luka
Well-known member
At least you could smoke weed I there I guess
Thrive in '95 - Jungle's zenith
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At least you could smoke weed I there I guess
blissblogger
Well-known member
i don't know about "joy" but "Metropolis" oozes jouissance - i don't find it arid or sterile - it seems immense to me.
but then "Circles" seems immense (and jouissance-oozy) also, but in a completely different way
that one person could be responsible for such different tunes that are equally colossal is remarkable
mind you, he never did anything else anywhere near as good as either - which is a mystery for the ages
i can never get over the fact that Adam F is the son of Alvin Stardust, that wouldn't mean anything to you young whippernsappers of course
but then "Circles" seems immense (and jouissance-oozy) also, but in a completely different way
that one person could be responsible for such different tunes that are equally colossal is remarkable
mind you, he never did anything else anywhere near as good as either - which is a mystery for the ages
i can never get over the fact that Adam F is the son of Alvin Stardust, that wouldn't mean anything to you young whippernsappers of course
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
The thing I always loved about Metropolis was that fat (cliché used advisedly here) bassline that comes in every third bar.
What strikes me about the drums on it is they're designed to sound somewhat mechanical. Which relates to one of the Metalheadz signatures, the dystopian Terminator aesthetic. I don't think you can call it joyless, it's a different category of joy. But as for being a betrayal of hardcore, I can see how going from sounding like the future (because unprecedented) to sounding like "The Future" is potentially a regression to cliché.
What strikes me about the drums on it is they're designed to sound somewhat mechanical. Which relates to one of the Metalheadz signatures, the dystopian Terminator aesthetic. I don't think you can call it joyless, it's a different category of joy. But as for being a betrayal of hardcore, I can see how going from sounding like the future (because unprecedented) to sounding like "The Future" is potentially a regression to cliché.
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blissblogger
Well-known member
i remember the era as pretty unbroken excellence and excitement all the way through 92 to end of 96 (and i can infer historically that although i wasn't involved it was unbroken excellence / excitement 1990-1996, just judging by the records that came out)
but there was a shift in 94
before then you could be a patriot for all of hardcore, it was the full circumference thing, there was this spectrum of moods, feels, vibes, etc, all encompassed in a single dj set or even within the clash and mood-meld of a single track. it didn't even feel like a "spectrum", it was just what it was -that oxymoronic plenitude, a chaos
but then it got into this thing where it was so big that it started to schism internally (rather than containing the schismatic elements within the same frame) and you had dominant flavours that became a bit oppressive - the constituent elements started to separate out into strands rather than coexisting within the same set / tune. before that you would have tunes that breaks and hip hoppy elements, but also roots and dancehall ragga elements, and soul-y / housey diva parts, or pure pop parts, or soundtracky filmic element - but also some wafts of arty ambient, all in the same six minutes
so as 94 shifted to 95, you would still be patriotic for the whole sound / culture in a vague way, but when it got to specifics, you would really root for a particular forward-sector within hardcore/jungle, that was offering some kind of alternative or breath of fresh air to the dominant flavour (still pretty exciting don't get me wrong, just a bit unrelieved)
so yeah with 94 obviously the ragga-jungle is the oppressive dominant vibe, and it just got wearying hearing the same kind of tunes, or "The Burial" getting wheeled out seven times a night.
then 95 came the flood of musicality and bongos-horror, on one side, versus this very tight crisp de-ragga-ized but still rough-tough sound that was being played at the bigger events
techstep was a relief and a counter-move against both of those tendencies - dark, bombastic, apocalyptic grandeur
then that became equally oppressive
i seem to remember starting in 95 always feeling like one vital element of the mix in 92-93-94 was missing - whether it was the fun, or the darkness, or whatever - you couldn't get the full package
e.g. happy hardcore had the fun but it didn't have the ruffness or darkness or atmospherics and consequently as a night out quickly became unbearable.
but there was a shift in 94
before then you could be a patriot for all of hardcore, it was the full circumference thing, there was this spectrum of moods, feels, vibes, etc, all encompassed in a single dj set or even within the clash and mood-meld of a single track. it didn't even feel like a "spectrum", it was just what it was -that oxymoronic plenitude, a chaos
but then it got into this thing where it was so big that it started to schism internally (rather than containing the schismatic elements within the same frame) and you had dominant flavours that became a bit oppressive - the constituent elements started to separate out into strands rather than coexisting within the same set / tune. before that you would have tunes that breaks and hip hoppy elements, but also roots and dancehall ragga elements, and soul-y / housey diva parts, or pure pop parts, or soundtracky filmic element - but also some wafts of arty ambient, all in the same six minutes
so as 94 shifted to 95, you would still be patriotic for the whole sound / culture in a vague way, but when it got to specifics, you would really root for a particular forward-sector within hardcore/jungle, that was offering some kind of alternative or breath of fresh air to the dominant flavour (still pretty exciting don't get me wrong, just a bit unrelieved)
so yeah with 94 obviously the ragga-jungle is the oppressive dominant vibe, and it just got wearying hearing the same kind of tunes, or "The Burial" getting wheeled out seven times a night.
then 95 came the flood of musicality and bongos-horror, on one side, versus this very tight crisp de-ragga-ized but still rough-tough sound that was being played at the bigger events
techstep was a relief and a counter-move against both of those tendencies - dark, bombastic, apocalyptic grandeur
then that became equally oppressive
i seem to remember starting in 95 always feeling like one vital element of the mix in 92-93-94 was missing - whether it was the fun, or the darkness, or whatever - you couldn't get the full package
e.g. happy hardcore had the fun but it didn't have the ruffness or darkness or atmospherics and consequently as a night out quickly became unbearable.
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and yet the fall from grace was 93, surely. and that was some of the most experimental music ever made. 93 was more revolutionary than 94.
For me, it's how it looks. The sound is so abrasive it's visible, especially if you're chemically assisted.
Big shards of bastard sound planging into the gravel like black lightning.
Very metal, maybe that's why you will not submit.
hey i can't stand nrg I need your lovin.
I love Prodigy as well but everybody in the place is awful. i can imagine those who were into all that dark acid music and bleeps getting turned off. stupid circus music.
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I'm confusing metropolis with grooveriders share the fall remix, but that's from 1997 so falls outside the scope of this learned thread.
luka
Well-known member
The point still stands though I reckon I'll go along with it
I can't really submit to utopia. the stuff i like that is called utopian to me is soulful (directly in the black american tradition.) like ambient jungle is best dance music ever until it becomes soho winebar jungle.
so i can submit to the techstep thing but the problem is that tracks got interchangeable and like in darkside the soul/house vocals would be foreboding rather than just an ecstasy remnant - they were that but they also dovetailed with the music perfectly. the problem is by the time that techstep happened as si says the schisms had created their own crowds. but that's the problem with all under one roof isn't it. it never works. the all under roof ideology is always the pop temptation of the hardcore continuum. and actually unsurprisingly this was confirmed in 2015 in the peak of all this revival biz.
https://boomkat.com/products/in-colour
This is the thing, alienation is unavoidable.
so i can submit to the techstep thing but the problem is that tracks got interchangeable and like in darkside the soul/house vocals would be foreboding rather than just an ecstasy remnant - they were that but they also dovetailed with the music perfectly. the problem is by the time that techstep happened as si says the schisms had created their own crowds. but that's the problem with all under one roof isn't it. it never works. the all under roof ideology is always the pop temptation of the hardcore continuum. and actually unsurprisingly this was confirmed in 2015 in the peak of all this revival biz.
https://boomkat.com/products/in-colour
This is the thing, alienation is unavoidable.
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firefinga
Well-known member
I remember being totally surprised when realizing "Metropolis" was by the same guy as "Circles".