There’s a theory knocking around somewhere in the dusty tomes of scholars and minds of people who are paid to notice this kind of thing, that society, and everything that it encompasses, works as a cycle. This won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who’s lived a few years; the economy, politics, the weather, fashion and a whole lot more tend to repeat themselves eventually and though the exact time period the cycle takes may be hard to predict, the fact that it will happen is guaranteed.

There is, however, a slightly more specific theory when it comes to music. Lurking away in the dark recesses of both the internet and more than a couple of theorists’ excitable brains is an idea that a 20 year cycle can be applied to musical trends, influences and popularity with startling accuracy. So, according to said theory, as the ‘naughties’ fade into dimly lit recent memory, it seems to be the turn of the 90’s to become the dominant influence on the musical landscape.

It’s a theory that could take some proving. “Who's theory is that?!” exclaims one half of Soul Clap and self-confessed 90’s addict Eli Goldstein. “They must have had one too many Bacardi Breezers or something!”

Soul Clap

As Soul Clap, Eli – along with partner-in-crime Charles Levin – are living, breathing, vinyl-deploying proof that the 90’s, in some quarters at least, are as strong now as when MC Hammer donned the baggiest pair of pants known to man. “The 90's have never really gone away for us. Around 2002 we started talking about buying Cross-Colours and Hypercolour and starting Hyper-Cross to help bring the 90's back. Then in 2005 we started our 90's blog and our monthly YoYoYo 90's Jam in Boston, but it does seem like the 90's are coming back in a big way on the mainstream right now.”

While the Boston twosome may have been championing the decade for some time now, it looks like the rest of the world is only juts catching up. Much of the naughties were spent reminiscing about the stripped-down, robotic and emotionally-devoid 1980’s. The decade that promoted minimalism in everything bar the size of your bank balance – especially in the US – was evident in much of popular culture, but most notably in both fashion and music. Recent acts such as Calvin Harris, Hot Chip, Daft Punk, MGMT, and Empire of the Sun were clearly influenced by their 80’s predecessors, often in both style and substance, and have gained massive critical acclaim and commercial success.

The New-Romantic Stylings of Empire of the Sun

In electronic dance music, this affect was perhaps felt even more profoundly. The naughties were the decade in which minimal took a stranglehold of the scene, threatening to choke the soul and every distinguishable vocal out of house and techno forever. A niche sound (minimal) within a niche genre (house), it was perhaps rekindled from the embers of a similar movement some 20 years earlier, that of minimal wave. This sound was hallmarked in the 80’s by the use of the analog synthesizers and drum machines, manufactured by Roland, Korg, Yamaha, ARP, Linn, Oberheim, Moog and Sequential Circuits (to name a few) and reproduced on soft synths for much of the mid to late 00’s.

And then, just as everyone in dance music thought that the art of the song would be lost forever, in dark Berlin basements and sweaty East London warehouses, the world decided it was done with the 80’s, and the 90’s reared it’s baseball-capped head. “After this whole minimal thing took over dance music for so long, it seems like people now are looking for songs and emotions again” explains Eli. “90's house is really positive and emotional so it makes perfect sense to bring these vibes back into today's dance.”

Musically, one man charged with the surge of interest in the 90’s is Tensnake, aka Marco Niemerski; a check-shirted German fellow with a penchant for the ‘golden’ era of house and a talent for recreating it. “I started buying vinyl in the 90’s and was really into vocal house and deep house” says Marco. “It was also my first proper experience of going out and partying. I think that the 90’s were definitely the most important period in my life, music-wise. I was a massive fan of DJ Sneak and Romanthony and all the US house guys.”

Tensnake

If you’re already a fan of Tensnake, chances are you were brought to his attention by his Resident Advisor podcast, which ushered in the new decade in suitably 90’s-inspired fashion. Released just before the New Year at the end of 2009, it’s a veritable smorgasbord of house delights – most of which were either produced in or heavily influenced by the 90’s – and finished with a celebratory fanfare of fireworks before dropping into St. Etienne’s seminal ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’, itself a 90’s cornerstone of dance music. Whether Tensnake was merely predicting the coming approaching decade’s interest in the 90’s or whether he helped stir it up is hard to say, but the fact that he is now championing is indelible.

“When I started making music I was just trying to recreate the sounds I love, which for me were the mid-90’s house tracks” he says.  “I try and make my records sound like that because it’s a sound I really enjoy. I just listened to a new track by Andy Bulter from Hercules and Love Affair, and it has that exact mid-90’s house sound. Music is like fashion, it all comes back round eventually in some form or another. I think if you’d asked someone about 90’s music or fashion a few years back they wouldn’t have had much to say, it was easier to talk about the 80’s. Now, that decade’s been done to death, so it’s on the next source of inspiration.”

Fashion, in the UK at least, is an easy way of gauging what past trends are currently in the ascendancy. The Guardian recently ran a story on how the 90’s grunge movement is making an appearance on catwalks around the world, with models sporting all sorts of items previously consigned to the depths of fashion misdemeanour, including neon, cycling shorts and the infamous bumbag (or fanny pack if you happen to live Stateside). “Yes, they strike fear into my heart too. But at Marc Jacobs, the pioneer of the 90s grunge movement, models sauntered down the catwalk wearing bum bags matched to their skirts and shorts” exclaims The Guardians website. Even the iconic rave-whistle put in an appearance in the fashion world of the elite, with a recent Missoni show boasting a full-on Ibiza ‘it-girl’ within its catwalk procession.

The Return of the Bum Bag

“Over the last 5 years the 90's revival has really taken over” admits Eli. “From remakes/remixes of big 90's hits to the crazy patterns and fluorescent colours of new rave, we've definitely seen the 90's blow up. Now it seems like half the fashion and music coming out is heavily influenced by the most totally tubular decade!”

Recently, Soul Clap brought their established, Boston-based 90’s night YoYoYo to the Star of Bethnal Green in London’s Shoreditch, to the near uncontrollable delight of those lucky enough to squeeze their day-glo clad frames into the venue. During 6 hours of exclusively 90’s music, even tracks from seemingly unfashionable artists like Craig David and The Cardigans were met with smiles and shouts of delight, and while back when the tracks were originally released it would be unthinkable to admit you knew even a few words of them, most of the verses and all of the choruses were jubilantly shouted back to the DJs. “The whole point in YoYoYo 90's Jam is irony and nostalgia, we're not trying to be cool” shrugs Eli. “Those songs are probably still super-lame, but we all love them because we share so many memories of hearing them when we were young.”

“It was unbelievable” continues Lee Foss - the DJ, producer and along with Jamie Jones one half of Hot Natured. He was manning the decks with Soul Clap at YoYoYo and is another firm proponent of the musical merits of the 90’s. “I don't think anyone was really prepared for what a great night it turned out to be.  I think Eli and Charlie and I had an idea that afternoon it was going to be busy, people were coming up to me in the street who I'd never met talking about it in Brick Lane.  Even when it was warm up music at the beginning, some of the more obscure r+b stuff, people knew the music and it stayed slammed till the last song.  I think it’s a testament to the fact that 90's are seeing a revival right now.”

Lee Foss

So does Lee think the idea of a 20 year cycle can be realistically substantiated? “I think in terms of pop culture, that's probably true” he affirms. “In fashion and music circles though I think that these things cycle around much faster and at this point there's a disco comeback, an 80's funk/boogie cycle, and a 90's house/r+b/hip hop cycle all going on at once.  But yeah, it has always seemed to me that for pop culture its usually a 20 year cycle, and probably more than anything, that's got to do with who's doing the reminiscing, which is people in their late 20's/early 30's, glorifying the music that influenced them because it was so influential in the part of their lives where music is most crucial in their development.”

It’s an interesting point, and one that goes someway to backing up the assertion. By the time an artist gets to a stage where their music is being heard by a decent amount of people – especially in dance music – it was probably the music of 15-20 years previous that they were listening to when they were at their most influenced. So, just as the proponents of the 80’s revival might have grown up feasting on the mascara-laced flesh of Roxy Music, The Human League and Gary Newman, the new wave were eating hip-hop beats off Strictly Rhythm-shaped plates.

All of us over the age of consent will have some memories of the 90’s, some of which we will recall more fondly than others. For Lee, this was the decade in which he really started paying attention to what he was listening to. “I grew up in a town just outside of Chicago and I just remember we were just on the edge of the Chicago radio stations going out of signal, but every night trying desperately to get signal on the hip-hop or house stations and dancing in my room like any teenage nerd does.  I remember what an effect it had on me when I started hearing hip-hop and house in ‘92-‘93 and realised how exciting music could be.”

Artist such as himself, Soul Clap and Tensnake seem to become ever more successful and popular as the year (and by turn the decade) continues, and if the musical and fashion trend continues down this path, is there a danger that in a few years time we’ll all be dancing to The Outhere Brothers in our Global Hypercolour t-shirts? Probably not, and in all likelihood the rebirth of the 90’s won’t be as direct as that, but that there will likely be touches of its influences throughout much of the music we are exposed to for some time to come. There are certainly plenty of people who are receptive to it; following the success of the aforementioned YoYoYo party, Soul Clap are returning to London in September, and even have plans to host the party in a warehouse in December to cope with the phenomenal demand for the night.

Musically, Lee has the final say. “Production techniques and synths and genres that were sampled frequently at that time are popular again now, it's a part of those cycles” explains Lee. “Great music is great music though and people just want to hear the best music possible. In terms of a mass response to the 90’s though? Yeah, I think now people are searching it out.”

Luckily for them, there are plenty of places to find it.

Words: Greg Sawyer

Tensnake 'Coma Cat' is out 8th September - click to listen & pre-order.

Lee Foss 'U Got Me EP' is out now and available to buy from Beatport.

Soul Clap are playing London's Fabric on 18th September - click to buy tickets.