Do we need to start over?
I wish that people would stop stratifying 'techno', or whatever arbitrary
labels you want to use for this form. Perhaps an assessment of the goals
of this music are in order.
Where do we all want to see this music go? What qualities do we want this
music to embody? If we can draw out these kinds of issues, maybe we can
find something of use in each style.
As it stands now, there doesn't seem to be enough hybridization happening -
perhaps the responsibility lies in the hands of the musicians - or maybe
in the hands of the recipients/listeners/dancers. Either way, we need
to talk.
Any of you read CMJ? Have you noticed that Tim Haslett has recently
adopted more of a purist stance? He used to cover a lot of crappy
progressive house records, as well as some ambient music, hard acid,
and hardcore. I maintain that most of the music he reviewed, I just
didn't like, but at least his range was broader. Now it seems as though
he's sticking to Chicago and Detroit artists and their ideological
counterparts overseas. What's worse is that he glorifies each release
with such verbose language that I feel his reviews are misleading at
best.. ..And I still think most of those records are boring.
My point is that I think we should really think about the qualities
we most enjoy in the music we listen to - I would imagine that this would
apply more to music which falls outside of this genre, in order to
effectively incorporate style, mood, and feeling that just isn't
present right now. We can't go on creating 'techno' (or what have you)
in a vacuum, or the form will die.
I think all these styles are aiming for the same thing, each in their
own way - with the exception of ambient music..
Progress is slowing, and it's definitely showing.
Darshan