> Why progressive house could soon be as fashionable as big beat



Progressive house is over. Like hard house before it, prog is fast becoming a dirty word, and the DJs are jumping ship all over again, Even Paul Van Dyk is on the offensive.

"I don't think it's adding anything interesting to the dance scene," he says. "A friend in New York refers to it as regressive house! I think it's lost the soul, the drive, the funk."

DJ upstart James Zabiela agrees. "I'm not interested in breakdowns that last for three minutes," he says. "At least epic house had some melody in it! The DJs have moved on but the music hasn't."

Yousef isn't convinced either.

"There's no tension in the music," reckons the Scouse-houser. "A lot of new DJs play progressive house but they concentrate on the mixing more than the tunes. It's too drawn-out!"

One man who's made considerable wonga from prog is Hooj Choons head honcho Red Jerry. Always ahead of the game, his label has shifted with the tides of change. In 1996 they were pure trance. By 1999, prog icons Peace Division and Pete Heller were on board.

"As soon as trance was over, we naturally drifted somewhere else," says Jerry. "Trance worked on the big floors but we get bored of the big riff. Take that away and you're left with the basis of progressive stuff."

Superclubs up and down the land stopped booking supertrance DJs, looking to Tenaglia, X-Press 2 et al I instead to combat falling club attendances. And it worked temporarily. But after a while it became apparent that the superclubs were designed for trance. Red Jerry.

"Gatecrasher went mad for that Ferry Corsten shit, but if you strip it down and add percussion it just doesn't work in a huge arena."

Of course, the reputation of clubs like Bedrock will always survive ("no one does it better than Digweed co!" says Jerry) but elsewhere the dark prog wave is starting to lull. So what's next? We reckon the music 2002 will ditch the drums and favour sexy house-tinged techno instead -think Dave Clarke, Funk D'Void and eclectic nu-breeders like Matthew Bushwacka! and 16B.

Smaller clubs, bigger tunes, better attitudes. About time too.



- Musik Magazine