A Golden Age for Dance Music

Think back to early 2008. A little-known singer named Lady Gaga had just appeared on American Idol to enthusiastic crowds who praised her strange costumes and innovative blend of electro and hip-hop/pop. Dance music was still largely relegated to those within the "scene," with innovators like Oakenfold, Tiesto, and even Justin Timberlake who laid the groundwork with blending more progressive pop influences into their songs. But then again, dance music was still largely unnoticed with the one notable exception being Cascada, who by some unknown miracle had managed to crack the Hot 100 with an upbeat eurodance song in 2006. David Guetta (and others) were making masterful dance albums, none of which charted on the Top 200 and dance radio airplay was doing about the same as it had been doing in 2002.

Everything has changed. When you see that Rihanna won a Grammy for Best Dance Recording and Usher and Ne-Yo come out with songs that sounds like Ferry Corsten mixed them in 2002, you know that Toto is dancing somewhere at a techno club in Kansas.

The reason? Gaga. As much as I criticize her for being unoriginal, annoying, and outlandish, no one can deny her immense contribution to the genre, so much so that I'd put the 21st century timeline of dance music into two quadrants: Pre-Gaga and Post-Gaga. Her innovative genre-blending of electro, pop, hip-hop, and house (that still hasn't gotten a proper label) made it COOL for artists to borrow things like dance beats, synth pianos, and progressive chord structures. And above all-- put attitude back into pop music. She hasn't been doing anything that say, Kylie Minogue didn't do in 2004...but she does it a whole lot better, and with controversy galore. Now that Gaga-sound has caught on to every aspect of Pop music, pop and R&B performers turn to dance music with open earbuds and even make some of the more hardcore elements of hip-hop don sequins and glowsticks.

Let's look at this dramatic transformation on a timeline to better illustrate what I'm saying: Pre-Gaga we had Cascada and SexyBack by Justin Timberlake, as well as a whole hoard of Pop Remixes that had some airplay in clubs (Deborah Cox, Madonna, Britney, etc.). Post-Gaga....Well, let's just take a look at the Hot 100! Usher - DJ Got Us Falling In Love, Ne-Yo - Beautiful Monster, Rihanna - Only Girl In The World, Pitbull- Calle Ocho, Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me, Katy Perry - California Grrls, Black Eyed Peas - Time Of My Life (Dirty Bit), Enrique Iglesias - Tonight (I'm Loving You) and the list keeps on going!

If it's dance music, it's hot right now. Electronic music is not only replacing organic music, but also in some way, the more electronic the better. My question is, what does this mean for the genre? Well, folks, I think we're entering another Golden Age for Dance Music.

What's really great about this electronic pop trend is that existing dance/electronica performers have had a Frankensteinian resurrection with the growing pop fascination with dance music. To some extent, yes, it's because of their own shift towards more commercially accessible music. Of course, there have been mixed results (I'll be the first to admit Tiesto's "Pop" album wasn't so great). But for the handful of crossover acts that have really taken off, the impact has been HUGE. And let's give a lot of credit to French DJ David Guetta for pioneering the movement. After somehow convincing wil.i.am.that dance music was awesome, David Guetta has become one of the top-selling music acts in the U.S., and conventional house performers like Daft Punk and Deadmau5 and electro artists like Robyn have cracked the Hot 100 and Top 200 for the first time in YEARS.

One only wonders how long this Golden Age will last. Even fleeting revivals of dance music like in the age of Technotronic, Ace of Base, and La Bouche in the early 1990's, are ephemeral at best. I gotta hand it to Gaga... She's got a good thing going on, and inevitably, there might be a cult of personality factor with how long this lasts. But (and this is a rare thing when I say this), here's to Gaga to see if she can keep it up so dance music can continue to flourish.

Love Letter - R. Kelly (2010)

Sigh...This album can be summed up with the phrase "R. Kelly will be R. Kelly," or maybe more aptly-titled, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks or how not to pee on little girls."

I had been hyping up Love Letter for about a month from the strength of the incredible lead single "When A Woman Loves," a classic soul throwback which could have easily been something Al Green or even Marvin Gaye could have done if they were still relevant/alive. Music critics, including myself, had seen the album as a way for R. Kelly to redeem himself from the auto-tuned steaming pile of "Untitled" that he released in 2009 and pave the way for him to revive his career with classic soul.

How wonderful that would have been if that was actually the case. Fact: if your best song on the album is a re-release of a song you wrote for Michael Jackson, we've got a serious problem. Yes, the ballad "You Are Not Alone" that R. Kelly wrote for MJ has finally been recorded by the original artist. And, let's face it, the song always fit R. Kelly's voice and style way better than MJ's. But that's pretty much the highlight of the album, minus the aforementioned "When A Woman Loves." The rest of the album, R. Kelly flirts with elements of classic soul, but suddenly relapses into his all-too-familiar rut of braggadocio and seduction songs with abysmal lyrics. Lows of the album include boring follow-up single "Love Letter" and the laughably dirty Taxi Cab. When will R. Kelly learn that we just want him to romance us and not weird us out? Perhaps the worst offense is the idiotic "Christmas Remix" of Love Letter which might have been remotely amusing, if not for Kelly's tired insistence on using the same instruments (that BLOODY flute!!) that he was obsessed with back on Chocolate Factory and pretending that "stepping" is a really cool new concept that he just invented. Please.

My Ranking: This album is deceptive. It's R. Kelly wanting you to believe he's turned soul, but it's really the same-old mediocre R. Kelly. He needs to take a dip back into the Chocolate Factory days to cook up some better-written songs.

Music Review: SWRMXS - HIM (2010)

HIM is a much-maligned band. It's kind of like the kid who you knew in high school who wore suspenders and just tried way too hard to be cool, but you still kind of liked him anyway for trying. HIM is a joke within the metal community, their self-declared genre of "Love Metal," being neither loving nor metal. Most consider it more of an overindulgent alternative rock band with a great lead singer (Ville Valo has chops that even rival Chris Cornell).

It's easy to hate on HIM with this album saying "They're a metal band who did a techno remix album? Better call Macy's cause I smell a sellout" But if you look at SWRMXS as a companion album to the incredibly mediocre Screamworks: Love In Theory And In Practice (2010), things aren't so cut and dry.

Screamworks was plauged by shitty songwriting, and maybe that's why the remix album sounds nothing like it. This isn't the band's first foray into the remix world, though their 2007 attempt Uneasy Listening was a barely-remixed cash cow attempt. SWRMXS certainly has the band swimming in unfamiliar waters. Even though Valo has a great voice, most of the remixes are chopped n' screwed or feature heavily distorted samples of the original songs. It actually sounds like someone went into a boardroom and said "Hey we want you to make electronic songs that sound nothing like HIM and then slap our name on it." Only Morgan Page and Tiesto provide anything that conventionally sounds like a dance remix one could play on the radio (both standout tracks).

The rest of the album is pretty clever though. Tracks like “In The Arms Of Rain” (SALEM Remix) made by the extremely talented Drag/Witchhouse group Salem use heavily distorted and choppy samples to create an ethereal atmosphere in an almost trip-hop song with no vocals. The other type of remix would be typified by the “In Venere Veritas” (Huoratron Remix), extremely heavy electro that wouldn't sound out of place in the more underground electronic radio stations in the depths of the internet. But it's all done with HIM samples and conforming to the general song structure of the original, though I can't imagine anyone who isn't intimately familiar with electronic music would notice.

The album has really got to piss off HIM fans. As a remix album, it fails to capture the spirit and flavor of the original band, but I also wouldn't say Valo is giving the finger to his heartgram/chain-wearing fans either. It stands very much on it's own as a smart piece of electronic musicianship, featuring very talented remixers and producers.

My RANKING: It doesn't work as a remix album for a rock band, but it's worth a listen for fans of sample-based electronic music and really heavy electro. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Blogging Again!

Hey everybody! Now that I have a job, I think I'm gonna return to blogging. My new plan of attack is to separate my movies/music/culture blog into three separate blogs and make each more professional, also allowing me to update each at my leisure. Sound good? I'll let you know when the format changes. Most likely, this'll continue to be my main music blog, hence the DJ Dustbunny moniker. Keep promoting me and I hope I'll have some cool content for you soon!

Music Review: Of the Blue Colour of the Sky - OK Go (2010)

OK Go is one of those bands where the word “kitch” is associated to them more frequently than “great” to Tony the Tiger. It’s hard to take a band seriously who was essentially discovered by a low-budget Youtube viral. Oh No sold well enough to garner at least some respect for their novelty, and fans and critics both awaited their next album to be the baptism of fire for their legacy in rock music.

The new album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, is kind OK Go’s Rubber Soul in the sense that they’re determined to establish themselves as not just a rock band writing sweeter-than-bubblegum pop songs, but also willing to experiment and take risks with new stylistic changes. And really, these aren’t just cosmetic changes… it’s almost like OK Go is a totally different band. Almost like a combination of the failed attempts of Under The Influence Of Giants and the lyrics-strong wailings of the Scissor Sisters. Changing treadmills and poppy chords for keyboards, complex melodies, and funky bass lines, OK Go has done a swan dive into the deep end without seeming like a swan song.

For the most part, the new style is funky, catchy, maybe not as marketable as their previous incarnation, but certainly entertaining.

“WTF?” is a catchy enough lead single with some, “guess you can’t play THIS on the radio” lyrics to shock old fans into submission. I’m guessing they’ll follow up with the electro-influenced “White Knuckles” as a second single, which is definitely the strongest song on the record. It’s nice though that introspective acoustic songs like “Last Leaf” can prove that OK Go shouldn’t be taken lightly. The raucous “Back From Kathmandu” is another album highlight.

It’ll be interesting to see how this “alternative” shift will affect the band’s popularity. Heck, it’s no secret that our American band spelled “colours” hoping to capture the attention of the more artsy/(pretentious?) anglophiles in the audience. Fans have already been a little up in arms about the change towards more “experimental” electronic music, but it’s not exactly like OK Go is selling out. If anything, the record is more focused as a whole than most other contemporary pop-rock albums yet this year, and certainly better than the overhyped OneRepublic album of 2009.

MY RATING: Amusing, catchy, experimentally electronic. Better maybe even for garnering new fans that for satisfying their old, but does enough of both to be replayed on your ipod for at least the next few months

Movie Review: The Blind Side (2009) & its "Christian" message

As of today, The Blind Side is 2009's 9th highest grossing film based almost exclusively word-of-mouth promotion. The critical reception has been mediocre at best, but audiences continue to laud it and promote it. The secret...well, it's not much of a secret. It's being promoted as a Christian film.

I won't really go into what I thought of the film, nor will I discuss Christianity in the movie biz (a far too weighty topic for a mere college student). But I'm fascinated by the implications that this film has a "Christian" message and I want to examine exactly how the film can be seen as such. I'll try to remain as objective as possible, but expect some snark. Oh, and spoilers ahoy off the starboard bound. Read on, brave ones, if you've seen Blind Side already. Or read it anyway and spoil it. Your choice.

A word about the audience as I see it. The Christian influence on the success of films is notoriously under-appreciated by critics and Hollywood elite. Just look at The Golden Compass (2007) for the smoking gun. A lot of the hype about The Blind Side comes not only from the fact that it's a true story, a powerful factor indeed, but also for the fact that it's an inspirational film. And when I say inspirational, I say "remember your audience."

Well, we're done with the salad, so let's move on to the meat and potatoes. Are the characters in the film Christian?

Nominally speaking, absolutely. The Christian School is a Christian school, touting an adapted version of Matthew 19:26 above a its main entrance. No coincidence that Michael's entry through this gate is one of the better directed and most reprised shots in the film. White walls, white stones, white people... Michael's rather emo poetry does reveal his unfamiliarity with this world of upper class, conservative white Christians. So far, so characterized. But as Michael enters this supposedly Christian world, here's where things get complicated.

We are first introduced to the element of Christian morality when the football coach character (Ray McKinnon) makes his case to get Michael into school at St. Prestigious School. The coach seems like an affable dude and though we know he cares about having Michael play football, he states that bringing Michael in is the "right" thing to do. The "Christian" thing to do. And we definitely believe him. Underneath the dang seal is the word "Christian." It IS the right thing to do. Without quoting specific Bible verses, I think we can safely say that Jesus would approve.

But Michael is still neglected and has no place to stay. In a move straight from the heart, Sandra Bullock's character takes him in for more than just one night. No selfish motivation on her part. Not really even "white guilt" as her friends suggest. She does it out of the goodness of her heart. Let's face it, the Mom is a battle axe who totes poor Tim McGraw around by the throat in this movie. But when it comes to what's underneath the skin, the woman bleeds gold.

Bullock's character is by far the most Christian of the bunch. Her selfless action propels the film and takes a young kid out of a terrible situation. But it's not so black and white than that. Remember her surrounding friends? The ones with which she has that $18 salad. Charitable, upper class white women. Christians. But like a fly swatter, it's pretty clear these folks aren't the kind Christians that Ms. Tuohy is. Besides the not-so-subtle implications of racism and a general attitude of condensation, they're pretty rude to Mike and disrespectful to the Tuohy's intentions. The Blind Side tends to lump these kind of people together with the semi-pejorative term "rednecks." For the sake of simplicity, I'll keep using the term. Added to the fact that I love Jeff Foxworthy, there's something oddly self-indulgent about white, southern upper-class Christians calling each other rednecks. Or maybe it doesn't seem that way to you yet.

Let's continue. The first football game Michael plays tells a lot about the kind of Christians we're encountering in this film. The one racist redneck is at first repelled by "sticks and stones" and turning the other cheek by the Touhy fam. But as time progresses, Sandra Bullock plants a verbal foot up the man's ass. Firmly. Not to say that Christianity doesn't have something to say about sticking up for others, but it's pretty revealing when the so-called "Christian" attendees of a friendly southern football game turn ugly so fast. That's the way it IS in real life too, just in case you people reading aren't from the south. The man in the film might have well as used the "n" word. He was spouting just about everything else a PG-13 movie could take. But in addition to the repulse by Bullock, we get a lot of derision and name-calling, dumbing our opponents down into hicks and rednecks. Interesting.

To me, it's interesting that the film spends so much time separating THESE Christians (racist, mouth-breathing hicks) from Ms. Tuohy & co. The movie does make denominations of it's own by exposing the latent hypocrisies in the Christians practicing the Christianity.

Better example. A later conversation between Ms. Tuohy and Coach Cotton reveals that he pulled all of his strings to get Michael into school so he could play football. Ms. Tuohy retorts, "I thought you said it was your Christian duty." He opts not to give a Bill Clinton type response defining terms or equivocating. His silence gives us the answer. Ouch. We honestly DID believe him earlier when he gave us that meaningful speech about being a Christian school. And now he's just a hypocrite like all the other Christians in the film. No band-aid could fix this. Although it wasn't presented as a major part of the film, I definitely did a double take on this scene.

But that's the interesting part about The Blind Side isn't it? It attempts to divine what is truly Christian in its own way by effectively picking and choosing what constitutes real Christians. The most underrated scene in the movie, I think, is when they hire the tutor (the inimitable Kathy Bates). Plump, deep-hearted Kathy Bates quips that she would have taught at St. Hypocrites Christian academy but she wasn't "Christian enough" for them. Her not so subtle admission that she "has some doubts" might as well be a sign saying "Hello, my name is Atheist."And it only gets better. She pauses, saying "I might as well tell you..." cause, oh goodness, she's got some deep dark secret that might prevent her from being Michael's tutor. The words on EVERYONE'S minds in the theater were definitely "I'm a homosexual," but we're treated with the humorous admission that "I'm a democrat." In this context though, they might as well be the same thing, and that I think, is a victory for The Blind Side's emphasis on Christian tolerance. An interesting angle, don't you think?

And let's not forget Michael's attack on Ms. Tuohy upon NCAA investigation. Though we KNOW that Ms. Tuohy was being genuine in letting Michael in, she herself has doubts about her own ability to give him free choice in where he plays football. Let's pull a "stop...Hammertime" on this point. It's a fascinating psychological implication that, even in Ms. Tuohy's noble intentions, she may have accidentally manipulated poor Michael into choosing Ole Miss unfairly. What she's really asking herself is, did I do the Christian thing; did I in my own selfishness ever have the idea in my head that he'd be an asset to the school sports program? The audience clearly knows that this is a resounding "no", but the very introduction of any form of doubt about it... Well, it's certainly a strong point in the film's depth. Was it possible that her good intentions were clouded? If we consider The Blind Side as a theological film, this makes an interesting point. It MAY have been selfish... BUT what matters ultimately is that the choice is up to Michael. To those who see a "the ends seem to justify the means" conflict here, I'll say this. For the film to work, and the actual real life story to work, we have to know something about the characters. And the film does a marvelous job of giving us characters. We as the audience know that if Ms. Tuohy was REALLY concerned about sports, she'd have never told her husband to turn the car around in the first place. She did a generous thing -- the Christian thing -- out of the goodness of her heart.

All the other characters in the film can't see that. Even dopey, football-watching Tim McGraw husband can't understand that. She is the true Christian of the film. The polarization between her and all the rest is the difference between what The Blindside presents as Christianity and faux-Christianity. And without being preachy or overextended, The Blindside offers its on very specific take on what actions accompany both groups. Tolerance and diversity is as much of a "Christian" message in this film as is generosity and love towards strangers. Whether you see this is a Christian (no air quotes) message, I'll leave up to you to decide.

I'll roll this into a fine point. The Blind Side isn't a Christian movie; it's a movie with Christian character(s?) doing "Christian" things. As I think I've demonstrated from flogging a dead horse, there IS a difference.

Given what I perceive to be the Christian message of the film, it's interesting to see how the marketing of The Blind Side has advanced from being an "inspirational" film to being a "Christian" film. We'll see how the film stands the test of time with the Christian audience AND how the film does with the...well, decidedly less Christian Academy.

Funny closing: I was just watching Ben Hur... Charlton Heston makes a pretty convincing Jew. Don't believe me? Ask Charlton Heston.

More apologies and forthcoming updates

Hello folks. It's been a rough '09 on me, as I think you all know, but I'm "resolving" to write more in '10. Especially movie reviews. I've got some ideas rolling 'round in my head that I think you might find interesting, so I'd love to share them with you. Expect them in the upcoming weeks. Until then, go see some of the 2009 movies, including Avatar and The Blind Side and tell me what you think. My opinions? Well...you'll just have to wait and see.