#nuum

[oxxjustfrankieandmikuloverxxo]

Nuum

[viachik]

[viachik]

[ithisatanytime]

(nuum)

[ithisatanytime]

(nuum)

[ukhousereport]

Deep Tech & Grime ・Deep TechとGrimeの関係について

English below　↓↓↓

Frankie $です！ずっとFrankly$ickとしてGrimeのDJとして音楽活動してきたので、急にDeep TechというHouse音楽にはまってしまったことに違和感を覚える人もいるかもしれないので、今日は、GrimeとDeep Techとの接点について説明したいと思います。結論から言うと、GrimeとDeep Techは同じ「Hardcore Continuum」に当てはまるジャンルであることは何より注目すべきだろう。「Hardcore Continuum」というのは、イギリスのクラブカルチャーが89年から一貫して継続している理論のことです。これはSimon Reynolds氏が提唱した理論であり、現在広く認識されています。音性の類似性はともかくとして、デモグラ（聞いている人たち・活動している人たち）が同じという極めて肝心な特徴があるということはぜひ知っておいてほしいです。

それとは引き換え、Deep Techはロンドンの、いわば「プロジェクト」出身、黒人のトラックメーカーが中心になっています。さらに、実際にGrimeを作っていたトラックメーカーが目立って多いです。海賊ラジオに多くプレイされており、イベントもUK  Garageの最盛期のようにイベントが数え切れないほどあります。どこ言ってもCutting Shapesというディープテックのダンスを踊っている人を見かけるし、道を歩いていると怪しい車から爆音で流れてくることも多いです。 分かりやすい例で言うと、Grimeの最盛期には若い子たちがロンドンのバスに乗って、携帯からGrimeのInstroを流しながらラップしているのをよく目にしていました。

今は、同じ若い子たちはこう遊んでいます。最高。

もう一つ例あげると、グライムのレーブは「危ない」というイメージがありました。 Deep Techのレーブのごく一部ではありますが、同じイメージがついてしまいました。Houseのレーブが「危ない」なんてよくわからない発言だなと思いましたが、シーンの人たちと話していたら、以前「ロードラップ」を聞いていたディーラー（売人）の人たちが普通にクラブでEcstasyやって踊っているのがよく目にするといいます。Cutting Shapesを踊っている人たちも、「貧乏」のイメージがついてしまい、Shufflerの格好（ナイキのHuaracheという靴など）聞いている人はShufflerの疑いでクラブに入れないこともあります。さらに厳しいクラブでは、参加者のFacebookを見てShuffleの動画をアップしているかどうかを確認してそこで入れるかどうか判断するという極めてClassist・Racistな残念な状況です。 いい面で言うと、Houseを聞くようになり、アグレッシブの気持ちを捨て人生の方向性を変えたというロードの人たちもいるそうです。 さて、GrimeトラックメーカーがHouseを作るとどうなる？ と、気になる方は以下のクリップを聞いてみましょう。

①　Grimeファンの誰もが知っているRude Kidは以下のようなハイテックGrimeで広く知られています。

６ヶ月前いきなりSoundcloudに以下のような曲がアップされました。

ヴォーカルやDelayの使い方はいかにもDeep Techらしく、普通のHouse イベントでは絶対まわしていけない、最高にハードな曲です。

さらにこれでCraig DavidをリミックスしてUK Garage感を極めます。

これで同じ感じでHouse感たっぷりのDiva ヴォーカルを活かしています。

これでSaturdayという有名なGrime曲をそのままDeep Techリミックスへと息を吹きかえます。 これらの曲を聴いて「好きじゃない」と思っている人はUK GarageとGrimeが本当にわかっていて好きでいるかどうか疑います笑。

② J Beatz

これはDJの時よくかけていた曲。

これはDJの時よくかけている曲。

③ S.E.F

Switched On RecordsというDeep Techレーベルを運営しているS.E.Fと話してみたら、なんと、GrimeがGrimeと呼ばれるようになる前に活躍していたBlack Opsクルーのメンバーでした。

グライム以外のHardcore ContinuumジャンルからDeep Techへ乗り換えたアーティスト。

④ X5 Dubz

X5 Dubzはグライムではなくて、Basslineのトラックメーカーですが、自分のサウンドを再定義した面で含めるべきです。 このレコードをよくクラブでまわしていました。

この同じネタを2015へ飛ばしてみるとこうなります。

さらにヤバさアップ＋Cutting Shapesの画像を加えるとこうなります。最高。

⑤　Tazer

極めてGrimeyなUK Funkyを作っていたTazerのEP。

Deep Tech作るようになって、以下の曲がSonyにサインされ、現在買えなくなっています笑。間違いないDeep Techのアンセム。

ダークのUK Funkyから乗り換えてきたアーティスト多くいますので、Mr SoloとFormulaもぜひチェックしてみてください：

https://soundcloud.com/mista-solo

https://soundcloud.com/topshelfmaterial/sets/formula-vibrating-touch-ep 

さらにGrime度の高いDeep TechをほかにもDigしたいという方はTop Shelf Material (https://soundcloud.com/topshelfmaterial)やMFR Recordsというレーベルは要チェックです。（https://soundcloud.com/mfrrecords) 意見・コメントがありましたら、ぜひコメントしていただければと思います。。

Today we’re gonna talk a bit about the relationship between deep tech and grime music. At any given moment in the history of UK rave you can pinpoint a genre or two which were leading the way in terms of bangers-produced, crowd numbers, radio play, buzz. Amidst the bewildering diversity of UK dance music in the year 2015 it is perhaps fair to say that the two genres leading the way today are deep tech and new skool grime in its various forms. For many people it seems to be a choice between one and the other - and we at UKHR aren’t gonna pretend to be neutral onlookers: deep tech’s better, but your milage may vary ;)

While there’s overall very little crossover between these two scenes as they currently stand, in a way they can both claim to be the descendants of classic grime.

The relationship between deep tech and grime is in someways pretty simple: a huge number of people currently involved in the deep tech scene were involved with grime beforehand. On a demographic level, they both evolved in east and south London and appeal to the same working class and multi-racial demographics. And, as grime was systematically banned from clubs across the capital, the "urban" (read "black") following of deep tech music has led to many clubs banning shuffling and shufflers. Cutting shapes plays the same role to teenagers now that spitting bars over a mobile phone beat did to youth ten years ago: https://instagram.com/p/tMF80wA3Yb/

Besides these personal and cultural links, there are many musical connections ranging from a generally cold and minimalistic aesthetic that brings to mind early grime at it’s most spartan:

To a conscious incorporation of grime sounds:

But in many ways grime and deep tech are total opposites. Grime was an MC led scene - even the presence of hosts over deep tech sets can be controversial. Grime parties were often about lyrical prowess and which bars could get the most wheelups - deep tech raves are all about the dancing. Grime was all about skunk - deep tech is all about MDMA and balloons. Grime was about keeping it real - deep tech is about loosing yourself in the music. Violence - verbal or otherwise - was at the centre of grime’s self-image - with deep tech the code words are peace, love and house music.

Deep tech then, evolved not only out of grime music, but in reaction against it. UK rave music can be said to be defined by a series of contradictions* - striving for pop success vs. keeping it underground; feminine vs. masculine elements; swinging syncopation vs. stiff rhythms etc. At times the music has swung to one extreme or the other - tech-step DnB purged all the party vibes and human elements from jungle, leaving an extremely dark and techy sound - speed garage brought the funk and soul and ragga elements back. 2-step garage, after a period of churning out hits which flawlessly fused dancefloor energy with pop sensibility, went too far down the commercial route and ended up vibe less and overproduced - grime and dubstep evolved in reaction to this, bringing the darkness back.

*Man like Simon Reynolds goes into this in way more detail here, wicked read: http://energyflashbysimonreynolds.blogspot.jp/2009/06/nuum-and-its-discontents-5-masculine.html

Deep tech for me is the pendulum swinging back towards danceability, groove and fun. Perhaps in the future it too will swing too far in one direction or the other - perhaps it will draw closer to international house music and loose the UK elements which give it its edge. But for now it remains perfectly poised between the grittiness of grime music and the sexy swing of house, and that’s what makes it the best music in the world right now.

Anyway, that’s enough of the history lesson, here are a few of our favourite artists and tracks from the intersection of grime and deep tech:

1) Rude Kid

From

To

2) J Beatz

From

To

3) Tazer

From grimey funky

to scene defining deep tech

4) S.E.F

From a member of the legendary grime crew Black Ops:

to label head of the always on-point Switched On records:

And superlative deep tech producer:

5) Luke Lawrell AKA Flukes AKA 1 half of Crazy Cousinz from gyal tune grime:

and producing the uncontestedly biggest uk funky banger:

to creating the first UK deep tech track and kicking off this whole current house wave:

  6) Paper Aero Plane - Splurgeboys, Snowy Danger, James Pyke & Kadey James on SBTV

An experiment rather than a full on trend, a road rap/grime crew spitting over an 8 bar edit of Dennis Ferrer’s wicked remix of London Grammar’s Sights. Given the hostility to full blown MCing in deep tech (Sample quote from man like Mark Radford “4 guys on stage chatting, spitting bars at each other and all of that, it’s not wanted in this music”) I don’t see full-on MC vocal deep tech tracks taking off. But what an experiment! Party vibes and all the touch-stones - house! shuffling! balloons! East End art students! - that make this one of the best lyrical summaries of London in the year 2015 about.

Grime runs deep in deep tech’s bones. It seems to me that the people who can’t hear the gritty UK energy that is the animating life force of this music, who see deep tech as ‘just tech house’ need to realise: these grime luminaries haven’t lost touch with UK music, you have.

[landlordrecords]

My 2010-12 Nuumisms...Bit behind on new stuff this year...

1) Joe - Claptrap 2) SX - Wooo Riddim/D Double E - Bad To The Bone 3) Addison Groove - Footcrab 4) D Double E - Streetfighter Riddim 5) Wiley "Step 1" 6) Ennio Maccaroni "Never Ever Worry" (mento/calypso DnB remixes - pure sunshine!) 7) Kode9 & Spaceape "Otherman" 8) Kode9 & Spaceape "Green Sun" 9) Kuedo "Flight Path" 10) SRE - This Is SRE 11) Roska - Squark 12) JME- Pick Up the Mic 13) MCMXC - Low Frequency Alteration 12” (LFO & Nightmares On Wax re-edits - retro nuum! - from just before I stopped going to Manchester regularly in 2010 & my close following of new vinyl hence sadly finished) 14) Jam City - Ecstasy Refix 15) Ennio Maccaroni "Dr Kitch" 16) Ennio Maccaroni "Rum & Coca Cola" 17) Ennio Maccaroni "Public Enemy Number One" 18) Ennio Maccaroni "Cherry Oh Cherry" (plus "Police Officer", "Big Bamboo, "Wine & Grine etc!) 19) Julio Bashmore "Batty Knee Dance" 20) Bruza "Avit Large" (one of the few electroy grime ones that really works for me)

[dancetilthepolicecome-blog]

Jack to the Future

So there's this big thing happening Up North called Jackin House and standardly the southern blogaratti haven't clocked it at all.

Jackin House, or more commonly, just Jackin (also known as/near interchangable with Electroline) is basically Electro House mashed together with Bassline at about 130 bpm, with strong influences from Speed Garage and 2-step, a bit of Dubstep and Funky, and even traces of Jungle thrown in. The other way to think about it is that Jackin is to Electro House what UK Funky is to Funky House. Either way, what most seperates it from international Electro is the presence of MCs toasting over the top of it in the vybezy, bubbling vein of old skool garage, but the truth is it runs on a spectrum, ranging from a whole-lot-of-shite that's little more than Electro House + MCs to some stuff which is far more interesting and nuum'y.

Jackin is kind of a big deal. Marcus Nasty, Godfather/Don of UK Funky has up and jumped ship:

(This is THE Jackin mix to get to know) Leed's main man Tom Zanetti has about as many Facebook fans as Joy Orbison (29,274 vs.  33,478), and in many cities across the North, Bassline is out and Jackin is in. This is a new twist, a new chapter in the 25 year history of the hardcore continuum, yet it's been getting no recognition or love from any of the usual suspects. This seems like critical neglect. 

To be fair to the bloggers, Jackin has any number of things going against it. For one the name's been taken, like, 25 years ago. Jackin shouldn't even be a genre name, it's an adjective: a type of house that jacks, which you can jack to. Popularly understood, it refers to hard hitting dancefloor Chicago trax from the 80s, which makes searching for information about this new northern stuff really difficult.

The second thing is how it bleeds into other genres at all edges, with barely any solid core to grip on to. Simon Reynolds has spoken before of this 'plausibile deniability', whereby as dance genres increasingly seek out the space between existing poles of influence rather than exploring new zones of sonic possibility, it becomes increasingly easy to deny that there's any meaningful difference between, say, Tech-Step and Neuro Funk; Jackin and Electro. Combined with this is a 'whachucallit' syndrome, where on bigtunesmp3 (a dedicated online retailer for the stuff, and from where I'm sitting down Saaf, something of a mecca for the stuff) every tune is tagged mulitiple times as both Jackin and Electroline, Warper, House, Bass, and Funky, befitting the fact that Jackin is as of yet a space where many influences combine without any new sound to call all its own.

Finally is the matter of just what a parr how much of it is. Bigtunesmp3 is flooded with painfully poorly produced tunes amounting to little more than bait Electro House with some swag northern MC toasting on top of it. It's barely its own thing and most of it's shite; why would you pay attention to this scene?

Because this is nuum shit, that's why! It's a scene filling the gap left by the decline of Bassline, listened to by northern nuumy contingent of multi-racial livin-for-the-weekend ravers.

Musically it's most obvious link to the nuum is the presence of MCs toasting over the top in the champagne and good times vein or Jungle/Garage/Funky/Bassline rather than the darkside verbal pyrotechnics of Grime. But on top of this sonically, at its best it brings together the most winsome elements of the nuum's 20 something years of history in a manner neither pastiche or hauntological, but true to the spirit of rave. Tracks with a bassline/dubstep wobble are called 'wobblers'. Tracks using the Double 99/187 Lockdown Speed Garage bass warp are, fittingly, called 'warpers'. It mixes a 4x4 bounce with the shuffly Dem 2 high hats, bringing the swing and at times traces of Funky in the snares. It's got the vocal science of 2-step (see the Burkie tune above) and some tunes, like this one even bring the Ragga chat and Amen break of Jungle. On top of all these sonic signifiers are other promising signs of 'nuumental activity, not least the surfeit of cheeky pop tune bootlegs:

Though all too commonly, it lies too close for comfort to the Electro sphere of influence, it's clear that Jackin is the latest chapter in the history of the Hardcore Continuum, a summary of which now runs: Hardcore - Jungle - DnB - Speed Garage - 2-step - Grime - Dubstep - Bassline - Funky - Jackin.

And though as of yet Jackin doesn't have a sound all of its own (though that steely, hollow warpy bass is pretty distinctive), there's no reason that it can't develop one. For now, it might be fair to call Jackin one of the first Metamodernist dance scenes, neither straight forwardly postmodern/revivalist nor jetting off into a modernist future, a tension perfectly encapsulated by the first tune of the Marcus Nasty mix (A remix of Majestic's Let's Go Back, but I'm DESPERATELY searching for an ID if anyone's got it).

It starts with a skippy 4x4 garage beat while Majestic spits about the jokes old days of cheap McDonalds and Garage Raves in the early 2000s, untill he gets to these lines:

We can't go back,

That's in the past when I reminisce now 

Bring on the future, here for the day,

I'll be making music come what may.

I don't come from the Old Skool,

But I got to big up the Old Skool,

Reminiscing for times when I was younger,

To this day I still got the hunger.

And it breaks into a cavernous, space-age-shiny j-j-jackin bass riff destined for insta-wheelup and total dance duppiage. Jack to the Future? Yeah, alright then.

P.S. Big up my fellow Voodoo ravers, my boys Frankly $ick and Jack Jambie. They got me into this shit, and they're killer DJs each of them. #crewlove