can you really be 'into' dance music without going clubbing?*

[rubberdingyrapids]

I don't see how a person who listens to Shackleton or Cut Hands or the music written up in The Wire has any relationship to clubbing.

sometimes i think dance music should only be reviewed via reviews of clubs.

 

[Corpsey]

I take it you mean:



...as opposed to dealing with the visceral sensation of really feeling the music pass through you? (And I mean that more literally than figuratively.) Something which you're never going to feel at home with music on headphones or even a really good home hi-fi system.

I mean, that sounds ridiculous, too. The big anxiety afflicting all music journos these days must be 'what is the point of me?' Why would you read about what a record sounds like when you can listen to it yourself? Again, I think instrumental dance music is particularly difficult to write usefully about, because there doesn't seem much to interpret. Not that I don't think it CAN be done. I guess communicating enthusiasm in whatever way you can is useful, cos it might inspire someone to hear something the way you hear it.

I love reading personal accounts of how a tune was played in a certain club and created this magical moment... But it must be kept simple, because the very state of rapture you can reach seems necessarily beyond language. I guess somebody writing GENERALLY about a genre is going to be able to capture the unique appeal of that genre, how it functions in the dance, etc. Also that serves the noble purpose of attracting people to raves.

 

[rubberdingyrapids]

Why would you read about what a record sounds like when you can listen to it yourself?

ive never understood this as a reason for why music journalists are redundant.
you can hear something to see if you like it. but unless youre already an expert, you need someone to help you learn/understand a bit more about it.

 

[Corpsey]

That's interesting: so the idea is to inform, then?

I think before music became effectively free, music critics had more power/influence because they could literally determine whether or not people bought things. I'd say film critics still have something like that power, given the price of cinema tickets.