What's the new saviour of music? Playing it live and loud.

The news has it that rock is definitely back in the black. According to the Guardian, rock concerts over summer in Britain have been hitting the roof in terms of attendance, and everyone who once proclaimed rock as dead has been forced to eat humble meat pie.

I'm quite glad, but for the fact that no matter how much their newest record sounds like the last, every young spotty teenager deserves to come of age at an Oasis concert.

People may rightfully point out that the summer lineup is heavy with hip hop acts as well, but the truth is that rap rarely works as well live, simply due to the need for MCs to shout rather than speak when they're on stage. With festivals like Reading and Glastonbury in particular, the ones who get the turnstyles pumping are usually the guitar bands – rock is a dish best serves to thousands.

Where does the recent reprise of the live guitar sound fit in? In many ways, rock only "went away" because the dance revolution dwarfed it briefly. No matter how many producers from the dance scene there were crossing over at the time, there really isn't a time in recent history that British rock hasn't been vital and banging forth. The real movement, the lack of cutting edge dance music for the masses, only highlights the fact that rock is, well, dead good.

Thanks ironically in part to dance artists. The biggest dance smash of the past 12 months was that Deep Dish slab of niceness, FlashDance, which boasted one of the juiciest rock riffs this side of Norway. Deep Dish goes on and pays homage to rock on its latest album, with a fantastic mash-up of Flashdance with Money for Nothing by Dire Straits. You can bet the Dire boys were not unhappy about that one. And neither the White Stripes nor Coldplay are strangers to using a dance-friedly beat on their tracks – making their songs infinitely remixable.

And two of the most enduring dance acts, the Chemical Brothers and UNKLE, were always pulling up guitar heroes including the likes of Noel Gallagher and The Verve's Richard Ashcroft to appear on tracks. To these people, the recent talk of a "merging of sounds" or "death of dance" is not only old news, it's irrelevant. 'We was always on the same bus and still are' they may well say. Speaking well is seldom their strongest point.

The truth is, putting rock back on stage may well expose many of the more sheister-ish DJs out there, the ones who it appeared had a monopoly on style so big they didn't need to smile, let alone add any innovations to their stage act. Sasha, shake with fear, I hope you do.

And to all the kids? Rock on. As you know you must.

Step up and watch corporate beat-making in action

Heineken impressed last night at Zouk Nightclub with the Thirst Singapore Finals, a night that saw some impressive new local talent emerge, and was capped off by slick sets by two veterans of the repetitive beat.

DJ Koflow was the early star of a night which eventually saw Zouk packed to the rafters. Replete with a posse of five, the young hip hop star of Singapore was able to produce a set that boasted deep, layered hip hop mixing, and some new tricks of turn-tableism usually reserved for international competitions. Highlighted by a 16-year old baby-faced beat-boxer with the vocal tricks of a seasoned assasin, Koflow's set destroyed the meagre reply of rival DJ Funk and team, and left a star-studded judging panel led by Zouk's head of music Aldrin with an easy decision. Koflow and team will wave Singapore's flag at the regional finals in Kuala Lumpur.

A night which started promisingly was stepped up a gear next, with the arrival of Steve Lawler, hailed as one of the world's top three DJs. His set of grinding bass lines warmed up the now heaving crowd, as hundreds of punters shuffled throughout the club, eager to claim what little space was left.

Heinekin's investment in the evening was on display, with impressive light and sound talent on hand, plus an array of CD giveaways, foxy photo-takers and drink specials. The beer's close association with dance music has been well developed and maintained during the last three years, and Singapore has benefitted from some impressive events as a result.

Crowd-pleaser Roger Sanchez was on next, and those who found Lawler somewhat repetitive were gratified by the arrival of two impressively soulful singers in front of the DJ console, and a rich and funky set which had the capacity crowd rocking out in unison.

When it's done well, dance music events remain on top for multi-media fun and games. Thirst Singapore raised the roof on a house that's clearly in good spirits.

A strange but potentially effective mix of artists for this year's Zoukout. Two titans from Germany and two from the US, some guaranteed cheesy trance on the beach, but enough tasty hip hop and loved-up house to please. Will be interesting to see what else comes up closer to the day though.... it's not a risk-taking line-up. Although Jazzy Jeff on the beach... that's gotta work!

Buzz (Straits Times)

Zoukout 4: One night at Tanjong Beach in Sentosa on Dec 4

Nine international DJs will appear: five so far revealed. Will run for 12 hours:

Paul van Dyk German trance.

Timo Maas German Hard House.

DJ Jazzy Jeff US Hip Hop (as in ...and The Fresh Prince)

Miguel Migs US Deep House, founder of Naked Music.

ALSO ADDED:
Joe Claussell US Soulful House, Resident DJ at NY club, Body and Soul.

Five down. My beach-side wish-list for the other four:

- Groove Armada (UK)

- Ian Pooley (Germany)

- Felix da Housecat (US)

- Norman Jay (UK)