IDM Mailing Archive

Most of you make me feel all warm and fuzzy, and I appreciate <any> honest commentary. *Not* unsubscribing from this "piece of shit list 4eva." However, it is odd to read posts from people who dissect your "baby," so I can see how our ae chums got ruffled. I miss their posts about gamelans. I do feel a need to respond to these comments from Tom Millar: << I like parts of this record. The problem lies in the fact that these parts are all in different songs in different places.>> Right, well, I had to put them all in different places. If I put them all in the same song, then nobody would listen to the rest of the disc. It's like an Easter Egg hunt. << Song structure is always a problem for sampladelica, I guess.>> Why is this true? Do we sampladelicans not obey the verse/chorus/verse convention? I don't think this is what you mean, since this is the IDM list. Does "song structure" even exist for IDM? And I, for one, am OK with the traditional notions of song structure being re-examined. <<Of course it's intense mental effort to try and write this review in an honest fashion because a) dude gave everybody free copies b) I've been there.>> Where have you been? Where are you now? Not caustic...just curious...happy-go-lucky...occasional dark moments. - Fred Church bigkumquat@aol.com dude is still giving everybody free copies...see http://www.thelocus.com/kumquat for details and mp3's np: wobbly - anything (ovenguard)

quoted 1 line I can see how our ae chums got ruffled. I miss their posts about gamelans.

>I can see how our ae chums got ruffled. I miss their posts about gamelans.

Don't go there. :)

quoted 1 line If I put them all in the same song, then nobody would listen to the rest

>If I put them all in the same song, then nobody would listen to the rest

of >the disc. Yeah, but then you'd have one killer single. And one killer single with no other releases would seem very mysterious and make lotsa IDMers conjecture about who you really are (AFX?, not that you sound like him). Maybe you could release that on 12", then send some half-assed old tracks, get them presed and watch everyone buy them like PBO or something. Not that you're that kind of a guy. Not that i've ever heard PBO, but that's the opinions of at least the vocal part of the list. I'm rambling, will stop.

quoted 1 line << Song structure is always a problem for sampladelica, I guess.>>

><< Song structure is always a problem for sampladelica, I guess.>>

I agree with Fred here. What? Song structure has never been important to electronic musicians. Look at AFX's RDJ album and Come To Daddy. Some have structure, really nicely. Some don't and it doesn't make a difference. Fred's tracks kindof remind me of a mixtape. Starting somewhere and going somewhere else. Not ending like it started, but travelling, moving, changing. And flowing. Yet it took me a few listens before i even noticed that at least several songs end very differently than they begin. So does that add or detract from the music? For one thing, i think that it keeps music from getting repetitive (Imagine what Fatboy Slim could do if he trimmed "You've come..." down into a 15-20 minute megamix.) Sure, there are parts that i wish were repeated more, cos i really like them. Listening to it, i think "bring back that one part" and it doesn't and i don't mind too much.

quoted 1 line Not caustic...

>Not caustic...

Nor me either. _________________________________ Adam Roesch / roesch@augsburg.edu University of Idaho / Moscow / ID / USA Visit my Fila Brazillia/Pork Recordings fan site: http://dogbert.augsburg.edu/~roesch/pork/ "Because success needs killing" TRICKY

quoted 3 lines Right, well, I had to put them all in different places. If I put them all in

> Right, well, I had to put them all in different places. If I put them all in > the same song, then nobody would listen to the rest of the disc. It's like > an Easter Egg hunt.

If you have good parts, go ahead and put them all together. Unless they got good purely by accident, you will have more good parts. Just condense & compile until it's all good. If you KNOW yourself that some parts of a track are weaker than others, then you owe it to yourself and your listeners to replace them or cut them out. I think that's the hardest thing to learn, making music, and it's probably why so many people stick to endless vamps for seven minutes... e.g. me.

quoted 4 lines Why is this true? Do we sampladelicans not obey the verse/chorus/verse

> Why is this true? Do we sampladelicans not obey the verse/chorus/verse > convention? I don't think this is what you mean, since this is the IDM list. > Does "song structure" even exist for IDM? And I, for one, am OK with the > traditional notions of song structure being re-examined.

When you're dealing with lots of long phrases it's difficult to arrange a song so that they flow in and out of each other. When I listen to your stuff, it sounds a lot like a DJ doing fast cuts back and forth between records. If I was into the whole battle DJ thing I would probably like it more, but I'm not, so maybe my comments aren't really on the mark. I don't mean verse/chorus//bridge/chorus type stuff at all, just smooth arranging between sections. Quick cuts work for building tension (see the art of the breakdown) but not all the time, that's all I'm really bitching about. Song structure certainly exists for IDM. It usually goes MIDI Channel One/MIDI Channels One & Two/MIDI Channels One & Two & Three/MIDI Channels One & Two & Three & Four/and so on.

quoted 1 line Where have you been? Where are you now?

> Where have you been? Where are you now?

I've sent out stuff for free to get feedback before (on the 313 list). So I know how it feels to get criticized afterwards. You feel like, bitch, I gave you a free record, shut up. But in the end I usually end up agreeing with the critics more than I do with the polite folks. Or that could just be a problem with my self-esteem. Now I'm on Mad Monkey Records (thanks again Daniel) and I couldn't be happier, really. BTW, not to self-promote any more than necessary, but everybody should get that comp. Just for the cover photo of my uncle and the tracks by Lesser and Saundart. If you want I'll remix your stuff first chance I get and we can see what happens. Thanks for letting me clarify my statements. Tom

quoted 4 lines Now I'm on Mad Monkey Records (thanks again Daniel) and I couldn't be

> Now I'm on Mad Monkey Records (thanks again Daniel) and I couldn't be > happier, really. BTW, not to self-promote any more than necessary, but > everybody should get that comp. Just for the cover photo of my uncle and > the tracks by Lesser and Saundart.

Rest of world: you're a monkey's uncle IDM: your uncle's a monkey