IDM Mailing Archive

1994-11-24 08:34Pete AshdownAnd so it goes... Nearly four years after I was ignited on fire by four chaps I'd never he

From:: Pete Ashdown <pashdown@xmission.com>
To:: <idm@hyperreal.com>
Date:: Thu, 24 Nov 1994 01:34:41 -0700
Subject:: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.

And so it goes... Nearly four years after I was ignited on fire by four chaps I'd never heard of, I went to see them again in eager anticipation. Granted, I did put "Karmadrome" and "Looks or the Lifestyle" up for sale after I listened to them once, but I had no idea just how drastic the decline had become. Tonight it was apparent that PWEI is no longer "The Incredible," lets toss aside the metaphors and get down to brass tacks. They suck. Apparently it was decided that live drummer was necessary and that the band required many more guitars. Indeed, every member picked on up at one time, and like Bono and Mick Jagger, they looked and sounded just right in their arms. WHY? WHY? Why was the utterly brilliant opus, "Cure for Sanity" completely ignored? We were tossed scraps like "Def Con One" and "Wise Up Sucker!", but even these were remixed by Anthrax for that tasty guitar sound. HELL, we've got enough bands who thrash guitars and scream at the top of their lungs. PWEI used to be godlike on the sampler. Sample it, loop it, eat it, fuck it. Well, no more. Now it is just eat it, eat it, eat it, and sound like every other bar band on the block. Oh god how I yearn for something NEW. Something like Art of Noise, Orb, Aphex, and yes, PWEI hitting my ears for the first time. Ethnotechno has become its own parody and we're wading in "intelligent" techno, so it becomes difficult to discern just what it is to be "out of the ordinary" anymore. On the bright side, "Dink" did a tasty job of playing PWEI better than PWEI tonight. Even more incredible, they're from Ohio.

1994-11-24 13:29john..On Thu, 24 Nov 1994, Pete Ashdown wrote: > > HELL, we've got enough bands who thrash guita

From:: john.. <jat@ohm.york.ac.uk>
To:: <idm@hyperreal.com>
Date:: Thu, 24 Nov 1994 13:29:00 +0000 (GMT)
Subject:: Re: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.
Reply to:: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.

On Thu, 24 Nov 1994, Pete Ashdown wrote:

quoted 5 lines HELL, we've got enough bands who thrash guitars and scream at the top of

> > HELL, we've got enough bands who thrash guitars and scream at the top of > their lungs. PWEI used to be godlike on the sampler. Sample it, loop it, > eat it, fuck it. Well, no more. Now it is just eat it, eat it, eat it, > and sound like every other bar band on the block.

But that's what PWEI used to sound like - they just jumped on the techno bandwagon as an escape from indie-dom. Sounds like they just jumped off again. Some people would call this a 're-discovering of roots', others 'a return to form'... john.. -- jat5@unix.york.ac.uk jat@ohm.york.ac.uk http://www.york.ac.uk/~jat5/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- | Flex music, York, UK. || (0904) 610745 || ContinuousEvolution | ----------------------------------------------------------------- * check out 'visions' on resource records, available early 1995 *

1994-11-25 20:19Dave ManningOn Thu, 24 Nov 1994, Pete Ashdown wrote: > Oh god how I yearn for something NEW. Something

From:: Dave Manning <dmanning@cwis.unomaha.edu>
To:: Pete Ashdown <pashdown@xmission.com>
Cc:: <idm@hyperreal.com>
Date:: Fri, 25 Nov 1994 14:19:38 -0600 (CST)
Subject:: Re: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.
Reply to:: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.

On Thu, 24 Nov 1994, Pete Ashdown wrote:

quoted 5 lines Oh god how I yearn for something NEW. Something like Art of Noise, Orb,

> Oh god how I yearn for something NEW. Something like Art of Noise, Orb, > Aphex, and yes, PWEI hitting my ears for the first time. Ethnotechno has > become its own parody and we're wading in "intelligent" techno, so it > becomes difficult to discern just what it is to be "out of the ordinary" > anymore.

It's amazing, then, that PWEI was able to produce "There Is No Love Between Us Anymore" (or whatever Lazlo says is the appropriate title; I defer) _at all_; it's seminal in ways, perhaps in the way Pete is describing. Dave .------------------------------------------dave.manning@dreamland.unomaha.edu | "It's in my brain now..." dmanning@cwis.unomaha.edu | dmanning@eworld.com .-------------------------------------------- dgmanning@aol.com

1994-11-25 22:44Greg Earle> Oh God, how I yearn for something NEW. Something like Art of Noise, Orb, > Aphex, and ye

From:: Greg Earle <earle@isolar.Tujunga.CA.US>
To:: <pashdown@xmission.com>
Cc:: <idm@hyperreal.com>
Date:: Fri, 25 Nov 1994 14:44:02 -0800
Subject:: Hunger for something new (Was: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.)
Reply to:: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.

quoted 4 lines Oh God, how I yearn for something NEW. Something like Art of Noise, Orb,

> Oh God, how I yearn for something NEW. Something like Art of Noise, Orb, > Aphex, and yes, PWEI hitting my ears for the first time. Ethno-Techno has > become its own parody and we're wading in "intelligent" Techno, so it becomes > difficult to discern just what it is to be "out of the ordinary" anymore.

Want something new? Get ahold of Dana Watanabe and ask him for Jonah Sharp's phone number, then call him up and fly him out to Salt Lake and let him spin. I hope Dana won't mind me quoting him here (Jonah spun here in Irvine last night): ------- Begin Included Message Jonah Sharp is pretty darn incredible ... The Ambient Thanksgiving party got thrown for a loop when enough people showed up to have a line that was overly long (this was also due to overly careful searching for weapons). So Jonah didn't play much ambient stuff ... But he played a lot of stuff that was really weird mental music ... he played a bunch of stuff that I would have NO idea how to classify, and it was a lot of stuff that would be in different categories if I did ... so I didn't only hear a lot of new music, I heard a lot of new styles of music ... And he finished off with ... I think Floatilla and Tranquilizer ... and well, the place was near empty by then and the walls and roof were literally shaking from the bass. I had never really heard either of those songs before. ------- End of Included Message To which I can only add a hearty "Amen". Jonah played a LOT of different styles of stuff, from Terre Thaemlitz to this really mental stuff that sounded like Trance Jungle Dub (oh, hell, it had Trance-style long keyboard lines layered over this really mental sorta Jungle-cum-Breakbeat drumming that sounded like it was recorded by a live drummer and sped up, and then there was some Raggamuffin vocal snippets thrown in occasionally with the random deep Dub bass note tossed in for good measure). I realize I don't get out much - once a week or so - but *I* heard a lot of stuff/styles that were new to my ears ... - Greg

1994-11-26 15:02David K. Collins> bunch of stuff that I would have NO idea how to classify, and it was a lot of > stuff th

From:: David K. Collins <umcoll13@cc.UManitoba.CA>
To:: Greg Earle <earle@isolar.Tujunga.CA.US>
Cc:: <pashdown@xmission.com>, <idm@hyperreal.com>
Date:: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 09:02:36 -0600 (CST)
Subject:: Re: Hunger for something new (Was: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.)
Reply to:: Hunger for something new (Was: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.)

quoted 16 lines bunch of stuff that I would have NO idea how to classify, and it was a lot of

> bunch of stuff that I would have NO idea how to classify, and it was a lot of > stuff that would be in different categories if I did ... so I didn't only hear > a lot of new music, I heard a lot of new styles of music ... > > And he finished off with ... I think Floatilla and Tranquilizer ... and well, > the place was near empty by then and the walls and roof were literally shaking > from the bass. I had never really heard either of those songs before. > > To which I can only add a hearty "Amen". Jonah played a LOT of different > styles of stuff, from Terre Thaemlitz to this really mental stuff that sounded > like Trance Jungle Dub (oh, hell, it had Trance-style long keyboard lines > layered over this really mental sorta Jungle-cum-Breakbeat drumming that > sounded like it was recorded by a live drummer and sped up, and then there was > some Raggamuffin vocal snippets thrown in occasionally with the random deep Dub > bass note tossed in for good measure). >

Dammit, Greg, now I'm ultra excited to hear some of this stuff, but I don't even know where to start to find this stuff. I live in nowhere's-ville Winnipeg, Manitoba and have to special order most of my music, and cuz of (lack of) funds, have to be selective... So if anyone has any suggestions that sound like they may fit with Greg's posting, whether 12"s or compilations, please enlighten some of us dimmer ones 8-) on the list. What is described above sounds like dance music that is both intelligent and innovative. thanks everyone chris clarke (yes, that one)

1994-11-26 21:21Greg Earle>> [Dana Watanabe:] >> bunch of stuff that I would have NO idea how to classify, and it wa

From:: Greg Earle <earle@isolar.Tujunga.CA.US>
To:: <umcoll13@cc.umanitoba.ca>
Cc:: <idm@hyperreal.com>
Date:: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 13:21:45 -0800
Subject:: Re: Hunger for something new (Was: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.)
Reply to:: Re: Hunger for something new (Was: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.)

quoted 28 lines [Dana Watanabe:]

>> [Dana Watanabe:] >> bunch of stuff that I would have NO idea how to classify, and it was a lot of >> stuff that would be in different categories if I did ... so I didn't only >> hear a lot of new music, I heard a lot of new styles of music ... >> >> And he finished off with ... I think Floatilla and Tranquilizer ... and well, >> the place was near empty by then and the walls and roof were literally >> shaking from the bass. I had never really heard either of those songs >> before. >> >> ------- End of Included Message >> >> [Me:] >> To which I can only add a hearty "Amen". Jonah played a LOT of different >> styles of stuff, from Terre Thaemlitz to this really mental stuff that >> sounded like Trance Jungle Dub (oh, hell, it had Trance-style long keyboard >> lines layered over this really mental sorta Jungle-cum-Breakbeat drumming >> that sounded like it was recorded by a live drummer and sped up, and then >> there was some Raggamuffin vocal snippets thrown in occasionally with the >> random deep Dub bass note tossed in for good measure). > > Dammit, Greg, now I'm ultra excited to hear some of this stuff, but I don't > even know where to start to find this stuff. I live in nowhere's-ville > Winnipeg, Manitoba and have to special order most of my music, and cuz of > (lack of) funds, have to be selective ... So if anyone has any suggestions > that sound like they may fit with Greg's posting, whether 12"'s or comps, > please enlighten some of us dimmer ones 8-) on the list. What is described > above sounds like dance music that is both intelligent and innovative.

Well, Dana mentioned "Floatilla" and "Tranquilizer" ... the former is on Jonah's album (Space Time Continuum's "Sea Biscuit", which everyone should own) and the latter is from (IDM's very own) Terre Thaemlitz, so there's a start. Both of these should be available even in deepest darkest Manitoba, since they are on Astralwerks and Instinct, respectively (although the Terre cut Jonah played was off of a non-Instinct 12", I think that track is on one of Terre's Instinct releases ... ) He also played something from Robert Leiner's "Visions of the Past" album on Apollo (probably the first time I've ever heard an Apollo record played in a club (-: ) and something else that was really cool, named "Section 47". (I don't know if that's the old Section 25 from England reformed and a little wider around the midsection or not (-: ). I didn't see the rest of the stuff he played, however. Maybe Dana will phone him up and ask him what all that Ambient-Trance-Jungle-Dub-mental stuff was that he played ... Sorry this isn't more help, but I suspect if you found all these records that Jonah has, you'd go to the poorhouse given the price of 12"ers these days ... - Greg

Hunger for something new (Was: P.W.E.I. is D.E.A.D.)