Ministry of Sound

[Francis Asis]

Please help. I'm nearly forty and haven't kept up with music since my daughter was born. Can someone tell me what The Ministry of Sound is?

Also, when Fatboy Slim puts on a show in Brighton, does he just DJ? I mean is THAT the show?

Its like a whole new world out there.

[stoo_pid]

The MoS is a nightclub in Southeast London (Elephant & Castle).  They also produce compilation music CD's & sell merchandise.  More info here: http://www.ministryofsound.com/home/

 

And yes, as with other big name DJ acts, Fatboy's show is essentially him DJing.  Depending on the gig & the artiste there would also be an element of visual effects etc.  The best example I can think of there would be the Chemical Brothers or Basement Jaxx.

 

[Francis Asis]

Oh I see. That makes sense - thank you.

[robbieh]

Ministry of sound was a decent night club in London which took advantage of it high standing and name by starting a merchandising and cd business. The club then sold the rights to this sometime in the latter 1990's and ever since the majority of its CD's have just become cheesy chart dance music rather than a reflection of the music played in MoS in London and any other deceNt dance music name in the country. Thus the once semi-bible of dance music "Ministry of Sound - The Annual" just became another smash hits or Clubland cd, particularly post 1999. Post millenium celebration, dance music became less focused toward one sub-genre at a time, as a result the number of chart releases of dance tracks are very very low (unless you count cheesy, knock together in 10 minutes tracks). The MoS magazine (Ministry) went t!ts up because it was rubbish, though the free CD's were actually better than the CD's they sell for �14. The CD releases are now very predictable as they just follow and do to death, any popular sub genre of music they can fit within their idea eg "Chillout CD's", "Back to the old school CD's". The MoS club isn;t the big draw it once was, though it is still somewhat respected for house music. Clubs like Fabric, who have an excellent CD range to go alongside the club, are more diverse in music played. Basically the commercial MoS is absolute tosh with maybe one or two good releases for every 20 bad ones. In general dance music circles, the word "sell out" has been mentioned on far more than one occasion!

[robbieh]

A lot of DJ's play their own tunes or their own mixes of records. Take Tiesto for example, he'll make a remix and not release it, he'll be the only one who will play. Some DJ's have MC's and live band players. Some DJ's will introduce sounds, accapellas into the mix. Its about get drugged up people dancing, which sounds easy, but when those people are expecting an amazing DJ, theres a certain level of expectation and if it isn't met then the crowd wont react. So if you mix wrong repeatedly or you play a mish mash of songs that don't mix well into each other - the DJ has basically messed up. Basically its about creating an energy that your audience can feel. A basic DJ will just mix records. If you try it and learn - you'll understand how you can use filters and mixing in at different points in the track etc. Its good fun, but vinyl and decks are bloody expensive:-p

[Francis Asis]

Wow, Robbieh, thanks for that very detailed answer. It was great of you to take the trouble. I really appreciate it. I am now an expert - go on, you can ask me anything!!!

[trilobite]

I loved the description by a friend about Fat Boy Slim's free Brighton 'gig' a year or two ago -

"50,000 people turn up on Brighton beach to hear Norman Cook play his record collection."