Ozymandias rants:
[...]
quoted 10 lines Examples of REALLY good reviews that come readily to mind are> Examples of REALLY good reviews that come readily to mind are
> Pete Ashdown's XDZebra reviews (despite his initial inclusion of the
> next-to-useless "dance factor" and his inability to be rational when
> it comes to either Aphex or Orbital) and Dave Walker's many freeke
> reviewlets. On the other hand, Jon Drukman's reviews consistently make
> my tonsils ache because of the vague hyperbole and approbation he puts
> in his reviews (no offense, Jon, I do like many of them, it's just
> that I can't figure out what the rambling ringtailed hell you're
> getting at sometimes).
>
Almost all reviewers, after listening to tons of music, tend to lose
an objective focus no matter how hard they try. It's sort of like an
occupational hazard, precipitated largely by the sheer amount of
really crap music out there.
quoted 17 lines It also seems odd to me that despite techno's many obvious> It also seems odd to me that despite techno's many obvious
> parallels to punk (the do-it-yourself ethic, the millions of small
> labels predicated more on getting music out to people than selling
> lots of copies, the huge culture of zines, the support given to
> travelling DJs and techno artists), there is one obvious key element
> of punk that never gets much play in techno: that of the
> political. This seems strange because the production and use of techno
> have so many links to politics: the racial tension between techno's
> black originators and the overwhelming flood of whites that have come
> after them, the resounding lack of women involved with just about
> every level of techno's production (and the existence of Saskia
> Slegers, DJ Rap, Marusha, and Plavka does not mean there is not a
> lack), homophobia, the continuing tug-of-war between rave promoters
> and the police (and therefore the establishment), the association with
> rave culture and from there with drugs, and many other politically
> charged ideas. And even when these ideas do get discussed, they very
> rarely manifest themselves in the music.
I honestly hope most techno/IDM bands NEVER take on a political slant.
Very little in the music world irritates me more than a band whose
music I like becoming didactic assholes trying to put their political agenda
into their music. Or worse yet, echoing the bullshit political issues
o' the day in their music. That's what consolidated is for... a
place for meaningless collection of didactic babble so other bands can
concentrate on their music :-)
Later,
-H-