I second every single word. I would never slag off Oribital and I dont care
how they sound today.
Memories of watching the sun come up with the "Belfast" in the background
...
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Stevens <mark@headspin.clara.net>
To: <idm@hyperreal.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 1999 3:48 PM
Subject: Re: (idm) The Arbiters of Good Taste
quoted 82 lines Here's a reply to the message "(idm) The Arbiters of Good Taste"
> Here's a reply to the message "(idm) The Arbiters of Good Taste"
> written on Tue, 16 Nov 1999 10:16:20 -0600 (CST):
>
> >I think that's stupid. It rewards musicians for being
> >amateurish, inept, and obtuse. It punishes people for learning
> >the craft of recording. It punishes people for daring to try
> >and actually make a living with their music. And it perpetuates an
> >elitist subculture that's little more than an elaborate circle jerk.
>
> It's interesting you should mention Orbital, because there does seem
> to be a pretty wide gulf between their fans and their detractors on
> this list. Those that hate Orbital with a passion tend to be
> relatively younger listeners of so-called IDM, whose first contact
> with the group was probably on MTV (the bizarre rationale being that
> if an artist appears on MTV, they've somehow "sold out" and thus
> aren't worthy of further attention).
>
> I find this all quite amusing. Over here in the UK, during the
> late-80s, I found myself being attracted to what was generically known
> as "dance" music. Around 1987-88, as a 15-16 year-old kid, if you were
> into "dance" music, you were considered "a bit odd". If you were into
> pure pop, people left you alone. If you wanted to be "cool", you had
> to listen to "heavy metal" music such as Def Leppard and Bon Jovi. It
> seems laughable now, but that was the way it was.
>
> At the same time, UK clubs and discos didn't play speed garage, drum &
> bass or club music, because it didn't exist. These clubs and discos
> played either classic 70s disco or these new-fangled 12-inch remixes
> of pop music. House/acid/techno began to emerge in 1986, but no-one
> took it seriously -- and if you did, you were seen as a weirdo.
>
> Now look at how things have changed. The house scene has since evolved
> into today's current club scene, which everyone and their dog is
> involved in. Now you're seen as a weirdo if you're *not* into that
> sort of stuff.
>
> Where was I going with this? Ah yes, so back in the late 80s, I
> started hearing this incredible new music from the likes of Bomb the
> Bass, S'Express, 808 State, Orbital, Humanoid, Shades of Rhythm and
> LFO. I'd previously been listening to a bit of Jarre and founds the
> sort of sonic experimentation on early New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Art
> of Noise, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Propaganda albums to be good
> fun. Now it all seemed to be going a step further and I liked what I
> was hearing.
>
> Pretty much all these artists are still around today. Some have split
> up, but the various members are still actively recording decent music.
> But it makes me laugh when the younger IDM listeners wonder what all
> the fuss about Orbital and 808 State is about. If it weren't for them,
> the current IDM scene would be *very* different, perhaps hardly
> recognisable, so jumping on them for not daring to be as "progressive"
> as the current bunch of click-hiss-whirr artists is nonsense.
>
> >Fuck that. I'm not going to apologize for listening to music just
> >because it happens to be popular. It's popular for whole host of
> >reasons, and looking consciously at those reasons is for me
> >just as interesting as listening the latest click-thud-and-screech
> >classics.
>
> I had the good fortune to see Orbital (with Plaid in support) earlier
> this year. I've also seen Autechre live. Now, as much as I find
> Autechre's albums, eps and remixes to be incredible, cutting edge
> stuff, their live performance is about as interesting as watching
> paint dry -- and the audience usually consists of a dozen bearded
> students, stroking their chins as they analyse the fractal structures
> between sips of diet coke. On the other hand, whilst Orbital perhaps
> aren't as "progressive" or "experimental", their live shows are
> awesome. Seeing thousands of people jumping around, high on the music
> as it pulsates throughout the venue in tidal sine waves, projected
> images and icons flying everywhere, is a sight to see (and hear).
>
>
> --
> Mark Stevens
>
> http://www.headspin.clara.net/
>
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