Like, I suspect, a lot of the readership I don't go to dance nights, I'm a pubber not a clubber and dance music doesn't sound me in any other environment.
Add that my key interest, if you boil my enjoyment of music down to one ingredient, is 'the song' then dance music just doen't tick any boxes for me.

...never been into any dance music as a genre - whether it be Motown, Reggae, Ska or Rave - were the dancing is the prime objective. Always more interested in if the song was trying to do something that bit more - ie interesting lyric or pushing the musical ideas. So all the ones you list are doing something that even I have gone and purchased.
I posted a blog with a video of a band I saw in Liverpool recently Killaflaw now they're doing something with electronics and beats that I found exciting.

Yes it does feel like a separate realm. For this I can only blame my own ignorance and, to an extent, my age. I grew up listening to "proper" rock music. I was the right age to love the Who, Stones, Floyd etc and so I can easily relate to (some) modern bands ploughing the same furrow.

Dance music is a whole other world. I've never understood the concept of a DJ creating music by mixing together existing records. And I get confused by the various titles. What's the difference between house, acid-house, garage, trance and trip-hop?

But, having said all that, I've quite liked some of the, admittedly not many, CDs in the dance idiom. The Chemical Brothers CD my wife bought last year is pretty good and I liked the Fatboy Slim best seller. I know nothing of the Orb and Orbital but, from the reviews, think I probably would like them.

The trouble is, being so ignorant, I don't know where to start. Perhaps a Word feature "The baffled middle-aged man's guide to dance music" might help. It could tell me where to look on Spotify.

I'll start of by admitting I'm no expert in the field; dance music wouldn't be my chosen subject on Mastermind, but I know what I like about the genre. It doesn't seem like an alien species in my collection, no more than the jazz or the classical that I have. If we go back to the 90s, I generally ignored the genre; but retrospectively, I've discovered the works of Daft Punk, Lemon Jelly, Portishead et al. Contemporary wise, I definitely think Hot Chip are the best act around at the moment.

I like the electronic stuff from the period where it crossed over into rock music, around the mid-seventies. So, we're talking about things like Eno, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream. Also the modern disciples of this era, Radiohead, Portishead etc.

If I've got a problem with so-called dance music, it's that I'm not a dancer. I have a feeling that just outside of the doof-doof/pillmonkey stuff there is plenty I'd like, but rarely get to hear it.

I guess this would be a good thread for recommendations.

In the same way I love the noisy growling of over-amped guitars, equally I enjoy the fat analogue wallop of appergiators and synth sounds..although I couldn't put both styles on a shared playlist - it just wouldn't sit comfortably. And not many rock bands can make synths and guitars work - Roxy Music being the main exception...

Recently I've been digging around in French electro-territory of Maethelvin and Kavinsky, hhile perma-playing Roger Mannings Malibu project.

But, if I want advice on the latest hottest happenings - I ask my brother dance artist and DJ Tronik Youth...

In my opinion, there's no better form of art than the three-minute pop song and traditionally, rock does that better than dance.

What I do like, however, is the batch of artists that you could probably pigeonhole in some unimaginatively titled genre like 'indietronica' - like Deathcab for Cutie and their ilk.

The new Prodigy record has got some fantastic songs on it, but there's too much with no melody or tune which, to my mind, veers off towards dance snobbery, where the main point of discussion is what software/drum machine Liam Howlett is using.

if you can't strum it, or something recognisably like it, on an acoustic guitar, I'm not particularly interested. That's just because I'm an unreconstructed freak. Having said that however, the Orbital set at Glastonbury a few years back was one of the greatest musical experiences I've ever had, I love Steve Hillage's experimental stuff, the Ozrics, Leftfield, the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, and I was playing the Orb's Aubrey mixes only last night. So, pillmonkey bleep tracks aside, I don't really see the dichotomy; it's all in your ears. Moods or moogs, I'm not that fussed if it moves me.

were one of the few times both camps came together (see also early 90s 'Baggy' and bands like EMF, Jesus Jones)

Most of the comments thus far confirm my view that it is largely a generational ignorance, stemming, dare I say it, less from an ignorance about the sounds, but more from what to call it. If you don't know what heavy house crunk dubstep trance is, then you won't know, when asked, if you like it or not. And the circles us oldies move in is scarecely going to inform us, give or take the odd squeak from the "rock" press, which allowed thru' Leftfield/Underworld/Prodigy/Orbital some 15 odd years back, possibly explaining why our knowledge has remained rooted at that level, and explains why we still call all "electronica/dance" (as i-tunes has it) techno, a real giveaway, I have discovered. Bit like your old Uncle Albert calling the Beatles skiffle, and feeling a real groovy hepcat for so doing.
When more of these many and varied genres slip under the radar, we discover we like them, hence Burial, Mr Scruff and similar, not that they are. I can't dance either, but I see no difference in listening to "dance music" in the car, or in my study, whether it be dubstep, tamla motown or 5-some reels, and I gain pleasure thereby.
The prejudices will remain whilst the fear lingers, and it is arguably entirely right that way, as the ageing Westwood so amply demonstrates, appearing faintly ridiculous now. Surely the day that grandfathers and infants share all music will be the day that the music died?
We are the generation that has tried more than most to keep the music of our youth as the music of our dotage, pillaging new styles as they appear, but maybe this is how and why the buck should stop here. I like some of what I hear, that's enough to be going on with.
(Still amused to read, tho', in response to a post I put up about a festival my son is putting on, that one comment about www.monarchy-live.co.uk was that is was a "bit mix-mag". When I showed this reply to him he was understandably confused, his head seeing no difference between a DJ set and a live band. We ended up agreeing to disagree, equally confused.)

but not being - and having never been - a clubber, I wouldn't even get to hear most of it. What I have heard just washes over me in the main and I'd much rather listen to something else.

Only when it crosses over into the mainstream do I ever get to hear it. Sometimes I like it, sometimes not. But I'm not seeking it out as it's not really my bag.

The main drawback is it's always really LOUD.

See also: RnB.

and other quandaries: I don't seem to have that many opportunities to listen main stream dance . It's too insistent to listen to on the commute to work, or indeed while working. At home loud music is banned anyway I don't have a car and have always loathed night clubs.

I come from the New Order lineage of electronic music so really like Manchester newbies Delphic. but also (see earlier post) like electronique Pholk like Air france, aim, epic 45, july skies, avrocar (the last 3 are the same bloke!) baltic fleet, school of seven bells etc.

Oh and to return to point I started with the hyperbole of turn of centruy dance put me off anthems, super clubs, super star dj's, dave pearce it all seemed to ne on one euphoric emotional note, you can't have a melancholic house anthem?

...and this isn't meant in any way as a rant or a criticism of dance music/techno/whatever - live and let live and all that - but I find that that something about most dance/techno/etc actually depresses me. Seriously. To me, there's something purgatorial and relentless about the doof-doof-doof thing (and why is it that people feel the need to play that kind of music at 11 in their usually open-topped cars? It's just attention-seeking... Okay, this bracketed bit IS a rant!). On the other hand, something similarly relentless played by human beings rather than machines - like Doves playing 'Pounding' (I think that's what it was called) on Later with Jools seemed to be euphoric and visceral. Visceral is exciting, mechanised and unchanging is depressing - to me, it would seem, anyway.

Actually, I do recall thinking that Urban Cookie Collective's 'The Key' was a brilliantly simnple, euphoric rush of a record in the dance genre - though maybe that isn't what we're talking about? Maybe that's the equivalent of skiffle to modern dance/techno/garage-house-toolshed-whatever-step?

I think the only 'dark' sounding even remotely dance-related stuff that moves me at all are Robert Fripp's ambient recordings - the recent Fripp/Eno 'Beyond Even' set being the darkest/closest re: dance beats. Oddly enough, I find THAT record depressing if listened to without headphones, whereas WITH headphones (and a glass of whiskey) it makes perfect sense and feels life enhancing. I really can't explain why that should be!

As for demographgic assistance, I'm between 35-45, can't/don't dance, don't go to clubs and, like Groucho Marx, probably wouldn't join any that would have me...

Hope that is of some use!

I would have thought that dance/electronica would have been part of the formative musical experiences of most music fans under the age of about 45. Actually this music was pretty big/mainstream maybe 10-15 years ago (Prodigy/Orbital/Fatboy Slim period, when "big beat" was the thing, also the superclub era - Cream etc) though dance/electronica has always been most commercially successful when it sounds most like rock music.

I guess that since then, the music has become more of a genre in itself (and hundreds of micro genres) and genre music is rarely well covered by the mainstream media - a parallel example is metal. It requires a certain dedication to find the good stuff amongst the massive amount of music produced. Also much of it only really works in a club setting.

Electronic/Dance music I like from the past: Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Orb, Orbital, Future Sound of London. More recently: stuff on Ghost Box (Belbury Poly, Advisory Circle etc), bits of Dubstep (Burial, Distance, 2562), some Kompakt stuff (Gas box set, the recent Total 9 compilation)

I am always a bit dismayed by a lot of mainstream guitar music these days - a lot of it feels hackneyed and worn out and I guess that innovation in music is unlikely to come from today's independent scene. So I think there's a lot more inventiveness in these genres (not just dance, but metal, goth, prog etc) - go ahead and write about them and hopefully we'll find something new!

To complicate things further, most of the dance music I've bought lately is distinctly on the retro side: La Roux, Little Boots, Glass Candy, The Bird And Bee, Hot Chip, Ladyhawke, UNKLE, Aeroplane, Neon Neon and David Holmes all have easily recognisable antecedents. But then, like the previous poster, I like a good pop tune, regardless of what it's played on.

If there is a divide, it's because people too far over either side like it that way, retreating into snobbery against anything with guitars/bleeps.

The culture of dance music (as opposed to the music itself) has alien aspects to anyone over 40. The posters on lamposts, boarded up shops and so on have a few signifiers that this is "for kids"... namely...

1. There will always be a reference to James Bond somewhere (Dave "00" Flemming)
2. Certain names have to be modified to appear at a dance music event. If you are called Mark, it will become Marc. John will be Jon. Surnames that begin with a letter with an "ee" sound (B, C, etc.) will be shortened to only that letter - Jon B for example.
3. It is usually a fourth birthday party for the club, or...
4. If not, it's a launch party
5. Female performers are always sold on their "fitness". Lady MC Thighs, Missy Fit, that kind of thing.
6. Despite the fact that the music is mostly made by lonely geeks in their bedrooms, the club night will have a teenage-boy-attracting poster of a scantily-clad lady and will be called something like "Wet" or "Moist".

Thank heavens the music scene of my youth was so much more sensible (for example, Whitesnake's Come and Get It...)

Rock, pop, dance - all fine by me. I don't see the distinction, or much care for it when it's made - I welcome it when electronic and dance cross over into rock and pop. I don't really tend to seek out a genre as such. I wouldn't sit and listen to dance music that is mainly intended for a club environment, but have appreciated it in that context, not so much these days though (so am ignorant of much of the current scene - and it's mostly for those much younger). But much that might be called dance can be listened to at home and I happily do so. Stuff like Roisin Murphy, for example, I enjoy - some of it is dance and also has good tunes, as did Moloko (this kind of music is probably deemed retro). I also believe that a funky groove in rock and pop is highly desirable - Stones, Stone Roses, New Order etc - and that can lead to some of best music. In fact there should be more dance influence in rock of now - would improve it.

Electronic - I like some old, some new. Tangerine Dream to The Knife (retro again?). And I very much appreciate use of synthesizers in pop and rock, as in, say, MGMT or new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, or chart pop, like 'With Every Heartbeat' by Robyn (remix), that could also be classed as dance. New pure electronic music I am less aware of. You don't get to hear it or read about it much anywhere, but I sense it exists. How about a Word feature?

an initial period of not liking dance music because it wasn't really saying anything to me I became a convert after hearing Born Slippy as it should be heard - rattling my bones and eardrums in a club. I started listening around - The Orb, Chemical Brothers etc from that period, also the more chilled end, especially the Café del Mar series.

A few years later I found myself in, of all places a Sunderland youth club, making a film about Mackina (Italian/Spanish house influenced?) New Monkey Music, that horrible yammering sound you get coming from cars and mobiles the length and breadth of the country. Again, in situ, it made total sense and made my aged hips move, and a grudging respect for the kids who absolutely loved what they were doing. Wouldn't have it in the house, but did recognise that 'fuck you' attitude that I felt when I was a 16 year old punk rocker.

Recent 'large' tunes have been Hercules and the Love Affair and Blind - the aforementioned Frankie Knuckles remix, Black Powder by Motor and Rushing To Paradise by House of House.

All of this (apart from the New Monkey) sits nicely with more guitar based music on my ipod - and it's the best music to cycle to work to, you get a great stride on.

In my early 20's, I used to love some of the stuff that came out. Mainly on Cowboy Records, Guerilla Records and Boys Own/Junior Boys Own...(DOP's Party Rockin', Less Stress' version of Don't Dream It's Over, Junior Sanchez, Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Sabres of Paradise etc...still sound GREAT today) - but those records and that scene took energy. Something that, now approaching, 40 I channel into mowing the lawn, chasing after the kids and working!

The scene then splintered too far. All the "house" variants. Deep, Happy, Hard, Handbag etc etc that left everything confused and unfocus and I kind of lost interest and bunged back on the Manics records!

Also - all the lads driven into the dance scene in the late 80's, early 90's by the rave scene/ecstasy and baggy crossover, migrated back to "rock" when Oasis suddenly sounded good, looked cool and Britpop arrived.

is styll Kool?

I've always been adding to my musical repertoire. I reckon growing up in the 90's, you had to be open minded, because the boundaries weren't really relevant.

I grew up on hip hop then got into indie/ guitar stuff via Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Happy Mondays, The Charlatans and that but I had KLF, Technotronic (!) and Prodigy records too.

Because I liked hip hop I was always open to dance music, especially as I was getting towards clubbing age (and pills, obviously!). Got into dance music around the same time I got into Britpop - it was the same thing for me. Music for going out and getting battered with mates, so Goldie, Monkey Mafia, Orbital, Chemical Brothers all became really big for us at the same time as Oasis, Tricky, Blur, Pulp, Black Grape and Supergrass. It was just all the same to us - just music. That's what I thought Britpop meant.

Most people I know are the same - as many people get a nostalgic glow when they hear 'Born Slippy' or 'Rez' as when they hear 'Live Forever'.

Later on, I got into 'archive' music - blues, gospel, 'classic rock' and I didn't listen to dance so much, but I'm going through a bit of rediscovery in the last month or two - digging out old Orb albums, FSOL, KLF and that. I'm not so interested in new hip hop or dance I suppose but I still listen to the 'classic' stuff, by which I mean the stuff that reminds me of being a 18 year old loon!

Music is music.

..a style of music has been around for thirty years doesn't make it good (or bad for that matter)nor does it impel anyone to like it (or not)
Me, I can't (and never will) abide the relentless manufactured nature of it, or its depressing lack of groove and swing.
"Phat" beats sound like sledgehammers to me.
Nothing will ever beat the sound of someone (one person or a group) playing in a room.
The other thing that people seem to forget, is there is an almost complete lack of spontanaety or improvisation in it, which for all intents and purposes causes a musical cul-de-sac.
Sorry, it's the last refuge of boffins and over-singers.

..Can, sometimes (But why would you include Can in that company anyway?..)
I know they are considered trailblazers of dance music, but I've never seen it myself..way too wonky for that.

Lamacq's Weekenders - Britpop and beats

..it's a picture of a cassette.

So I was still in my teens when the rave thing started up; so as you can imagine I was clubbing a lot in the years following that, especially when it exploded across indie with the likes of The Mondays. And through the 90s and into the new millenium. I also bought myself an atari with a dodgy copy of cubase and a couple of synths and dabbled quite a lot myself. I listened to other things, still do, but my favourite album from the 90s was Orbital's Insides and and they along with Andy Weatherall are amongst my favourite artists of all time. And I was a regular reader of mixmag.

I stopped going clubbing a few years ago, when I got married and had a wedding to pay off. Which seemed to coincide with the dance/electronic mags running out of people and records to write about. And those they did seemed to be leaning more towards the indie side of things.

I'm still aware of things going on, but I do feel like I've heard it all. Although (and yes a couple of years past the fact) I did hear the Chems' tune Saturate recently and fell completely in love with it. A top top tune, and the way the chorus bleeps rise up over the huge breakbeat, ooh nice..

In my case it's more a point of opportunity: I don't go out like I used to, so I'm not hearing the tunes played out; and keeping up with what's going on just doesn't happen anymore. But I also feel - like I do with a lot of other types of music - that I've kind of heard it all before and better, to be blunt.

...the music you speak of meant absolutely nothing to me. I grew up in the 80s discovering the (to my ears) much more exiting byways 60s and 70s. In 1986, 1976 and before seemed a mystical and remote place; whereas, today, 1996 seems like yesterday... I daresay I was the only guy in a sixth form common room in 1985/6 playing Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jethro Tull cassettes on the communal ghetto-blaster. Those were the days...

as I have no interest in 'dance' music (in the doofdoofdoof sense) but a huge interest in avant garde and electronic music - especially the early stuff (i.e. pre-1965) where avant-garde composers were using electronics to genuinely push back the boundaries of music.

Once people like Buchla and Moog started making pre-patched synthesizers for the mass market, much of the imagination went out of electronic music. Interestingly, about the same time, many avant-garde composers returned to using orchestral instruments as a sound source.

To be honest, I can't really see any connection between 'doofdoof' dance music and electronic music other than they both use instruments that plug into the wall :-)

I don't consider dance or electronic music as 'other'. I'm a fan of music - that could be rock n' roll, blues, soul, reggae, indie / alternative, rock etc... I listen to music to fit my mood - I could just as easily listen to Sonic Youth as I would Boards of Canada, or dance to Motown as I would I Feel Love by Donna Summer.

I'm in my early 30s and got into music through the indie stuff that I grew up with. This took me on a journey to discover the bands that influenced them and broadened my horizons. It's a journey I'm still on. When the tedium of Britpop took hold... I started to get into more electronic music: Orbital, Massive Attack, Portishead, Black Dog, Bjork, DJ Shadow etc...

I think electronic elements have for many years crossed over into the indie / rock / pop realm. Names that spring to mind: Joe Meek, Can, Joy Division (obviously New Order), Talking Heads, Radiohead, Animal Collective, Yeah Yeah Yeahs - I could go on!

So while I'm less of a fan of house & mega clubs, there remains loads of interesting stuff to listen to. In fact I'd rather go to a small venue and dance to a mixture of Motown, punk, indie, electronica. While Word is pretty good - I'd like to see a bit more on electronic music.

If anyone is interested... recommended recent purchases:
Solid Gold - Bodies of Water
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
The Deer Tracks - Aurora

Any other recommendations welcome.

This hideous phrase sounds like the archetypal 60s blue blazered "assessment" of the dance music of that day, as in "it all sounds the same to me" (so it's rubbish) No wonder Mr Muggs sees a division, hell, there won't ever be any bridge with this pre-dismissive attitude living behind blinkers response.
(Not dissing you, Stimpy, per se, as your argument is cogent and studied, more the idea that it is all doof doof, as earlier correspondents seem willing to suggest.)

I’m no dance music expert but find the electronic compositions of The Boards Of Canada most interesting.; relaxing music with a strange and sometimes disturbing edge to it.
Not a fan of Glen Miller’s dance music.

I think Electronic/Dance music has as interesting a history as your standard (whatever that means) Rock music. My enjoyment of electronic/dance music, I think, largely stems from my first love: Prog Music. Prog exposed me to the conventions of Rock music but also got me into Classical, Jazz, Soundtrack and eventually avant-garde like John Cage and Terry Riley. From there I moved onto the 70's stuff like Popol Vol, Can, Jean Michel Jarre, Giorgio Moroder and of course Kraftwerk. The latter 2 were the key to unlocking hip/hop (cf Bambaataa 'Planet Rock')and sequencer driven dance music and once that connection was made I pretty much went with the flow for the last 25 years.

In the UK I can remember plenty of times when the worlds of rock and dance have come closer together: New Order is an obvious one with their Arthur Baker link up as is Primal Scream's Weatherall Loaded remix but there were bands like The Woodentops who became one of the first acts embraced by the Ibiza 'balearic beat' dance culture. Punk influenced dance music in the UK with the DIY aesthetic: S'Express spring to mind. The Orb linked up with Steve Hillage while Orbital, for me, touched on some interesting neo-classical ideas with albums like In Sides. Probably one of the best Electronic/Rock albums is Depeche Mode's Violator which manages to straddle both genres without compromising either one. Massive Attack's Mezzanine also hankers for some rock posturing. From more recent years acts like Fila Brazilia, Boards of Canada, DJ Spooky FSOL have kept the experimental side going. Underworld were like prog in many ways.

Ultimately I think I've reached a point where I can filter out from my mind preconceptions such as "oh that's just another dance track" and find something beyond the beats. That said there is a lot of dross in dance/electronic music but as a genre it's been as creative as any other in my reckoning.

I find it strange that dance/electronica and rock/pop are partitioned. If you are not into doof doof, there's still a huge range of stuff out there; from neuprog like Boards of Canada, through cool ethnic noodling like Thievery Corporation, to sample collage spectaculars like Endtroducing and Frontier Psychiatrist. I can't believe that a typical Word reader can't find *something* to like.

In fact even the cheesy house end of the spectrum can sound fantastic in the arena it was designed for: a packed bunch of behaviour modulated humanity going off on one for the weekend.

While we are at it: why is rap so often considered Another Country?

...if it originates from Rapanuii, that's Easter Island to you and I. And I'm afraid that IS another country...

as I bought a copy of 'Silver Apples' earlier. How out there it must have sounded back in 1968...

With regards dance / electronic music in general, I feel the same way about it as I do any other form of music. Some is heart-stoppingly brilliant, some is OK, some is shite.

...that a love of Terry Riley, Eno, Floyd and Kraut Rock, which I had in abundance in the seventies, should continue with an interest in modern ambient stuff (IDM) such as Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Autechre, Lemon Jelly, Burial - at a push. Not really Dance music though - never really got my ears attuned to copious beats per minute and I have a complete aversion to the whole Superstar DJ culture.

But ... 'Music has a Right to Children' is one of the most fascinating records I have ever heard - not really sure why.

middle 8s.

middle 8s.

I think there are people of a certain age that attached themselves to electronic pop music. In the 1970s, there would have been no thought to actually dancing to Kraftwerk, the Dr Who Theme, early OMD, Joy Division, early Human League, & Tubeway Army/Numan. The order or the day was cold, emotionless detachment and isolation. They also felt somewhat more academic, cleverer than the post-punk template of a bunch of lads in a pub.

Then the 80s came and "warmer" synth music came from Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, New Order, OMD again, Human League again. It was now OK to dance to this stuff. Gary Numan missed this boat entirely and kept his hard stare and humourless persona intact.

Love a bit of The Orb too and Roni Size.I used to be a big drum and bass fan, but find I don't have the stamina for it anymore. Joe, If you work for both Word and Mixmag, does this mean you are lucky enough to have a plush desk at each office, or do you prefer to work from a desk at home?

Or lack of that elusive quality seems to be quite a common accusation I've seen over the years aimed at dance/electronics. And yet, as I said above, I've spent a lot of time with sequencers and synths and I actually find it more free than playing guitar. The ability to sculpt sound on the fly is a wonderful thing and just as creative as the ability to drop in a riff or two out of nowhere.

And yet if you're playing prewritten, heavily rehearsed music how spontaneous are you actually being?

..I'm not saying there is no creativity in cut and paste recording, and I know that many rock bands play the same every night, but the very best ones do not.(And let's not forget jazz)
I think you're drawing a very long bow in equating the fun you have with your tools to the unsatisfactory experiences you've had playing with musicians. I have those same tools, but I find them lame as fuck compared with the genius musicians I get to play with all the time.

32 years earlier they were doing this:

I would have to put Harmonia's Deluxe album from 1975 in my all time top 10. A beautiful blend of guitar and DIY electronica. Somehow it manages to sound both mechanical and pastoral.

Don't really see the need to draw any distinction between electronic/dance music and everything else. Synths and sequencers have, perhaps, encouraged laziness in composition, but there's plenty of lazy guitar music. Oasis have made a career out of it.

Would love to see a feature in Word on Eno's meeting with Moebius and Roedelius in the 70s. These guys were hugely influential, along with Manuel Gottsching, Tangerine Dream and many others.

DAF 1980s
Clark 2008

Echoes 1970s
Little Fluffy Clouds 1990s

Bloc Party Flux
New Order Finetime

remind, which is dance music

etc

wasn't all music dance music til the beatles (rock n roll, motown etc)

reminds me that in the original post, I didn't even mention the idea of Folktronica, which is generally squarely on The Word's radar, and which definitely straddles the guitar/electronic divide...

was ambient as anything! And once you start using echoplex on a guitar like he did in his heyday you are as locked into a tempo as surely as if you were using a sequencer or breakbeats. I know many dance producers who idolise him as much as folkies do.

Also he went the whole hog in the mid 90s and did this beautiful collaboration with Talvin Singh which, although it contains many of the generic elements of Balearic chillout type stuff, transcends them excellently.

...I do have a soft spot for Phil 'Shiva' Jones two CDs of recent reworkings of material he first recorded a million years ago with Quintessence, some in dance-lite stylee. Here's the immortal 'Notting Hill Gate' - 'We're getting it astraight in Notting Hill Gate / We all sit around and meditate...' For some reason, Mr Curtis didn't use it in his popular rom-com.

To answer your question, dance music does feel like a different realm to guitar-based stuff. It's a totally different headspace.

If indeed the rave scene is as old as you say it is, then I'm not much older; and as far as my age is concerned, I should be into this sort of thing. But I guess I just prefer Planet Rock.

That said, there are heaps of other genres out there that stand in apparent opposition to rock, and each has certain elements that I can latch on to. In fact, I like bands that aren't afraid to incorporate these elements. I guess the whole electro-indie vibe of recent years is the most obvious example.

Unfortunately, most electronic music IS doof-doof-doof pillmonkey stuff. I've dipped my foot into the rave scene, and that's what it has been for me. And the chilled out stuff ends up a bit like elevator music.

Of course there are exceptions I'm sure, and I wouldn't want to be so ignorant as to write off an entire genre based on my limited experience.

Basically, I like the rawk. But Radiohead's electronic experiments (Kid A, Amnesiac) and moments of Zero 7, Hot Chip, Royksopp and Air are okay.

Just don't give me that doof doof. unless there are drugs involved of course!

... well, I used to do a few nights on the 1s and 2s back in the first half of the '90s.

... well, I used to cackhandedly "mix" some of my favourite records to hordes of pissed-up students at Bristol University.

I say "hordes"...

Anyway, I was in touch for a while, then Faithless came along and every house record for the next however many years sounded like Eurocheese to these ears. I slowly came back around to dance, to the Electronica/Cut-Up/D&B spheres, to Junior Boys, Four Tet, LCD Soundsystem, The Field, Daft Punk, The Avalanches, Calibre, Justice, Fuck Buttons, Hercules And Love Affair, Koushik, Herbert, whatever. Then again, even Booty Luv and September.

Equally keen on guitar-based stuff - probably own equal amounts - but I find it slightly harder to find the thrilling stuff there. Not to say it isn't there - we all know, of course, that the new Horrors album is the record of the year. Right?

Now I've typed all that, I realise I'm not the best person to ask! I'm still just a giddy pop kid who doesn't really want to separate the genres.