2007-2017 might just be the greatest decade in dance music history - Culture - Mixmag
Culture

2007-2017 might just be the greatest decade in dance music history

The last 10 years have been momentous for our culture

  • Words: Joe Muggs | Illustration: Patch Keyes
  • 10 April 2017
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This hugely diverse zone didn't push the old genres aside, though. Quite the opposite, in fact: the existing club sounds each got revitalised, in part by what was happening in the new school. House and techno burst out from the stranglehold of the 90s generation of Superstar DJs and refreshed themselves from the mainstream to the underground. From the super-slick sounds of Innervsions to the dark intensity of Ben Klock to the world-conquering, UK garage-influenced bump ‘n’ bounce of Disclosure. The four-to-the-floor has been huge this past decade.

Meanwhile, the fact that dons like Kerri Chandler, Theo Parrish, Carl Craig, Omar S and Todd Edwards remain revered by ravers half their age shows that the roots haven't been forgotten, while in the fringes things like lo-fi, slo-mo, stoner and deconstructed sounds keep eroding the boundaries of genre. You can see it happening in drum 'n' bass, which both unexpectedly turned into hugely bankable pop music, and managed to regain its experimental mojo. Ditto grime, which after a difficult flirtation with major labels and pop crossover, learned to operate 100 per cent on its own terms, creating a new kind of superstar from the likes of Skepta, Stormzy, Kano, Novelist and co.

The globalisation of the club world changed everything, too. Whether it's fizzing K-Pop meets EDM from Seoul or ragged analogue electronica from Minsk, the intense Gqom sound of Durban or Teklife-inspired footwork from Belgrade, Tokyo and Santiago, the international electronic world was more networked and more ready to share inspiration than ever. Most recently this has found glorious expression in the form of the NON Worldwide crew, an “African diasporic” collective of radical diversity and radical politics who completely rewire the lines of influence between sounds and styles, pop and underground, across continents in ways that fuck with your mind but sound amazing in the dance.

 
 
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