The Melbourne Shuffle

The dance music scene is pretty l a r g e in Melbourne, at least as big as the hip-hop scene. This is my world (although I’m getting too old now ) – bangin tunes, amazing dancers and parties that literally go for days on end. In the city you can go out on Thursday night and go home Monday morning (we have day clubs for during the day!). That’s a whole lotta dancing! And very smelly shoes…

The Shuffle started many years ago with the original rave scene, and has now spread to many other parts of the world, especially Asia. Germany and Denmark seem to be getting more into it as well. Even the odd yank (oz for ‘american’ lol) has had a go!!

Anyway, I wanted to share this part of our city's culture with you guys. There’s thousands of Melbourne Shuffle vids on Youtube but the majority don’t really show what it actually looks like.

www.youtube.com/watch?...re=related

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM_7meE_A7k

and here’s the Wikipedia entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Shuffle

truly underground sh!t..

one of the first times i saw someone doing the Melbourne Shuffle was at an outdoor doof many years ago. i didn't understand what was happening and was slightly afraid of this manic, rubbery dance...seemed like some dirty occult ritual was happening! i'm sure the blotter i'd consumed contributed to the bewilderment

do you still head out much 606man? i've been trying to behave lately, but the party season seems to be coming up. a few benders seem likely

Not a lot anymore (too old, too much work, family responsibilities - whinge whinge bloody whinge).

BUT - I'm going to Ultraworld @ Kryal this year! Mum's gonna babysit for the whole weekend! yay! Me and the missus is gettin fckued uuup just like the old days haha (well, maybe not that bad lawls). Back int the day, I used to go to everything; even Rainbow Serpent (where I nearly got bashed for shuffling [2003 one I *think*] ).

I still get to see a fair bit of the current scene though, as my young cousins are all into it (the school-kids have gone mad for it, as you may already know lol). A lot of people say the shuffle is getting too well known and is becoming commercial. Doesn't worry me though as underground scenes either become large enough to be commercial or they disappear altogether. I'd rather see it get bigger than disappear, as I've been into it for a loooong time..

Funnily enough, in the early days there were a LOT of B-Boys that got into it becuase girls went to dance parties where they didn't go to hip-hop clubs. Nowadays I think there's plenty of hip-hop-lovin' girls, but in the early-mid nineties there wasn't!!!

thats a fresh dance

i've never been to Kryall, but was considering heading to this to see Hallucinogen play (i'm a huge goa/psy fan). you gotta get your shuffle on to some vintage psytrance

and good on your mum for babysitting!

I love to shuffle to psytrance - the style suits the dance perfectly. It's just that the shuffle is (often) frowned upon in the doof scene. I saw hallucinogen at Earthcore and they were amaaaazing! I have a lot of Tip Records older releases...psytrance FTW! (just sucks that I'm no good at producing it lol).

@Frantic - yeah it's pretty kewl when done well. You can see the connection to it's hip-hop roots in some of the moves too...and the cap-tricks!

yeah man, i have great trouble producing psytrance too. it's such a defined genre, very hard to get it 'sounding right'. not much leeway for experimentation (ironic isn't it? )

those early TIP releases were amazing, especially the colour compilations (Yellow is my favourite).

definitely agree with you, Hallucinogen was mad at Earthcore! good times

I gotta visit Australia one day. It seems like a strange place.

you're always welcome Juxt, bring your SP with you.
i think you'll like the local bud

Yeah Juxt you're welcome anytime! The bud is world-class for sure

Man, 99 percent hate all hip hop tracks that don't have an 808 in them.

haha, well that's good AND bad. Bad that they are not expanding their range of taste, but good if you wanna impress one - just wheel out the 808!

the bitches aint worth a real 808- just download a generic kit or something (untill you find the right girl that can appreciate your digging).

Gigity gigity gigity, I have 808 drums.