The Next Generation is the side project of producer Marion Heath Moore. The focus is simple: one hundred percent club music. Its music for DJs and the dance floor. The sound flows freely from House to Techno to Trance to Breaks to Acid to Old School Rave.
2011 sees the release of an all digital album entitled Cloud Cover. Nine tracks of dance floor mayhem!
The Next Generation
By: Marion Heath Moore
I remember the first time I heard straight up hard banging techno. I was fifteen years old driving home from school on a Friday when the local pop/urban/rock radio station broke the rules and played the instrumental version of Twilight Zone by 2 Unlimited. I had heard house music and had house records, but this was the first time I heard electronic music with this kind of power. Powerful keyboard synth stabs, low pumping bass, and drum machine sounds that gave my little truck speakers a workout. I went home right then and called the station to find out the name of the song and what artist had recorded it. I then got back into my truck and went to the record store.
The record store had the 2 Unlimited CD, but they did not carry very many techno / electronic music artists. Pretty much the only thing I could get my hands on was compilation CDs. Record companies were putting out compilation CDs left and right. I learned right fast that I had to rely on certain labels to get the quality techno I was looking for. Bigger labels like Moonshine, SBK, Relativity, Caroline, and Profile would license the best tracks from smaller labels such as Radikal, Warp, Cheetah, Harthouse, Watts, and Antler Subway just to name a few.
By doing research following certain labels and producers my love for techno / electronic music went from straight rave type techno into a rich sea of various musical genres. Acid house, trance, hard trance, acid trance, break-beat, hard house and jump style, hardcore and gabber, jungle and drum n bass, down-tempo and ambient, minimal, tribal, and the list just goes on and on.
To date techno / electronic music has had a major influence on the pop, urban, hip-hop, and rock music that we listen to in 2011. I find it somewhat odd that so many people never thought of techno as a real form of music, but a song on commercial radio today from artist like Britney Spears and Usher are really nothing more than slowed down techno / trance that was being produced five years ago in the electronic music underground! (At faster tempos of course)
Superstar DJs like DJ Tiesto and Paul Oakenfold are bringing techno / electronic music to the masses by playing big festivals right along side of rock bands and filling concert venues with as many as 70,000 people with just them on the ticket. Sasha, John Digweed, and Jimmy Van Ms Delta Heavy tour is another great example of DJs touring across the US playing the same venues as rock groups and selling them out every time.
That brings me to my next question; if the events are so big why are the music sales of electronic music so low? In the mid-nineties super producer Rick Rubin (producer for Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slayer, System Of A Down, AC/DC, etc.) signed Messiah and Praga Khan to his popular American Recordings label. They were soon dropped due to poor sales. Maybe it is the years of producers and DJs producing music under ten different allies instead of building a solid name under one. Maybe it is due to major record companies not really knowing how to market techno / electronic music artist.
Ive been producing techno / electronic music for a very long time, but have never released my own singles. My projects with Smooth Generation were composed for an album purpose and not for a DJ or dance floor. Cloud Cover represents my ten best dance singles from the past three years compiled onto one project. These are the singles that I have received positive feedback on from various DJ / producer friends of all different genres.
I've decided to only release this project on Sound Click . Being that I am not a touring DJ or live act makes a big difference in the whole promotion and marketing aspect. The days of being just a producer are pretty much long gone unless you were huge in the mid-nineties. The sale of vinyl singles are almost a thing of the past and on-line stores such as Beatport are overloaded with way too much new music. The last time I checked they (Beatport) were not even taking on new labels. Wow!
I use to play live, but now I only produce.
Producers: Teddy Riley, Timbaland, Devante Swing, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Al B Sure, Kyle West, Vincent Herbert, Kiyamma Griffin, Howie Tee, L.A Reid & Babyface, Organized Noize, Narada Michael Walden, Soulshock & Karlin, Carl Sturken & Evan Rogers, Mario Winans, Chad Elliott, Erick Sermon, Keith Crouch, Rodney Jerkins, Dallas Austin, Keith Thomas, David Morales, DJ Premier, Jermaine Dupri, Trackmasters, The Dust Brothers, Prince, Walter Afansieff, DJ Tiesto, Rabbit In The Moon, DJ Monk & The Trackmack, Josh Wink, Chab, Sasha & Digweed, Murk, The Chemical Brothers, DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, William Orbit, Charlie Clouser, Terry Date, Rick Rubin, Pete Rock, Kruder & Dorfmeister, DJ Icey, Bill Laswell, DJ Logic, Howie B, Derrick May, Jeff Mills, DJ X, DJ Magic Mike, Clivilles & Cole, The Basement Boys, Todd Terry, Roni Size, Omar Santana, Pierre Marchand, Jay Joyce, Matt Serletic, Steve Thompson, The Neptunes, DJ Lethal, Josh Abraham, Butch Vig, Daniel Lanois, Howard Benson, Nellee Hooper, Flood, Hakim AbdulSamad, Jamey Jaz, Bob Power, Stephen Lipson, Rob Cavallo, Kevin Shirley, Robert John Mutt Lange, Brendan OBrien, T-Bone Burnett, Ry Cooder, Nigel Godrich, Craig Street, Suba, Dave Hall, Guy Roche, Ric Wake, John Creamer & Stephane K, Guy Gerber, Arthur Baker, Armand Van Helden, Joey Beltram, Guy J, Photek, Gui Boratto, Delfeayo Marsalis, Mark Rooney & Mark Morales, DJ Eddie F & Nevelle, Dr. Freeze, Terence Trent DArby, Mark Stent, Trevor Horn, The Runners, Freddie le Grand, DJ Matt K, Hive, & Stevie B!
Much Respect!!!
Only software these days!
The Next Generation
Cloud Cover
01. Loss Of Oxygen
02. Bailar Caliente
03. Pop A Motherfucker (Original Mix)
04. Rotations (Original Mix)
05. Cloud Cover
06. Can You Hear (Original Mix)
07. Thats It (The Hardhouse Dub Remix)
08. Pop A Motherfucker (Breaks Remix)
09. My Internal Image Delay
10. A Moment Of Hope
Produced By: Marion H Moore For: ALBM Productions
Recorded & Mixed At ALBM Recording By: Marion H Moore
Vocals On Can You Hear: Suzanne Sawyer
All Instruments and Programming: Marion Heath Moore
Writers:
Loss Of Oxygen: Marion Heath Moore
Bailar Caliente: Marion Heath Moore
Pop A Motherfucker: Marion Heath Moore
Rotations: Marion Heath Moore
Cloud Cover: Marion Heath Moore
Can You Hear: Marion Heath Moore / Suzanne Sawyer
Thats It: Marion Heath Moore
My Internal Image Delay: Marion Heath Moore
A Moment Of Hope: Marion Heath Moore
Published By: MooreRoad Publishing (BMI)
Copyright & (P) 2011 ALBM Recordings / Mitero Entertainment