Current mood: NOT IN THE VOID....
Category: NOT IN THE VOID.... Music
Exoterix - Void (1993)
Positiva
This is one of the most curious dance music 12"s I have...
On the surface it's a regular Positva release.
It has the same generic sleeve as the rest - and you're basically expecting the usual hands in the air 'YEAH WE'RE HAVING IT!!!' kinda house music upon which Positiva have made their name....
But the lyric in this case is far from uplifting
'There's a void where there should be ecstacy'
is repeated time and time again.
Underneath this dark old vocal, you've got this moody, driving set of sounds.that are about as bleak as House Music gets - it's that kind of 'GOTTA GET THROUGH THIS!!' feel you get when the drugs aren't quite working the way you'd like - it's the beat taking you through to the end OR ELSE!!!
Check this video of the Diss Cuss mix on YouTube - even that goes appropriately BLACK!!!
Basically, this record is the sound of a comedown, and perhaps not just an individuals, so much as 'Rave' Cultures....
Yes boss, this record was made in 1993 - the free parties were over, the 'summer of love' was ancient history, ecstacy was becoming crap, and the record business was getting it's teeth firmly into the genre to make the whole acid house craze just another well regulated entertainment business...
The party was largely over
If this was the case, then no-one can have told DJ Roland (Es Paradis) who tries his best to funk the whole thing up with some jaunty piano lines on his B-side mix..
Then there's the Funkycats Subrosa Bonus Mix which is even stranger?!?!?
Anyway, I like to listen to this record once in a while as a curiosity - but I can't imagine when it would've been played in a club?!?
I guess maybe as a starter. Perhaps a good DJ would use it dull the crowd down, then break in half way through with another far more cheerful record to create an endorphin like rush from bottom to top...?!?!
When else??
Can you imagine being half way through a pill on a Friday night and hearing a track hammering on about there being
'A void where there should be ecstacy'
Listening to this and Portisheads new LP earlier in the week has helped me to understand my essential beef with downbeat music.
Such music can be technically excellent, brilliantly produced and fantastically expressive - but when do you play it???
As I found out earlier this week, playing Portishead in a bad mood made me feel worse and I sure as shit ain't gonna be listening to something that dismal when I'm on a high?!?
So when?!?!
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