IDM Mailing Archive

There's an interesting little article by one of this list's favourite whipping boys, Simon Reynolds, up on SonicNet. It talks about the continuing increase in the volume of eletronic music released every week, and how it forces many fans into developing tunnel vision in order to focus on their favourite little corner of the genre. Here's the URL (it's a little long & clunky, sorry): http://www.sonicnet.com/news/story.jhtml?genreNameForDisplay=Dance%2FElectronic&genreDirectoryName=dance&id=1122029 Greg -- Greg Clow - greg@stainedproductions.com - greg@feedbackmonitor.com concert & event promotions - http://www.stainedproductions.com electronic music radio/reviews/interviews - http://www.feedbackmonitor.com 158 Close Ave. 2nd Floor - Toronto, Ontario M6K 2V5 - Canada --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

That's one thing about Reynolds -- he's very adept at nailing the long view, especially for a genre most of us are so enmeshed in, that it becomes very difficult to be objective. He discusses a few things I've had rattling around in my brain the past few months: 1) There's a *lot* of great electronic music being made right now... Sometimes I wonder if my standards are shot, just because I've been giving so many good ratings lately. A few weeks ago, I realized that I gave great ratings to about ten *straight* records, a completely random sample of electronic releases in the past few months that just came across my desk one after the other. And they were uniformly *great*. Just for the record, they were: Persona - Maximal (VC) Adam Freeland - Tectonics (Ultra) Russell Mills - Strange Familiar (Instinct; actually a reissue) Doctor Rockit - Indoor Fireworks (Lifelike) Theo Parrish - Sound Signature Sounds L'Usine - Charydis (Isophlux) Sutekh - Periods Make Sense (Force Inc) Zammuto - Willscher (Apt. B) 2) There's a lot *more* electronic music being made than anytime before... Obviously, this is Reynolds' main point in the article, but it's so true. Compared to when I started listening to this stuff (early '90s), there must be at least a hundred labels/artists for each one operating back then. I think it's great too -- more artists means better work, which means more people will grow accustomed to electronic music, which in turn means this whole thing'll grow as an important musical subculture. Onward and upward, I say! .John. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

okay, so now anybody with a PC and a beatbox can make "techno music" and many of them do. and of those that do, a small fraction put out records that are decent. and it's hard to keep up with all the good stuff that's coming from the DIY industry so what's a big smart buzz-word coining important journalist to do now that the output of the musicians exceeds his input capacity? welcome to punk rock, circa 1978. anybody with a shitty guitar and a friend with a drum set started recording rock and roll in their basements and putting out 7" records. and guess what ... there were so many different kinds of music being put out that it got really hard to find all the good ones and some narrow minded folks decided that the only way to deal with that was to just listen to ska. or hardcore. or emo. or progressive trance. but the other thing that happened was that the audience became part of the "process". kids started saying "gee, melody maker can't cover all this good stuff, so i guess it's up to me to start my own zine" and you got hundreds of zines chock full of reviews. somebody is picking up all this music, and the good stuff is going to get discovered. maybe simon reynolds can't handle it, but most of the DIY'ers don't really care if simon reynolds can find their record because they know that if it's really good, SOMEBODY is going to pick up on it, and then they'll tell other people about it, and word will spread. maybe they'll even get mentioned on the IDM list. josh -- String Theory : Digital Music for Humans http://www.enteract.com/~yoshi/index.cgi On Mon, 17 Jul 2000, John Bush wrote:

quoted 41 lines That's one thing about Reynolds -- he's very adept at nailing the long view,

> That's one thing about Reynolds -- he's very adept at nailing the long view, > especially for a genre most of us are so enmeshed in, that it becomes very > difficult to be objective. He discusses a few things I've had rattling > around in my brain the past few months: > > 1) There's a *lot* of great electronic music being made right now... > Sometimes I wonder if my standards are shot, just because I've been giving > so many good ratings lately. A few weeks ago, I realized that I gave great > ratings to about ten *straight* records, a completely random sample of > electronic releases in the past few months that just came across my desk one > after the other. And they were uniformly *great*. Just for the record, > they were: > > Persona - Maximal (VC) > Adam Freeland - Tectonics (Ultra) > Russell Mills - Strange Familiar (Instinct; actually a reissue) > Doctor Rockit - Indoor Fireworks (Lifelike) > Theo Parrish - Sound Signature Sounds > L'Usine - Charydis (Isophlux) > Sutekh - Periods Make Sense (Force Inc) > Zammuto - Willscher (Apt. B) > > > 2) There's a lot *more* electronic music being made than anytime before... > Obviously, this is Reynolds' main point in the article, but it's so true. > Compared to when I started listening to this stuff (early '90s), there must > be at least a hundred labels/artists for each one operating back then. I > think it's great too -- more artists means better work, which means more > people will grow accustomed to electronic music, which in turn means this > whole thing'll grow as an important musical subculture. Onward and upward, > I say! > > .John. > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org > For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org > >

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quoted 1 line 1) There's a *lot* of great electronic music being made right now...

> 1) There's a *lot* of great electronic music being made right now...

This is true, although there seems to be a lessening of variety. A couple years back, there would be a few notable releases, but they each had a very distinctive sound. There's a lot of good stuff coming out now, but it seems to focus on similar themes... It also sucks for those of us on a budget =D

quoted 3 lines 2) There's a lot *more* electronic music being made than anytime before...

> 2) There's a lot *more* electronic music being made than anytime before... > Obviously, this is Reynolds' main point in the article, but it's so true. > Compared to when I started listening to this stuff (early '90s), there

must

quoted 4 lines be at least a hundred labels/artists for each one operating back then. I

> be at least a hundred labels/artists for each one operating back then. I > think it's great too -- more artists means better work, which means more > people will grow accustomed to electronic music, which in turn means this > whole thing'll grow as an important musical subculture. Onward and

upward,

quoted 1 line I say!

> I say!

I think this will be an interesting thing to happen, as well. Of course, it's impossible for anything without words to "take over", so to say, but the recognition aspect has been happening pretty gradually for some time, and the prolificity (??) of artists seems to assist in matters. When there weren't that many releases coming out, it was especially hard for brick/mortar shops to carry things, since they couldn't devote a couple shelves to it (if they tried it would be just like half a shelf). Now there's tons of different things, although a large majority is in the "dance" category, which Reynolds seems to focus on. Of course i still haven't heard a radio station that caters completely to electronic music ;) on an aside: I've always found it funny that the main focus of articles like Reynolds' is geared toward the DJ culture. I believe there are significantly more DJ's doing the trance route and the house route than the "idm" route, and I *still* remain confident that 4/floor is much easier to mass-produce than non-4/floor. I mean, when you hear about rave-kiddies talking about how cool ReBirth is (the program), and when you overhear discussions of musical tastes and people just mention "oh i like trance" (instead of, say, actual artists names), it makes you wonder if the quality is really increasing... hmm... =D -derek --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

On Mon, 17 Jul 2000 13:03:15 -0500, EggyToast wrote:

quoted 2 lines "idm" route, and I *still* remain confident that 4/floor is much easier to

>"idm" route, and I *still* remain confident that 4/floor is much easier to >mass-produce than non-4/floor.

maybe that's why Bogdan threatened to make trance if people don't buy his 'braindance' stuff...

quoted 4 lines I mean, when you hear about rave-kiddies talking about how cool ReBirth is

>I mean, when you hear about rave-kiddies talking about how cool ReBirth is >(the program), and when you overhear discussions of musical tastes and >people just mention "oh i like trance" (instead of, say, actual artists >names), it makes you wonder if the quality is really increasing...

i agree with you completely there. i am of the opinion that "more people making = better music" is a false equation. in my experience, more people making music simply means more music being made. the ratio of stuff i like to stuff i don't doesn't change. there's no reason it would... -adam -- Adam Piontek [http://www.tcinternet.net/users/damek/] ICQ: 3456339 [damek@earthling.net] ... "You _are_ the Messiah and I should know, I've followed a few!" --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

quoted 2 lines i am of the opinion that "more people

> i am of the opinion that "more people > making = better music" is a false equation.

Well, even if you don't agree that "more music" equals "more good music" (and I'm not sure I do either), more people listening to electronic music *is* going to increase the odds that future great artists (whatever the genre) will get hooked on a style I love -- techno, as opposed to the umpteenth-wave ska revival -- simply because they've had more exposure to it. When that teenager with a pile of records in the dance store starts making music a couple of years from now, he's not going to pick up a guitar, he's going to get turntables and/or synth. He'll have a new spin on what he's been listening to, and more power to him. If it's good, I'll want to hear it -- just that simple. .John. NP: Glenn Underground - Lounge Excursions --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org