Armand Van Helden's 'Armando'

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

as heard on last week's Essential Selection

this is great, i can only assume its his new single tho the slagging of trance seems like it shouldve been done 2/3 years ago

"Trance sucks....TRANCE sucks...its white...too white...republican nazi white"

its also nice to hear hip hop rhymes on a house track again (no not like Run DMC vs Jason Nevins) - amusing and funky stuff from the ghetto-house meister

― blueski, Wednesday, 25 September 2002 12:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Who would've thought Armand was a racist?

― Siegbran Hetteson (eofor), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 12:54 (twenty-three years ago)

he's a cocky git who loves himself a bit too much maybe...and yeh the quote is dubious...but i appreciate and agree with the statement's implication too much to take it as offensive...by trance i'm pretty sure he's referring to the crap likes of Ian Van Dahl, Lasgo and PPK rather than Sasha or even Juno Reactor

― blueski, Wednesday, 25 September 2002 16:01 (twenty-three years ago)

that record's on Gandhi Khan, which I've always liked more than most of my dance peeps...probably because I have a fairly pronounced sense of the absurd and most of them still think bad jazz = "good taste." I do think the "Republican Nazi white" line is funny, though

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 18:10 (twenty-three years ago)

ted nugent would say similar things about elp and likes in the 70's = armand van helden is dance music's ted nugent

― marek, Wednesday, 25 September 2002 18:14 (twenty-three years ago)

technical (guitar - turntables) vituoso who (self-righteously!) admits own songs are just crowd-pleasers, is suspicious of things too cerebral or too black (avh on house purists) or too white, is always shouting out locations visited for quality of pussy found within

― marek, Wednesday, 25 September 2002 18:14 (twenty-three years ago)

and a special fondness for the firearm
http://gs.cdnow.com/graphics/COVERART/local/L/93/84/00359384.jpg

― , Wednesday, 25 September 2002 18:19 (twenty-three years ago)

well that was all very dumb. i'll never try to be dave q again.

― , Wednesday, 25 September 2002 18:30 (twenty-three years ago)

well SOMEbody's gotta do it....

next AV8 release: 6 remixes of "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 19:17 (twenty-three years ago)

blueski, whats wrong with ian van dahl?

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 26 September 2002 09:37 (twenty-three years ago)

same thing that was wrong with ATB, Sash (apart from Encore Un Feu!), DJ QUiksilver and all those other Eurotrashy trance touters...just really lazy, weak, cash-in, unimaginative lowest common denominator dance music lacking any real emotion or spark...if it was a drink it would be Sunny Delight mixed with urine from the last leper in Hell

still, they're only doing their job eh?

― blueski, Thursday, 26 September 2002 09:43 (twenty-three years ago)

i don't think of it as trance, more as really ambivalent pop (have you noticed the weird non-comittalness of it), haha! europoptrance=electroclash=disinterested fem vox!

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 26 September 2002 09:52 (twenty-three years ago)

but electroclash has ATTITOOD!

― blueski, Thursday, 26 September 2002 09:55 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think Armand is slagging eurodance of the ATB/Sash kind, I would think that he'd have "Eurodance sucks" lyrics instead. Besides, Andre Tanneberger produces a whole lot more than just cheesy "9PM (Till I Come)" type chart material.

But what we've been hearing from Armand in the last two years has been pretty lacklustre. I haven't heard a decent tune from him since "Full Moon". So if he uses his (racist or not) anger to produce better tunes (haven't heard "Armando" yet), you won't hear me complain.

― Siegbran Hetteson (eofor), Thursday, 26 September 2002 12:42 (twenty-three years ago)

perhaps you're right...but what is the dance music people like Mauro Picotto and Emmanuel Top (BBE) are making referred to as now? somewhere between progressive house and epic trance - except it doesnt seem to be as good as either of those two can be! i think Armand means this sorta thing...i doubt he's talking about the hallucinogenic/Goa stuff (is that even still going?) or the heavier more progressive sound as favoured by Sasha & Digweed - just the really light minimal dull-as-ditchwater stuff i originally suggested because it has its roots in the mid 90s euro trance sound

there was some good stuff on Armand's 'Killing Puritans' album but i wasnt that big on 'Koochy' (tho he did anticipate the new wave (arf) of Gary Numan sampling well) and i always found 'U Dont Even Know Me' a bit self indulgent and tiresome after a while (did love it at first tho)...he should do something like 'Witch Doktor' again but with a rap over it!

― blueski, Thursday, 26 September 2002 14:01 (twenty-three years ago)

The problem with Picotto is that he does everything. The chart singles like "Komodo" are somewhat halfway between uplifting trance and cheesy eurodance, while most of his 12"s and DJ sets are quite repetitive, minimalist bass-heavy tech trance/techno workouts without any "hooks". Bear in mind that he's part of the BXR team, whose policy is to do ten remixes of every track and release different mixes for each country (best example: Cappella in the early 90s), in whatever style will sell best.

Likewise with BBE (= Emmanuel Top/Bruno Sanchioni/Bruno Quartier) - the single mixes are pretty cheesy (I can't stand "Seven Days And One Week"), while the club-oriented mixes are rather different (although I'm not too fond of them either, their melodies always sound a bit obvious/boring)

― Siegbran Hetteson (eofor), Friday, 27 September 2002 11:11 (twenty-three years ago)

i actually thought 'Seven Days & One Week' was alright at the time, as light and simplistic as i would ever go with that style tho...i'd rather have Marmion's 'Schoneberg' or Way Out West's 'Domination' or Energy 52's 'Cafe Del Mar' ie something with a lot more 'oomph' anyday

― blueski, Friday, 27 September 2002 12:06 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm with blueski on '7 days...'. the 12" is one of the few artifacts of 90s trance i have in my collection. not listened to it since god-knows-when though. see also nalin & kane 'beachball'.

― michael wells (michael w.), Friday, 27 September 2002 12:15 (twenty-three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.