I agree that hours of beats is tiresome. But there are two kinds of EP's
- those meant to exploit fans *without* investing in producing new
music, and those meant to create new music in a smaller context than an
album. The problem is that many EP's are only one song plus one or two
half-assed remixes. What happened to the days of the B-side?
From the days of 45's, B sides have always been a genre of music to be
reckoned with. I have often found that some of a band's best stuff is to
be found only on b-sides (of course, I'm a big Fall fan). Some people do
their best work when throwing together something new to fill up space on
a disk, or when experimenting with ideas which do not fit into an album
context. That's why it's so disappointing to find a $9 ep with four
tracks - a song, a radio edit (the same song, only shorter!), a remix
(the same song only with the bassline changed ), and another remix (the
same song only with the vocals removed). This is what I hate.
But look at someone like Bjork: Bjork's onslaught of CD singles from
Post was fantastic - she worked with lots of different and talented
people, included remixes of sometimes three songs on a single EP, made
cool new cover art. They were expensive to be sure, but they were high
quality. Other bands do this too, and theior EP's are always a good
deal.
Why do bands too often release rehashed stuff on their EP's instead of
making new music? Because they're too busy remixing "The Perfect Drug"
Har har har!
-CF
quoted 19 lines -----Original Message----->-----Original Message-----
>From: H James Harkins [SMTP:jharkins@acpub.duke.edu]
>
>Sometimes I think I'd rather hear less, but better, music. Maybe artists
>could take the time to *think* about where a track is going and make some
>kind of satisfying *structure* out of it. I got into this music because I
>love the sounds, the drive, the groove, but I'm always a little
>disappointed when I hear the artists allow the technology to lead the
>music around by the nose (as is most often the case, to my ear). "I'm
>bored with that chord progression. What next? *shrug* Doesn't matter."
>But it DOES! to me, anyway, but I haven't heard any dance musicians (even
>the IDM ones) who know what can happen when a musical form takes a
>coherent and compelling shape. Maybe I just haven't found the right stuff
>yet--recommendations?
>
>I, personally, would rather pay $10 for 30 min. of focused and inventive
>composition than $15 for 70 min. of attractive but aimless beats. Where is
>this to be found? J
>