NAJM Records Inc. - Melodic House Movement


		NAJM'S "MELODIC HOUSE MOVEMENT" A dance music movement is upon us and NAJM has lit the flame. "Melodic House" is not a new sub genre definition of dance music, but a movement by NAJM and other dance music creators to return dance music to the artist and the melody. A recent surge of DJ produced tracks have spun their way across the airwaves in South Florida, but the ones that are getting noticed by the masses are those with discernable melodies. “9pm Till I Come” by ATB, “Better Off Alone” and “Back in My Life," by Alice DJ are all examples of dub based tracks that have risen above the sea of dubs because of their memorable melodic elements and musical hooks. True, dance music doesn’t always require a melody. You can stir a crowd with tribal beats and synth stabs, but for the track to rise above the rest and become a spiritual experience (without the use of controlled substances) it needs a soul. That soul is in the form of a melody or melodic element. When you combine these melodic elements with proper chord progressions, memorable tracks with substance are born. And what better way to bring that melodic soul into house music, but through the spinning vocals tracks.

	Grammy Award Nominated Richard "Humpty" Vission: "If we want dance music to go to the next level we need artists. It's just not going to happen with DJ produced music, because then it will always stay faceless. I think it's great for DJ's like Paul Oakenfold or Armand Van Helden to take things to the next level and people are into the DJ's. Some of them are artists and that's cool, but now that we have that base, we need to bring more artists into the scene. We need more Madison Avenues, the Dee-lites, where people say, I'm into their music, their lyrics, and I am into everything they do."

	Thunderpuss’ Barry Harris: “A lot of DJ’s now are playing mostly tracks with one or two vocals over the course of an evening. When those nights are not as successful anymore, things will shift back to the vocal and melody driven tracks and you’ll have successful nights with those kinds of records.”

	Martha Wash: “I do agree with what you’re saying about it getting back to vocals. That’s from my standpoint as a singer. If you want to do instrumentals, then do instrumentals but if your going to have a person singing the song then let them sing the song. The instrumentation you want to put in there is fine, but the basis of the song should be the vocals. Just keep playing music that has singing with it, as opposed to [just] instrumentation.”

	Thunderpuss’ Chris Cox: “The most successful dance records are the ones with memorable hooks, and that’s one thing we always strive for in a production.”

	In the end, NAJM hopes that Melodic House will instill a certain level of integrity for dance music and give it a legitimate place in the music industry by promoting the artist who has a voice and a message to be heard. No other genre of music sustains tracks without melodic elements. Dance Music should not be the exception. So please join us in our efforts. If you're a DJ, do your part by spinning those great house vocal tracks. If you're a producer/remixer, incorporate melodic elements into the track you create. If you're a singer, keep laying down those vocal tracks and keep making those club appearances. Together we can bring soul back into dance music and give it the identity it seems to be losing.

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