quoted 3 lines Taking electronic music in the last decade as an example, look at what the
> Taking electronic music in the last decade as an example, look at what the
> Chemicals, the Orb, Prodigy, Moby, Orbital and fatboy slim have done to move
> our little scene into the mainstream.
Okay, I definitely agree that Moby, The Chemical Bros. and The Prodigy
(ESPECIALLY the Prodigy!) are Pop. But does the fact that the style of
music they make has similar roots as much so-called-IDM really mean that
it's moving IDM more toward a pop vein? I'm sure that some kids are
going to get more exposure to IDM as a result of the "electronica"
revolution in Pop, but I don't think Daft Punk will lead to a wider
audience for Thomas Brinkmann just because they are musically similar.
quoted 6 lines Each of these bands had moments of
> Each of these bands had moments of
> experimentalism that drew us closer to the mainstream (and vice versa), but
> I wouldn't call any of them IDM (well, maybe orbital in the early days...and
> the orb has huge crossover appeal). Now, look at the current generation of
> electronic musicians, crossing boundaries (playing with technology), making
> news(e.g. mp3.com), looking more and more like mainstream culture everyday.
The moments of experimentalism you speak of happened (for the most part,
anyway) before the specific artists "went pop." Perhaps some of them
could have been considered IDM at the time, but as soon as they shift
their focus from trying to push boundaries to trying to push charts and
singles, I think they lose a significant portion of the elitist IDM
audience solely because of that shift in focus.
I think the singular distinction between the music that is discussed on
the IDM list and the music discussed on the MTV bulletin boards is this
elitist strategy of intentionally NOT being Pop. Some artists can bridge
the gap (Radiohead and Aphex Twin come to mind), but for the most part
there is a dichotomy there.
Now, this can of course change ... think of the "Grunge" revolution in
1992, where an entire genre of "underground" music made a tectonic shift
into the realm of Pop, more through Pop's mass osmosis of the style than
from a conscious effort by the Grunge "scene". So if all of a sudden I
open up the next issue of Spin and see a big spread on "IDM Fashion" I
guess I'll stand corrected ;)
-josh
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String Theory : Digital Music for Humans
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