Well, where do you start................I'm gonna keep it short or I'll be typing all day.............if you don't think that the quality end of the soulful dance spectrum isn't an evolution of the soul of the past then you are listening to the wrong records!! As someone I know and respect pointed out on a different forum recently, the music many of you guys are possibly using as a benchmark (perhaps what you hear when going thru town on Saturday night??) means as much to the likes of Louie Vega and Blaze as it does to you...............i.e. nothing!!
As for it all sounding the same..............do me a favour...............so the typical backing on Motown tracks didn't have the same formularic sound???..............yeah, right...........and get over this "comes from a computer" thing.........times have changed.............people can't employ a 30 piece orchestra these days.............when the electronic thing's done right, you'll know! If you're not on the dance floor, listen beyond that beat anyway, and I'm sure some of you will "feel it".
In terms of it's relevance to the Northern Scene...........well, I'm not gonna try and tell anybody they should like the music.............I do, and that's good enough for me................but, the music aside, just ponder this:
- up-tempo danceable underground music form NY, Chicago, West Coast etc, etc.
- occasionally sounding raw and under-produced
- tiny independant labels
- limited pressing runs (even the most popular stuff is relatively scarce when considering a world audience)
- W/L promo's etc, etc
.
.
.
..............sound familiar???
As I say......I'm not telling anyone they should like it, but don't deny it's place in the evolution of soulful black music, because that relly is doing it an in-justice.
And all this is from someone with his roots in the NS scene who can still appreciate the music he started out on!
Respect to all,
Mark R