Insert finger here to go straight to part 2
These posts were born out of a conversation I had with Mike from Dutty Moonshine a few weeks ago about the nature of Electro Swing and its future. In it, I asked him to answer the following questions:
Is electroswing ‘proper’ dance music?
What does the future of the genre look like?
Is it a fad or can it claim to be a bona-fide dance music genre?
These are questions that I had been pondering for some time, but I couldn't quite work out how to turn it into an article that didn't sound like navel-gazing. Mike's answer was so impassioned that I decided to see what some other people in the industry thought about it all. Read on to see what the likes of Nick Hollywood ('Godfather of Electro Swing'), C@ in the H@ and Talullah Goodtimes have to say on the issue.
Right at the end you will get to see what my thoughts are. Let's start with Mike:
Mike from Dutty Moonshine:
Good question, I think of it like this; Electro Swing is a stupid fucking name which Wagram came up with to describe a sound and it stuck. When I started the Vaudeville Rave I'd never heard of Electro Swing. Has the 1st compilation that coined the name even come out?
Check our event page out and how we described the artists https://www.facebook.com/events/41335687035/
The idea of vintage sounds being remixed has grown massively: Ivy Levan with Swamphop; The Correspondents with all their Boogaloo samples; Swing beats and bawdy cabaret vocals; Dutty Moonshine with the balls-deep bass sets with Swing samples; Drop the Lime with his Dropabilly; Artists like Caro Emerald, Alice Francis or Imelda May making serious careers out of their take on the sound; Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer and his Chap-Hop; The Puppini Sisters with their Andrew Sisters-style pop. Now note how all those listed don't really fit "Electro Swing" but all make a living and tour the world under the umbrella of "Electro Swing".
Even pop stars are making the odd Swing track, have you heard Jessica Cornish (Jessie J) - Sexy Silk?
What a tune! You could drop that in a set and no one would know that was Jessie J. Look at Robbie Williams' massive selling Swing album.
On Electro Swing being a fad, I think it is more a name that doesn't do justice to a sound. The evolution into Ghetto Swing was inevitable as the term Electro Swing didn't properly describe songs by artists such as C@ in the H@ or Defunk. I mean is The McMash Clan's song Swing Break really an Electro Swing song? No. But what is it? It's a dance track that has a Swing vibe and a fairly well known Swing singer on it. The sound of the vintage being remixed is well appealing, original and straight up fun so no I don't think it'll be a fad. The standard Electro Swing that started it all, yeah that won't last and even now think it's dying off a bit. I feel all the new "Electro Swing" nights are way more "Ghetto Swing" and/or incorporate more diversity than a cheap house track with a few horn samples.
Our mix "Kicked Out Of The Club" was named that way because an established Electro Swing promoter said we weren't Electro Swing anymore. Well we never meant to be but what are we now? While we pretend to suffer an identity crisis here's a kick ass mix with lots of Swing in it! When we started we stuck out like sore thumbs, something I think that helped us, but now....such diversity on display. The sound will continue to modestly creep forwards into an established sound but the genre name does no favours. Think how diverse the original scene was. Charleston, Honky Tonk, Blues, Big Band, Vegas Swing, Jive, Gospel, Bossa Nova - that's why it's so diverse now because it was so diverse to start with. We're just having to compete with a shit-load of other genres in these modern times - Metal, EDM, Punk, Pop, Country, Indie, Disco, Funk etc etc so we'll never be as large as back in the day but we'll exist and continue for quite a while to come yet.
Richard Shawcross aka C@ in the H@, co-founder of Ragtime Records
I would consider Electro Swing Music not a genre as such, and it is neither a fad or a movement, if you ask me. To say either of those is to follow fashion. There has been music with elements of early 20th century swing going back for many, many years, whether it be via influence or sampling. It is just the naming of Electro Swing which is the new thing.
If I had to define it under a broad umbrella genre, I would in fact call it Jazz, not Dance music. All dance music, by definition, can be danced to, but not all Electro Swing music is to be danced to... It does not have a set style, even within the broadest sense. As it is not limited by BPM or any other boundary, it cannot be pigeon-holed in the same way as other genres. Do you ever see an Electro Swing section in a record shop (online or offline)? I have yet to see one, and would be surprised if I ever will. After all, a track which is house music but is swing house, will just be in the closest house category.
With Ragtime Records when we submit a release to an online record shop, despite what we request, we may find the same release being placed in such diverse genres as chill, rock, glitch hop, house... all for same release.. because they have to pigeon-hole it... which at times can be quite amusing, at times, annoying. Electro Swing is such a loose term that it is down to how people interpret it, which is how you get some DJ's playing hip hop/glitch hop/breaks sets with early 20th century influences, and you may get DJ's playing house/techno sets with early 20th century influences. They are both electro swing, but they are both very different.
The bottom line for me is that music genres and definitions are blurring so much that it is hard to keep track of what is what. I think the future is just more blurring of lines, more recycling of old music, and more combining with new styles. And for me, this is a good and exciting thing I like to embrace.
DJ Nick Hollywood - Founder of the White Mink club nights and founder of Freshly Squeezed Music
What is 'proper' dance music? When early dance first arrived it wasn't seen as 'proper' music itself because it was created by machines!
It's all simply about evolution. People become invested in a particular sound and they don't like it when it moves on... Swing, like the Charleston from which it evolved, was one of the very earliest dance crazes. Its birth coincided with the arrival of readily available recorded music technologies. Electro Swing is a genre that reaches across the decades and takes the influence of the past and draws from / acknowledges it in the present. It's very inclusive. I coined the phrase (since extensively borrowed so it presumably it has some wider resonance) "the sounds of the first great depression with the technology of the second". By 'sounds' I meant both sampled, but also the influence of musical style (ie literal 'swing', and by 'technology' I meant as much 21st century 'attitude'.
What does the future of the genre look like? Following on from the above, we will be stepped over by the next big thing inevitably... evolution.
Of course it's a bona-fide genre. The question is answered when it becomes as big as it has and when it is taken up, right across the world, by thousands of unconnected people. It's a zietgeist moment.
The currency of dance music itself is often about the new, about embracing the unexpected, in other words - it has a strong faddy element built into its appeal - ES has benefitted from this and will also ultimately get boring because of it. Only the very best music from the genre with transcend that. The larger it gets the more people try to cash in on the novelty, the less novel it becomes, the more steeped in mediocrity, the quicker everyone moves onto the next thing.
If this music is to make a lasting impact and contribution it needs to be about quality and innovation. Perhaps it's lasting contribution will be in helping break down the barriers between genres (at the risk of becoming rather unfocussed by definition so perhaps Vintage Remix is a better phrase).
[The video above is from Kischée, whose album is the latest release from Freshly Squeezed. Jack the Cad.]
Kaptin Is Dead - Programmer of Bands and Town Mayor of Boomtown, DJ and part of Big Swing Soundsystem
Is electroswing ‘proper’ dance music?
It depends by whose definition really. Will it ever be played seriously by Annie Mac or Pete Tong? I think it probably has at some point, though it would have to be within the context of another genre rather than as 'Electro Swing'. That's the main issue is Electro Swing is not a genre really, it's a collection of ideas and the disparity between the various parts in terms of quality and sound is pretty large.
What does the future of the genre look like?
It could look a number of ways. Either it finally crosses full force into the main stream, has a brief moment of every twat under the sun getting into it and then does everyones head in before dying a horrible death; or the big American RNB artists catch on properly, blows all the other acts out of the water, who sit around bitching about 'real' Electro Swing before finding something else to get into; or, it remains as a fun oddity, occasionally popping over the surface but just bubbling along nicely, at less but bigger nights and festivals. There's certainly plenty of room to grow still, and I think it will carry on being able to sustain a few quality bands and DJs for a while.
Is it a fad or can it claim to be a bona-fide dance music genre?
See previous answer about it being a genre but I think it depends on who is looking at it. I think in terms of mainstream popularity, it will only ever be a fad. It's far too fun to be taken too seriously and that's part of it's appeal for me. Having said that I think there is more to it then simply music. The whole Vintage Remix vibe says a lot about society and I don't think what it really offers to society has been properly explored.