Fri, 19 March 2010
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With the help of major DJs and a new generation of producers, British dance music is coming out of semi-retirement.After years out of favour, British dance music is back as a new generation of producers and DJs usher in its coming of age.
"People have become less blinkered, they've opened up their inspirations and like dance music for the energy it brings rather than for its bpm (beats per minute)," said one of the country's most respected dance broadcasters and DJs, BBC Radio One's Annie Mac -- real name Annie MacManus.
Dance took hold in Britain when house music arrived in the "summers of love" of 1988 and 1989. The music drew heavily on disco-influenced Chicago house and was defined by its thumping 4/4 bass beat and euphoric vocals.
More resilient ravers introduced a more pronounced bass line, dancehall style MC-ing, and increased the tempo to over 165bpm, giving birth to drum & bass.
The philosophy of dance was pure hedonism, the era of the "Superstar DJs," who reportedly commanded over 100,000 pounds (147,000 dollars, 108,000 euros) a show, and superclubs such as Liverpool's Cream.
Rise of the indie
But after the excess came the comedown at the turn of the millennium, when dance fell from mainstream favour to a burgeoning indie scene spearheaded by The Strokes and White Stripes.
"Dance music became very commercialised and went from small and exciting raves where it felt a bit illicit to huge big superclubs where you travelled for miles, paid a lot and queued for an hour to put your coat in," said MacManus. "It became less romantic. It had to become exciting again."
The shoots of recovery came with UK garage and 2-step. Drawing from dance and hip-hop, artists such as MJ Cole and The Artful Dodger took instrumental garage tracks and sped them up for MCs to rap over. The removal of the bass drum on the second and fourth beat became 2-step.
Then the boundaries between dance and rock blurred as a first generation of artists who grew up with dance music began to hit the charts -- Klaxons, Hot Chip and Bloc Party.
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