#my gay bar plays oldies- which are great but

[your-average-gay-dork]

Okay *hypothetically* if i were to open a lesbian bar one day, where should it be 👀

[cadpadawan]

Day #5 - A Song that needs to be played LOUD!

There are a few spesific genres, to which you simply cannot do full justice without blasting the songs at full volume, such as techno, trance, drum & bass, and most metal genres. I highly doubt that there is any additional value to be unveiled in, say, cocktail jazz, lounge and ambient wall-paper music, by turning the volume knob up a notch. Certain uptempo rock anthems also are best experienced with the volume cranked up to 11, in the best Spinal Tap fashion. I'm not sure, where I should start with today's music challenge, though... the multitude of options present quite a challenge, once again. Maybe I could set the record straight, for once and for all, by picking one epitome of loud-assedness for each genre. Most of my personal trance favourites date back to the golden era around the turn of the millennia. It was, quite frankly, relatively peculiar time in my life, to say the least, what with the dubious number of music projects, McJobs, doomed attempts to study for a profession that inherently was not suited for my creative spritit etc... It was a frigging, never-ending rollercoaster ride, so it was only appropriate, that the soundtrack for my adolescent dumb-fuckery consisted mainly of the epic trance classics of the era. A common characteristic of trance music is the mid-song climax, followed by the mellow breakdown, with the industry standard being something in the lines of: 1. toss the pedestrian 4/4 beat aside for a moment 2. conjure an atmospheric synth sequence that's vamping as the backdrop for the melodic hook! The melodic motif is usually an ascending synth line, sugar-coated with the paradidmatic flanger-effect, in order to resonate the stereotypical sensations of an ecstasy rush. Executed properly, such a trance breakdown can give you the chills even without the aid of any illegal, mind-altering drugs. A perfect example would be Dj Tiesto's superb remix of the song Silence by the Canadian new-agey electronic music duo Delerium, featuring the amazing mezzo-soprano of Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan. Genres that are heavy on the sub-bass obviously benefit a great deal from being blasted at full volume. Although, I haven't yet fully come to terms with modern EDM-subgenres, such as trap and dubstep. In general, these new genres tend to provoke a thought inside my mind, that modern street-drugs are getting overly hideous. Some tracks I've found extremely hilarious, though I'm not really sure, if it was the artist's initial intention. That's why I've even added these tracks to my carefully compiled Spotify playlists. I'm talking about tracks such as Black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd & Gucci Mane, Panda by Desiigner, 679 by Fetty Wap, and Bad and Boujee by Migos & Lil Uzi Vert. Nevertheless, I highly doubt that I will be returning to these particular tracks, say, in ten or twenty years time – unless I wish to organize an impromptu, unpleasant surprise to my age peer group in the nursing home. Dubstep, in turn, sounds to me like someone, going through a convulsive type of an epileptic seizure, is improvising with electronic instruments. Maybe it's because I've deemed the whole genre as a synonym for Skrillex. On the other hand, I really love Burial's album Untrue. It's really dark and emotive stuff, with a grain of old school 90's vibes. I have no clue, why Burial is often labeled as a dubstep artist. If there is such a subgenre of dubstep, that is fundamentally layered with gloomy and dystopian soundscapes, in the spirit of Burial-esque sound aesthetics, I just might have to check it out. In a positive way, Burial's music reminds me of the golden era of drum&bass, that started somewhere in the mid-90's. I think it was in 1995, when I heard Goldie's epic Inner City Life. It was one of those musical moments of illumination, a.k.a. ”Stop the press! What the fuck is THIS?!?”. I instantly bought the epochal and timeless (sic!) drum&bass classic album Timeless by Goldie, and immersed myself in its' other-worldly soundscapes for weeks on end. There was one particularly street-smart record store in Helsinki: Spinefarm. It was one of the very few stores, where I could find class A jungle vinyl. I hauled shitloads of 12”-maxis and EP's home from that Aladdin's cave, most of which I have lost somewhere since then. Intelligent jungle, as the more atmospheric drum&bass was called back then, was that particular type of high-speed breakbeat stuff, that I was most drawn into. Well, in all honesty, I'm a bit of a slut, when it comes to atmospheric synth textures, layered on a syncopated jazz-groove, even at high-speed. Furthermore, if the ear-candy of this particular type is driven by a laid-back dub-bassline, and ornamented with a few casually strewn modal jazz chord progressions, fingered on a vintage Rhodes-piano, I will be inclined to succumb to the ”shut up, and take my money”-approach. The Looking Good/Good Looking-label, that was led by the British drum&bass producer LTJ Bukem, was one of those go-to labels for me, with kick-ass releases, such as Bukem's own scene classics: Demon's Theme, Music and Horizons. British jungle artists didn't exactly rush to perform in Finland, during the genre's prime time in the mid-90's, but I managed to witness dj Krust and Aqua Sky. The Finnish electronic jazz pioneer band Rinneradio also had a brief love affair with the drum&bass aesthetics, on their Rok album, that was released in 1996. I guess it must've been around that time, when I saw the band perform at Vanha Yo-Talo, in Helsinki. It was a superb gig! I was also a frequent face at the one-and-only drum&bass club, that had a residency at one gay bar in Helsinki, hosted by Dj Alimo. The vast majority of the drum&bass cognoscenti, that congregated at the venue every Thursday, consisted of boring heterosexuals, so the bar's old regulars soon disappeared. Soon, in the next couple of years, the drive and excitement of this new genre also kind of disappeared. I haven't really bothered to keep up with the drum&bass scene after 2005. However, I do listen to those goldien oldies, released during the artistically coherent time interval of 1995-2001. For some stupid reason, quite many of the classics are missing from Spotify, like the magnificent Colours album by Adam F, or the ultra-rare Pseudo Jazz-EP by Justice – no, not the French electro-duo, but the drum&bass alias of the British producer-musician Tony Bowes. Both releases represent the polished and ”intelligent” Bukem-styled approach. On a funny side note: I remember, how these atmospheric tracks were usually blasting in the main hall/dancefloor in a typical 1996 drum&bass rave – and only five years later, the very same tracks were aired as the background music in the chill-out room of a hip trance party. O tempora, o mores! Well, anyways... The seismic sub-bass of a stereotypical drum&bass anthem just won't sound the same, when it's not bellowing through the club-PA loud as fuck...and the same universal truth applies to techno. Whereas, in the case of metal, it depends heavily on the very type of metal, whether the increased volume enhances the listening experience in a positive way, or not. Simple staccato rhythms and powerchords usually work wonders...or, what the hell do I know; I compiled a list of songs that sound kick-ass when played really loud. At first glance, however, I couldn't pinpoint any common factor contributing to this peculiar phenomenon. What can I say? If it works, then why not let it. I think today's challenge is pretty much wrapped, so...until next time, tomorrow, that is. Adios! Wolfmother: Joker and the Thief Ihsahn: Undercurrent Underworld: Born Slippy (Nuxx) Slipknot: Duality Skindred: Set It Off The Comet Is Coming: Summon the Fire Fluke: Absurd Dead Letter Circus: The Mile Infected Mushroom: None of This Is Real Leila K: Electric Lab-4: Candyman Shinedown: Devour BT: Giving Up The Ghost Thränenkind: Monument