dance music news

Compiled and edited by Dennis Romero with Jonty Adderly

PARTISM

Leftfield has split up, according to BBC Radio 1. The duo, which helped pioneer progressive house and produced one of the rave-era's most-acclaimed albums, 1995's Leftism, split after 12 years together. Members Paul Daley and Neil Barnes reportedly want to focus on solo projects. "Leftfield was always about pushing the boundaries of sound as far as we could," Barnes said. "I'm proud to be a part of this. Thanks to all the people we have worked with over the years and to everyone that promoted and bought our records."

TALKING HEADZ

Greed killed Chicago's original '80's house scene, says legendary singer Robert Owens. "In Chicago, there were sharks and the whole scene was all based around greed, with people thinking, 'We can make money out of this, let's take as much as we can take for this momentary situation,' instead of thinking on a long-term basis. That attitude drove people away."

Carl Cox thinks techno gets a bad rap as a linear musical form, and he's out to change that perception. "Some people see techno as straight-up 909 kick drum music with no breakdowns, and that's what scares people away…When you play techno, it's also about techno-house, techno-funk, techno-jazz. For instance, if you play a record like DJ Rolando's "Knights Of The Jaguar," it's got techno, but it's also got soul, energy, strings and emotion, and I try very hard to play techno music which has an emphasis on something more within the sound."

The Lo-Fidelity Allstars are giving Americans a sense of British approval that has long been anticipated since 1776. "America is not too bad. It can be mad and there's a lot of bad press surrounding the Americans, but generally they're OK and just as into the music as we are over here." Finally.

As Ibiza season approaches, DJ Ashley Beedle warns that it's not all it's cracked up to be, with the mandatory hedonism and all. "I went there to work last year and had an enjoyable time, but it doesn't really attract me. I'd rather go on holiday somewhere else. You can have a great time in Ibiza, but it's hard work. Sometimes you're almost forced to party."

FALL, WINTER, SPRING, IBIZA

Ibiza superclub Space announced it will open Sunday, June 2nd, informally launching the Spanish isle's clubbing season for 2002. Sasha, Carl Cox and Steve Lawler will headline the launch party alongside local residents Alfredo, David Moreno and Oscar Colorado. Doors open at 8 a.m. and the party don't stop till six in the mornin'.

TOUCH ME ON TOP

The 20,000-selling "Touch Me" by Rui Da Silva topped last year's 12-inch vinyl charts in the UK, it was recently announced. The house anthem beat Roger Sanchez's "Another Chance" (number two) and Joey Negro's mix of Jakatta's "American Dream" (number three), with other top-selling 12-inch producers including Ian Van Dahl, and Russian trance trio PPK. The UK market for 7-inch records, meanwhile, virtually vanished. The number one 7-inch of the year (an obscure indie record) sold just 700 copies.

DAMN THAT DJ MADE MY DAY

The week-long World DJ Day celebrations wrapped up last month, raising more than $700,000 for the Nordoff Robins music therapy fund. Events were held in Argentina, California, China, Australia and the UK, home base for the fundraiser. It was such a success that organizers plan to make it an annual event. Find out more at www.worlddjday.com.

ABSOLUTE ZERO

The UK's Zero 7 is touring the Midwest and Western United States. The group's Mercury Music Prize-nomindated Simple Things was a critics' pick for 2001 on both sides of the Atlantic. The duo of Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns will be joined on tour by an 11-piece band that includes jazz players, three vocalists and other performers. They will play in the following cities:

April 23: Chicago, IL, Double Door

April 25: Denver, CO, Fox Theatre

April 28: Indio, CA, Coachella

April 29: San Diego, CA, Cane's

May 1: San Francisco, CA, Bimbo's 365 Club
May 3: Seattle, WA, The Showbox
May 4: Vancouver, Canada, Richard's On Richard
May 5: Portland, OR, B Complex

BIG LOVE

The mainstream music awards season has passed, and once again the dance scene had a strong presence. The Brit awards shunned six-time nominee the Gorillaz and three-time, two-step nominee Craig David. But the Basement Jaxx did take the Best British Dance Act award.

Meanwhile, at the Grammy Awards, longtime American faves Deep Dish took the Best Remixed Recording award for their redux of Dido's "Thank You." Fatboy Slim's Spike Jonze-directed "Weapon Of Choice" took Best Short Form Music Video. And Janet Jackson -well, she's not really on our map, but she does like house - took Best Dance Recording for "All For You."

ROYAL HIGHNESS

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told the UK press that he believes marijuana is a scourge that causes crime. He blamed the green stuff for much of that city's crime wave of the '70s and '80s. He added that pot-puffing Prince Harry could be on the road to becoming a serious criminal, and he suggested all smokers should be locked up. "Marijuana caused a lot of the violence we had," Giuliani said. "I would encourage the police to arrest as many of them (British cannabis users) as possible." He was in London recently to be knighted by Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

DRUG WAR VS. POOR

The war on drugs is a "technique of social control" intended to frighten and remove dissatisfied and economically "useless" people, according to radical intellectual Noam Chomsky. The American professor recently told drc.net editor Philip Smith that prohibition should be replaced with education, prevention, rehabilitation and policies to reduce drugs' harm. "We did not have to outlaw tobacco to see a reduction in use; that is the result of cultural and educational changes," said Chomsky.

ROCK ECLIPSES UK CLUBLAND

UK clubbers, teenagers and executives are embracing rock cocaine as the drug's price has gone down nearly by half. Crack is now "the drug of choice for many clubbers," according to reports in the British press. According to the Observer newspaper, cocaine dealers are introducing smaller "clubbing rocks" to the market, while others tell customers they've run out of powder cocaine in order to push crack instead.

SEE ME, HEAL ME

MTV recently debuted a new video show hosted by Moby called Señor Moby's House of Music. He plays his favorite videos, and in between songs he shows quick clips of video that he shot himself.

Meanwhile, Moby's "We Are All Made Out of Stars" video to air this month features cameos from several actors, including Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, Thora Birch and Verne "Mini Me" Troyer.

VOODOO MAGIC

Jungle Voodoo Recordings, which recently released the 12-inch "Sociopath" by Dr. Mario, is set to release tracks from Cloak & Daga, Grizzly, Kid Kryptic and others. The label also hosts a popular online drum 'n' bass zine at www.junglevoodoo.com. RATS ON DOPE

Combining marijuana with ecstasy could reduce E's potentially harmful effects, according to a Sydney University study. Psychology professor Iain MacGregor reached this conclusion after feeding rats ecstasy and marijuana and discovering that the rodents appeared to feel less anxious and experienced less brain nerve depletion compared to a control group given only MDMA.

Furthermore, rats that were given the pills and weed together ended up about as normal as a control group of rodents that didn't take any drugs, the Australian professor reported. [This is disturbing on so many levels -Ed.]

FUN FUN FUN ON THE AUTOBAHN

A study of German men's sexual performance longevity reveals that the boastful blokes only keep it up for three minutes and one second, according to the UK's Sun newspaper. Cologne's Dr Frank Sommer uncovered the tragic truth after giving 45 couples stopwatches to time their love making sessions. Men who worried about finishing lovemaking sessions too quickly typically lasted two minutes and 30 seconds, just 30 seconds less than their over-confident peers.

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