One of the "I LOVE you Autechre guys, man..." emails touched on how Autechre's
music was impenetrable. Which reminded me of something I was wondering about:
Has there been any articles/books written or discussions of some of the IDM
art/presentation, from the perspective of design? Also, what are your
opinions? In particular, I'm interested in any analysis of Designers
Republic's work, and also of IDM song titles / artists' presentation of
themselves.
The reason the Autechre outpouring-of-love email reminded me of this was that
Autechre are one of many IDM acts who specialize in opaque, what-the-f**k
titles. (Eutow? Leterel? Second Bad Vilbel?) The mysterious, vaguely
mechanical sounding titles seem to add yet another dimension to the edgy,
angular, "hard" tone of their music and (non-)image. Seems like this is one
kind of "techno" aesthetic, which might cover some of the output by Aphex,
Seefeel/Disjecta, and some Warp AI folks (all somewhat touched by the hands of
DR). In one sense, the aesthetic looks like a growth/development from the work
that Peter Saville did for New Order - the record covers with no band name or
picture, just obscure images and designs. I remember there was an essay called
"How Cool is Cold?" sometime in the eighties, discussing how these "cold",
opaque designs were becoming hip and important. I'm wondering if there is a
90's version of such an essay/writing, that takes a survey of what's going on
now in IDM-land. Is the recent book collecting techno record covers such a
thing?
Obviously, the mysterious/mechanical 'look' or design isn't the only kind you
see in IDM releases. I loved the cover/titles for Locust's last album, because
they were so out of whack with the Warp-ish look/naming. But the opaque image
is used by a lot of artists. One reason I can suggest is that the music itself
doesn't conjure up specific images, or the artists don't want to write about
specific themes and express them in particular terms. Autechre probably won't
ever write a song with sweet melodies and call it "Kissing You (Is the Best
Thing)" and put an image of Cupid hovering on the cover. Like one of them
Hartnolls said, "Our music relates to the listener's experiences, not the
other way around". (Paraphrased.)
I'm not an art or design major, so please shout out if I'm talking out of the
wrong orifice here. I'm just interested in design/image in music I love.
Please, no "music is music, image don't matter" flames. We're on the wrong
wavelength already if that's what you believe. I think image (song titles,
sleeve covers, etc.) does influence you.
On now: Autechre: Can't Stop Loving You Every Minute. (Officially called
Garbage Bronchusevenmx24.) ;)
James Jung-Hoon Seo // Oracle New Media
(415) 506-3829 // jseo@us.oracle.com
Excuse me, do you like pineapple? // Chungking Express