quoted 2 lines this "electronica" has been going on for quite some time. the media just>this "electronica" has been going on for quite some time. the media just
>recently discovered this.
We need to collectively get used to the fact that electronica is fast
becoming part of the mainstream music vocabulary. I have no doubt that we
are going to see a lot of artists drawing from the genre, and with varying
degrees of success. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but growing pains
are (uh) painful.
As we all argued at length a while ago, it's only reasonable to expect that
a genre can retain it's "underground" status for so long. Sooner or later,
entropy takes its irresistable effect, and it works both ways. Depeche
Mode uses guitars now. Smashing Pumpkins and Underworld went electronic.
Locust and Seefeel do pop songs. Granted, much of this genre-hopping in
the name of "evolution" is really pointless and sloppy, but it doesn't
_have_ to be. (New Order, Underworld, Scala, and Golden Palominos all get
thumbs-up from me.)
As I understand it, the IDM list is a forum to discuss
challenging/inventive electronic music, and is especially welcome since the
genre is not well-covered in the media. I've noticed that IDM posts tend
to fall into one of two categories: (1) trivial information about artists
and releases, and (2) broad discussion and philosophising about the genre,
its roots and future (which is often not IDM itself), etc. Both of these
seem very much in keeping with the spirit of the list, yet the former type
gets critiqued as trainspotter geek talk and the latter raises signal/noise
complaints. I assert that the list would be incomplete without both of
these elements, but recommend that people be a little more selective in
their posts/responses _to_the_list_. Watch those Cc:'s.
As far as this-listiness, I think the mainstream absorption of this-listy
music is definitively within the bounds of discussion. E.g., since
jungle/d'n'b is frequently discussed here, Bowie's noodling with it is as
well, but since disco/house is definitively not this-listy, ergo neither is
the new album by a band that shall remain nameless but that rhymes with
"new schmoo". That seems simple enough, but does not discount the fact
that IDM exists in a continuum, and a definition will/should never be
clear-cut. While "all opinions should be respected" is a fine principle,
we must attend to the spirit of the law and not the letter. Flamewars can
be interesting, but if everyone's going to get into a snit every time the
industry spits out some new eletronica derivative it's going to get mighty
tedious around here.
quoted 2 lines anyone remember altern-8? the shamen? eskimo's in egypt? baby>anyone remember altern-8? the shamen? eskimo's in egypt? baby
>ford? eon? those were the days.
There's a serious sentiment going on here in that energy and "balls" have
mostly been sacrificed, again in the name of "evolution". Prodigy may be
both annoying and not-this-listy, but they're not where they are for no
good reason.
quoted 4 lines I think they've gotten sick of having their hopes up over those "FA$T>I think they've gotten sick of having their hopes up over those "FA$T
>CA$H" messages on usenet and they decided to make some easy money the way
>everyone else does -- at the expense of the thoughtlessly consuming,
>MTV-watching public.
I'd blame the industry, not the public. PR is the engine: It gets the
records in the stores, and it gets people in the stores and checking shit
out, which is keen if you want to sell records. There's little doubt in my
mind that it runs the show, and (regrettably) not talent or grassroots
popularity. Ewe Too is marketable, techno is marketable: a PR dream come
true. If people like it and buy it, though, there's not a damn thing we
can or should do about it. Now, I got into Cocteau Twins and 808 State
because of MTV and never regretted that for a minute. Most people I play
electronica for think it's great, but I can't blame them for not having
gone and blown $25 on some IDM disc they didn't know from Merzbow.
Personally, I think IDM artists should bypass the industry entirely and
network over the Internet.
quoted 1 line i think our motto should be "it ain't where you're from, it's where yo>i think our motto should be "it ain't where you're from, it's where you're at."
Jon rules.
--Seofon