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From:
H James Harkins
To:
idm
Date:
Wed, 20 Aug 1997 11:18:41 -0400 (EDT)
Subject:
Re: (idm) Propellerhead...or the Cool-io Synth
Msg-Id:
<Pine.SOL.3.91.970820110209.4230B-100000@wduke2.acpub.duke.edu>
In-Reply-To:
<33F9EC8D.24AE5A8C@virgin.net>
Mbox:
idm.9708.gz
quoted 9 lines From: Tim Gill <lovecrft@fishnet.net>> From: Tim Gill <lovecrft@fishnet.net> > > Actually, a few weeks ago, my frind got ahold of the demo for this. We sat > down in one night and recorded about 60 minutes worth of music. It was so > damn easy...I mean...here I was, Analogue Bubblebath 1.... even with a 30 > minute limit. > > Sort of calls into question the validity of music produced on that > thing.
The assumption here is that the validity of music depends largely on the effort spent in producing it. We could look at it another way: starting with the question "What is this music intended to do to [for?] its listeners?" If the intent--the purpose of the music--is to manipulate the hearers' energy level so as to whip the floor into a frenzy, I think few would disagree that the musical procedures typical of straight-ahead techno are tremendously efficient (in the sense of requiring a minimal effort for a large impact)... and while it's true that the style comes from the machines to some extent, it's also true that the machines (especially all-in-one boxes like the MC303) are very well adapted for the style. This has nothing to do with interesting art, of course, but it isn't completely without merit, and it does have its own validity in the right setting. Or, who decided that "interesting art" is the only valid purpose for music? ... I write, even though I'd much rather hear interesting music than boring, functional, dancefloor music... J ________ \ / | Bee women: "What kind of corn soldiers are you?" H. James Harkins | Arthur: "Umm, oh, er, we're, uh, we're colonels." jharkins@acpub.duke.edu | \/ | - from "The Tick," now on Comedy Central, 6PM M-F "If we keep our attention focused on the present, we can be sure of one thing, namely that whatever we are attending to in this moment will change..." -- Jon Kabat-Zinn