Stuff You Gotta Watch: Clash of Cultures
Clash of Cultures kicks off cold and straight to the point: “New York was really dead. […] There wasn’t one laugh left in house music.” This visual tale of how the new electro scene brought the fun back to the dance underground of several European and US cities unfolds just like those nights in 2003—intoxicating, unbothered, exhilarating, and occasionally snobbish. As Fischerspooner, Larry Tee, Peaches, Scissor Sisters, and other key players provide insight into the genre while adamantly refusing they are a part of it, the documentary often feels as self-referential as the scene it set out to portray.
Although it is debatable whether electroclash was ever an “official” genre (an ambiguity that is decidedly part of its charm), it’s inarguable that the music filled endless nights for a generation. It was a true vibe shift, a synthwave/disco throwback trip at the dawn of a new century. Suddenly, it seemed, everybody was looking back at the year of our Lord 1982 for aesthetic references and musical triggers. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Clash of Cultures is that it was filmed and released in 2004, just as the movement reached its apex, preventing the film from relying too much on selective memory or the neon-tinted glasses of nostalgia.
Review by Ana Leorne. Check out the full archive of the Stuff You Gotta Watch column.