In Dan Savage’s book, The Kid, there’s a scene where he and his partner are about to set off across the country, and Dan puts in a Björk CD. Immediately, his partner groans about how pointless it is to listen to dance music outside of a club. I can’t help but think that his partner’s a bit of a musical moron (can you imagine actually dancing to most Björk songs in a club?), but I used to agree with the general sentiment: listening to music designed to make you dance seems silly when you’re stuck in a chair. Perhaps I should mention the fact that when I thought that way, my concept of dance music didn’t extend far beyond the Venga Boys. It still doesn’t make sense to me to listen to the Venga Boys outside of a club, but it no longer makes sense to listen to them inside a club, either. Most other dance music, though, has been challenging pop’s ground in an interesting way.
See, back in the day, I was a “serious” fan of “serious” music. I liked pop, and I liked artistic statements in music. Dance music had its place, but it wasn’t art: it was hedonistic, good-timey music. I had my head too far up my ass to appreciate the irony. Pop music, of course, has hedonism down to a science: you’ve got the hook, and then whatever verse is concocted to make people miss said hook. Sometimes, if that’s not enough, a pre-chorus and bridge are thrown in to fool listeners into thinking that it’s time for the chorus when it’s still a good 10 seconds away. Musicians can be as eloquent, erudite, and engaging as humanly possible, but if they deviate too far from this form, or if they don’t have a catchy enough chorus, no one will care about them (see also: Momus).
Armand Van Helden understands this better than most of us ever will. “I Want Your Soul” follows the format perfectly and does so with such economy that it’s astounding. The song is essentially based around a ten second sample of Siedah Garrett’s “Do You Want It Right Now?”. Armand takes little more than those ten seconds and crafts a three-and-a-half-minute dance track that includes an intro, verse, chorus and a bridge and sounds as engrossing as any standard pop song. What’s amazing is not only that he’s able to craft so much out of so little without sounding repetitive, but also that when you go back and listen to Garrett’s original, it ends up sounding lengthy and bloated. I don’t care about her prechorus or verse: I just want her to tell me that she wants me so, damn it, and that’s where Armand gets it right. Check it out for yourself: listen to both, and see which would be more fun on a cross-country drive with your same-sex partner to pick up your newly-adopted child. I can almost guarantee that even Savage’s partner would choose the dance music here.
Youtube Link: Armand Van Helden - I Want Your SoulYoutube Link: Siedah Garrett - Do You Want It Right Now?
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