Hands in the air!!
The band Utah Saints may sound like a God-fearing sect of the Mormon church coming straight out of the mid-west, but the truth could not be more different, hailing as they do from provincial Harrogate in the north of England. However, the religious theme is one worth pursuing because for many people of a certain vintage the one true religion that guided their path through adolescence was house music, a tent in a field somewhere in the English countryside was their place of worship, and bands such as Utah Saints the messiahs.
Here is not the place for a brief history of the Acid House and rave scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s, but it is undoubtedly a subject worthy of a great deal of attention for all music lovers, as indeed are the acts, and possibly more importantly DJs, who led the vanguard of what was as much a social as musical revolution. But for me Utah Saints are a band who have always been a little bit misunderstood and maligned, caricatured as something of a novelty act, when in fact they were in many ways pioneers of their scene with an influence which reached far into other genres of music also. They were front-runners in the use of sampling technology in dance music, a move which had profound repercussions for the jungle, hardcore and drum'n'bass scenes that followed, not to mention cross-over influence into hip-hop also.
They were also the first house music act to really appeal on a massive scale to the mainstream, and certainly the first to take an essentially faceless electronic music and turn it into a live music event. Fellow pioneering artists the KLF even refer to them as the first true stadium house band, and their augmentation of their electronic instrumentation with decks and live instruments can itself be seen mirrored in the sets of both rap acts and superstar DJs since. Merging elements of dance music, industrial rock, trance and a pop sensibility the Utah Saints can also claim to have influenced a range of artists from Nine Inch Nails at one extreme, through Underworld, the Prodigy and KLF, to Moby at the other.
Some of their early 1990s output may appear dated now, but the best moments are still well capable of sending a shiver down your spine, and take you straight back to that muddy field and manic grin. Prime example is the Kate Bush-sampling "Something Good", itself now the subject of a 2008 remix. However, you should eschew this reworking for the original recording, a blissful, uplifting, stomper of a track which makes you smile and want to move as soon as the needle hits the record, as all good house music should.
My personal favourite though has always been "What Can You Do For Me?", if not for the audacious introductory sample which splices up the already brilliant opening to the Eurythmics' "There Must Be An Angel", then for the stunning sample of Gwen Guthrie's "Ain't Nothin Going On But The Rent", turning an r'n'b slow-burner into an incessant house attack. Brilliant stuff. Just no need to get out the loon pants, glow stick and bandana just yet. The rave finished some time ago, and the field is now just a field again, no matter how hard you look for it.
Here is not the place for a brief history of the Acid House and rave scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s, but it is undoubtedly a subject worthy of a great deal of attention for all music lovers, as indeed are the acts, and possibly more importantly DJs, who led the vanguard of what was as much a social as musical revolution. But for me Utah Saints are a band who have always been a little bit misunderstood and maligned, caricatured as something of a novelty act, when in fact they were in many ways pioneers of their scene with an influence which reached far into other genres of music also. They were front-runners in the use of sampling technology in dance music, a move which had profound repercussions for the jungle, hardcore and drum'n'bass scenes that followed, not to mention cross-over influence into hip-hop also.
They were also the first house music act to really appeal on a massive scale to the mainstream, and certainly the first to take an essentially faceless electronic music and turn it into a live music event. Fellow pioneering artists the KLF even refer to them as the first true stadium house band, and their augmentation of their electronic instrumentation with decks and live instruments can itself be seen mirrored in the sets of both rap acts and superstar DJs since. Merging elements of dance music, industrial rock, trance and a pop sensibility the Utah Saints can also claim to have influenced a range of artists from Nine Inch Nails at one extreme, through Underworld, the Prodigy and KLF, to Moby at the other.
Some of their early 1990s output may appear dated now, but the best moments are still well capable of sending a shiver down your spine, and take you straight back to that muddy field and manic grin. Prime example is the Kate Bush-sampling "Something Good", itself now the subject of a 2008 remix. However, you should eschew this reworking for the original recording, a blissful, uplifting, stomper of a track which makes you smile and want to move as soon as the needle hits the record, as all good house music should.
My personal favourite though has always been "What Can You Do For Me?", if not for the audacious introductory sample which splices up the already brilliant opening to the Eurythmics' "There Must Be An Angel", then for the stunning sample of Gwen Guthrie's "Ain't Nothin Going On But The Rent", turning an r'n'b slow-burner into an incessant house attack. Brilliant stuff. Just no need to get out the loon pants, glow stick and bandana just yet. The rave finished some time ago, and the field is now just a field again, no matter how hard you look for it.
posted by Twelve Bar at 4:29 AM
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