But then technology became more accessible, and the rules of play changed a little. In the UK, there were some reportedly thrilling experiments in the nightclub-as-social-event. Channels of music distribution experienced an opening-up. (They have since snapped shut again.) Suddenly everybody had a computer, and the KLF made an album called Chill Out, and some dance acts (I have in mind mainly the Psychic Warriors of Gaia, but there were a thousand others) started to make music that was equally suited for dancing or for talking over while it played at low volumes: mood pieces; Mantovani on silicon; background ivory-tinkling from the near future. |
