IDM Mailing Archive

<Stockwell steppas was not a proper album. It is listed as a single and I think most of the tracks were from a radio show. > I saw it listed as a single on some Web discography but figured that was a mistake - it has 9 tracks and is 67 minutes long. No indication in the credits on the CD of when or how it was recorded - if it were essentially live and improvised, I might rate it a notch higher, which is no doubt fodder for an extended disputatum. <The new release is very good. I am not sure if I would classify it as house or techno.> No, but nor, as someone mentioned, is that entirely right for Pole - and I'd hardly call "Music is Rotted One Note" drum & bass - bickering about categories is admittedly wearying and never-ending. As for "label of the year" or "artist of the year" for that matter - I can see why these are separate categories but when an entry in either fails to be responsible for *any* of the best records of the year, you start to wonder what they're famous for, other than being famous. Also although I said I was "I was pleased to have heard most of the top items by the end of the year", I agree with Rob Lim that I would have liked the poll results to serve for me more as push in the direction of stuff I didn't already know about. I am among the (easily half the list) group of non-voters for whom, I suspect, the process of playing catchup precludes confident voting - Plug Research was my label of the year, in part because I got most of their '97 releases in '98 (speaking of which, Shadow Huntaz is the first thing of theirs I haven't much liked).

quoted 3 lines Low Res - Anuck (Sublime)

>Low Res - Anuck (Sublime) >Picked it up on white label... probably rather old, but has a few >tasty remixes by Juan Atkins.>

Does this overlap with "Amuk" Metroplex (M027) w/ 4 (excellent!) tracks, dated 1996? - couldn't be more different from "Approximate Love Boat".

quoted 1 line Allen "Mannequin Lung" Avanessian

>> Allen "Mannequin Lung" Avanessian

quoted 1 line Interesting name : does anybody know his background?>

>Interesting name : does anybody know his background?>

That surname is almost certainly Armenian. Bob

Bob Bannister wrote:

quoted 11 lines <Stockwell steppas was not a proper album. It is listed as a single and I

> > <Stockwell steppas was not a proper album. It is listed as a single and I > think most of the tracks were from a radio show. > > > I saw it listed as a single on some Web discography but figured > that was a > mistake - it has 9 tracks and is 67 minutes long. No indication in the > credits on the CD of when or how it was recorded - if it were essentially > live and improvised, I might rate it a notch higher, which is no doubt > fodder for an extended disputatum. >

yes its supposed to be a single. this is fairly common w/ weatherall, "sabres vs", "swimming not skimming", "bag of blue sparks" also are all lengthy multi-tracked efforts classed as singles/eps, a couple ("sabres vs", "swimming not skimming") are remixes. i think the "bag of blue sparks" ep actually clocks in at longer than the companion "stay down" full length cd? it appears that if its an experiment or remix, more an ephemeral throwaway designed for the moment then they call it a 'single'. having said that "swimming not skimming" is wonderful.

quoted 13 lines <The new release

> <The new release > is very good. I am not sure if I would classify it as house or techno.> > > No, but nor, as someone mentioned, is that entirely right for Pole - and > I'd hardly call "Music is Rotted One Note" drum & bass - bickering about > categories is admittedly wearying and never-ending. > > As for "label of the year" or "artist of the year" for that > matter - I can > see why these are separate categories but when an entry in either > fails to > be responsible for *any* of the best records of the year, you start to > wonder what they're famous for, other than being famous.

bickering about categories will exist as long as the categories themselves do. some thoughts on this: . at tops only a little over 10% of the list voted in the poll. . "rotted note" is not drum'n'bass and the vote was split between people who thought it was and people who categorized it as 'idm'. therefore giving it a lower share in 2 categories where it could have come out top in one (not that i'm saying it deserves to). . same goes for "consumed" - 'chill out' or 'house/techno'? you decide, but just make sure everyone else who votes for it decides the same way. and "music has the right ..." and so on... . the categories lead people to vote based on best of genre. which immediately means those most typical of the genre will tend to get higher placing. this is like dog breeders who produce pure bred idiots, when everybody knows that mongrels are smarter. . there are too many good comps for only 1 vote. . artist/label of the year may be the only place to get in vote for the wilfully unclassifiable (see v/vm). so the most useful categories are also the most meaningless, as this info could be compiled from votes for actual music releases. still it gives us something to talk about, eh? -martin

quoted 1 line . at tops only a little over 10% of the list voted in the poll.

>. at tops only a little over 10% of the list voted in the poll.

This has been true every year the poll has taken place. If anything, this year's 12.56% participation is better than usual.

quoted 4 lines . the categories lead people to vote based on best of genre. which

>. the categories lead people to vote based on best of genre. which >immediately means those most typical of the genre will tend to get higher >placing. this is like dog breeders who produce pure bred idiots, when >everybody knows that mongrels are smarter.

So... how is Pole's album typical of House or Techno? I'm all for getting rid of the genre categories, as I pointed out before the poll began. But most of the requests I've seen have been for more categories, rather than fewer.

quoted 1 line . there are too many good comps for only 1 vote.

>. there are too many good comps for only 1 vote.

Eligible comps named in first-round balloting: 24 Eligible chillout albums named: 36 Eligible drum & bass albums named: 26 Eligible house or techno albums named: 29 I think you (or someone else) made the same claim about all the great compilations that supposedly came out last year just after first-round voting started, but the results just don't bear that out. If anything, the Chillout category would be first in line for expansion, if I had any intention of expanding the first-round voting in a category (I don't). C. -- Chris.Hilker (cspot@hyperreal.org)

On Wed, 6 Jan 1999, Chris.Hilker wrote:

quoted 5 lines I think you (or someone else) made the same claim about all the great

> I think you (or someone else) made the same claim about all the great > compilations that supposedly came out last year just after first-round > voting started, but the results just don't bear that out. If anything, > the Chillout category would be first in line for expansion, if I had any > intention of expanding the first-round voting in a category (I don't).

well, that's cuz the chill-out heading is so broad. i mean, anything could be chill-out to anyone. i could chill-out to panacea, so... * #### a disturbance in a system. #### laerm. @voicenet.com ##:# Ich warte/am Rand der Welt/auf die neue Sonne Die mehr brennt, als da sie leuchtet icq: 5562209