DANCE FLOOR COLUMN

Rip It Up, Issue 183, 1 October 1992, Page 25

DANCE FLOOR COLUMN

One of the rules of popular music over the past thirty years is that innovation rarely comes from the major labels. The majors may fund innovative indies sometimes and almost without exception they end up owning the stuff but the drive always comes from visionaries, be they Berry Gordy (Motown), Rick Rubin (Def Jam and Def America), Tom Silverman (Tommy Boy) or George Morel (Strictly Rhythm). XL is an offshoot of Citybeat, itself a subsidiary of Beggars Banquet, one of the survivors of the British indie scene responsible for acts as varied as the Cocteau Twins, the Cult, Gary Newman and SL2. One of the best things to come out through XL in past months was the super-cool 'Sweet Harmony’ from Liquid, and they’ve followed it with the Future Music EP, the stand out track being ‘Liquid is Liquid’, an almost ethereal cut that bridges the gap between the now dying techno scene and the new trance movement. Real neat, with an obvious debt to Larry Heard. - Emotive is one of those New York indies that’ve inherited the mantle of such great labels as Prelude and Westend with their garage and deep soul sounds. James Howard’s ‘Feeling Good’ is his second single for the label, has echoes of D-Train and the Peech Boys complete with a tacky talking bit in the middle and is about as close to perfection as a twelve inch record can get. A monster record. On the same label, Renee Thomas' ‘Feel So Good’ is pretty retro too, this time with the similar sort of sound that Sly and Robbie used to get with the old Gwen Guthrie singles. Gwen herself has been through label after label. Her new single 'You Never Really Cared’ is so indie it comes without a label at all. A gorgeous slow burner that’s as good as anything she’s ever done, it includes a raggafied remake of ‘Rent’on the flip. ; Big Beat is one of those indie labels tied to a major. Owner Craig Kailman is real smart; he sold most of the label to Atlantic (itself originally one of the great indies) but kept the vinyl rights (this is dance we’re talking about). Ten City are behind DJ Shon’s ‘Rejoice’, a hip-house revivalist track with almost gospelish overtones, especially in its rousing dub mix. If you can get past the pre-pubescent “pumping hotties” lines in the lyrics, this is pretty good. For a label best known for its soul and house, Big Beat has some pretty cool hip-hop going down. Double X Posse’s ‘Headcracker’ is a woeful inner city tale with some serious cuts happening underneath while Percee-P’s ‘Now They Wanna See Me’ is kinda funky and could’ve come out of any time in the last seven years. It’s sorta more then than now. But the big one on the label actually comes from Sweden in the form of Ann Consuelo’s ‘See The Day’, a sort of post-’Gypsy Woman’ thang that is so up it’s ridiculous. Cypress Hill’s ‘Latin Lingo’ is on Ruffhouse, a Sony attached label that is also responsible for Kriss Kross (you gotta pay the bills somehow!) remixed from the album by Prince Paul. Mean, moody and essential. Redman, tied in with the EPMD crew has a wickedly sleazy cut with ‘Blow Your Mind’ with Doug E Fresh and Zapp samples over a Clinton loop. The best EPMD single since ‘Crossover’. Back across the Atlantic again. Known Chic's ‘Dance’ on' the Junior Boys Own label is an underground house groove sampling, of course, Chic’s ‘Yowsah’ in a very Todd Terry style. Neat keyboards too. Todd’s own ‘Put Your Hands Together’ is on the veteran Champion label (in indie terms seven years is an eternity) and is very Todd and very wonderful. Well what did you expect? On Hooj Tunes, the original home of the UK Felix hit comes Diss-Cuss with the very now sounding trancey, and strangely titled ‘Pissed Apache’, probably destined to sell thousands. ' Even major labels have good records sometimes. Lil’ Louis’ ‘Saved My Life’ is on Epic but sounds like it should be on Emotivej or Strictly Rhythm with its Tingerclicks, hi-hats and haunting mesmeric vocal. A big record in any of its six mixes, especially the neat Vega/ Gonzalez dubs. The new single from Pete Rock and CL Smooth is ‘Straighten It Out’ from the album. Pete Rock is the hottest hip-hop remixer around at the moment and this includes his trademark jazz/ MOR loops, and very catchy chorus. It might be major label and it might be pop but it sure is good.' ■ - Isn’t the PE album marvellous?

SIMON GRIGG