"Keep on moving" by Soul II Soul. I do feel that Soul II Soul were one of the last R'n'B groups that managed to remain soulful but still be forward looking. Massive Attack and Syndecut (if I spelled their name properly). Why is it that R'n'B has been nothing but either factory produced sludge or retro sounding pastiche for the last... jeez, it must be well over a decade. Mary J Blige put out some lovely records but not what I would call innovative.
Of course that got me thinking about other forms of music as well. I am lucky enough to have been around when UK Hardcore and Jungle were hitting London and trickling down the 30 odd miles to my neck of the woods. Sure a lot of was just stitched together samples but nonetheless it was raw and futuristic. But neither Hardcore (which has been bled dry of all its black influences) and Jungle (oh I'm sorry, "Drum 'N' Bass", which is similarly bled of its black music roots) have altered much in ten years. When you consider that Jungle tracks from 1992 sound nothing like tracks from 1994 and 1994 tracks are very different from stuff released in 1995-97, that's really sad.
It used to be the case that whenever rock went through a stale patch (which happens often, considering the limitations of the instruments involved and the expectations of the audience) you could always rely on dance music for new and exciting sounds. These days though, apart from a few artists, like The Bug and Burial from the Dubstep genre, I don't hear much that's really breaking with what has gone before. It has all seemed to become as formulaic as House music is. That House music is formulaic is itself sad, as house was a defining genre for me as a kid in the 80s.
If there is new stuff out there and I'm just out of touch and jaded, by all means prove me wrong. I would dearly love that.
