Electro Swing
Electro swing is a musical genre fusing swing styles with contemporary production techniques of dance electronics. Electro swing is usually represented as cover versions of old jazz records or club tracks with the usage of the `30-50s swing rhythms.
Birth: 2005 Bloom: 2008
Electro swing is just a part of wide culture phenomenon that consists of the fashion for vintage from clothes production to cinema or graphic design. Electro swing is the expression of musicians` reaction to the popularity of Neo-Burlesque (the show by Dita von Teese) or TV-show Boardwalk Empire, to the restoration of black and white movies, the interest for silent movies and tendency of fashion setters like D&G, Marc Jackobs to the street style of American workers in the 30-40s.
Artists began to experiment with swing since the mid-90s. Doop, Jimmy Luxury, Jurassic 5`s, Gry and F.M. Einheit`s mixed swing with house, hip-hop or downtempo. The first great hit of this genre was created by Mr.Scruff in 1999 (the composition «Get A Move On»). During that period there was released the composition «Rose rouge» based on Dave Brubeck`s «Take Five» by French electronic producer Ludovic Navarre also known as St. Germain. But this music was attributed to lounge or nu jazz, whereas swing still was one of the oldest styles.
The idea to extend swing beyond lounge scope was coined by Marcus Füreder in 2005. He used to produce nu-jazz or deep house music under the name Parov Stelar. He seems to be the first who used the term «electro swing» to describe his releases. Eventually, Parov Stelar became the leader of this style due to a number of successful releases and live performances.
Among Parov Stelar`s followers attention should be paid to Caravan Palace, Club des Belugas, Gramophonedzie, G-Swing, and Waldeck. In 2009 French Wagram label and English Freshly Squeezed label began to release thematic compilations, which combined best electro-swing music. Due to these compilations authoritative magazines like Time Out or Mixmag dedicated a lot of articles to electro swing. In 2009 the owner of the Continental Drift label Chris Tofu and Nick Hollywood from Freshly Squeezed Music opened in London the first club devoted only to retro aesthetics and electro swing.
Eventually, electro swing clubs began to appear not only in Great Britain, but also in America, when the style started arranging electro swing festivals. But nowadays people got bored of such types of music, and Parov Stelar`s latest tracks are actively criticized for the lack of new musical ideas. The genre is close to fell into oblivion.
Umbrellate style: Jazz
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