contemporary dance music (sort of)

Well.

I have always loved good dance music. Club, house, electronica … not sure what you call it but something with a good hook (it could just be smooth refrain or a looped backbeat) with a slightly below frenetic pace but fast enough beat that it gets the heart pumping and you drive a little faster (and do some bad but fun dancing).

And I know music is trendy but there seems like a bunch of new good dance-like stuff coming out. And here is the twist (today). They seem to be taking already upbeat pop songs (which invariably are built around a great hook) and juicing them up with a dance electronica sound.

Ok.

Let me call it electronic pop … or how about global pop (just because it seems to be more of a global ‘movement’ in music) and move on.

Well thanks to David Guetta, Pitbull, Taio Cruz and a growing list of cross over pop stars there is a swirling mass of really good fun stuff … combined with a bunch of mindless drivel encompassing intensely bad electronically produced music that is so alarmingly awful you not only wonder how it made it on the radio but how it was made at all.

How can you discern the drivel from the good? The hook. Always the hook. That is why some pretty good pop & hip hop artists are making some pretty good stuff in this quasi-new genre.

And you know it is truly becoming a trend when you hear a sleepy ole Adele song being spruced up for the dance floor. I sense Taylor Swift is not far behind on the dance floor remix scene.

Anyway.

To me it all began sliding into my listening vision maybe with Jason Derulo … probably only because he did an amazing job of sampling an Imogene Heap song.

And then Taio Cruz came along with Dynamite which was just fun to listen to.

It is global empowerment … Davide Guetta Ft. Usher

It is sexually driven … In the Dark and Juicebox

It is pop .. Jason Derulo sampling Imogene Heap … We found Love by rihanna … Katy Perry (almost anything she has done) and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine is building a new career off this genre

It is rap/hip hop pop … Flo Rida Feel Good and Gym Class Rejects with Maroon 5

It is just fun .. LMFAO (not ‘sexy and you now it’ which is a complete waste of airtime but their first song) and Usher ft. Pitbull as well as Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull

My best of the best (at the moment) and some of these are great driving songs and most are great dance club songs:

Pitbull

In the Dark by Dev http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgEixhE3Oms

Stereo Hearts by Gym class Heros ft. maroon 5/Adam Levine  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3E9Wjbq44E

We found Love by Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg&ob=av2e

DJ got Us Fallin’ in Love by Usher ft. pitbull http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-dvTjK_07c&ob=av2e

Moves like Jagger by Maroon 5 ft. Christina Alguilera http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEPTlhBmwRg&ob=av2e

Give me Everything by Pitbull ft. NeYo  (awesome song) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPo5wWmKEaI&feature=related

Watcha At by Jason Derulo ft. Imgene Heap (sample) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBI3lc18k8Q&ob=av2e

On the Floor by Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4H_Zoh7G5A&feature=related

Juicebox by Sexoflex (so NTSW you won’t hear it on mainstream and I wish I could just upoad the song because the video is nasty) http://vimeo.com/33340940

Got a Feeling by Flo Rida ft. Etta James (which is awesome he used her all in its own right) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OnnDqH6Wj8&feature=related

Break your Heart by Taio Cruz ft. Ludracis (Ludacris may be one of the best hip hop rappers out there)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_SI2EDM6Lo&ob=av2e

Without You By David Guetta ft. Usher http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUe8uoKdHao&feature=related

Turn me On by David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj (but may be one of the worst videos of all time … and is extremely aggravating if heard over & over) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVw7eJ0vGfM&feature=branded

Dynamite by Taio Cruz (older song but still sounds good) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUjdiDeJ0xg&ob=av2e

Firework by Katy Perry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw&ob=av2e

And I just heard an old school which reminded me I loved this remake … Coolio doing Fantastic Voyage (excellent remake). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbhkuu4e0iw

Anyway.

It is always interesting how new music genre evolves. This has always been around (mainly in Europe) but it seems to be going mainstream.