Reminds our kid of Moroder

February 19, 2009 10:21 AM

While the clubs of London are rocking to Lady Gaga and Paul Van Dyk, the dancefloor sounds of the capital are shunned in the north-west of England. Why? Because a whole generation of dance music fans are putting a donk on it. This documentary aims to find out why this genre of fast MC-led hardcore is so popular in one corner of the country whilst being completely unknown in others.

(This is what my home town basically sounds like, by the way.)
(I no longer live there.)

posted by mippy (91 comments total)

Cologne, Germany called. They want their whatever you call it these days back.
posted by chillmost at 10:34 AM on February 19 [4 favorites]

I actually played a happy hardcore set once. In a bar/billiards place. In the suburbs of Northern Virginia. On a Wednesday night.

It did not go well.

Also, I actually have an old hardcore-ish remix of PVD on vinyl somewhere.

Oh, here it is.
posted by empath at 10:38 AM on February 19

How exactly does one put a donk on something?
posted by mannequito at 10:40 AM on February 19 [2 favorites]

The value of my Detroit underground house has plummeted.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:42 AM on February 19 [4 favorites]

If there's too much donk on it, you're too old.
posted by minifigs at 10:44 AM on February 19

How exactly does one put a donk on something?

Why, like this

Shudder.
posted by Jofus at 10:46 AM on February 19 [1 favorite]

i was making music exactly like this at Rising High in London in '92.
bass on the off-beat, 909s, analog synths, djs rapping, 145 bpm.
strange that people are still making that stuff.
posted by bhnyc at 10:47 AM on February 19

Get off my lawn!
posted by HopperFan at 10:48 AM on February 19

The value of my Detroit underground house has plummeted.

You can buy an actual house in Detroit cheaper than you can buy a detroit house record.
posted by empath at 10:48 AM on February 19 [4 favorites]

This just took my brain to another dimension.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:49 AM on February 19 [2 favorites]

How exactly does one put a donk on something?

Well he's got a drainpipe out back and an old tennis bat and he just sort of hits it.

Makes sense?
posted by multivalent at 10:49 AM on February 19 [3 favorites]

Reminiscent of Lisa Lashes.
posted by ageispolis at 10:51 AM on February 19

Chavtastic!
posted by PenDevil at 11:04 AM on February 19 [1 favorite]

So the Dr Dre of donk lives at home w/ his mom?
posted by jcruelty at 11:05 AM on February 19

God, that bouncer... the teenage girls in short shorts... the guy who looks like a jersey freakshow... the subtitles (completely taking the piss)... I feel like I'm gawking at a 5 car pileup
posted by jcruelty at 11:07 AM on February 19

Well, after listening to that Blackout Crew song, I think the Guardian pretty much nailed it: "Bouncy techno meets terrible rapping".
posted by lattiboy at 11:09 AM on February 19

onetwothreefourfixsixtimes ishowmanyexacttimes we'veheardthisbeatbefore

sotryagainisolatedkids tocomeupwithabeatthat'ssick

therestofuscanhangandwaittoupandgratulate

yourlatestfindyourrecorddig

whenthewholeworld'smovedon

fromyourwhackasstiredbeat

youdig?
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 11:10 AM on February 19 [2 favorites]

Does this have anything to do with Honky Tonk Badonkadonk?
posted by MikeMc at 11:12 AM on February 19

Fucking mint. Not really.
posted by scarello at 11:14 AM on February 19

A fate worse than Reggae.
posted by kid ichorous at 11:23 AM on February 19 [1 favorite]

Forget the cowbell, this needs more donk!
posted by Grrlscout at 11:32 AM on February 19

I started watching the donkumentary, and it was cringeworthy. I soooo wanted this to be some kind of Spinal Tap irony... but sadly not.


PS Does anybody actually need those subtitles?
posted by Sova at 11:34 AM on February 19

you know what this music needs...these guys.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:46 AM on February 19

The part where they give the super hipster male model VBS reporter a make over into a cheesy rave chav is top ten that.

Lmao, me.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:53 AM on February 19

I love micro-scenes. Little isolated music scenes like this are where big innovation comes from. All it takes is a few dozen people in a few venues playing 'can-you-top-this' every weekend, and before you know it, new genres come out of nowhere. It may be shit now, but you never know - 6 months from now or 2 years from now, you might see a ton of top 10 records blast out of this scene. All it takes is one producer stumbling onto a new sound at the right time.

For example -- dubstep exploded out of the 2-step garage scene, which kept going years after 2-step stopped doing anything interesting. All it took was a half speed bassline, and the whole scene suddenly became relevant again.

You never know what these kids might come up with.
posted by empath at 11:53 AM on February 19 [3 favorites]

Same neck of the woods where we had Northern Soul; stuff in the clips I've seen so far not my kind of thing but fair play to the young'uns. Do your own thing, sod what's popular in London or anywhere else; can't fault them for that.
posted by Abiezer at 11:58 AM on February 19

dubstep exploded out of the 2-step garage scene, which kept going years after 2-step stopped doing anything

Wow, and I thought metal was bad for obscure sub-genres...
posted by MikeMc at 11:58 AM on February 19

This is the part where I bring out the Jack Chick-esque tract, The Trancecracker.
posted by willmize at 12:01 PM on February 19 [6 favorites]

Wow, and I thought metal was bad for obscure sub-genres...

By 2023, techno sub-genres will outnumber species living and extinct, both in number and taxonomic complexity.
posted by Tomorrowful at 12:01 PM on February 19 [1 favorite]

I misread the first "donk" in that Guardian article as "dork". Then I realized the whole thing is much more understandable that way.
posted by backseatpilot at 12:09 PM on February 19

This was pretty much not the highlight of my day.
posted by saysthis at 12:13 PM on February 19

How exactly does one put a donk on something?

Why, like this

I saw this a while ago, and the moment I did:

-I knew someone was gonna put a donk on it.


-I knew it wasn't gonna be me.

That video is chock full of total failure to look cool.
posted by louche mustachio at 12:34 PM on February 19

The vice article is pretty great too...much less forgiving than the video:

Standing at Wigan Pier on our last evening of our northwest pilgrimage, it became apparent that listening to donk for seven hours straight was a bit like being sodomised by a Black and Decker drill in every orifice. But at the same time, the night wasn’t an entirely demoralising experience. The level of frenzied “euphoria” and commitment on display eclipsed anything we’d ever seen. From the second the doors opened, shaven-headed, topless, gurning young men ran onto the dancefloor to pump their limbs with intimidating ferocity, totally losing their shit. There was no queue for the bar because people were far too preoccupied with pumping their fists and popping endless amounts of pills. The crowd was a mixture of skimpily dressed, emaciated rave bunnies and some of the most gruesome thugs you’d ever come across—blokes whose faces had been permanently disfigured by a lifetime of being pummelled by fists every weekend, who’ve probably washed down massive doses of steroids with gallons of Stella for breakfast every morning since they were 11 years old. You could smell the testosterone and adrenaline oozing from their pores. We spoke to one massive bloke from Liverpool who told us that he’d just got out of prison and his main aim of the night was: “Beak (cocaine), bladdered (drunk) and then I’m gonna go and fill someone’s bum in.”

Now who wants Harrible Donk Remixs?

Proclaimers
wich doctor?
Ting-Tings
Flo-rida
Slim Chavy
Whitney!

Oh and that charming and openminded guy MC Grimzie he interviews in Part 2? Not the nicest guy lyrically: Sexy Nun (nsfw), Asylum Seeker (racist bloodbath)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:39 PM on February 19 [1 favorite]

My favourite Blackout Crew track.

nsfw
posted by fire&wings at 12:54 PM on February 19

On techno sub genres, it's really just shorthand for djs. Records that have a similar tempo and vibe get grouped together to make it easier for us to shop for records.
posted by empath at 12:54 PM on February 19

Oh wow. Potomac Avenue, you put too much time into that. Because any time spent looking for "donk remixes" is time wasted (and doubly so that others will now watch it out of some sick interest. Sadly, I had to look on, and I found Cotton-Eye Joe (Donk Remix), in the hopes of finding a mix of Honky Tonk Badonkadonk and .. Donk. As far as remixes or covers of terrible songs with terrible intent, it went well. And then there are the comments...

donkydj08 (1 week ago)
yeah he is doing ok so you all piss of you jelous cunts ! i also wish that donk wud tek over all the shit you that yaa see on telly i reken that donk could have any one throwin there arms arwnd mee :P i love it so much but if some one asks your wat music you like and you say donk they luk at you asif to say wtf haha and its reyt hard to describe to ppl wat it is but all i say is pure sikness !! :P

More true words never written. If it means what I think it means.

My goal is now to find someone on the street who likes "donk," just so I can ask them "What is your favorite type of music," and they will reply, eagerly and full of life: "DONK!"
posted by filthy light thief at 12:59 PM on February 19

And how did poor Giorgio get associated with the original post?
posted by filthy light thief at 1:03 PM on February 19

dubstep exploded out of the 2-step garage scene, which kept going years after 2-step stopped doing anything

I call that instantaneous innovation.
posted by mannequito at 1:06 PM on February 19

I was going to say that "put a donk on it" is my new favorite phrase, until I actually checked out a few of those links.
posted by slogger at 1:10 PM on February 19

I found the doc by other means earlier today and watching it I thought it was a spoof to begin with... I still think there was a lot of piss taking going on, but I'm not sure in witch direction. I mean surely though can't all not have realised how clueless they looked.

Also I kept thinking of Le Donk... the Shane Meadows / Paddy Constantine spoof doc on djing.

Oh and that charming and openminded guy MC Grimzie he interviews in Part 2? Not the nicest guy lyrically

Yeah, there were hints there in the doc... the interviewer asking about Asylum seekers and the fact there are no non-whites in the scene (bar the two blokes running the youth club and a few in the vids), but the trustifarian twat totally failed to nail him on that.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:11 PM on February 19 [1 favorite]

This is the apex of Chav Culture. They've successfully managed to amalgamate two irritating things, happy hardcore and chav rap, to make something which is much, much more irritating than one would ever imagine.
posted by ob at 1:29 PM on February 19

For example -- dubstep exploded out of the 2-step garage scene, which kept going years after 2-step stopped doing anything interesting. All it took was a half speed bassline, and the whole scene suddenly became relevant again.

Repeated for emphasis. Dubstep felt like it came out of NOWHERE, like some sort of zombie 2-step.

Given the tempo relationship, that's... far too apt of an analogy.

Dear internet: please set the thriller video to dubstep.
posted by flaterik at 1:31 PM on February 19

Thing is, if you watch that performance at the end of the video the lyrics just sound like distorted rhythmic bleats, nobody can hear or cares what they're saying. In live tracks of some of these guys rhyming it starts to make more sense, it's just bumdidditydiditydittydiddyditybum--pretty invigorating in a raw, cranked-up-on-Xanax-and-trying-to-bite-some-hands-off kinda way

Dance music isn't about formal innovation, its just micro-evolutions of rhythm. It's taken years of nudging in the US for a masterpiece like Dance My Pain Away or a genius like Blaqstar to emerge from Baltimore, and right now its just goofy. But any scene with an element of lyricism is going to eventually have the cleverest rise to the top, and check out those scrappy pasty little kids blurring nonsense together...one of them might just be poor and crazy enough to figure out how to be the Eminem of the Armageddon North.

(clearly I'm twice as in loave as I am with homegrown horrors.)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:33 PM on February 19 [1 favorite]

Hey Dawg, we heard you like donk, so we put a donk on your donk, so you can donk on your donk while you donk on your donk.
posted by chillmost at 1:34 PM on February 19 [1 favorite]

Does this have anything to do with She Got a Donk?
posted by desjardins at 1:35 PM on February 19

Do you remember when ravers were former goths, disaffected industrial music fans, and creative tweakers?

You know... back when rave was generally creative. Before it became a bunch of lame hot topic kids with baggy jeans and chain wallets who OD'ed, started fights, and got the cops to close down all the good parties?

Well, it just got worse again.
(We really didn't think it was possible.)
posted by markkraft at 1:35 PM on February 19 [1 favorite]

You never know what these kids might come up with.

I'd imagine whatever it is, they'll have put a donk on it.
posted by minifigs at 1:38 PM on February 19 [3 favorites]

It is kind of encouraging though to think that there's nothing wrong with this particular music scene that can't be fixed with a handful of molotov cocktails.
posted by markkraft at 1:48 PM on February 19

MC TUNES SMELLS A COMEBACK....!
posted by Webbster at 2:05 PM on February 19

Achy Breaky Donk.
posted by autodidact at 2:21 PM on February 19

Donk, Donk changes everything...
posted by patricio at 2:36 PM on February 19

Brass Eye has been re-commissioned and no-one could be bothered to tell me???
posted by specialbrew at 2:36 PM on February 19 [2 favorites]

Blame the Short Sellers:

“So here it is,” Chanos says. “Alan Schwartz takes the position ‘Short-sellers were our problem,’ and who did he try to get to vouch for him on the morning of the collapse? The largest short-seller in the world. You want to talk about ethics and who’s telling the truth on these things? It’s unbelievable.”
posted by longdaysjourney at 2:37 PM on February 19

You know... back when rave was generally creative.

I remember the third or forth time I went to a massive rave, in the summer of 1999. 3,000 people completely losing their shit, random people hugging each other, the music was unreal, the drugs were great, etc, and so forth. I was having easily one of the best nights of my entire life.

And someone was standing next to me overlooking the balcony, overlooking this sea of euphoric people, with glowsticks and everything. I said to her. "Oh my god, can you believe how fucking amazing this party is?"

"Eh, it was better in '94."

So it goes.
posted by empath at 2:40 PM on February 19

This applies to raves as well, but we've just taken to saying "burning man was better next year".

At least, when we're not saying "burning man sucks, don't go".
posted by flaterik at 3:01 PM on February 19

if you enjoyed this, you might also consider exploring the more continental jumpstyle
posted by mbn at 3:19 PM on February 19

Man, I dont know what to say, that if John McDonnell - MP and all round good guy - can write a scathing pisstake of the donk scene, what am I supposed to say about it
posted by criticalbill at 3:44 PM on February 19 [1 favorite]

ooops check your links donkbat
posted by criticalbill at 3:47 PM on February 19

Can we just label that so called documentary "People That The World Would Be Better Off Without" and be done with it?
posted by cerulgalactus at 3:50 PM on February 19

Now that I've actually watched the documentary, I actually kind of like the music, but it's really just what the dance record stores in the US just labeled as UK Hard House, or "Hard Dance" back in 2001 or so. Tidy Tracks, Nukleuz, Riot! -- those labels.. and BK, Eddie Halliwell, etc. I used to play it at sketchy afterhours parties all the time. The only way this is different is that it's got the horrible rapping over it.
posted by empath at 7:41 PM on February 19

I liked the bit where the music went "DONK!"
posted by kcds at 8:11 PM on February 19

Tidy Tracks, Nukleuz, Riot! -- those labels.. and BK, Eddie Halliwell

Gah. Trip down amnesia lane there, man. Whoa. I loved UK HHouse back in the day. You forgot one: Captain Tinrib. Whoa.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:06 PM on February 19

I'm only popping in to say that the clubs of London are *not* rocking to Lady Gaga. We think she's awful. Have her back.
posted by Lleyam at 11:18 PM on February 19 [1 favorite]

I loved UK HHouse back in the day.

I opened for BK and Eddie Halliwell in 2005. Both of which were fairly sparsely attended shows because nobody in DC knew who they were at the time. It led to kind of an off night, cause it's hard to play this kind of music to a half empty club.
posted by empath at 11:56 PM on February 19

<djchatderail>
It led to kind of an off night, cause it's hard to play this kind of music to a half empty club.

Which is why I never understood how people could make high energy demo/mixtapes.

There was never anyone dancing in my apt while I recorded, so mixes always went pretty damn chill. This is a good recipe for becoming an 8am dj.
</djchatderail>
posted by flaterik at 1:13 AM on February 20

"Does anybody actually need those subtitles?"

Hipsters who have never been north of Watford?

though in fairness, the e.Lancs accent tends to see consonants as mostly superfluous.
posted by mippy at 1:37 AM on February 20

"Yeah, there were hints there in the doc... the interviewer asking about Asylum seekers and the fact there are no non-whites in the scene (bar the two blokes running the youth club and a few in the vids), but the trustifarian twat totally failed to nail him on that."

You might not know the racial politics in that part of the country - basically there was a big race riot in Burnley about seven years ago. Blackburn, Burnley and surrounding towns are basically segregated. When the hipster twit asked him whether they'd be accepted into the scene, I thought 'no, because they'd get beaten up'. And I'm not slightly surprised by the lyrics of 'Asylum Seeker' - my nephew's into this stuff and it's the kind of thing he comes out with unless I pull him up on it.

Where's the Vice article?
posted by mippy at 1:48 AM on February 20

@bhnyc:

i was making music exactly like this at Rising High in London in '92.

I was doing the same thing in the same place in the late 90's. What are the odds.
posted by chrissyboy at 2:25 AM on February 20

Do you remember when ravers were former goths, disaffected industrial music fans, and creative tweakers?

No, because I'm not an American.
posted by ninebelow at 4:28 AM on February 20

Also: "While the clubs of London are rocking to... Paul Van Dyk" Seriously?
posted by ninebelow at 4:30 AM on February 20 [1 favorite]

I sit across from a big clubber at work, and he was wearing a Paul Van Dyk shirt when I wrote this post. Hey, I'm more of a Tindersticks kinda girl. They might be listening to recordings of bubblewrap being popped for all I know.

I've still never attempted going to a club club in London because 'clubbing' for me was always going to a meat market full of sweaty, pastel-shirted boys downing alcopops while music like this was playing. (I was too young for the warehouse party scene that my brother was into, though all those cartoon rave records appealed to my nine-year old brain). I was really surprised when I discovered a) not all clubs were dance clubs b) that dance music, when it's good, can be great. But do you blame me?
posted by mippy at 5:02 AM on February 20

Oh and that charming and openminded guy MC Grimzie he interviews in Part 2? Not the nicest guy lyrically: Sexy Nun (nsfw), Asylum Seeker (racist bloodbath)

Oh god, this is the new worst genre ever - racist, hateful, violent lyrics, horrible MC, all coupled to tinny pop-trance. "Hate-trance" I guess you could call it. I was going to write something here in praise of uk hardcore/hard dance, but you know what, if it's inspired people like this to write tunes then it's all bad, unfortunately.
posted by iivix at 6:10 AM on February 20

You never know what these kids might come up with.

You can only hope that it is something that is better than the sum of it's parts, as AFAIKT this is disposable music in essence. A white response to 4x4/bassline that is even less funky.

FWIW, dubstep has been around for 20 years or so, or at least music that shares 90% of it's DNA. Here I am opining on the subject.

/aside
posted by asok at 6:19 AM on February 20

Oh and that charming and openminded guy MC Grimzie he interviews in Part 2? Not the nicest guy lyrically: Sexy Nun (nsfw), Asylum Seeker (racist bloodbath)

Gah... I'm still wondering how he rates the comparison with Cage.
posted by kid ichorous at 6:27 AM on February 20

As mentioned in the Guardian article*, there is alot of similarity between these donkheads and the Kersal Massive. Certainly room for a mashup IMHO.

*Amusing commentary abounds.
posted by asok at 6:30 AM on February 20

Also: "While the clubs of London are rocking to... Paul Van Dyk" Seriously?

Are they not these days?

I've always had this idea of the UK being a trance haven, but I guess that's more of a dutch and german thing -- but isn't Godskitchen still drawing big numbers at least? Is Gatecrasher still around?

Dance music is kind of weird sometimes, especially in DC these days. If you go to a random club in DC, chances are you'll hear a lot of hip-hop and hardly any Paul Van Dyk, if at all. But Paul Van Dyk draws huuuuuuuge numbers of people every time he comes into town. I'm probably going to go see Above and Beyond this Saturday, and I expect it to be sold out (oversold, in fact), but I doubt you'll ever hear Above and Beyond played by any other DJs in town.

Trance is something that only works when you have a superstar DJ and a sold out crowd. Played at a 'regular' club night, it comes across as horrifically (or hilariously) bombastic and cheesy. Like, the crowd needs to BELIEVE in trance for it to work, but man, when they do, there is no better music crowd to be in, IMO.
posted by empath at 3:07 PM on February 20

FWIW, dubstep has been around for 20 years or so

Dub music has been around, and so has downtempo, but dubstep is new. I mean 'garage' has been around since the 80s, but 2-step garage, when it blew up in the late 90s was still a vibrant new form of it. House has been around since the 80s, but electro-house is still a new sub-genre that's only existed since maybe 2005.
posted by empath at 3:10 PM on February 20

Also, dubstep sounds like whale noises.

If you're looking for dubstep that sounds good, I actually quite like Herve's take on it. It's danceable. I love the Lily Allen remix he did, though I cleared the dancefloor with it when I played it a few months ago :(
posted by empath at 3:14 PM on February 20

Of course dubstep's roots have been around for years. But it really did turn into something new at some point. And asok, it's worth revisiting. Some of it is plodding and soul-less, but a bunch of it really does have the funk lurking in the bass.

Like, the crowd needs to BELIEVE in trance for it to work, but man, when they do, there is no better music crowd to be in, IMO.

Can I borrow your cynicism suppressor? Cause mine is broken. I've been in plenty of crowds that BELIEVE in trance just plenty in the last few years, but... no. My body does not agree with them.

on the other hand: Breaky/minimal/techno in the desert, with an occasional sprinkling of trance as a seasoning... OMG. My cynicism has no defense for that.
posted by flaterik at 5:12 PM on February 20

I've been in plenty of crowds that BELIEVE in trance just plenty in the last few years, but... no. My body does not agree with them.

Have you seen PVD live recently? He is still absolutely killing it.
posted by empath at 6:09 PM on February 20

empath, Gatecrasher is alive and kicking, in Sheffield and in Leeds. Still a good night out, but after going, I can't shake the feeling that I've been to Rave/Disco Disneyland.

Anyone else fighting the urge to go watch Kevin and Perry Go Large after all this donk?
posted by Grrlscout at 2:07 AM on February 21

I opened for BK and Eddie Halliwell in 2005. Both of which were fairly sparsely attended shows because nobody in DC knew who they were at the time.

Srsly? We were going off our heads to BK/Halliwell/Madam Zu (god I adore that woman)/etc in 2001-2004 here in Toronto. I'm surprised it took that long for UKHH to get to DC.

Have you seen PVD live recently? He is still absolutely killing it.

Haven't seen him in the past couple of years, unfortunately. Should go the next time he passes through. And you've probably already seen this (PVD playing live with the somewhere-or-other orchestra), but it's incredible.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 7:51 AM on February 21

No! But that's awesome!
posted by empath at 8:14 AM on February 21

Honestly though, the orchestra seems to have made all his songs CHEESIER if that's possible.
posted by empath at 8:52 AM on February 21

Well yeah. A lot of his stuff is cheesy, but some of it is really damn good cheese in all the right ways.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 8:58 AM on February 21

Grr hit post too soon.

What I find odd about PVD is how very different what he writes and what he spins is. He writes fairly light stuff, but spins a lot harder/heavier/more complex.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 9:04 AM on February 21

Because trance needs contrast.

You basically bang out one heavy, complex track after another with no break or lightness for 20-30 minutes at least. You just get that beat at 138-140 bpm going DadumDadumDadumDadumDadum, over and over, with the high squelchy acid going on 16th notes, with a phaser going up and down every 8 or 16th notes, and the hi hat going tiss....tiss... tiss... tiss... That's all you need for trance. After everybody is just lost in the music and they forget where they are, he starts opening up with melodies and big breakdowns.

For an Angel doesn't work, until you've prepared for it with tracks like this, that just have a heavy beat and complex synth riffs. You really need to pound a trance audience into submission over a period of hours before it really clicks. Like, that song from Stoneface and Terminal I just linked. It's not the kind of song that's easily recognizable, it doesn't even have a melody to speak of, no vocals, riffs kind of melt into each other, etc, but what it does do is completely envelop you in sound, the whole frequency range is covered, and it's got loops that are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 beats long, all over lapping. It's just a mind-erasing track, if you're in the sort of state where your mind is ready to be erased. Those kinds of tracks make up the bulk of PVD's sets, but most people that go see him don't even recognize them, or even know where one stops and the next starts. He just keeps going and going with them, sometimes layering 2 or 3 of them together, until you can't take it any more, then all of a sudden, a recognizable melody starts peeking out of the chaos, and you can almost feel the relief and wonder in the crowd, the hands go up, the screams start. A lot of beginning trance DJs just know that when you play a big anthem like that Nu NRG track, people scream, but it's not the Nu-NRG track that makes people scream, it's the release of tension from all the tracks before that.

Can you tell I just got back from seeing a trance set?
posted by empath at 1:51 AM on February 22 [1 favorite]

PLUR, man. And I say that unironically.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:44 AM on February 22

A lot of beginning trance DJs just know that when you play a big anthem like that Nu NRG track, people scream, but it's not the Nu-NRG track that makes people scream, it's the release of tension from all the tracks before that.

This is so true, but I feel the same about a melody, or even just a one measure break, peeking out in a techno set!
posted by flaterik at 5:25 AM on February 22

I feel the same about donk when the donk comes in
posted by dydecker at 5:30 AM on February 22

Put Your Hands Up For Donktroit
posted by dydecker at 12:51 PM on February 22