Tuesday 15th September

I always say that “All music is good music, there is just some I am not so familiar with”, not that I really want to explore the James Last Orchestra or Gregorian Chants or Japanese Kabuki music; there simply isn’t time.  In fact of course there isn’t nearly enough time to explore the pop, rock and singer-songwriter music of the late Twentieth Century or even the complete catalogues of my fifty or so favourite artists.  I hated punk and largely refused to listen to it, and later I had the same reaction to most rap music but I have modestly dipped my toe into the last really creative genre that emerged in the late eighties and early nineties, namely “Dance Music”.  Of course there are hundreds of sub-divisions within that I am sure and my guide and interpreter through the maze has been my daughter Laura who passionately loves this music possibly as much as I love that of the few decades which preceded it.  She regularly buys me for Christmas or Birthdays a new “Dance Music” record, and by and large I love them.  Probably my all time favourite was “Protection” by “Massive Attack” but “Groove Armada” run them a close second.

The best thing about Groove Armada is their great tunes. Every track has a good melody – words seem to be almost superfluous except on tracks like “I see you baby (shaking that Ass)”.  The instrumentation is brilliant though, with a wide range of styles and quite a lot of brass too.  The drum rhythms in Dance Music are quite distinctive and probably came from Reggae, black influences of course abound from Disco and Soul right through to early Blues.  Groove Armada play both fast and slow songs, in fact their slower ones are possibly even better and they are often used as soundtracks for TV and adverts especially “At the River”, maybe their very best tune.

I saw Groove Armada one year at V fest and they were even better live.  Maybe I am missing out by not exploring even more Dance Music, but although not my music of choice I find that I am rarely disappointed when I open my daughter’s next recommendation, so thanks Laura.