There’s a revolution underway in the genre formerly known as progressive. Practically a cuss word these days, ‘progressive’ is no longer used to describe itself, terms like pro-tech taking its place in dance music verbiage. Meanwhile, as if to completely erase the memory of the superstar DJ, the scene-stealers are getting younger, better and cheaper. This is happening carefully, quietly, without the fanfare and inflated price tags that now have their predecessors so reviled, as if five years ago we didn’t worship the very decks they played on. It’s not clear whether or not we’re just sick of our own heroes or if we feel we’ve somehow been duped, or if the scene, in its maturity, just demands more (for less money). What is clear is that the talent displayed by some that make up the new wave is nothing short of freakish.

Take James for example. At age 24 he runs his own label (Border Community), has co-produced a track with Sasha (Bloodlock), is both a respected remixer and a producer and – perhaps most telling of all – he has upset the elders of the business with his new-fangled ways. Holden’s first tracks were produced via software legally downloaded off the Net and nothing more. Critically lauded tracks, tracks that were popular in the club circuit, with big name DJs, came to be by way of a mouse and a monitor. Ironically, though not surprisingly, this sent a ripple of old-timer disproval through part of the industry, who rejected this new approach to music making. They after all, had done it the old-fashioned way: with a sampler, a synth, or a 303.

While the “fucking English journalists” continue to bury progressive house, James sees the present as an exciting time, a time of renewal. New music is coming through – a lot of it from people younger than himself, if you can believe it. He’s excited about music, more than he has been in a long time. “It’s brilliant to see people who are nineteen, twenty, twenty-one coming up with stuff that’s much better than anything I could do,” he says, referring specifically to artists that are signed to Border Community. “Each person has their own take and moves it forward and I think the music in ten years’ time will be completely different. There is some real innovation happening.”

His own innovation parallels in an almost unsettling way, those of another 24 year-old Sasha protégé called James (Zabiela). He admits to a running in-joke about the relationship between himself, Zabiela and Sasha, which is of course purely professional but begs for frequent “up the bum” jibes. The question remains though: did the two of them earn their stripes, did they do the hard yards and get through on their own merits, or were they ‘chosen’?

It isn’t hard to imagine that an industry of aging superstars fearful of change, or just of becoming obsolete, would deliberately try to suppress emerging talent if it threatened their positions at the top. Luckily for the two Jameses, they had one of the bigger wigs on their side. With the tutelage and support of Sasha, both have now achieved global success and evidently have the drive and natural ability to defend their positions themselves. While Sasha’s attention has no doubt seemed like manna from heaven, this perhaps was not a completely selfless move for their mentor, who, in the ebb of his career, has now successfully aligned himself with what he sees as dance music’s future. Given Sasha’s understanding of the dance scene, he’s likely to be right. “It’s bit like we’ve been allowed to come up the ranks,” says James, although how tongue-in-cheek he’s being isn’t clear. “A few young people come up and they keep the rest down because they let a token few through.”

While it would be good for those English journalists if there really was some secret elders’ club intent on foiling all but a select few boys called James from dance music success, it’s more likely that the lad is just being self-effacing. If it had occurred to him that he might just be talented, and that it was this talent (and the regulatory luck) that got him into Sasha’s good books, he doesn’t make it obvious. And that’s another thing about the new wave – they’re almost painfully modest.

James Holden

Far from the showmanship of the Oakenfolds, Judge Juleses, Seamans, Coxes, Norman Cooks and so forth, James and his ilk aren’t performers. They’re computer nerds, they’re music lovers, they’re record collectors, they’re amazingly driven wunderkinder even, but they aren’t superstars. “I think the times of the superstar – the number one DJ in the world – is over,” says James, dashing the thought that he could ever enter this super domain. It’s reassuring, but not exactly predictive gospel. James is wrong to think he was merely “allowed” to move up the ranks. Part of this new breed of über-achievers, the gift you glimpse in Balance suggests greater things will come from James, with or without Sasha’s help. And as for super DJ status, hell, give this new bunch a few years of sycophantic praise, free business-class flights around the world and big pay-checks and their egos may yet catch up.

And so what if it does? The backlash against all the things we were once so enamoured with – the music, the people, the hype itself – is just so human. Did we hate progressive when we proudly called it progressive? Did we despise the superstars when we bought out all their tour dates? Did we have consistently shit times at those progressive house events?

While the dance industry may be in a state of change, and it seems that perhaps the hype surrounding the scene a few years back was too much for it to ultimately sustain, let’s not ruin the embracing of the new with the slagging off of the old. Modest young innovators like Holden will continue to help the scene develop, as will the swaggering, cocksure celebrity types and the relentlessly trundling press machine, however dollar-driven. At the end of the day, it’s the entertainment industry, and it takes all types to survive.