Dave Seaman: "The obsession with labeling and pigeonholing has gone too far"

DJ, producer and Audio Therapy head honcho Dave Seaman has recently posted an interesting article on his official website. Basically, Seaman calls out industry press for its "obsession with labeling, pigeonholing and the general sub dividing of dance music..."

Seaman points out that "the lines between [genres] has become so blurred that they don't actually mean anything anymore," and that "it's all electronic house music at the end of the day and the minute you try to break it down and intellectualize it is the second you strip away its soul and spirit."

Seaman also wrote about his annoyance at the term 'Progressive house' "being used as a dumping ground for any old lifeless, generic rubbish that comes along."

Here's the full article:

Now listen. I'm all for freedom of speech as much as the next guy but there comes a point where you have to draw the line. Especially when people start spouting rubbish like some sort of projectile verbal diarrhoea. So, I think it needs to be said- the obsession with labeling, pigeonholing and the general sub dividing of dance music has gone too far. In many cases this never ending need to create new genres has a lot to do with lazy journalism but mainly it's because the lines between them has become so blurred that they don't actually mean anything anymore. I often joke about my current sound being Swedish Acid Lesbian 2 step but many a true word is spoken in jest. One of our recent Audio Therapy releases was labeled "nu-prog" by one magazine. Give me a break. What the hell is that? Old prog dressed up with a prefix to make it palatable for the painfully cool? In fact, while we're on the subject, I'm getting a bit tired of the term 'Progressive house' being used as a dumping ground for any old lifeless, generic rubbish that comes along. Like every other style (although I always thought progressive to be more of a spirit than a genre) there's both good and bad if you can be bothered to get off your arse and find the good stuff. So stop already. Remember, it's all electronic house music at the end of the day and the minute you try to break it down and intellectualise it is the second you strip away it's soul and spirit. Like any art, the result should always be greater than the sum of it's parts. So in future, if you find you've got too much time on your hands, don't waste it listening to the sound of your own voice, go find some fresh new genre busting music instead. Which is exactly what I'm going to do now!

Sources: One man's trance is another man's techno [via djdaveseaman.com / JiaNe]