“Mellow… That’s my styyyyyle“.
A friend and I were taking a long drive on Monday with my iPod a’ crankin’. I have an 80 gig model, and putting it on shuffle is like staring into the abyss. You might get Pixies, but then again you might get Jerky Boys. Luckily, we got “Routine” by Urban Dance Squad and a full fledged retro appreciation phase quickly emerged. I knew I had to give Rudeboy Remington and UDS some love on the Wadio this week and I’ve been spinning them a lot in the 3 days since.
Deeper Shade of Soul broke onto the soon to be named alt-rock scene in 1990 and the Dutch band quickly became a hit on half pipes everywhere. The record label’s marketing department immediately jumped all over this demographic as this video will attest – but it’s still a good clip for a great song. UDS was pioneering the mid-90’s rap/rock tragedy from far across the sea when Fred Durst was still getting beaten up in a high school parking lot somewhere.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw5Gl28Xe5o[/youtube]
“Fast Lane” and “No Kid” were the follow up singles from Mental Floss for the Globe, and soon after they released Life ‘n’ Perspectives Of A Genuine Crossover which is my favorite. Solid full length albums are a rare thing, and this record is packed with gems like “Routine”, “For the Plasters”, “Careless” and others. This record didn’t do nearly as well, due in large to their choice of a first single “Bureaucrat Of Flaccostreet”. It’s a very cool tune with some (at the time) revolutionary inclusion of East Indian instruments a’ la George Harrison, but many of the others would have been much easier for the general public to digest. It was also released only a few months after Mental Floss, which was originally recorded in 1989, so that probably caused some confusion and flooding. If you like UDS, and have never heard this record, drop everything and get your hands on a copy.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw5WoMWU_QQ[/youtube]
The band performed at the 2006 editions of the Dutch Lowlands festival and Pukkelpop in Belgium, as well as at the Antwerp music club Petrol. According to what I’ve found it is unlikely that this will lead to a permanent reunion or a new studio album, as these performances were only to support their compilation album Urban Dance Squad: The Singles Collection in 2006. I’m encouraging you to dig in the crates a little bit today, kids. UDS was a great moment in time and a very rare example of, um, Holland having a huge influence on American popular culture. I am quite sure, at one point or another, you too did it all for the nookie.
If you liked this post...:
- Wednesday Wadio: The The’s ‘This is the Day” If you’ve never heard this song, yet recognize it immediately upon watching the video, there’s a very good reason. You’ve probably seen several little candy-coated chocolate treats dancing around while it plays in the background. That’s right, it’s the M&M song that everyone seems to like – yet no one has any clue who sings. [...]...
- Wednesday Wadio: David Martel’s ‘End of Self’ From soft, delicate songs that smell of peace and conjure haze to excellent rock numbers that straddle the line between convention and invention, this is a dynamic first record with wide appeal. – Hour.ca A friend of mine shared this video and song via Facebook with me today, and it immediately caught my attention. Let me [...]...
- Wednesday Wadio: Cut Copy’s ‘Feel the Love’ From the first swirling synths and gleaming melodies of curtain raiser “Feel the Love”, In Ghost Colours asserts itself as a hugely magnanimous record. Everything here sounds stadium-sized, loved-up, and breezily inclusive. – Pitchfork It frustrates me when the song I want to evangelize doesn’t have an associated YouTube video and I have to settle for [...]...
