PondaBlog

Ikonika. (image source: www.last.fm)

interesting think piece from the fab quietus about misogyny and dance music (thanks for sharing Marcus!). it’s a lengthy, sprawling affair that touches on an array of gender-fuelled topics – all sparked by author Angus Finlayson’s discovery of a few tweets from a music journo and Scuba, the hotflush label honcho and a London basshead now based in berlin, i believe.

i’m a bit hesitant about reading too much into tweets. after all, let’s face it – twitter doesn’t exactly set the standard for intellectual rigour. still, the ensuing discussion delves into all sorts of directions, and asks some tough questions of a genre that has given me immense amounts of aural/physical/mental pleasure over the years. as Finlayson notes, “I’ve got a lot invested in this culture…”

and i do. but what comes next is more problematic. “…and i like to think that it lends to its participants a shared, if loose, ideological framework.” i get what finlayson is saying – i’d also like to think that electronic/dance music represents one of the more enlightened genres (even though “enlightened” makes me cringe a bit. but still). that said, the halcyon days of rave euphoria are long gone (and personally, i’ve always much preferred rave’s subsequent descent into the darkness, but that’s a whole ‘nother debate). dance music, aided by technology in the form of ever-advancing gear and the sprawling online world, has splintered into a million different genres, sub genres, sub-sub genres and further kin. and in the process, notions of a shared spirit have also splintered.

it’s always difficult to posit that scenes – musical or otherwise – share an ideological framework. mebbe at first, yeah – but inevitably the spirit morphs, and even more so in this everything age. now, more than ever, just because folks like the same beats doesn’t mean they’ll like the same beliefs. music, as Simon Reynolds has noted (check out an earlier post), has become spatialized, loosened from its contextual moorings. or put another way, it’s become horizontal – in place of depth there is endless surface. an immanent plane.

this has effects. Finalyson quotes ben ufo, who comments that today, music is “so much less tied down to place, which fits comfortably with the prevailing attitude that music is ‘just music’ and that that’s its sole value – that the way it’s presented is of no importance if the musical content is the same.”

that said, Finlayson brings up a lot of cogent points – perhaps the most depressing one being that the recent DJ Mag top 100 list didn’t feature…A. SINGLE. FEMALE. it’s ridiculous. no, actually, it’s absurd, considering the crazy talent on offer: ikonika, steffi, cassy, chloe, cio d’or, margaret dygas, maya jane coles, etc. and who cracked the dj mag top five? tiesto. and deadmau5. ’nuff said.

there’s also the observation that Finlayson makes about it being “fairly common these days to see images of conventionally attractive women being used to promote music from a scene which is supposedly mistrustful of ‘image’…” and yeah, it’s pretty hard to argue with that – yet i’d add that this has been a ploy for, well, ages. not that that makes the situation any less problematic – it’s just that it’s hardly a recent phenomenon. what about those shedloads of ministry of sound and ibiza comps in the ’90s that featured an array of overly tanned nympho-ravers? and speaking of ibiza - my pal Marc made the point that the “whole clubbing world turning into a tourism industry in Europe, with discount airlines and the Ibiza ‘season’ and clubcations to Berlin, encouraged the addition of sex into marketing. Sex sells.” couldn’t have put it better. which is why i quoted it.

sexuality, though, is a crucial part of dance music – and not just in ways that ape cardboard cliches. in this regard, Finlayson raises other points that deserve debate. Fr’example, he poses the question – “…is it fair to say that the ‘dress to impress’ ethos of UK garage circa 2000 is inherently sexist?’” to which i’d answer: absolutely not, at least musically speaking. to me, the onset of UK garage/2 step ushered in a desperately needed injection of glamour, femininity, fun and, yes, sexiness into a drum ‘n’ bass scene that had largely disappeared up its rigid techstep arse. it’s odd…there’s often a hesitance to embrace sexuality on the dancefloor among the intelligensia, despite the fact that the dancefloor is so much about sexuality in its various guises – not just in terms of the body, but in terms of the beats and the bass. and when the vibe is on, it’ seductive in a way that precious few other musics can match.

one final thought (for now). in so many ways, dance music depends on advancements in equipment, technology - gear. and for whatever reason (again, a whole ‘nother debate), boys are stereotypical gearheads. they tend to immerse themselves in the hardware/software that’s on offer, and salivate over what’s to come, whether it’s a mixer or a mobile. is this a generalization? of course. but it still plays a role in dance music dialectics – and one that could potentially alienate women trying to contribute to a culture that often has a ‘boys club’ feel.

in my “best of” list for 2010 (and don’t get me started about why list-making seems to be another peculiar male trait), ikonika’s contact, love, want, have was my fave album of the year. in my comments, i noted that “what makes this all the more intriguing is that Ikonika is 20-something Sara Abdel-Hamid, a Londoner and a female in a field that’s almost entirely dominated by men. I’m not going to riff on gender dialectics here, but just let me say – well done.” well done, too, to all the other women who have blown up minds and dancefloors, past and present. keep it coming. and let’s keep asking tough questions.

if you’ve gotten to this point, well, i’d just like to note that this is pondablog’s 100th post! thanks to everyone who’s read my musings up to this point. and a special thanks to mr. foxbridge, whose technical talent has wrenched me from the depths of wordpress despair on many occasions. here’s to the next 100!