IDM Mailing Archive

I quite liked the part about how "wierd sounds" are a sign of IDM. Enter at your own risk... joe. Editor: Guest Ed David M Are YOU Smart Enough? As the electronic subgenre known as Intelligent Dance Music becomes more and more popular, it also becomes more and more clear that the music’s name isn’t exactly perfect. First, it implies that other types of dance music are just not, well, intelligent . Second, is Aphex Twin even close to being dance music? And third, what exactly does it mean? This last can apply to any classification from Big Beat to (especially) Trance, but the question seems to become overwhelming when applied to IDM. Basically, it seems that IDM applies to music that: a) Uses Weird Sound. odd, noisy, alienating and obscure samples. Squelched beats, jagged synth lines, static washes, electrical shorts. b) Defies rhythmic convention. Most good IDM draws from harsh jungle or arrythmic ambient drift, and throws in plenty of curves: sudden starts, stops, and odd changes. It’s like electronic Free Jazz. c) Presents an Academic Image. All good IDM artists will either refuse to be photographed, use building blueprints as album art, call themselves Cerebral without irony, or claim to build all their own synthesizers. From scratch. d) Can’t be danced to. Unless you do the Robot. Some of the best IDM artists out there offer tracks on Audiogalaxy. Recent Russian arrivals Fizzarum, elder statesman Scanner, and superstar Amon Tobin, though prominent, are not alone. My personal favorite is Twine , and let’s not forget Kid 606, whos infamy is only outweighed by his talent. 606 labelmates DAT Politics are perhaps the most underrated IDM act around, with a sound that’s as hard to describe as it is to forget. DAT Politics There’s also plenty of quality IDM native to Audiogalaxy, created by a vertiable army of desk jockeys who pledge their alleigance to our digital flag. Roll call: Cerebral (I was shocked to find he’s not actually Asian), Profolyx, Elleniad, Precenphix, Nate Tarrant, The Stunted Mike, Disasemble, Halface, Cell, Notlad. They make good music, and they’ll probably be your friend if you can find them hanging around the boards. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org