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Gear up for summertime CLUBBING
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DJ Ivan forecasts the trends in club music as the new party season kicks in
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— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
DJ Ivan: `People are creating tracks which have strong influences from the '70s music.'
CALL IT a detox exercise after an end-of-the-year over-indulgence or an intentional break from the nocturnal pleasures (harmless ones of course!) of life, the party scene in the city goes through a low during the first couple of months every year and it is only around March that people begin thronging the nightclubs and lounge bars again. This marks the beginning of a new summer season of partying and clubbing and is accompanied by special gigs and previews of the sort of music that is expected to rule the dance floors. Mix-master DJ Ivan tells MetroPlus how the turntables would spin in the days to come.
Just back after an extensive tour of U.K., Ivan says: "I noticed a rather interesting change in the U.K. club music scene. It seems to have come a full circle and people are creating tracks which have strong influences from the '70s sort of music, which incorporate what is known as a break-beat structure. I have brought back quite a few of such records which can be expected to storm the dance-floors here". He adds: "The end of 2004 saw retro tracks like California Dreamin' appearing as house music remixes. This trend is definitely going to continue this season as well."
Does that mean hip-hop and R&B are losing out? "Not at all," assures Ivan. "They have just graduated a step further. I know I'm offending a few people by saying this, but it's a remarkable change I have observed. The pop music of today is hip-hop and R&B. There is no JLo anymore. When I say pop music today, I mean R Kelly and Usher and Nelly."
Elaborating on how he looks at the trend, Ivan says: "The U.K. club scene is filled with mash-ups by various R&B artistes. Since they may be from competing music labels, the tracks do not get released as CDs, but DJs are free to play them as they are released as white labels. (White labels are tracks that are released only to DJs and often don't have names and credits. They are mostly remixes or one-off tracks by debut artistes.) These mash-ups are very dance floor-friendly and are sure to be big hits."
He adds: "In fact, I myself have tried doing my own mash-ups, and the result has been pretty good. If you have heard my mix of Kevin Lyttle and Madonna, you will know what I mean."
Last year saw quite a few artistes going the desi way by incorporating Bhangra vocals and folk instruments in their club tracks, but Ivan does not seem too hopeful of its bright future.
"Indian underground music seems to have run out of gas this year, but one can hope that it will be revived soon. These days, Indian music influences are seen more in the tribal house remixes which have a raga flavour in them," he says. "I was pleasantly surprised to realise that Latin and African records have music samples that resemble Indian music, and every time I play them at my shows, people end up screaming for more. Two such tracks that are big right now are "Opa Opa" and "Sexy Sherry"," he explains.
So, when can we see Ivan spinning these tracks? "I'm travelling a lot these days to Hyderabad and Goa, but every Wednesday I'm in Bangalore. The mid-week party scene is catching up in the city, and to encourage that we have come up with this concept of BPM (Beats Per Minute) parties. I begin by playing tracks that are relatively slower (around 80 BPM), and gradually increase the tempo till it reaches around 100 BPM and finally create mayhem as it reaches 130 BPM," he says.
So, the next time you find cops hovering around Residency Road at two in the morning, know for sure that Ivan is taking his music through the roof. Welcome to the new season of clubbing.
A. V.
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