Energy Flash 2008

[nomos]

Simon should write a BOOK on grime. It's the most important British musical movement since rave itself. And it still rocks.

I guess it leaves the field open for Simon Silverdollar . (Blackdown will be too busy doing music, I hope!)

i think a couple of years back i tried to plant the idea of silverdollar, luka, reynolds, and blackdown and one or two others editing something together. as it is that's a lot of in-the-moment reporting that'll die off with their blogs.

 

[noel emits]

but microhouse was of very limited interest to the most boring of producers, djs and floors if you ask me. its already forgotten, for most lucky people.

Could it not be said to have fed in, by way of the Berlin millieu mostly, to the huge popularity of 'minimal'? Some types of minimal techno being essentially microhouse / clicks 'n cuts with a bit of the hedonism put back in? There's a little micronuum of it's own in fact.

Anyway, all this blissblogger baiting is good, maybe he'll stop by and say hello.

Edit:

It kind of fed into the whole mnml thing though.

Actually, I'm still wondering if Reynolds / K-Punk / anyone else is going to respond to the recent nuum bashing around here and on the blogs.

Oops, I swear I didn't see that. I guess we were thinking the same things.

 

[djnaphta]

well, if the latter is the criteria microhouse should still be out as thats hardly designed to make people dance either. criteria like this is too arbitary for me - theres some mega funky angular grime and theres lots of rhythms without vox too (see that bok bok blogariddims for a good example of a peak time danceable grime mix). the vocals are firmly in the rave chatting tradition, its totally developed from that. at its best grime is rave music, which is why it deserves a more thorough treatment.

Dunno, Grime seems to me to be dominated by personality and ego, rap-style, with interchangeable rhythms, as in Dancehall.

So to me it sounds more like a UK meeting point between Dancehall and US Rap. Sure, its sonic palette is obviously influenced by from Rave, but I see personality-driven music as (by definition) the opposite of Rave - in its original and most powerful form i.e. anonymous.

 

[Benny Bunter]

The bibliography's up now i see.

Wow, that's some list. No Grime as yet though!

 

[boomnoise]

haven't read the new version and i don't think i'm going to bother really.

especially because it would involve looking at it

 

[optimum]

haven't read the new version and i don't think i'm going to bother really.

especially because it would involve looking at it

Lolzzzzz

 

[zhao]

JESUS that is one horrendous cover. i guess the "(really) bad flyer" concept might explain the rest but no corny rave shit EVER used a typeface even remotely similar to the title font.

 

[Sick Boy]

JESUS that is one horrendous cover. i guess the "(really) bad flyer" concept might explain the rest but no corny rave shit EVER used a typeface even remotely similar to the title font.

Generally using what looks like three completely different fonts on the same small space is a bad idea. That is a pretty big eyesore.

 

[zhao]

ok, to be fair, on first google page for "bad rave flyer" turned up an item which uses a similar font:

Generally using what looks like three completely different fonts on the same small space is a bad idea.

as you said, generally. with exceptions - for instance this hand drawn number is not bad and uses more than 3 different "fonts":

 

[DJ PIMP]

That second flyer encapsulates a lot of what I find frustrating with the new rave/hipstery dance stuff happening at the moment. 15-20 years ago people might have made hand drawn flyers, logos, or potato stamped record labels more or less out of necessity. Now people ape that DIY style as an aesthetic choice. Not that I blame them (pesky youngsters, bah *shakes zimmer frame*), I mean even if it was obvious all along and it's getting fairly corny now, I still like hand drawn things, and given how thoroughly style has been co-opted by consumerism there isn't much else to do. It's similar to all the overly twee, naive, hand-crafted cottage industry styled goods that came back in vogue.

A lot of the computer created design from the rave era is arguably tacky and hideous but it's genuine and not too self-conscious as well. Like the music hey...

Edit: this was the copy of Energy Flash I had. Template Gothic, now that was THE font of the early/mid 90s. So much so I thought it was almost ironic to use it on the cover.

 

[viktorvaughn]

I got this new edition and the last line of each paragraph in the first chapter has no spaces between the words! Pretty major thing to slip through the net.

I am enjoying it so far.

 

[boomnoise]

it's the use of the grand theft auto style font which really gets me.

 

[Gabba Flamenco Crossover]

Is this reissue under a different publisher to the original? I think Simon changed publishers between the original Energy Flash and RIUASA.

That new cover is pretty bad though

 

[viktorvaughn]

In this he seems to kinda characterises digidub as 90s stoner chill-out dub made by white people like the Orb and Mixmaster Morris. Maybe I read it wrong.

I thought digidub was any post-sleng teng riddim made on casio style synths rather than old analogue equipment?

 

[fokse vektaire xeven]

That new cover is pretty bad though

sad fact is the vast majority of writers have 0% control over physical the appearance of their books.

most look like shit and often date very badly

agreed this one is particularly terrible :slanted:

 

[john eden]

In this he seems to kinda characterises digidub as 90s stoner chill-out dub made by white people like the Orb and Mixmaster Morris. Maybe I read it wrong.

I thought digidub was any post-sleng teng riddim made on casio style synths rather than old analogue equipment?

You are both wrong.

Digidub is generally seen as the music produced by followers of Jah Shaka et al in the late 80s - mid 90s. The first tune being Warrior Stance by Dread and Fred which inspired various other producers like Iration Steppas, Disciples, Conscious Sounds etc. Also Lee Berwick's project which was called.... Digidub.

JA productions post sleng-teng were by and large not especially "dubby".

The Orb et al were, as you say, the dubby end of ambient.

It's a partisan view, admittedly.

 

[Client Eastwood]

In this he seems to kinda characterises digidub as 90s stoner chill-out dub made by white people like the Orb and Mixmaster Morris. Maybe I read it wrong.

I thought digidub was any post-sleng teng riddim made on casio style synths rather than old analogue equipment?

UK wise its not the former. I think of The Bush Chemists, Alpha & Omega, Iration Steppers and the now defunkt Dubhead label. It featured a 4x4 kick in quite a lot of the production. Think of a Sub Dub night VV and that's were it is at nowadays.

 

[matt b]

agree w/ both john + bang d. it's certainly not 'stoner chill out music'- only really works on sound system.

mainly instrumental w/ lots of effects and live dubbing in a period where JA dub had disappeared (a focus on vocal versions took over post-sleng teng).

the only vague connection to what reynolds is saying is with the truly disgraceful dubhead records covers which were made to appeal to the dog on a string types:

 

[john eden]

History of UK Dub article in Woofah issues 3 and 4.

 

[Client Eastwood]

History of UK Dub article in Woofah issues 3 and 4.

Great news. Bruks out inna dad skank