I had initially intended on writing a top 10 of sorts, with a small paragraph regarding each release, but I realized I had a lot to say about some of them, so I’m going to make a series of posts about what I saw as the important tracks, artists and trends of 2007 instead. Hope you enjoy them.
Dubfire - Ribcage
It’s hard to underestimate the impact this record had in 2007. One of the biggest sellers in the minimal genre, it also provoked a lot of controversy in the scene, to whom it represented the growing commercialization of the style. Indeed, much of the debate had more to do with the Dubfire himself than the track, while discussion of the track itself tended to use terms like “cold”, “soulless” and “calculated”; ironic, considering that those same terms are often aimed at electronic music in general. But what is especially ironic is that Ribcage is, in fact, much more minimal than a lot of what passes for “minimal” these days, which just goes to show how much the term has become about image rather than actual music… and image is what lies at the heart of the controversy.
Minimal techno and progressive house have long been viewed as being at opposite ends of the commercial, and therefore artistic, spectrum: one was the domain of geeks and weirdos in their basements, doing it for the love of music; the other the domain of superstar djs, 5 figure booking fees, coke and strippers. Yet musically speaking, the terms are not mutually exclusive, and the styles have been converging for some time, the end result being tracks like Ribcage; both minimal and progressive, marrying elements of both into dancefloor devastation (or formulaic crap, depending on your point of view). This sits rather poorly with the minimal scenesters, who feel the incursion of prog into their scene will somehow ruin it, yet unfortunately for them, Ribcage is just the tip of the iceberg; minimal techno is crossing over into the dance music mainstream in a big way, and the hybridization of minimal with other styles is a natural consequence of that.
Personally, as an artist, I can only see that as being a good thing. Sure, there will be a lot of crap released as people try to cash in on the genre’s popularity, but the increased market means more opportunity for everyone; It means that records that would have languished in obscurity several years ago might become bestsellers now, the minimal hipsters’ favorites included.
And we’ll be able to thank Dubfire for that.
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