Electro Clash

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Two questions...

Is Electro Clash the 'next big thing' or will it be a short lived trend that doesn't go much beyond New York?

Does anyone know were I can find info on Melissa Burns of the electro-clash band WIT (Whatever it Takes)? I used to live with her a long time ago and I've been trying to get in touch with her for awhile now.

― CretanBull (CretanBull), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:17 (twenty-three years ago)

...a short lived trend that doesn't go much beyond New York?

I think it can be argued that it started in the UK, then sailed across the sea to New York.

Are WIT any good?

― paul cox (paul cox), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:22 (twenty-three years ago)

i read the first line and had to check the date that this post wasn't January 17th, 2001.

― michael wells (michael w.), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:24 (twenty-three years ago)

I think he's talking about the electro-clash revival that's just starting up.

― TMFTML (TMFTML), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah back then it was preceded by "what is this" and followed by "crap". I think it is dead now but this does not mean the people who said it was crap were right.

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:29 (twenty-three years ago)

There's already a revival? The pendulum swings mighty fast.

― paul cox (paul cox), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:30 (twenty-three years ago)

re qn 2 try google:
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=wit+whatever+it+takes+melissa

― zebedee, Friday, 17 January 2003 16:33 (twenty-three years ago)

I think it can be argued that it started in the UK, then sailed across the sea to New York.

It can be argued more convincingly that it started either in The Hague circa 1997 (Legowelt/I-F/Alden Tyrell) or Berlin circa 1999 (DJ Hell/International DJ Gigolos).

― Siegbran (eofor), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:43 (twenty-three years ago)

I think it's hit that moment where it's dead as a "burgeoning scene" so those within it can keep on going (and hopefully actually developing something) in relative freedom. I hope, anyway.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Also its memory will live on in our hearts forever. Er no seriously though as was discussed before it still will affect other stuff interestingly. I think it's still in the process of denting the indie market though, there's a few shows here which are normally dreadful and they've played electro a bit.

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Who coined the term electroclash anyhow? And when?

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Came from Larry Tee's night in Brooklyn.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Zebedee - thanks, that helped - I was using a different search engine and not getting as many related hits.

Paul - Tell you the truth I know nothing about the genre or its history, just repeating what I've read :o) I have no idea if WIT are good or not, but they seem to be the band that alot of people are pointing at as being the one to watch.

From what I gather, the scene is dead in London and Manhattan, but still has a strong following in Brooklyn. A few bands have signed (Peaches has been moderately successfull) and there's label interest in WIT. I guess as scenester cool music its passe, but maybe its about to become mainstream & marketable?

― CretanBull (CretanBull), Friday, 17 January 2003 17:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think that the most interesting thing right now is that all kinds of artists outside of the hardcore underground electro scene are rediscovering all those cool old electro sounds - Laidback Luke, Taucher, Tomcraft, Sven Vath, Westbam, Royksopp, Madonna...

― Siegbran (eofor), Friday, 17 January 2003 17:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Errm no, I don't think W.I.T. are "actually" the one's to watch. Or actually yes, they're the ones to watch, in the sense that people seem curious about what will happen with them -- but musically speaking I think it's understood that not so much is going on there. (And I say that having liked one of their singles.) Cf Tracy and the Plastics.

I am hoping for a pop-electro mutation but you probably already knew that.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 17 January 2003 17:22 (twenty-three years ago)

if any of you go 2 shit clubs in london like 333, nag nag nag, electrowerks, trash then you'll find that it is not dead but alive and well

"I am hoping for a pop-electro mutation but you probably already knew that"

you seem to be describing electroclash dude

― gi66y, Friday, 17 January 2003 19:17 (twenty-three years ago)

No, not really the bulk of electro as currently understood: the current end of it that's explicitly pop still seems very lightweight and maybe a bit too rock-aspiring to me. (E.g. the album-oriented stuff like WIT, Peaches, Ladytron, or Tracey and the Plastics that gets marketed as "electroclash" despite not -- Ladytron excluded -- having much of a place within electro proper: of the Big Pop Records to come out of this Fischerspooner's is one of few that's worked for me.) The more New Romantic pop side of it (Northern Lite or We in Music or Alpinestars or whoever singles) works on that level, I think, but doesn't seem to have picked up enough album-format steam to outlive a crash in "electro" as a scene -- this is part of what I'd like to see mutate into something more substantial. And the best and most stable of the stuff -- i.e. a lot of the stuff closest to the Euro techno scene from whence it all came -- could, I think, mutate in a pop direction in a way completely different from how the Brooklyn scene has done it: I'm thinking specifically of TokTok vs. Soffy O when I say that.

However I may be talking out of my ass, so please correct me if I seem completely wrong.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 17 January 2003 20:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I mean, the obvious flaw in all of that = the Romantic stuff I'm talking about isn't electro, just records that fit in nicely with electro stuff as a balance to the hard techno end of the spectrum. But somewhere between that and electro-pop and even the really performative electro-for-rock-fans kind of thing I think there's the potential for something that's actually much more solid to emerge. (Right now it seems like there's a choice to be made between listening to electro that's pop and electro that's musically solid, and that's where I'd like to see some mutation take place.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 17 January 2003 21:29 (twenty-three years ago)

The Brooklyn stuff seems resigned to build its own little gay ghetto. Most of the recent stuff I've heard is so Jimmy Somerville it's not funny (without being nearly as good).

― hstencil, Friday, 17 January 2003 21:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Googlism.com for: electroclash

electroclash is so sassy
electroclash is so cool
electroclash is addictive
electroclash is de naam
electroclash is about sex and fun and glamour and irony
electroclash is a lot more entertaining and song
electroclash is committed to bringing the best of the next generation of nu
electroclash is creatieve en heel vrolijke muziek
electroclash is that it is meant to revel in style over content
electroclash is at least making an effort
electroclash is here and now
electroclash is that you can play songs of all types but keep the same feel
electroclash is as much about visual style and presentation as it is about the music
electroclash is 'seventeen
electroclash is for you
electroclash is trendy
electroclash is musically all about the 1980s
electroclash is a lot more then porno sounds and cheeky lyrics as you seem to descibe it
electroclash is hot
electroclash is pretty good i think
electroclash is fun fuckheads
electroclash is the term dj larry tee coined to describe the new wave/synth/electropop sound coming from nyc
electroclash is the word to describe an exciting new genre of music that is bringing life to dance floors and listening rooms around the world
electroclash is a style of modern electro
electroclash is the glitzy universal sound that links detroit with berlin
electroclash is one of those media
electroclash is the technical term
electroclash is making a tour around us starting from october 5
electroclash is the most exciting genre of music to form in a long time and finally getting
electroclash is here
electroclash is bringing back fun into the scene
electroclash is a more easily accessible nostalgia flashback
electroclash is sooo three days ago
electroclash is the hot ticket
electroclash is the most refreshing dance music development in years
electroclash is represented by super
electroclash is meant to be dying on its immaculate derriere and we're all suddenly supposed to be listening to
electroclash is larry tee's excellent festival
electroclash is merely a load of old new romantic riffs reheated
electroclash is an emerging style blending
electroclash is the new hating "emo"
electroclash is about music that you can relate to and stars that you want to fuck
electroclash is the new sound
electroclash is taking the underground music scene by storm
electroclash is bloody retro
electroclash is great etc
electroclash is
electroclash is dead
electroclash is a naughty word these days it seems
electroclash is new york city?s sound of now
electroclash is a pile of poo
electroclash is very caucasian
electroclash is nyc's sound of now

― david day (winslow), Friday, 17 January 2003 22:10 (twenty-three years ago)

The only true electro Clash band is Big Audio Dynamite. Duh.

Havana 3AM was roots rock.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 17 January 2003 22:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Urrgh that's like appearance number three for that joke on ILM!

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 17 January 2003 22:39 (twenty-three years ago)

oh, the googlism thing? sorry. funny that ...is now and ...is dead are bother there, though.

the new moonshine compilation seems to be making the rounds [i believe its called "electro nouveau"] so i would say that yes, EC _does_ have some sticking power in the US.

to "blow up" it'll take a major label to coordinate finding a CEO that can pry their heads out of their collective asses. could happen, but i severely doubt it.

wait and see what fischerspooner does on Capitol. Methinks the video could work it through MTV, although it may not be "provocative" enough for emptyv to play it as often as they should. it will be interesting to see how that album does nationwide, though. it _does_ have legs, as we've all seen.

― david day (winslow), Friday, 17 January 2003 22:44 (twenty-three years ago)

for every Electroclash thread there will be that joke, Nabisco. Hopefully that will cut down on the number of electro clash threads.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 17 January 2003 22:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Hur hur. You know, my fear about electro "having legs" in an actual chart format is that, well, there are so many bands out there doing really bad treatments of late-period industrial that they'd just absorb an electro influence and very naturally wind up doing equally bad treatments of early-period industrial -- draw a curvy line from like "Everyday is Halloween" to Orgy covering "Blue Monday" (remember that?), which could be a cool thing except I just don't really trust the guys in these sorts of bands to do anything good with it.

― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 18 January 2003 00:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Which is to say, like, Death in Vegas go sort of electro and that single's not so bad in certain mixes -- but who's very eager to read "Filter returns with new electro-influenced record."

― nabisco (nabisco), Saturday, 18 January 2003 00:17 (twenty-three years ago)

The "Mirrors And Chrome" track up on Gabba/Net is superb.

― Tom (Groke), Saturday, 18 January 2003 00:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Hmmm... Marilyn Manson covering Tainted Love?

Still ... if this happens it'll confirm my prediction for an all out Electro Goth Revival this year ....

― phil jones (interstar), Saturday, 18 January 2003 12:31 (twenty-three years ago)

three months pass...

So, do the W.I.T. empresses wear no clothes? I checked out a song or two a few days ago and it seemed like fun stuff. I know naught about the electroclash thing, and can investigate the other threads re the general question, but haven't seen much on ILX about this group in particular.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 02:06 (twenty-three years ago)

I like the way that Electroclash has brought women back into electronic dance music. It was all looking a bit boffin for a while there.

By the way, the word electroclash is maybe very 2001, but the style itself, trash model talking over elemental funky beats (oversimplification is sometimes necessary, oh lovers of all that is qualified and correct), is as old as the hills. May I namedrop? Thank you:

Malaria
Ideal
Der Plan
DAF
The Normal
Tuxedomoon
Grace Jones (Walking in the Rain only - a very influential track)
John Foxx (Metamatic era)
Nina Hagen

Argh, they're just the best known, there were a thousand others on 1981, many of them on French (?) label Crepuscule. Chicks On Speed cover Malaria's best known track.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 02:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh geez, I forgot Soft Cell. Marilyn Manson didn't, obviously.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 02:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I actually wanted to start a thread on how oddly prescient Marilyn Manson's "Mechanical Animals" was re electroclash - inspired by the similarities to it I spot in Goldfrapp's new album.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 03:13 (twenty-three years ago)

If electroclash is a sexy lady talking or ironically detached fellow talking over an electronic beat (and it is), then the following things are electroclash:

All Vanity 6 songs, and some Vanity solo songs.

The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight

Head, by Prince

Many rap songs, especially from Miami in the late 80s.

Many disco songs, especially those by porno stars or others without any singing ability

Cruising the Streets by the Boystown Gang

I Need a Freak by Sexual Harassment

Male Stripper, by Man 2 Man.

― Chris H. (chrisherbert), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 04:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Early Prince, that's a very astute selection Chris. Also, I can vouch for the fact that in these electroclashy days, Male Stripper is a certified floor filler every time. It sends people nuts, they scream with delight. Oh yeah, fogot Gary Numan and Rick James. And 'Me and My Beatbox' from Liquid Sky; and Jack Frost and The Circle Jerks.

What it comes down to is, if you can just see past the little word that people give you and insist you use, the evolution of music is not sudden and surprising at all, but reveals itself to bve very smooth and continuous. That's why I laugh when people tell me techno is dead! HAHAHAHA! They're completely distracted by the word itself. There is no evidence whatsoever that people are about to stop writing dance music using the latest technology. It's happened since we were in the caves, it's not going away any time soon. It's probably more accurate to say that technological dance music has never been born. It is continuously on the verge of being born.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 04:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Ooooh, I'm so profound.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 05:23 (twenty-three years ago)

and achingly correct

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 09:07 (twenty-three years ago)

I actually wanted to start a thread on how oddly prescient Marilyn Manson's "Mechanical Animals" was re electroclash - inspired by the similarities to it I spot in Goldfrapp's new album.

My, now I really must hear this new Goldfrapp. The whole thing about Mechanical Animals was that it's a total Pink Floyd/Bowie/Gary Numan fusion, so I'm with your take there...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 13:53 (twenty-three years ago)

seven years pass...

So, it's been ten years....revival time yet? Or did it never really leave?

― Call on me (Spinspin Sugah), Monday, 9 May 2011 21:24 (fifteen years ago)

in your face croupier

http://cdn.7static.com/static/img/sleeveart/00/011/376/0001137620_350.jpg

― I have some kind of staph infection, and the only prescription is IALEX (sic), Tuesday, 10 May 2011 00:10 (fifteen years ago)

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