To whoever recently mentioned that derrick may is not
"intelligent":
The original post was someone looking for "classic
IDM" recommendations. While derrick may (and i
believe someone mentioned kraftwerk) perhaps do not
neatly fit the mold of what some people mean by "IDM",
it still makes sense to recommend artists who have
been a major influence on IDM... and
kraftwerk/electro/techno have influenced IDM, right?
Or am I on a different page?
One problem with making that kind of statement is that
"intelligent" in this context could mean simply
"belonging to the catagory of electronic dance music
known as IDM" or "characterized by
complexity/sophistication (and other vague or
problematic adjectives) that typify what is called
IDM" - or, as I think unfortunately this word
_inevitably_ connotates, it could just mean
"intelligent". (As if to say, "derrick may makes
unintelligent music".)
Assuming the best, that you meant it in the first
sense, then I would agree; in that: _Sure_, techno and
IDM are officially two different genres which have
roughly agreed upon definitions, and May arguably
falls much more into the techno category. So he's not
"IDM".
But then again, although we share some common ideas on
what IDM means, I'm not aware of any 100%
authoritative definition of IDM, nor any good way of
quantifying to what extent things like "complexity" or
"sophistication" are present in a tune. I think it's
a little naive to think that there is.
Techno isn't just good to dance to btw... there is
such a thing as a techno producer with musical talent
and an ear for subtlety. Not to say you wouldn't
agree, but i'm just pointing it out. So while I would
never use derrick may as an example of "IDM" if I was
trying to explain IDM to a novice, i would never
insist that he could not possibly fall into this
catagory according to a more flexible definition.
I think techno is very different from most (though not
all) of the very recent IDM of the late 90's
(particularly autechre-soundalike etc - in it's focus
on "experimental" textures and timbre), but not so
different from the "classic idm" of the early 90's.
Just check out those artificial intelligence comps and
album series with richy hawtin, speedy j, and kenny
larkin. Don't forget early aphex (geez, especially
the universal indicator stuff) - who else but aphex,
mr. IDM, could conclusively prove that techno
influenced IDM?
clearly IDM, like every genre, has at least small
roots in virtually any other imaginable genre, as
musicians do not live in boxes. We don't need to go
into that though, because techno was a plain and major
influence on IDM. Can someone back me up on this?
Certainly there is a "rock" influence as well, but to
say that it's just an x-hippy rocker thing or whatever
is a little odd I think. It makes me think i'm
missing your point, and maybe i am, so feel free to
mention that.
So even if we grant that derrick may is strictly
techno, and not IDM (which i really have no problem
doing btw), i would still insist that IDM is in fact
VERY rooted in techno. Surely you see the evidence of
that?
Someone earlier said, I believe, something about
kraftwerk only being the roots of electro and techno
and not IDM... which frankly i find a little
unbelievable... for the reasons mentioned above, but
also because there is a very direct resemblance
between kraftwerk and lots of IDM, particularly the
older "ambient" type stuff. I'm pretty sure Kraftwerk
had a _direct_ influence on both electro _and_ IDM,
although I suppose the connection may not be totally
evident if you only compare ae's "ep7" with
kraftwerk's "computer world"...
anyhoo, that's what I think!
jon
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