongside Chat GPT in terms of the neatly packaged (lack of) depth of socio-cultural expression we seem to be faced with: devoid of rough edges, supermarket ready, disposable, amorphous, blandness. simulacrum /sĭm′′yə-lā′krəm, -lăk′rəm/ noun That which is formed in the likeness of any object; an image. A shadowy or unreal likeness of anything; a phantom; a vague, unreal representation. A formal sign; a sign which represents a thing by resembling it, but does not indicate it, or stand for the actual presence of the thing.

Fantastic work Tommy. Well done.

Hi All, A new book is at the press with the expected launch in November. The initial run is limited, so anyone interested in reading it can join the mailing list to keep up to date. The book delves into the curated online world of Soul Celebutantes, World Championships, World Champions, the BBC (Auntie) and Soultrepreneurs amongst other things: It also includes the thoughts of various Soulsource members. You can find more details here: https://www.paulsadot.com/instant-soul Thanks for looking Paul-S

Wow! that is utter Shi-e!!

Im still bemused by 'the basic step'? Its a myth...

Thanks a lot Sebastian. Much appreciated. I am giving the club a shout out and Helena: unfortunately, people seem to forget the young female DJ collectors who contributed to the scene. I hope you are well. Best Paul

Hi all, I am writing about this club and its young promoters, collector DJs in a section of my book that addresses the spurious claims that the scene needs reviving, as if it died, implying that young people have never been present since Wigan. Of course to me this is total rubbish, because I saw them and listened to them throughout the decades and it is quality rather than quantity that informs my opinions. Anyway, can someone please tell me the dates that Club Function ran from and to please. Much appreciated Paul

Yes, the JJ Callier is madly overpriced!