I want to review a genre of music that does not get a lot of love, dance music. I heard this song on the radio for a while, downloaded it via i-tunes and really like the vibe. That, grade 10 school dance feel, when everyone is awkwardly trying to bust out their greatest dance move and comes up with something totally crazy (yes I was that guy but I digress). This song has that feel to it, yes. Now to the meat and potatoes of the matter.
Chrizzo and Maxim, I never heard of them before I heard of their track featuring Amanda Wilson named “Runaway”. This track beckons newer listeners to the classic sounds of house, dance and electronic music. Popularized in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s, the dance craze had many early pioneers. For those uninformed youngsters, try starting with groups/acts such as: Snap, La Bouche, Ace of Base, Real 2 Real, C and C Music Factory etc.
The feel I am referring to is the right amount of keyboard/piano notes mixed with synthesized drums and sound effects. The beat seems hectic yet controlled, base kicks in and you are in full dance euphoria. The tight and super authentic dance vocals supplied by Amanda Wilson are spot on. This sounds like something recorded twenty years ago and part of that reason is her awesome vocal tone. Highly reminiscent of Snap’s “Rhythm is a dancer” of the early 1990′s. A similar style of delivery, repetition of the hook and chorus. Dance has never had a huge emphasis on lyrical content but the cool thing is, the title is usually mentioned and worked into the song. This song feels as if you are about to board a plane and the excitement you get from leaving the country (anyone in need of a vacation knows what I talking about).
The standard version played on the radio rings in at 3 minutes and 15 seconds, with remixed editions going well over the 5 minute mark stretching out the electronics aspect of the song. That is another cool feature of dance songs, much like their grandparent, the disco song, they always have a longer, in some cases, club editions or remixes of their songs (back in the days of vinyl, these were referred to as the 12 inch single, which some dj’s still employ).
In closing, this song has triggered a renaissance of dance music for me. I even downloaded some Calvin Harris featuring Florence Welch, entitled “Sweet Nothing”, very cool. I think that dance music took a bit of a hit with the commercial rise of other genres i.e., alternative rock, hip-hop etc. However, with tracks like these, the days of busting awkward dance moves out at your high school dance maybe gracing us all again, oh yeah baby. Your fearless musical explorer reminding you all to never say never!
Check out the video
Some info provided by Wikipedia.
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