IDM Mailing Archive

quoted 1 line I find that he substitutes the UK rave scene for EDM in general.

> I find that he substitutes the UK rave scene for EDM in general.

<snip>

quoted 2 lines Admittedly, Reynolds is writing from his own experience, but the

> Admittedly, Reynolds is writing from his own experience, but the > book is marketed as a history, not a memoir.

It only really claims to be a history of rave - I suspect that claims to be a history of dance music were stuck in by publishers who weren't really aware of what was going on. The only problem is that it claims to be a history of rave and then turns out to be a history of UK rave.

quoted 4 lines Also, he seems to be working on a kind of philological model where

> Also, he seems to be working on a kind of philological model where > there are a few "stemma" original styles from which everything > blossoms. I liked Chris' narrative because EDM/IDM is seen to be in > dialogue with other concurrent styles.

That is true. I mean, any attempt to talk about histories of music and influences is trying to draw a pattern that may or may not exist onto a mass of stuff, but SR's view that rave exists in a closed system, or one with only certain inputs (hip hop and dub yes, prog and industrial no) is pretty dodgy. And yeah, I agree with you about Chris' account of things. On the other hand, Reynolds' rejection of the view that IDM leads and dance music follows is, IMO, both right and useful opposition to a rather lazy and arrogant consensus. In particular, his observation that 'stupid' genres normally break more genuinely new ground than 'intelligent' or 'progressive' ones isn't something I'd seen before (although I haven't looked too hard.). I would then disagree with his conclusion that because IDM works by ripping off and combining bits of 'hardcore' dance styles it's neccessarily less creative and interesting - I'd have said that nicking the best bits from a whole bunch of styles and mashing them together produces something that's at least as interesting as the originals... David -- "And then what do they do?" "Er, quadratic equations mostly, sir. Fiendishly difficult ones by all accounts." This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an attachment may still contain software viruses, which could damage your computer system: you are advised to perform your own checks. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as permitted by UK legislation. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org