Guestblogger Kit writes: House music isn't repetitive. It only sounds repetitive because you don't like it.

That's probably because there isn't some overgrown gorilla in a leotard going 'ra-ra-ra-ra' or a human safety pin cushion screaming 'anarch-ee-ee' at you (while getting paid a wedge and going on 'I'm A Celebrity...' later on in life).

Take your favorite song – be it rock, punk, or blues. Now strip away the vocals. It, most likely, will have a steady 4/4 beat, a riff (be it piano, guitar, or what have you), and most likely a steady bass line, too.

House music isn't that much different, except, perhaps, the fact that it's mostly based upon the manipulation of electronic equipment – drum machines, keyboards, samplers, and as they got more advanced and cheaper, computers too.

But what is making music if it is not the manipulation of instruments? A guitar makes a sound when it is strummed, and a keyboard makes a sound when the keys are hit. A computer, which makes a sound when you press a key or a button, is just a valid instrument as a drum or a guitar. The key is in the method; it's not what you have, but how you use it.

In any case, there is a whole back catalogue of electronic dance musicians using 'proper' instruments in their music. Leading examples which spring to mind include quite a few tracks on the Chemical Brothers' 'Dig Your Own Hole' album, 'Finished Symphony' by Hybrid which incorporated a full orchestra as well as Ferry Corstien's remix of William Orbit's interpriation of 'Adagio for Strings'

'Saltwater' by Chicane features the vocals of Marie Brennan of Clannad and Tammy Wynette was in on it when she collaborated with The KLF on 'Mu Mu Land'.

It's not a very well known fact that electronic music as we know it today came not from West Germany (as was), nor the United States, not even from that bastion of strange electronic gadgets, Japan, but from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Many electronic music connoisseurs (I do guarantee that they are out there – sort of like post-modern Jazz fans, if you like) regard the first proper electronic track to be made by a young woman called Delia Derbyshire who, with an arrangement by Ron Grainer, created perhaps the most instantly recognisable television theme tune; Doctor Who.

It was the first time that the burgeoning, not to mention quite avant-garde scene of musicians with anything they could find which made a sound and cassette racks (usually ten or twenty recorders in a single rack – ask anyone who's worked in broadcasting) came to the fore and finally into the public consciousness. Naturally, like all musical forms which had a minority interest, it found a home on the BBC's Light Programme (now Radio 3).

However, house music as we know it today evolved from this electrical manipulation (albeit with much more advanced technology) and everyone's favorite excuse to wear white suits, golden hot pants, platforms and Afro wigs; disco.

I'm sure a lot of Dave's Part readers are well acquainted with disco, some even curling into a pit of shame and embarrassment as they remember when they used to strut like Travolta. So I'll save you further shame-tripping by skipping that part of the story.

What you might like to know is how we manage to get John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever into the same sphere as Delia. For this, we have to whisk ourselves away to Chicago, Illinois, and back into the 1980s.

While DP readers spent the better part of the eighties down picket lines and on demonstrations against the bomb or in support of abortion rights, there was a burgeoning musical revolution going down in a small nightclub called the Warehouse, and the DJ'ing of a rather strange man called Frankie Knuckles.

Knuckles started off as a DJ playing soul, disco and R&B. When the Warehouse opened in 1977, he was asked to play a regular slot there. Inspired, one assumes, by the emerging electronic music coming out of Europe (which also served to inspire Afrika Bambaata and give birth to modern hip-hop), he started to mix together soul and disco tracks with the likes of Kraftwerk, and modern house as we know it today was born, taking it's name from the club where Knuckles pioneered the sound.

Mixing different forms of music together isn't unique to house. It was to serve the basis of many different sub-genres of electronic dance music. The big beat sound, pioneered by the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, merged 303 broken beats, acid house, early electronica (again), hip-hop samples 'Micheal Jackson' and 'You're Not From Brighton' by Fatboy Slim are good examples of the big beat sound.

Drum & Bass incorporates many elements of Jazz as well as harking back to its roots in the acid house scene. 'Logical Progressions' by LTJ Bukem and 'Horny Mutant Jazz' by T-Power show the influences quite clearly.

It really, really irritates me when people say that electronic dance music is souless, cold music. Some of it is, but some of it, to me anyway, can inspire a whole plethora of emotions.

When I listen to the opening strains of 'Drop The Pressure' by Mylo, I feel euphoria and joy, just as much from the string arrangement to the harsh electronic beeps. 'Midnight In A Perfect World' by DJ Shadow reminds me of a cold, winter's evening, outside, walking down the banks of the Thames – which, despite having lived in London for over two years now, I've never done.

I feel a sense of loss and pain when I listen to 'Silence' by Delerium, with the harking vocals of Sarah McLoughlin having more of an impact, with lyrics like 'Passion choke the flower /Until she cries no more /Possessing all the beauty /Hungry still for more /Heaven holds a sense of wonder /And I wanted to /Believe that I'd get caught up /When the rage in me subsides'.

I think that it might be worth DP readers who are still skeptical to download the songs I've mentioned from iTunes Shop or wherever, and listen to online stations like Groove Radio, sky.fm and many others.

Of course, there is a lot more to house and dance music, much more that I can't mention here. I did write a much longer article outlining the history of dance music, and the rise of many sub-genres in their political settings, as well as the political nature of dance music in an essay called 'Revolution 303: The Radical Roots of House Music' but I seemed to have misplaced it. I'll track it down and upload it.

So in line with my new guest post policy, I asked him to contribute a piece on why established socialists should sign up with the SP. I particularly asked him to address criticisms of the SP’s Campaign for a New Workers’ Party, which doesn’t seem to have done a lot since its launch about a year ago. This is what he has to say:

Making the case for joining the Socialist Party to people new to activism is one thing; trying to do the same for leftists who’ve been around the block a few times is quite another.

One thing I definitely am not going to do is talk about were the number of councillors we have or how ever many comrades it is that sit on national union executives.

Whenever the figures assailed my ears it used to really grate and I occasionally used my then position as a Weekly Worker columnist to take the piss a bit. Nevertheless these figures show that for a tiny left group without any kind of national media profile, we’re not doing too badly.

Why then should I take up Dave’s Part readers’ time laying out the SP stall when you’ve probably heard it all before? So what if the SP is growing, it’s as bad as the rest of the sects, isn’t it?

That’s how I used to think. If you told me 18 months ago I’d be an active member writing internal documents, stuff for its press, and churning out a blog mostly about how great it is to be a member of the party, I’d think you were having a laugh.

But I changed my mind because I think the party is undergoing a process of change. Contrary to lurid descriptions in the Weekly Worker one does not find an internal regime geared around the person of Peter Taaffe and his central committee apostles. Neither is there a stifling unanimity of opinion.

One example is some comrades think the McDonnell campaign is useless, while others think something good could come of it. There are plenty of others.

Another point to consider, a sizeable chunk of recruits entering the party now tend to consider themselves socialists already, whether this identity was acquired through membership of another group or their own experience backed up by study.

Just as well really the party doesn’t require recruits to check their brains in at the door. They wouldn’t last five minutes if they did.

Then there is the question of orientation. In everything the party does it tries to make itself relevant to the class. Now you could say this is something all left groups try and do, it’s just that I think the SP is better at it than most.

Where it isn’t embedded in a campaign of some description you will find the party going out, ‘patiently explaining’ the case for socialism without adopting hysterical or wilfully obscure language.

Over the nine years I've had contact with the organisation, as a cynic, critic and now advocate, the ability to talk to the class has always impressed me as the party's strongest suit. This is not to be sniffed at, as suggested by our 6 councillors and 23 executive union positions (oops ...).

I’ll have to mention the Campaign for a New Workers’ Party otherwise it will be taken as another example of the SP ignoring its progeny. No one is pretending the CNWP has been a great success, or even a success full stop. It may come as a surprise to comrades, but criticisms circulating the discussion list and blogland left are echoed within the SP itself.

How we can develop the CNWP is on our party conference agenda in 10 days time, but the tacit recognition is the campaign is too big for the SP + rump Workers’ Power + Pete McLaren. Even if we liquidated our organisation and became the CNWP, the overall position wouldn’t be much better.

That is the truth of it comrades. Perhaps a way forward would be looking at ways of making it a worthwhile home for independent activists, others would involve changing the way the SP carries out its day to day work. Whatever happens, a long hard slog lies dead ahead.

This may seem a funny way to end a pitch, but the SP isn’t perfect. Nor am I going to call on everyone to leave their organisation and join us as I’m of the opinion we have responsibilities toward the comrades we organise with.

But if you are someone without a party home and looking for a way to get stuck back into activity with a serious working class organisation, you should definitely think about getting in touch.

Andrew Coates is the only man in Britain who regards the term ‘Pabloite’ as a badge of honour rather than the most unspeakable insult Trot can offer unto Trot. The Ipswich-based Francophile is dead clever and speaks French and everyfing. Even used to live the other side of The Channel. As France prepares to go to the polls on Sunday, Dave’s Part is proud to present this guest post on that country’s presidential hopefuls. I fully expect some readers will take issue with Coatesy’s conclusions. So the comments box is open.

Dave likes a punt, and don't we all. So to fill a gap in the leftist market, here is a brief Punter's Guide to the French Elections, covering the form of the best-placed candidates, the pitfalls of ultraleft jumps, and the spavinned nags most likely to be hauled off the knacker’s yard in the near future.

It is based on the unique Coatesy scientific method: ignoring all opinion polls that I disagree with, drawing on malicious rumours, personal vendettas and dislikes.

NICOLAS SARKOZY: Friend of Tony Blair and French expatriates working in the City of London. Admires British enterprise culture, and Thatcher. Proposes further to liberalise the economy, to restrict the right to strike, crack down on 'racaille' (the 'scum' of the banlieue) and back the US on his bended knees (Actually I just made that last bit up, but it fits.) Favourite.

SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL: Not Tony Blair's friend. Compared unfavourably with Thatcher and Hilary Clinton by Herald Tribune journo in Le Monde, who says she is crying female 'victim'. As the sexism of the average French politician would bring a blush to the cheeks of my mates down The Vaults, would say that Ségolène has stood up pretty well.

Also disliked by UOIF (Union of French Islamic Organisations) for her secularism. Yet another good sign. Has former Trotskyists and Socialist Party leftists close in her team.

Proposes mild social democratic political reform, though has some silly patriotic plans, plus sending young offenders to boot camp. Best of bad lot and worthy of the second round ‘vote ultile’.

FRANCOIS BAYROU: 'Tractor boy'. Gentleman Farmer (as they say in French). Emollient and forgettable, he is more of the same, a safe pair of hands and so on and so go forth. Supported by Michael Rocard, ex-Socialist PM, and Bernard Kouchner, ex-Minister - known as the 'American left'. Willing that he will not stay the course.

LE PEN: Old, very old.

THE DWARFS OF THE LEFT: ‘Les nains de jardin’, as the LCR’s Besancenot calls them, including himself. Only one of note: Olivier Besancenot of the Ligue communiste révolutionnaire.

Cheeky chappy, well-liked, does not matter what his programme is, since few will ever read it. Has annoying habit of bursting into Franglais which they say shows one is really 'tendance' (‘trendy'), but grates enormously on English speakers' ears. Poised to do best out the dwarfs.

Marie George Buffet is standing for the Parti communiste français. Sad, terminal election for the once-largest party in France. And I really mean sad since there is no strong left working class party emerging to take their place. Appointment at knacker's likely.

Jose Bove is an irritating throw-back to days when anti-globalisation was all the rage. Not a happy bunny.

THE REST: Not even also rans.

CONFIDENT PROGNOSTIC: One I can affirm with absolute confidence: I will not be glued to France-Inter on Sunday night with a case of Corbières next to me - not after the results, that is ...