Electro Swing

[Nick Armstrong]

As a rare visitor to this side of the Forum, I wondered what anyone thought of this. (It's meant to sound like that at the beginning).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pegIwVViIME

[Quarky]

You mean you are not an habitué of the London Club scene Calilban? That is where I can imagine the music being played.

I'm sure there must be an expert on this genre of electronic music, but perhaps residing in the World Music section rather than the genuine echt Jazz section. Anyhow, I would be interested to know as well.

[Nick Armstrong]

You mean you are not an habitué of the London Club scene Calilban? That is where I can imagine the music being played.

I'm sure there must be an expert on this genre of electronic music, but perhaps residing in the World Music section rather than the genuine echt Jazz section. Anyhow, I would be interested to know as well.

No - although you're right about the "London Club scene" - what I meant was that I don't often visit the Jazz board (or for that matter the World Music board). I like lot of jazz (and used to play trombone in a swing band) but haven't really got the urge to know more.

However I'm surprised you think that clip is closer to World music. It sounds to me one way of producing Jazz music - though maybe not 'echt'. But I thought you cats were free and easy...

[Lateralthinking1]

Caliban, I am not quite clear about everything on that clip but Caravan Palace feature. They were at Womad in 2009 which I think I attended but I didn't have them on the list of acts to see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravan_Palace

http://womad.org/artists/caravan-palace

Oddball is right to refer to club music. That is where they are best placed vis a vis genre. I am not vehemently anti. They are harmless enough but run very close to novelty status. Give me a Taraf de Haidouks gypsy band any day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFmEkXSdRF0&feature=relmfu

I guess a British equivalent to Caravan Palace is the Real Tuesday Weld whose Bathtime in Clerkenwell you might know from a certain commercial. Again very novelty but I have some time for its cartoon-like charm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2S-UGulpCo&feature=fvwrel

[Nick Armstrong]

Lat, thanks for that thoughtful post and the various links which I shall explore with interest when wider awake!

I love your phrase "I have some time for its cartoon-like charm" which I propose to retain in the mind for future use, if that's ok with you!!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

it is all positively lovely and great fun ..... i am sure it is welcome on da jazz threads

there is in fact a huge amount of music out there being made by all sorts of very creative and ingenious people and it is very hard to know who is who and what is what ....

i am a sucker for the chill out stuff and the more experimental but it is a jungle out there ...

[handsomefortune]

As a rare visitor to this side of the Forum, I wondered what anyone thought of this. (It's meant to sound like that at the beginning).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pegIwVViIME

as to what do i think? i think it's 'old hat' already caliban! yes, tis meant to sound like that at the beginning caliban! the tentative introductory 'digi hi coughs' are a formulaic precursor to the 'salami slicing' that ensues. (just like what's happened at the beeb, the nhs, and to the very ethos of various other post war institutional ideas originally intending to be for 'the benefit of all people' in the uk).

apparently, 'everything's up for grabs'..... though you'd never describe nhs cuts as 'cartoon-like' exactly! perhaps there's a fittingly ugly, cynical ..violent parallel universe at times, between contemporary digital creativity and current reality!? (perhaps the recent dave stapleton performance reflected this tendency too)? but i agree that (at worse, infantile)? cartoon visuals, and soundtracks are reflected in the general feel of current video-js (vjs), and club music (djs). in this context i can see exactly why lateralthinking1 might well prefer the comparative purism, simplicity of real gypsies in the music of 'taraf de haidouks' )

anywaysup, you can join the elctro swing movement instantly caliban, since you have a pc! just buy music edit software program and away you go....it's gr8! for instance, chop up, salami slice this week's jazz choice from radio 3, jimmy lunceford and his orchestra http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RxuWwSb4lc (as well as the 1920s, another popular era to extract music samples from). then, having salami sliced away and reassembled, hope to be played around global club circuits, by today's gr8 top djs. you can personally feature on your cd cover, (unless it's an mp3 file) perhaps proffering your trombone? maybe with suggestive post modern irony, retro gesturing, and xtreme pride, ! few will notice that you're not actually playing your trombone on your final track! perhaps that amount of physical interaction with a real musical instrument, ie playing it, is perceived by clubbers, in particular, as totally 'self indulgent' and therefore 'irrelevant', in a world where club djs, marketing, and legal teams reign supreme.

perhaps any octogenarians on the forum may remember the world famous electro dance act 'delight'? it seems once you've made really big money salami slicing the music of yesteryear, unfortunately you may find that your new found notoriety leads to quite crippling debt. any personal profit you've carefully accumulated (possibly plan to use towards promotion of your next electro tune) may then be repeatedly micro sliced down to zero. ie nothing left (and worse - possibly owing vast sums), due to major label litigation, law suits and over efficient corporate 'legal team verses the artist' as illustrated by 'delight' singer's unenviable circumstances. therefore, imv 'caravan palace' are a typical example of the solution adopted generally, performers getting round familiar problems experienced. by sounding very much like gypsy music plus gadgets, yet never actually sampling other artists' outright, instead, 'caravan palace' retain the salami slicing stylistic tricks, particular to so much of the last 20 yrs of popular electro music, due to both fashion, and typical pc software used. 'caravan palace' (and many others) approach is a thoroughly good idea, as it avoids legal implications, and musicians are at least able to play their instruments and perform live themselves. rather than pc generated audio product merely disappearing into the hands of global djs, and those anxious to ride on the efforts and success of creatives in touch with current musical zeitgeist.

imv 'caravan palace' straddle both gypsy and jazz genres, as well as electro. ideally, perhaps there should really be an electro section on this forum? (though it probably wouldn't attract (m)any forum members). but imo discussion is worthwhile, appropriate here, on this thread. for instance, imo 'hear & now' misinformation might be fully examined and for positive purposes, (rather than sending 'hear & now' threads awf topic)! seemingly, what has been going on in electro music for decades, including overlaps with classical, found sound, and improv, as well as many other musical influences, yet sometimes presented on r3 (and other media) as 'mysterious' and 'new' ...when in fact it's neither. electronic music tends to exist underground, rather than being mainstream, and seems also to be routinely open to misrepresentation. usually, there never was (one)?! 'originator'... and definitely not 'a young, new graduate with a double barrel surname ...fresh from the royal college' as smp might claim on 'hear & now'! it's a situation that r3 presenters might ideally like to correct, especially since r6 are more honest in this context? imv especially where orchestras, (as with 'caravan palace'), imitate music edit software tricks, as live performance, or reinterpret contemporary electronic music.... imv it's really nothing to get breathless, confused and confusing about at all. after all, it's a potentially interesting direction for both electronic music, and r3 programmes such as 'hear & now' etc to pursue, providing the context of the genre is more honestly, fully outlined.

two years ago 'the telegraph' ran a feature on electro swing, and a journo wrote

“It’s a response to things getting grey, mean and pinched on the financial front. People like a bit of escapism, to be able to pretend for a few hours on a Saturday night that they live a champagne lifestyle that harks back to the flapper era.”

..... typically, media promotion is quite different from reality, the many strands of the electro genre mutate and re-emerge, and much faster than mainstream media can ever hope to reflect. so i agree with calum da jazbo that it is very hard to know who is who and what is what ....

However I'm surprised you think that clip is closer to World music.

at a wild guess, i think that oddball is possibly reflecting where electro swing's most likely to be broadcast on r3 ...ie on a world music programme like 'late junction', rather than r3 jazz programmes? though a sense of purism over jazz seems to be changing lately, the demise of 'jazz library' hasn't helped, coupled with (imo) sporadic attempts at 'reflecting fashion' rather than jazz, courtesy of 'jez on 3' ...but then jez is a dj essentially, so anything and 'everything's up for grabs'. however, at least 'streetwize' jez wont attempt to bamboozle listeners with tedious pretensions about 'young new graduates' ... (a definite bonus imo). perhaps a definitive problem is that electro music changes rapidly, and yet half hearted attempts at representing its supposed progressions, and sub genres, can lead to disappointment for radio listeners. this factor certainly made john peel look unusually compromised, misinformed. in fact newly foolish and lazy.... yet on the whole peel was neither, and nor usually is 'hear & now', or r3 jazz output. i guess r3 world music output revolves around a format of slipping in all sorts of odd and unusual music, and presenters don't necessarily feel obliged to justify, or provide accompanying hype. therefore i tend to agree with oddball, regardless of any jazz content 'caravan palace' suits world music best, at least in the context of r3. an expert on this genre of electronic music imo just involves going to a club, or seeing 'caravan palace' live, or alternatively save your £££s, trawl utube instead which has a huge selection of electronic stuff...... though anyone who claims 'expertise' is probably telling porkies oddball, as typically genres (and venues) change so fast!

ritmo di jazz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avSJz...eature=related (roy haynes on drums )?

[Lateralthinking1]

handsomefortune - I take it that you are not keen on them then. I liked your post - Lat.