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From:
Noah Sasso
To:
Date:
Wed, 14 Apr 1999 16:15:29 -0400
Subject:
(idm) Re: idm-digest V2 #616
Msg-Id:
<00b701be86b3$8af2f9c0$a05be88c@RoyG.Biv.clarku.edu>
Mbox:
idm.9904.gz
quoted 5 lines The whole idea of experimentation points back to how scientists work -->The whole idea of experimentation points back to how scientists work -- >you find one good thing by eliminating a whole shitload of really bad >things. That means some of the trial balloons you float will turn >out to be lead, but you can't be sure which ones. You have to depend >on the merciful amnesia of history to blot out your mistakes.
i think the music that is in question here was noisey "avant garde" music, which is not really experimental anymore, considering the number of artists working in that genre now. hardly anything discused on this list is experimental per se; it would have been at one time, but there's plenty of autechre, aphex, black dog sound-a-likes around now. there is experimentING, but i wouldn't say that much of this music is experimentAL. not that i consider that a bad thing at all.. music doesn't have to be completely new and unique to be enjoyable.
quoted 5 lines To say that experimental music is 'easy' is like that skit in Monty>To say that experimental music is 'easy' is like that skit in Monty >Python where they show you how you play the flute -- you blow across >that bit there and move your fingers over those other bits down there. >It looks easy when your comprehension of what's involved is >shallow.
experimental music is not easy, of course.. making music that is different than anything else you have ever heard before is probably one of the more difficult things that anyone can do. but making music by distorting and looping garbage noise, or applying endless effects to create soundscapes, is not experimenting anymore. it's working within a genre.. and, as a genre, i'd have to agree that it is probably easier to get acceptable results than something that relies more on classic music theory.. music with harmony and melody and structure i mean. call me a stickler for tradition, feh. noah