Tuesday, April 08, 2008

NEWS FLASH: L'il Louis cited in "Science", plus more cool stuff that you won't believe ...

In Diana Dabby's short perspective entitled "Creating Musical Variation", she cites L'il Louis' "French Kiss" as an example of music that adds variation by gradually adding layers of rhythm and melody to the song's melodic backbone. I'm not sure why she picked this particular track, since countless other tracks could have illustrated her point just as well. Her goal may have been to highlight how this track stands out compared to then-contemporary house ("French Kiss"'s use of repetition was probably a bigger influence on trance and techno than for house). Or maybe we should simply gawk at the surprising and wonderful fact that L'il Louis was cited in one of the world's elite scientific journals. Never before have I been able to listen to faked orgasms and claim "I'm simply catching up on the literature". I'm not sure how much of that article is accessible without a subscription, but she links to this version of the song on youtube, so now you too listen to one of the greatest house tracks ever, all while keeping in touch with the scientific vanguard!

What's more, skating might be the new dancing, and I welcome the change. Skating parties hosted by Moodymann? Just when you think that there aren't any more brilliant ideas out there ... along comes another one. Skating in circles requires less coordination than dancing in place, so imagine the ramifications for the rhythmically challenged. Georgio Moroder said that Germans needed the basic 4/4 beat because they were clumsy and it was the simplest possible beat to dance to, so are skating parties the next logical progression for people who can't dance? Ah, but what happens when fancy spins and twirls become the required moves on the rink? I'm loving all this.

Would this fly in Canada on an ice rink? I can only dream.

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