On Sun, 27 Oct 1996, quentin wrote:
quoted 11 lines As you (Erkki) may also know, people like Panasonic are keeping alive the>
> >As you (Erkki) may also know, people like Panasonic are keeping alive the
> >proud tradition of being "unconventional" or subversive with their music.
> >To me, Techno, IDM, Electronica or whatever you want to call it, isa all
> >about being subversive and when we stop being subversive, difficult or
> >challenging we may as well call it quits.
>
> The underground subversive nature of techno is what really drew me
> to it in the first place. Seemed to me to be the perfect way to hack at
> the confines of a stagnant and conservatively perverse society. And if it
> (techno/rave etc. movement) were to loose this aspect of it, well, we may
i'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent in reference to this
conversation:
i agree mostly with what is said about Electronic music in the context of
subculture, but i would like to add that things always change, and when
you've got something as good as this, (it's a product of its time, it's
here to stay, it's a revolution in music much the same way rock'n'roll
was..) it's not going to be able to stay exclusively underground. "Rave"
doesn't mean what it did--it is no longer subculture--the venues have
changed and will keep on changing. I love this culture of music, but i
accept that one cannot be too nostalgic , i'm watching, listening in eager
anticipation how the subculture will manifest itself all over again after
mtv, vh-1, and such wrench it out.
What i'm trying to say is, the music is becoming less specific to it's
parent culture, because it is so far-reaching and perceptive in its use of
technology, its notions of decentralization of exclusive authorship (this
goes into current philosophical thought) etc etc it's understanding of
what makes us audially HAPPY , it will only become bigger and bigger (and
maybe change us all for the better?) and the politics surrounding it will
become complex and harder to grasp..
uh, just some thoughts i've held on the topic for a long time, ever since
i started reading comments criticizing how the scene is not what it used
to be. The scene (esp. in the east coast) has hit the bottom of the curve
and perhaps it needs to be built back up in a new form
Ultimately, it's great, wonderful, penetrating, evolving, intelligent
MUSIC!!
+e