We’re on the edge of the Noughties, ready to face a new decade of immense musical possibilities, and what’s happening in danceland right now? It’s going old-skool...
If you check recent, major house tunes like Reboot’s Enjoy Music or Dennis Ferrer’s Hey Hey then you should get the point. Those producers are, rather seductively, manipulating modern studio techniques in order to revisit the iconic house sounds of yesteryear and give them a contemporary dancefloor twist.
But are we hearing a fully-fledged nostalgia revolution rumble through our speakers? Commentators have been guilty of hyping trends from absolutely nothing before. 30-year-old Frankfurter and Reboot mastermind Frank Heinrich thinks there is very definitely something in the water : “You can feel it, I think. From a personal perspective, I grew up on classic old-school house records by people like Todd Terry and so those amazing sounds filter through into everything I produce. But there is something more at the moment; it’s in the air.
“Enjoy Music isn’t like a lot of the deep electronic stuff I put out on Cadenza and Cocoon; I just wanted to make a simple, feel-good party track here that feeds from my roots and maybe helps today’s clubbers understand about the evolution of dance music...educates them a little. It’s no bad thing.”
Enjoy Music is, indeed, a basic blueprint executed to maximum, ruthless effect. The use of that sample from Naked Music NYC’s 1996 hit I’ll Take You To Love underpins and drives everything; reflecting the fact, too, that many of these retro-inspired grooves are vocal rather than drum.
“A lot of the house back then was vocal” Heinrich says, “which added a certain unique warmth and emotion. I think that people are rediscovering that right now. But it’s very important to put all this talk of trends and new genres into perspective. Like all culture, music is cyclical. Something becomes old and then it is suddenly deemed cool to bring it back and play with it some more.
“It’s the right time, now, for people to be looking again at those old-school dance sounds. You basically go backwards to go forwards. Cycles are important because they help artists refresh things and keep their scenes interesting. Just listen to some of the music Dennis Ferrer and DJ Sneak are currently releasing; they’re paving the way...”
Comments made by Chicago ‘bwoy’ Sneak to online media this week more than bear that out. “The state of music is still suffering with badly produced music and a saturated market” he tells one influential Stateside portal. “I feel like I survived the madness of the last 7 years and now I’m shining again… House music is back, listen to what all the top European guys like Luciano, Ricardo Villalobos and Loco Dice are playing; this has been the year that people are demanding better music.”
Sneak’s association with the resurgent German house scene has evolved rapidly throughout 2009 and he forcefully flags Germany as a major component in the rebirth of ‘old-skool’ dance: “I have respect for a lot of these German brothers that have...helped get ‘house music’ back in the main rooms. I respect the fact that they have also pushed their sound and music, and now we can...push each other for a better music experience.”
As we head into 2010, that’s gotta be music to all our ears. Long live the new-old-skool revolution!
Reboot 'Enjoy Music' and Dennis Ferrer 'Hey Hey' are both available exclusively on Most Rated 2009.
