Dance Music That Means Something
- Thread starter Dubversion
- Start date
BadlyDrawnGirl
Piano Tuna
I'm not sure that Massive Attack could really be called dance music per se, but they're about the highest profile and one of the most consistently brilliant examples of beats and brains.
Dj TAB
Mr Whippy
prolly the closest electronic music has come to intellingent meaningful lyrics would be those of Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode...the original tunes may not support this but with all the remixes available now.....
...anyway besides all that the joy of dance music is being able to lose oneself in the patterns and textures created, shifting the audience focus back onto lyrical content may detract from the overall effect achieved by the rest of the choon...
...to all those who have mentioned Autechre, Aphex, Orbital I salute you, such pioneers of creation proved time and again that intelligence need not mean lyrical wordsmithery....
...anyway besides all that the joy of dance music is being able to lose oneself in the patterns and textures created, shifting the audience focus back onto lyrical content may detract from the overall effect achieved by the rest of the choon...
...to all those who have mentioned Autechre, Aphex, Orbital I salute you, such pioneers of creation proved time and again that intelligence need not mean lyrical wordsmithery....
lostexpectation
New Member
loud 1 said:
what do they say?
lostexpectation
New Member
oh come on there must be more, did you mean ones including samples or just orignal lyrics, what about master cuts and I gues ninja tune artists? but yer getting towards hiphop their...
are you did exclude samples shit...
there are probably some very meaningful and intelligent/inspired uplifting ecstasy fuelled positivity
are you did exclude samples shit...
there are probably some very meaningful and intelligent/inspired uplifting ecstasy fuelled positivity
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
Thom Yorke is hardly dance music.
lostexpectation
New Member
how about daft punk? they synthicised their own words for most of their previous album didn't they, trying to say something?
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
True, and 'uplifting ecstasy fuelled positivity' can be very profound if you're on your E honeymoon.
Pieface posting...
It doesn't have to have meaning but it doesn't half pretend it does a lot of the time - with all the one love platitudes. However, if you can't go out of an evening and prance about to that, when can you? And god forbid dance music went totally po-mo and cynical
I guess Faithless do try but I really, really don't like their stuff - Leftfield are probably the only act that I know that do have some content (I know this issue of content is contentious
but I think you all know what I mean) - especially on Leftism. I don't actually "know" dance music that well tbh
As an interesting aside a man at a party last night paid me with all the change in his pocket to take his brown, suede, undercover cop coat away with me. He didn't like it and wanted rid of it. It's really cool
Magneze said:Why does dance music have to have a "meaning" at all?
Does all music with vocals automatically have a meaning? A lot of it is inane crap.
It doesn't have to have meaning but it doesn't half pretend it does a lot of the time - with all the one love platitudes. However, if you can't go out of an evening and prance about to that, when can you? And god forbid dance music went totally po-mo and cynical
I guess Faithless do try but I really, really don't like their stuff - Leftfield are probably the only act that I know that do have some content (I know this issue of content is contentious
but I think you all know what I mean) - especially on Leftism. I don't actually "know" dance music that well tbh As an interesting aside a man at a party last night paid me with all the change in his pocket to take his brown, suede, undercover cop coat away with me. He didn't like it and wanted rid of it. It's really cool
pinkychukkles
Feed Your Head
If you want meaningful lyrics in dance songs, I think you're best heading off into US-flavoured Garage-House. I recently came across a wicked song on a mix I downloaded recently, tough beats, crisp production, great lyrics & great voice, it was Kim Cummings - Your Attitude from '93, an anthem for all women pissed off by their useless boyfriends everywhere!
http://www.discogs.com/release/55253
It's late at night but you're never here
I hear you talkin' but your words ain't clear
Spend all day waitin' for you to call
But do you think about me at all
You say you're mine and I should have no fear
But I'm all alone when you're not here
Telling myself nothing's going on
I get this feeling that I am wrong
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
Whenever we're all alone
You're friends call you on the telephone
You're out the door you say you'll be right back
But I'm still waiting and it's late at night
You say you're mine and I should have no fear
I hear you talkin' but your words ain't clear
'Cos I'm sleeping in an empty bed
You like your friends too much instead
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
Your attitude, changed my mind
I thought I was in love in time
But now I see, the love is mine < can't discern the last word
I think I'd rather be alone
Is that perfume I smell on your chest
There no need for me to get undressed
Why would you bother me at all
You know you're tired and you can't stand tall
I guess that's why when you do come home
Still feel like I'm all alone
Like I'm sleeping in an empty bed
Just as empty as the space in your head!
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
It's your attitude, attitude etc etc...
You need to change it
etc etc...
When I was working in a record shop, one of the guys there introduced me to a further sub-genre of garage which was full-on Christian, praise the lord stuff, I kid ye not. Like a gospel church service set to a house beat, with call and response type songs - not my cup of tea but I looked up on discogs and there appears to be whole labels devoted to this kind of music. May post up an audio clip of the above song if I can be arsed later...
http://www.discogs.com/release/55253
It's late at night but you're never here
I hear you talkin' but your words ain't clear
Spend all day waitin' for you to call
But do you think about me at all
You say you're mine and I should have no fear
But I'm all alone when you're not here
Telling myself nothing's going on
I get this feeling that I am wrong
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
Whenever we're all alone
You're friends call you on the telephone
You're out the door you say you'll be right back
But I'm still waiting and it's late at night
You say you're mine and I should have no fear
I hear you talkin' but your words ain't clear
'Cos I'm sleeping in an empty bed
You like your friends too much instead
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
Your attitude, changed my mind
I thought I was in love in time
But now I see, the love is mine < can't discern the last word
I think I'd rather be alone
Is that perfume I smell on your chest
There no need for me to get undressed
Why would you bother me at all
You know you're tired and you can't stand tall
I guess that's why when you do come home
Still feel like I'm all alone
Like I'm sleeping in an empty bed
Just as empty as the space in your head!
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
It's your attitude, your attitude
In the things you say but the way that you do
It's your attitude, attitude etc etc...
You need to change it
etc etc...
When I was working in a record shop, one of the guys there introduced me to a further sub-genre of garage which was full-on Christian, praise the lord stuff, I kid ye not. Like a gospel church service set to a house beat, with call and response type songs - not my cup of tea but I looked up on discogs and there appears to be whole labels devoted to this kind of music. May post up an audio clip of the above song if I can be arsed later...
Louloubelle
Well-Known Member
Re my favourite dance music, D&B, you get to hear a lot of samples from films that, if you only take the words themselves as some kind of narrative, have very little meaning.
However when you hear the sample in the context of the music you remember the film, the context of the words and what they meant to you at the time as well as feeling the music, so the result is that you experience the music as being incredibly profound in a way that someone who is unfamiliar with the original film might not.
Just as an example, that D&B track (what's it called? - I've got it somewhere) which the Enter the Dragon sample "It is like a finger pointing to the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory" before the onslaught of a thundering big fat bassline that takes your breath away.
For me the original meaning of the lyrics becomes enhanced by the music and reaches a whole new level of meaning, even if it's a level of meaning that's a) not obvious b) doesn't follow a narrative structure and c) may be very subjective.
It seems to me as though musical lyrics (especially re dance music) are becoming increasingly like this, almost as though via cross-referencing and cross-fertilisation between genres of music and between music and films / TV programmes / adverts lyrical content is morphing in to codes, collages and textures through the use of samples and that the meaning of the lyrics are not diminished even though they may not follow a traditional narrative structure.
Hope this makese sense, I'm just thinking aloud really
However when you hear the sample in the context of the music you remember the film, the context of the words and what they meant to you at the time as well as feeling the music, so the result is that you experience the music as being incredibly profound in a way that someone who is unfamiliar with the original film might not.
Just as an example, that D&B track (what's it called? - I've got it somewhere) which the Enter the Dragon sample "It is like a finger pointing to the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory" before the onslaught of a thundering big fat bassline that takes your breath away.
For me the original meaning of the lyrics becomes enhanced by the music and reaches a whole new level of meaning, even if it's a level of meaning that's a) not obvious b) doesn't follow a narrative structure and c) may be very subjective.
It seems to me as though musical lyrics (especially re dance music) are becoming increasingly like this, almost as though via cross-referencing and cross-fertilisation between genres of music and between music and films / TV programmes / adverts lyrical content is morphing in to codes, collages and textures through the use of samples and that the meaning of the lyrics are not diminished even though they may not follow a traditional narrative structure.
Hope this makese sense, I'm just thinking aloud really
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
PieEye - have you heard Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret?
Now that has some meaningful lyrics and it's well dancey.
Now that has some meaningful lyrics and it's well dancey.
Orang Utan said:
not sure if it counts as dance music in the way pie eye means...
anyway, i think we've established theres loads of house & that with meaningful lyrics, she just hasn't heard it (or was too fucked to remember any of them afterwards...
)has anyone mentioned green velvet? most of his stuff (esp. the recent stuff) has a MESSAGE.
Magneze said:
I dunno, I've read loads of pretensious wank written about dance music suggesting that it somehow attains a 'higher universal meaning' or some such nonsense. A lot of Detroit stuff is submerged in all manner of so called 'meaning', some of which is laughably juevenile and silly. To suggest that electronic musicians have attained some sort of objective aesthetic is pushing it; moreover it's music that's tailor made for specific environments and spaces. Which means it's as subjective in its meaning as any other form. Also, I think that really good writers/lyricists do not attempt to foist 'meaning' upon their listeners; like good novel/poetry writers, it's done so well that it is open to interpretation/reader response.
foo
dirtysweet
Dubversion said:It doesn't have to have meaning but it doesn't half pretend it does a lot of the time - with all the one love platitudes. However, if you can't go out of an evening and prance about to that, when can you? And god forbid dance music went totally po-mo and cynical
i'd sort of agree with that. these days anyway...however, when the rave scene and 'dance music' started, just the fact of being there was the meaning.
it reminds me a bit of punk when it started (and i'm old enough to have been around and in on both scenes
) - a lot of kids were into it because of the scene itself and not even the music, or the more politicised message driving punk. they just wanted to be there, going mental, feeling free etc. with all the other fucked people who wanted to rebel. like when we first started raving in the warehouses and disused office lots - it was an anti-establishment urge, and the buzz of being with hundreds of other nutters who wanted to be part of the same ,off kilter, drug-filled rebelion. or that's how it felt at the time. not knowing if the police were going to storm in. the illegality of the whole thing, like the squat punk scene of the 70s - was a big part of the buzz. and sheer hedonism of course
a lot of dance music first played in the raves had no vocals, or just samples (albeit loved-up euphoric stuff or the ragga/reggae sampling) - the mcs would add the meaning, even if a lot of the meaning they were adding was directed at messing with the crowds heads - bringing them up and down with the es. some would be chatting about topical or political/militant stuff like the reggae toasters used to.
i think most of the vocals came when it got commercial to sell enough, and get enough airplay to get in the charts i s'pose. i don't really know about that..
i know you and PieEye probably aren't, but i've heard many people use this lack of meaning/fluffy rubbish as a stick to beat dance music with, and it's not that it's wrong as such. it's just looking for meaning in the wrong place.
edit: crap grammar and sp
a reminder - this isn't my thread!
Louloubelle
Well-Known Member
I was thinking about my earlier post and realised that these lyrics say it better than I ever could
http://www.lyricsdownload.com/saul-williams-coded-language-lyrics.html
http://www.lyricsdownload.com/saul-williams-coded-language-lyrics.html
free spirit
more tea vicar?
yeah was gonna say green velvet, his stuff's fucking class & almost all is lyrics based and really fucking inciteful when you actually listen to them - loads of observational stuff about life generally, but mostly life from the eyes of a party head, + some quite political type stuff but not party political just observational.killer b said:
not sure if it counts as dance music in the way pie eye means...
anyway, i think we've established theres loads of house & that with meaningful lyrics, she just hasn't heard it (or was too fucked to remember any of them afterwards...
has anyone mentioned green velvet? most of his stuff (esp. the recent stuff) has a MESSAGE.
I've got loads of political type tunage coz I like to sneak some politics into my sets... so off the top of my head (coz my record bags still off partying by itself for some reason)
Romanthony - Hold On
dj falcon and thomas bangalauter - Together
The time has come to make a decision... are we in this thing alone or are we in it together
masters at work - mohammed is jesus
mohammed is jesus is buddha is love is the way I see it...
Shut up and Dance - Everybody loves me (cover of portishead sour times)
I'm your local politician, I'm here to make changes, trust me, everybody loves me... something like that for an entire tune sipping the piss out of politicians and the election process
Jason Sparks - loads of his stuff's political or at least thought provoking
Freq Nasty - loads of his stuff including his recent white under the name geek fasty (or something like that) called state sponsored terrorism which is an entire diatribe against state sponsored terrorism
t-power - cuba on the old botchit and scarper label has this insane arguement/rant on it between some cuban guy and an american goes someth9ing like...
look what the United States has done to Cuba, the united states has killed cuba, the united states is nothing, they'll bow tro cuba... when you say the united states is nothing I thkn you'll find it's quite an important country... the united states is nothing, they'll bow to cuba, cuba will break the united states into dust they're nothing, long live fidel castro, viva viva cuba
there was an old breaks tune called something like hydrogenis on one of the first botchit and scarper albums that basically had someone all the way through it going on about how we could have been running all our cars on water (ie hydrogen fueld cells) if it wasn't for the oil companies who'd stamped on the technology and stopped it being developed and comercialised for most of the last 50 years - the facts pretty much check out too!
what about david holmes - let's get killed
prodigy - music for the jilted generation - fuck em and their law etc.
klf - justified and ancient.
I know most of you'll laugh but I find this a really uplifting political tune... they're justified and they're ancient and they like to roam the land... and if you don't like what they're going to do you'd better not stop them coz they're coming through...(bring the beat back moo moo... hmm ok it kinda loses it here but still). I equate these lyrics with the travellers rights / reclaim the streets / peace convoy / anticap protest movement / zapatista / pga type stuff.
can't thing of specific examples, but I'm sure some of moby's stuff is fairly political (be very surprised if it wasn't being as he'sa millitant vegan IIRC)
not sure if it's really political or not, but there's a tune I used to like to play around 10am if I was getting sick of people partying in my house after we'd done a night called something like 'up all night (won't make the gym)' that has some full on new york drag queen type going 'get a life you drug addicts, I mean really up all night won't make the gym, you're nothing...' something like that
must be a fair few more that I've forgotten, not really sure how I actually remember the words, product of 10 years on the rave I guess, not bad considering the battering I've given me body this weekend twas utter carnage
free spirit
more tea vicar?
just remembered PK playing a wicked remixed sample of a load of tony blair's speaches at unsound after the big antiwar march, thought that was class.
actually PK if you read this I'd love a copy of that if you've still got it knocking around anywhere... I'll put it to good use
actually PK if you read this I'd love a copy of that if you've still got it knocking around anywhere... I'll put it to good use
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