Dip in Music Quality
Personally thought there was a dearth during the lockdown, but a pickup in quality recently
seanc80 there’s prob a couple of pretty clear reasons for that:
Firstly, if you’re a producer and your track is ‘da bomb’, then why the heck would you release it when most people can’t go to clubs+festivals?.
Secondly, I don’t think the covid lockdown would have been a particularly inspiring time as far as creativity is concerned anyway.
These are bleak times (and God are they bleak) so we should be in for a tune bonanza any time soon.
if you are all over one specific genre it can get tough some months. I tend to flit about a bit, keeps me interested.
This is right. I say as a listener, not someone who djs. Sticking to one genre is something that intensified in the early 2000s by my estimation. I haven’t heard people competently playing cross-genres for years, really.
Not to hark back to the 90s too much, but people’s record boxes were more interesting and spanned more genres than nowadays.
Your not looking hard enough.
I’m thinking about Paul van Dyk tossing Missy Elliot remixes in a set and Pete Tong playing garage tunes. Even though sometimes it sounded shit. Who bothers doing stuff like that nowadays?
Garnier?
Beyond styles, it’s hard enough to get many DJs to waver from the exact same BPM for their entire mix. I know I’ll take some pots and pans over a seamlessly mixed hour that sounds like one long song.
Amps Garnier playing everything and making it somehow sound like it’s from the future.
This.
It’s like “it’s not what he plays, it’s the way he plays it”. I’ve always thought his mixmag cd from 95 is amazing, and sums that statement up.
SM asked where you do your shopping, Sean. A more honest answer would be ‘Dunnes Menswear’
Some decent gear in fairness:
- Edited
When this happens to me its because I’ve followed habits that take me down certain rabbit holes, excluding what else there is. I take a break from it and try other angles when I feel inspired to.
That said, if I were a good producer I’d be holding off releasing my club rinsers until after the pandemic. I know so many good artists who are throwing out beefy 1am driving progressive tracks when its all not so relevant with us being unable to hear them in clubs - the sales can’t be great for them unlike lighter stuff that sounds great whether club-rig-loud or relatively quiet on a couple of home speakers. That’s just my opinion.
Maybe some of the artists are holding back now?
Ive noticed a bit of a dip recently, agreeing with the points already mentioned.
When lockdown happened and all the Bunkers started kicking off, I thought the quality was superb. There were so many wicked tracks being played, cross genre. Then as time went on I saw the quality wane to a degree.
Motivation and drivers must be tough for producers. After what Sunak said yesterday, advising musicians to get other jobs, I can see some packing it in for a while and doing another job to bring in the coin. Its a very concerning period for the industry as a whole. I hate buying into conspiracy theories, but would the UK Govt be that fussed if Clubs/Festivals wound up and ended up in the shit heap of old industries…like Travel Agents and Blockbusters? Do Gen Y/Z’rs really care about “rave culture” enough to support it ? Have tastes changed to such a degree Covid may have accelerated the scene’s demise? Tik Tok vs Ben Klock?
The next 12 months are going to be tough for the scene IMO