Klubzone 1 - Soft to hard and an introduction

[actual]

Hi!

Wow - I finally found a place on the 'net where this type of music has a platform...great! My favorite style of music is the school of 1991-1993: Lower tempo breakbeats, with pianos, chord stabs, and vocal samples. I also like the very first trance records on labels like Guerilla, Cowboy, Zoom, Limbo etc.

One of my favorite tracks from that time is "Klubzone 1 - Soft to hard" - is anyone with me on this one?

Do you guys think this period of time will get a revival like that stupid 80's revival currently taking place with electroclash? I sure hope so...

Also, is anyone here into producing this kind of sound, and is there a place to discuss production of music like this?

Now I need to soft through all the past messages, I could really use some days off work now, hehehe...

Cheers,
Benedict

 

[ste huxley]

Welcome m8

>>Do you guys think this period of time will get a revival like that stupid 80's revival currently taking place with electroclash? I sure hope so...


Theres a massive revival on of this era over in the UK, Id say its peaking right now but will decline unless the same old tunes dont keep getting played/and if the punters are up for summat different but just as good if not better lol

 

[Shooms]

Welcome aboard mate Soft to hard has a special place in me heart too you'll find that everyone on here has a passion for the music you love too - what's it like in Germany ? The love parade gets big dance music press over here but the style of techno/trance that seems to be played over your way leaves me cold I'm afraid :| Is there a kickin old skool scene in Germany ?

 

[actual]

Germany & electronic music

Hi,

and thank you for all the nice hello's !

Hmm, I don't know anybody besides me who's into this music. My M8s who were raving with me back in the days either quit completely and now listen to Hip Hop or no music at all, or they are keeping busy by following the latest trend (like Electroclash last year, and minimal techno pop this year, and so on).

I think pianos & female vocals are just not compatible with the typical german clubber or raver (maybe it's the old cliché that we suffer of lack of humour and a tongue-in-cheek state of mind).

But there have been better times...like thev ery good period from 1991 up to 1994, when Paul Van Dyk and Kid Paul (aka Energy 52) were introducing us Krauts to some of the great, uplifting music coming from the UK and Italy, but listening to this kind of music has always been a little 'underground'. Hell, there even were some big tunes from Germany (Humate's Love Stimulation, Visions of Shiva's Perfect Day, and Energy 52's Cafe del Mar) Then, suddenly, it stopped completely as the music got a lot harder and faster, and then Paul Van Dyk and those other guys adjusted to what the crowd wanted (Van Dyk went to the UK, I guess you know the rest of the story), and Kid Paul quit music *completely* in 1996.

So, over the years, I have been watching the UK scene more than the german one, because I just liked the UK sound a lot more. I am coming from a hip hop background (up to the early 90s), and the first tunes that brought my attention to electronic music were breakbeat tunes (early moving shadow, warp, etc), so that's where I am coming from. That was around the same time when the Belgian techno started (Dominator, T99, etc.), and that's what attracted the masses here. Pianos and melodies didn't have a place here. Germans like arpeggiated trance melodies at a minimum of 150 BPM ;-)

And this german 'taste' of music has dominated up to today. Now, the rave scene is split up into a whole lot of miniscenes, there's a Drum'n'Bass scene, an electro scene, a minimal techno scene, a garage house scene, simply a scene for everything - and everybody is really uptight about which music is cool and which is not..

And that bores me do death

Also, you wouldn't believe - progressive (like Digweed, Seaman, Sasha, Satoshi Tomiie) is simply not happening over here. I don't think Sasha has even played in Germany more than 3 times...at least not in the last few years.

The only house that works here is garage house from the UK and US (like on Defected, Soulfuric, etc.), but not the progressive variant.

You see, it's not easy to have an english taste in music when living in Germany, but it can be still a lot of fun unless you want to go clubbing

What about you guys - do you think what Sasha and the others play is a logical progression from the music they played in the early 90s? I really like some of the tunes (I usually get the Global Underground Mix-CDs, the James Lavelle one was pretty good), but it's far from giving me the same feeling as the great uplifting tunes from back in the days. One thing I am especially missing is the mixture of house and breakbeats, and nu skool breaks just doesn't do it for me (although there are good records in that genre).

Wow it's getting late - if you have any more questions about music over here, let me know...

 

[wildpitch]

Welcome to OSA dude.

A lot of the music from the era you refer to still sounds cool on a big system. The Guerilla stuff in particular. I used to like a lot of German stuff around that time, the Tresor label is one that springs to mind and I think there's plenty of stuff on there that has stood the test of time and still sounds decent.