On Sat, 1 Jul 1995, Ryan G. Pals wrote:
quoted 1 line it's funny how trends work. it's funny how people switch sides.> it's funny how trends work. it's funny how people switch sides.
Eesh. Anyone who thinks of music tastes as "sides" needs to reevaluate
their stance IMO. This isn't an "us versus them" issue. Personal music
tastes is very complicated. Maybe at the time when Morris made the
comment about "hardcore" he found no music in that genre very
inspiratoinal. Now maybe there are tracks out there which have taken him
by suprise which is good because that means the scene and sound is
progressing.
To me that is what makes techno and related electronic music so much
fun. Just when you've found something that makes you jump out of your
skin with excitement, it changes and transforms into an even more
interesting style. Progression is key. Lack thereof is what makes most
of those who love elecronic music dislike most other forms of music (i.e.
rock, country..)
I tend to agree with Morris. Only because of my personal tastes and not
because of Morris' popularity. I disliked the whole breakbeat style that
emerged a couple of years ago. It didn't catch me as being clever or
creative. When jungle started to appear I more or less ignored it
because it was born out of the breakbeat scene. Big mistake. Last
weekend San Francisco's best jungle DJ (and probably only jungle DJ)
played me some of his mix tapes. On them were some of the tracks
Morris mentioned (Plug1 and the other Vibert jungle track he mentioned).
We ended up going out to the car because the party we were at was mostly
typical formula house music and I can't tell you how bored I am of the
same old house beat and piano progressions (with vocals thrown in of
course). I was amazed by the tricky beats and reggae roots style
rhythims and bass lines in the jungle I heard. It was fun. It was
exciting. It was fresh, and most of all it was inventive and incredibly
creative.
I liked it so much that I decided to sit down with Thad (the jungle DJ
friend) and work out some jungle tracks. Call me trandy. Call me a
bandwagon jumper. I don't really care, but call me inspired! There's
some incredible shit out there if you know where to look. Morris was
just expressing his excitement in the stuff that he's found and decided
to share it with the rest of us. No harm done IMO. I also think it
pertains to the list since some "IDM" artists were of those mentioned in
the post.
I guess my point is don't window shop. Get in there and try on all the
different sizes and shapes before you decide something is crap. There
are really so many sub genres of jungle (drum 'n bass, ambient jungle,
experimantal...). You're bound to find something out there that you
like, esp. with so many excellent musicians contributing to the style.
-robert
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"Thanks for the technical data. It sure is nice to read something useful
for once, instead of all that noise about useless Roland x0x boxes." -metlay