Dance Punk...In The Most Literal Sense

Some of my friends would probably wonder what happened to me. Just a few years ago I was fully entrenched in a world of sound which comprised of dirty guitars and screaming vocals. So long as the volume and intensity was there, I was pretty much happy. Suddenly somehting happened. A part of me which was latent for a long time began to surface. I began sleeping with the enemy. In high school nothing made me more angry than techno. To a young punk, nothing seemed more fabricated than this music. It was created entirely in a studio by a bunch of Eurotrash dudes, and it just sounded stupid. But now, I must admit, I barely listen to anythig else. I've become the monster I feared. However, as one examines the musical landscape it seems I'm not the only one guiltily indulging in this world of sound. Whereas for a long time one could find Indie-rock bands wiht clear punk roots, the same seems to be happening with Dance Music.
Even as a listened to albums in High School, I can rmember enjoying the bits of electronic msic I heard. For example, I would play and repeat those little bits of "The Shape Of Punk To Come" that employed electronics. As I rode on the metro to school I can remember listening to my brother's copy of the "Pi" soundtrack and thinking that there was something to the intensity in Clint Mansell's score and to the Aphex Twin track on there. Something about it appealed to me, but I was not yet ready to admit it. Even watching Daft Punk videos circa Discovery gave me a sort of happy feeling. But I wasn't there yet, I was still of the mind that Minor Threat's Complete Discography would forever be in my CD player.

No, admitting all of this to myself was still going to take a few years of listening and becoming comfortable with the fact that I was now a Dance Punk. Slowly other bands started to wear this love of groove on their sleeves. Q and Not U and the Rapture slowly bacame more disco-y and bands like !!! were making nothing less then full band dance music. The full enjoyment of this srt of stuff started with remixes, however. I spend a lot of time on the internet downloading whatever I can get my hands on. I started downloading a ton of DFA remixes and dance remixes of bands I liked. Some of them surpassed the originally, and that was one admittance closer to where I am. One night I decided I'd go ahead and download the Daft Punk album in question earlier. I thought "I remember liking a few of those songs, why not?" To those who asked what happened...this is the turning point. I started devouring that album, albeit a few years late. I really couldn't get enough of it. From that point on, I just didn't stop. Even as I write this I'm bouncing merrily along to some pulsating beat.

But it doesn't seem like I'm the only one whos had this shift. Many punks are starting ot put their hand to the dance music world. James Murphy admitted in an interview that he and I were once in the same boat, claiming that at one time he hated dance music, but DFA mate Tim Gloldsworthy showed him the light in some sense. The people making dance music are no longer in tight t-shirts and spiked up hair. Look at a lot of the new promo shot of dance music guys like Justice or most of the Kitsune roster and you won't see anyone that belongs on an Ibiza Compilation album cover. That DFA1979 guy makes unabashed dance music, not a bit of the old punk/metal instrumentation of DFA1979 really infiltrates the MSTRKRFT album. People who once scoffed at dance music are slowly enjoyig it more and more, pretentious music sites are reviewing new dance releases with a suprising regularity. While the instruments aren't there however, I think the appeal lies in something deeper, perhaps an attitude or maybe even in a general aesthetic.

Hardcore and punk is based on repitition. The song structures are simple, often somprised of three chords over and over and over. The lyrics are either unintelligible or simple in nature, making them good for loud shout alongs with your audience. Punk always liked to make people move at the shows, the more people went nuts the better a show it would be. Im finding that most of the things I found attractive about punk and hardcore remain true in dance music, especially as the people with punk roots begin to make it more. The new dance music isn't very slick. A great deal of the french groups have dirtied up the techno sounds we hated. Nothing is slick except song progression. The synths are sharp, fuzzed-out and loud. These are greasy dudes who like dancing, a category I find myself in now. The songs are fast loud, deceptively simple, and ultimately fun.

Most other forms of music I once felt passionately about have been corrupted and co-opted y larger powers. Indie rock is a boring landscape now, bands that really aren't very good are getting a huge amount of buzz. Punk, these days, is just a joke, sold out of a store in a mall. (side note: i know this is a trite argument, but i just stood above a hot topic the other day watching people go in an out, it's a pretty disheartening thing to watch...try it) Dance Music is't there yet. Right now you've get an exciting new wave of people who seem to feeel the sae way pushing beats upon the masses. They've all given in to what's been eating at them all these years and are using their musicality to do it themselves. Much like the old punk, dance music is primarily founded in making you feel something. If you feel like dancing, if you feel good listening to it, the artist has done their job right. So here it is, my first fully quotable public admittance: I'm a dance punk.

This is a term which has been thrown around a lot. But I feel now is a real time to reclaim it. For a while it was bandied about, applied to dirty indie rock kids who used their high-hats and kick drums a little more, but they were just picking up at post-punk. Now there really is a wave of old punks making dance music, not a watered down version. These were people who loved the Cramps, Minor Threat, and the Misfits in their old days. Hell, even Ted Leo has a picture of Daft Punk on his personal myspace page. He even admits that the really repetitive parts of some of his songs are a result of dance music influence. Techno and House are still dirty words. The old version of "Dance Punk" rightfully died a few years ago, because the words carried no weight, they were filler. Now that term actually applies...I'm bringin it back. Don't be afraid of the beats and hand-claps, they are there to make things better. Take that toe tapping you can't help and turn it into something greater, admit just your "Like" of the music and your summer drives will get that much better.

Love,
John

P.S. This is the first thing I wrote today, It may seem a little grouggy, I may beef it up later...I gotz to get to class.