Scott Manson is an idiot

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

As found in last Friday's London Lite, under the heading of 'Scott Manson's Clubland', possibly the daftest piece of dance music journalism ever:

Plug in for a charge of Electro therapy

The rumours were false: clubland is not dead. It was just resting. To be fair, the sort of bacchanalian nightclub that would probably see P.Diddy pronounce it "a bit much" did dwindle, replaced by identikit dancetarias playing pop trance and filled with hard-faced blokes and women who looked like they had put on blusher with the vigour of someone brushing a horse.

Elsewhere, it was all "The Strokes this" and "NME that" and "oh, you still listen to dance music do you?" Guitar based rock was the hot ticket and gig-going became the new clubbing.

Now, I LIKE incredibly loud, raucous sounds. Don't get me wrong. I watched Big Brother and I once dated a woman with two children. But this was a sad time as dance music, the most vibrant youth culture since punk (and which lasted 10 times as long) appeared to be withering on the vine.

Or was it? Slowly, from about March this year, coming out of the annual dance industry jamboree that is the Miami Winter Music Conference, a sound emerged that caught the ear of tastemaker DJs, producers and, crucially, punters. It had funk, it had bass and it had immediate appeal across different dance music tribes. It's called electro and it's the sound of summer.

The appeal of this dirty, bassy sound ranges from cool London pirate stations such as Passion FM through to the Hed Kandi-style funky house disco-pubs where tanned young chaps and girls in short skirts slug Bacardi Breezers by the bucketful. Not since rave has a sound been so universally popular, with traditional House DJs such as Eric Morillo playing the same records as the darkest "grime" DJs. Listen to the Tocadisco mix of The Egg's Walking Away or Mandy's Body language or anything on the German Kompakt label and you will see why dance music has pulled itself out of the doldrums. Electro is the sound of now and it's brilliant.

[Stuff about where to hear this exciting new sound omitted]

The dance floor has been invigorated. Go seek out some electro-shock therapy.