IDM Mailing Archive

Peter This brings up an interesting point that I've been considering for a while now regarding Boards of Canada. I've been slowly losing interest in IDM over the past 12-18 months and I attribute this to a few things... 1) tastes simply change 2) the glut of new IDM artists flooded the genre...making it harder to find the good stuff 3) Boards of Canada There are some ways that I think of IDM as a subgenre of Autechre and Aphex. Of course, this is marginalizing the contributions of a lot of key people (global communication, plaid, sqpshr, u-ziq, warp, rephlex, ninjatune, etc), but for me, a lot of IDM seems to be a reaction to these original artists, in particular autechre...albeit two or three years late. If you look at what happened a few years ago with the 'autechre clones', you see exactly what I'm saying. Last year was a bit of a return to the warmer, more melodic sort of IDM that autechre was doing with their first two albums. Aspen, lily of the valley, crunch (okay, released this year, but it's older material, right?), etc. Music (and genres) cycle through layers of change, but it's interesting to me how much of this change is influenced by autechre. This is obviously a product of my own tastes because, honestly, I never latched on to drill'n'bass, glitch, or clicks. These styles have birthed subgenres, yes, but not that I've pursued. But what's the point? Boards of Canada. Autechre is brilliant, but too cereberal for a lot of folks. The rhythms are complex and the time signatures shift frequently as far as I can tell. It's amazing what Sean and Rob can do with a PC and a ton of imagination. What Autechre does for my head, boards of canada does for the inside of my eyelids. I swear there's something subconscious going on in this music...a layer I'm not hearing. The melodies are clear and beautiful in a simple, schoolyard sort of way. It's complex material and I don't mean to say it's simple and easy to do; quite the contrary...but Boards of Canada makes me feel six years old again. Six years old and full of joy again. BoC have created sound that transcends what I've come to know as IDM. Consequently, most other IDM leaves me cold these days. I find myself searching for that missing connection and where it usually leads is to some hybrid electronic band (air, bent, sigur ros, bjork, etc.) Cerebral with soul. As a caveat to this, I've been loving arovane lately in a similar way. Intensely beautiful in a way I've not heard in a while. There are other selected tracks that really do it for me, but they're few and far between (the schikowski track from the cashier escape route comp, a bit of marumari, a styrofoam track or two and a few others). BoC have changed the way I listen to music in the same way that Autechre did about 9-10 years ago. Period. .Brian -----Original Message----- From: Peter Schrock [mailto:pachinko74@mac.com] Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 2:35 AM To: anyone and everyone and Subject: [idm] Looking for? RE:I'm over idm I am just curious to know what everyone is looking for. I mean, some of Speedy J's stuff I would consider IDM, I don't know, I like all of that, but what is everyone looking for? on 5/5/01 1:49 PM, brian albers at brianalbers@hotmail.com wrote:

quoted 4 lines I'm pretty much over IDM-style IDM. IDM has solidified into a genre with

> > >> I'm pretty much over IDM-style IDM. IDM has solidified into a genre with >> its own melodic & rhythmic conventions, less of it moves me much. There

are

quoted 18 lines of course ample exceptions to even this, as I'm still thrilled by Ae,

>> of course ample exceptions to even this, as I'm still thrilled by Ae, >> almost everything on Chocolate Industries, plenty of Schematic, etc., but >> there seems to be more and more generic material out there. And I'm not >> even saying that it's *bad*, merely that that particular genre isn't >> terribly interesting to me. > > I must echo these sentiments. I'm the one who pointed out the growing > homoginazation of sound with artists like Quench, Crunch, Gimmik and Swap. > Now I'm seeing it more and more coming out of the Schematic camp, with > Richard Devine and Otto Von Schirach heading the charge. Nothing on the > House of Distaction comp moves me all that much, although it gets my vote > for most impressive artwork of the year. >> >> Really, the most exciting stuff for me lately has been break-beat driven, >> and all that "broken beat" stuff > > I find myself puuting on more techno and break-beat like Surgeon, > Underworld, Meat Beat Manifesto, Speedy J. Hell, I might even be more apt

to

quoted 10 lines throw on some old Frontline Assembly album than the new Phoenecia.

> throw on some old Frontline Assembly album than the new Phoenecia. > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org > For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org >

Peter "Pachinko" Ý - http://www.mp3.com/pachinko - --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

quoted 10 lines What Autechre does for my head, boards of canada does for the inside of

> What Autechre does for my head, boards of canada does for the inside of > my > eyelids. I swear there's something subconscious going on in this > music...a > layer I'm not hearing. The melodies are clear and beautiful in a simple, > schoolyard sort of way. It's complex material and I don't mean to say > it's > simple and easy to do; quite the contrary...but Boards of Canada makes > me > feel six years old again. Six years old and full of joy again.

I've played BoC for a lot of non IDM friends (none of my friends listen to idm), and those who have liked it all said the same thing about it. Reminds them of being a kid. The first time I heard "Music has the Right to Children," I was reminded of watching PBS on rainy days as a kid living in Chicago in the late 70s/early 80s. The chime sounds they use in a lot of their music reminds me of a lot of old PBS and TV music. The chimes in Mr Rogers, the little "More You Know" public service announcments on NBC, and various other stuff. That type of music, those sad little low budget "jingles" were probably used just as much on BBC and Canadian TV channels way back, too. The one flaw in this theory would be that a lot of younger kids listen to BoC, too, and seem to pick up on the same feeling. I dunno. Anyone think this theory has any merit? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

on 5/7/01 4:51 PM, butt chowder at ugly_and_mean@yahoo.com wrote:

quoted 23 lines What Autechre does for my head, boards of canada does for the inside of

>> What Autechre does for my head, boards of canada does for the inside of >> my >> eyelids. I swear there's something subconscious going on in this >> music...a >> layer I'm not hearing. The melodies are clear and beautiful in a simple, >> schoolyard sort of way. It's complex material and I don't mean to say >> it's >> simple and easy to do; quite the contrary...but Boards of Canada makes >> me >> feel six years old again. Six years old and full of joy again. > > I've played BoC for a lot of non IDM friends (none of my friends listen to > idm), and those who have liked it all said the same thing about it. > Reminds them of being a kid. The first time I heard "Music has the Right > to Children," I was reminded of watching PBS on rainy days as a kid > living in Chicago in the late 70s/early 80s. The chime sounds they use in > a lot of their music reminds me of a lot of old PBS and TV music. The > chimes in Mr Rogers, the little "More You Know" public service > announcments on NBC, and various other stuff. That type of music, those > sad little low budget "jingles" were probably used just as much on BBC and > Canadian TV channels way back, too. The one flaw in this theory would be > that a lot of younger kids listen to BoC, too, and seem to pick up on the > same feeling. I dunno. Anyone think this theory has any merit?

totally, I agree with this 100%, I think a lot of ppl grow up to fast that they feel like they neglected their childhood. I often think of my childhood memories and wish I could go back to those times where things where simple. Listening to BoC gives me that same feeling, retrospect of my childhood years. At the same time, it gives me a pleasant feeling of knowing I didn't miss my childhood years, they have been surpressed by the world and it's negative emotions. as a child, I was for the most part a happy child, and listening to BoC makes me feel happy. Peter "Pachinko" Ý - http://www.mp3.com/pachinko - --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

on 5/7/01 11:57 AM, Brian Gause at BGause@zaplet.com wrote:

quoted 34 lines Peter

> > Peter > > This brings up an interesting point that I've been considering for a while > now regarding Boards of Canada. > > I've been slowly losing interest in IDM over the past 12-18 months and I > attribute this to a few things... > 1) tastes simply change > 2) the glut of new IDM artists flooded the genre...making it harder to find > the good stuff > 3) Boards of Canada > > There are some ways that I think of IDM as a subgenre of Autechre and Aphex. > Of course, this is marginalizing the contributions of a lot of key people > (global communication, plaid, sqpshr, u-ziq, warp, rephlex, ninjatune, etc), > but for me, a lot of IDM seems to be a reaction to these original artists, > in particular autechre...albeit two or three years late. If you look at what > happened a few years ago with the 'autechre clones', you see exactly what > I'm saying. Last year was a bit of a return to the warmer, more melodic sort > of IDM that autechre was doing with their first two albums. Aspen, lily of > the valley, crunch (okay, released this year, but it's older material, > right?), etc. Music (and genres) cycle through layers of change, but it's > interesting to me how much of this change is influenced by autechre. > > This is obviously a product of my own tastes because, honestly, I never > latched on to drill'n'bass, glitch, or clicks. These styles have birthed > subgenres, yes, but not that I've pursued. > > But what's the point? Boards of Canada. Autechre is brilliant, but too > cereberal for a lot of folks. The rhythms are complex and the time > signatures shift frequently as far as I can tell. It's amazing what Sean and > Rob can do with a PC and a ton of imagination. >

actually, they use apple computers. but yeah, I agree.

quoted 7 lines What Autechre does for my head, boards of canada does for the inside of my

> What Autechre does for my head, boards of canada does for the inside of my > eyelids. I swear there's something subconscious going on in this music...a > layer I'm not hearing. The melodies are clear and beautiful in a simple, > schoolyard sort of way. It's complex material and I don't mean to say it's > simple and easy to do; quite the contrary...but Boards of Canada makes me > feel six years old again. Six years old and full of joy again. >

I have really been digging on BoC as of lately.

quoted 16 lines BoC have created sound that transcends what I've come to know as IDM.

> BoC have created sound that transcends what I've come to know as IDM. > Consequently, most other IDM leaves me cold these days. I find myself > searching for that missing connection and where it usually leads is to some > hybrid electronic band (air, bent, sigur ros, bjork, etc.) Cerebral with > soul. > > As a caveat to this, I've been loving arovane lately in a similar way. > Intensely beautiful in a way I've not heard in a while. There are other > selected tracks that really do it for me, but they're few and far between > (the schikowski track from the cashier escape route comp, a bit of marumari, > a styrofoam track or two and a few others). > > BoC have changed the way I listen to music in the same way that Autechre did > about 9-10 years ago. Period. > > .Brian

i appreciate the response. see, I think too many ppl are too critical. take it for what it is. you either like what you hear, or you don't. I appreciate the honesty in this letter, it seems rare on this list. Everyone talks about what IDM is or isn't. Too me, IDM is not just how the artist creates music, but it is also how they affect the listener. IDM requires more attention to listen to than the average genre, where you actually have to listen to the music, especially if the artist is really good. I am just extremely discouraged by the list and it's perception of what direction IDM should go, it's like trying to tell the wind to blow east or west, you can't. It goes where it wants, and because it is knocking down brick houses, everyone is dissatisfied with it's results. Peter "Pachinko" Ý - http://www.mp3.com/pachinko - --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org