Just going off on a little tangent as to why we should not be "getting worried"
The Musical art for one, should be free of the rampant consumerism which is
responsible for lowering the common denominator and throwing true talent into
obscurity. Music is something that can have such a power to move an connect
people. Those who understand the fundamental beauty behind a "barter system", know
that a real human connection is made, the result of the even energy exchange
present in most any bartered trade, and results in the betterment of both
individuals involved. Compare this to getting raped out of $15 for a CD worth
about $5 bucks at the most (considering it was an really nice, expensive album
cover printing at that), while the artists rake in major green energy flow along
with all the other ego benefits, and then, what do they do? Boast and gloat about
it to the poor fans who will never reach such a realm of glamour in their entire
lifetime, nor gain any amount of personal contact with the artist !!! Just what
the fuck is going on here???? That of course is worst case scenario, there have
been famous and humble people who have stayed down to earth and really given back
to the fans, but those are the absolute minority. We all know all the most
shamelessly promoted popular music is not worth a dime compared to some of the
artists who have been shoved into their little corner of hyperspace, out of a
collective desire for the watered down, bland, and colorless yet mega-pretentious
world of pop music today. It is due to these pre-defined boring standards that we
are made subject to the stigma of obscurism. Supporting and uplifting the
underground exchange network, and perhaps playing/DJing the music for others who
havent been initiated, seems like the most appropriate action to counterattack
this virus.
Perhaps those 15 people each play those sound files for 15 other people, and so
on, and so on... after a while of such a chain reaction could create a critical
mass that pushes artists that deserve to be well rewarded out of the muddy depths,
and into a larger collective mindset. And besides, small groups are a much more
intimate experience than stadiums full of senseless wanderers anyhow.
"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The
latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary
prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."
-Quote by Albert Einstein
peace, chill vibes,
phred
------------------------------------
P S Y L E N C E -
http://www.eternalmoment.com/psy/
Christophe McKeon wrote:
quoted 100 lines There is a lot about this post which is painted with blind sweeping (ignorant)
> There is a lot about this post which is painted with blind sweeping (ignorant)
> motions, as well as a little bit of insight here and there. However my
> response is directed at a particular segment of the last paragraph which I
> find particularly interesting. Interesting because of the umwelt which it
> presupposes:
>
> "As the phenomenon of music distributed through the Internet,
> downloaded and CD-burned continues to develop, this global geektronic
> network may well devolve into a barter economy, with bedroom producers
> trading their music with other artists through the Net. Momus recently
> suggested that rather than everybody being famous for 15 minutes, in the
> future everybody will be famous for 15 people. That's what it's getting
> like, and that's why we should be getting worried."
>
> We are talking about a memetic redistribution along new avenues, new lines of
> least resistance. To consider this a "devolution", to me, is puzzling. What
> Simon is lamenting, whether he realizes it or not, is the possibility of
> stepping outside, or at least around, pre established lines and modes of
> social interaction. I am speaking here particularly about corporate
> superstructures and the media machine.
> Of course you can not be "famous" for only fifteen people, because fame is
> really a kind of terrorism. It has been constructed in such a manner that it
> will always be in earshot, so to speak. Just as it is purportedly impossible
> to be anywhere in the United States now without being in earshot of some kind
> of motor or loud machine. Being "famous" for fifteen people is more like being
> friends with fifteen people, and if you step back and look at what a "barter
> society" like this might look like, it is a thousand fold times more beautiful
> than the status quo. Given the choice between a distributed network of the
> "barter" kind, or an arborescent and imperial structure it seems as though
> Simon would choose the latter. Of course we have a long way to go, and I
> myself am guilty of the many geekisms which Simon points out. Geekisms which
> are not at all disentangled from a rather murky relationship with capital and
> neuroses. This subculture is not immune from the trappings of a neurotic
> capitalism. Simon thus gives us a few things to think about. It is a shame
> and also a bit strange to me that he can see the problems inherent in the way
> we "Geeks" (Who love to dance) are e-trading, but is incapable of making the
> necessary perceptual leap in attributing them to the way the "economy"
> (Monetary, Libidinal, Memetic) is organized, and then to lament the fact that
> it is precisely this kind of organization from which we are trying to break
> loose.
> Have a Ball All,
> Christophe
>
> franco ingrassia wrote:
>
> > [Find out more about this cool dude on
> > http://members.aol.com/blissout/front.htm
> > Hate mail is encouraged. (at least by me)]
> >
> > GEEKTRONICA, A/K/A IDM (INTELLIGENT DANCE MUSIC)
> > This international network of home-studio-made, pressing-of-500 electronic
> > music is basically the new lo-fi rock. That much is clear from the fact
> > that Matador, home of Pavement and Yo La Tengo etc, now has a roster of
> > seriously hip techno (Pole, Jega, Burger/Ink, Boards of Canada) and has
> > done a deal with Warp, the pioneers of first-wave "intelligent techno".
> > Then there's all these Pastels/Mogwai/Low type bands putting out remix
> > albums with their tracks revamped by all the usual geektronic suspects.
> > I call it geektronica because the people into it have the same trainspotter
> > obsessive-compulsive collector mentality as lo-fi nerds, and because
> > musically, it's deliberately enfeebled or impaired sounding. Just as the
> > demographic constituency/class-base for lo-fi doesn't like rock that's too
> > rockin' and rhythmically muscular, similarly the geektronica audience
> > prefers dance music that isn't danceable. I'm not saying that good music
> > hasn't come out of this area--IDM's patron saints Aphex Twin and Luke
> > Vibert are household gods chez moi (although Autechre and Squarepusher,
> > also patron saints, are decidely not), I dig Mike Paradinas, Jega and
> > Boards of Canada. But this music's strongest trait isn't rhythm but melody
> > (all those poignant or chipper or glum tunes) and timbre (another thing it
> > has in common with lo-fi, an obsession with different grains of
> > distortion).
> > Lo-fi and geektronica fans have the same commodity-fetish for wacky sleeves
> > and peculiar configurations of vinyl --split singles, one sided discs with
> > drawings etched into the other side, flexis, 10 inches and 7-inches (and
> > soon 8 inches, apparently), double-7inches, maxi-EPs and mini-albums.
> > There's a whole on-line world of obsessives who trade and hunt down rare
> > early 12 inches on labels like Skam and Rephlex, which sometimes fetch huge
> > prices.
> > Nothing against obscurity (that would really be the pot calling the kettle
> > black I suppose) or unusual formats/packaging, or coveting rare records.
> > But a lot of this geektronica stuff has crossed the line into wilful
> > obscurantism. With records coming out in pressings of 250 or even fifty
> > (with handpainted covers etc), you have to wonder what's the threshold
> > below which music ceases to be a "cultural practice" and becomes mere
> > hobbyism? As the phenomenon of music distributed through the Internet,
> > downloaded and CD-burned continues to develop, this global geektronic
> > network may well devolve into a barter economy, with bedroom producers
> > trading their music with other artists through the Net. Momus recently
> > suggested that rather than everybody being famous for 15 minutes, in the
> > future everybody will be famous for 15 people. That's what it's getting
> > like, and that's why we should be getting worried.
> >
> > Simon Reynolds
> >
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