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From:
Konstantin Minko
To:
Date:
Tue, 23 May 2000 14:10:41 +0300
Subject:
RE: [idm] Rap in IDM...?
Msg-Id:
<NCBBIPIBKLNBCLNLHFHBAEHIEJAA.ibss@ukrpack.net>
In-Reply-To:
<60.35a19ed.265bb1f1@aol.com>
Mbox:
idm.0005.gz
I just don't understand why all of you whine about rap vocals on new F-ung. It doesn't fit, it doesn't fall into same frequency range... etc. I just think it is a mind blowing record full of surprises and unpredictable fusions. If it does not sound as anything you've heard before it does not mean it's bad. It is new. But hey - who said that the beat and voice and background music shall be mixed in certain way with certain volume limitations and not the other? I mean no offence but after reading your posts I am sure I would better avoid this album than buy it for "extraexaggarated price of $15". 8-) But this album is fantastic and I strongly advise anyone into F-ung sound to ignore negative reaction from the list and give it a try at least. THIS POST IS STRICTLY MHO. Alien np. U-ziq "Lunatic Harness" btw. I am not a rap fan - I'd rather say I hate it in most of its interpretations. Only such bands as Cypress Hill, Tribe Called Quest and couple of others justify for me the very presence of rap culture.
quoted 108 lines -----Original Message-----> -----Original Message----- > From: Neujinn01@aol.com [mailto:Neujinn01@aol.com] > Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2000 1:06 PM > To: idm@hyperreal.org > Subject: [idm] Rap in IDM...? > > > I just got finished listening to the new Funkstorung as well, > and for me > it begs the question that I must ask: Does the fusion of IDM an > Rap really > work all that well? > I generally really like Funkstorung, and have consistently > enjoyed their > work pretty much up to this point. I have noted obviously their > fascination > with infusing hip-hop/rap elements in their music with such > tracks like their > remix on the East Flatbush project and Add'l Prod., both of which I think > succeeded only moderately well. The fusion both times I felt to > be tenuous > at best. It always seems forced, or strained. Like an element > that doesn't > belong. (Of course, there are loads of other IDM artists who incorporate > hip-hop elements in their music as well, Autechre being no exception, and > each time, from what I can hear, to questionable results.) > The problem is I think they are just two very different > genres of music > listened to for very different reasons. A good rap track can have steady > beat (usually a typical 4/4 or otherwise), a funky baseline, hopefully an > original sample, and an MC whose rhymes flow in tandem with the beat and > rhythmn. (When it's done well, that is.) And that's fine. > IDM can have a similiar mindset, but is ever moving forward > as a genre, > pushing the limits of sound and structure into bounds well beyond > what any > average listener would even call music. And that's fine, too. > Great even! > It is why I've always liked it and listened to it. > Rap, however (primarily in it's current state of stagnancy) isn't > concerned with any of these things (as neither is most anything > mainstream), > probably because simply it doesn't need to be. It will all make > it onto MTV > just the same. And it just never seems to work when these two > conceptually > opposed musical cousins are brought together. > Having an MC rapping over Funkstorung's beautiful squeeches and > squelches, disjointed rhythms and distorted melodies just doesn't > work for > me. Sorry. > And while the singing vocals weren't as jarring, I found > myself groaning > every time an MC chimed in over the glitchy squelchy rhythmic mayhem of > Funkstorung, which is solely what I was looking forward to when I > bought the > cd. I found all the MC'ing to be an unwelcome addition. I think > it grounds > the album's otherwise impressive sonics down in a way which I felt worked > against it, rather than with it. > You've probably surmised by now that I'm not the biggest fan of Rap. > Well, it's really only modern day rap in particular. The reason being is > that I think it has descended into nothing more than yet another > commercial > medium absorbed whole by the mainstream, and, in a striking bit > of irony, has > become the very thing that's initial inception was meant to defy > against. > Gone is the classic originality of the old school, where a clever > sample, a > catchy beat and a good rhyme got you everywhere, and not just > what hit single > from a decade ago you can get the rights to, add a new beat, rap > over it, and > make millions of dollars from. > IDM is one of the few bastions of hope I have left in a largely > uncreative, cruel mainstream MTV world. It could be that my > alarm in hearing > more and more rap/hip-hop elements creeping into my IDM is the > sign of the > Mainstream finally making it to the shores of IDM it getting it's money > grubbing hands on my music (shudder to think), and it in turn suffering a > similiar commericial fate and losing it's potency, much like rap > did. (The > day I hear Ae or Funkstorung in a Mountain Dew commercial, I'll > KNOW it's the > end and just commit Seppuku.) > Of course, any artist should always be free to explore > whatever creative > avenues they wish in their music. But really, If I wanted to hear an MC, > then I'd go to down Tower Records and pick up whoever newest commercial > sensation is this week off the Top 10 chart. > Bottom line, I'm just not interested in hearing it over my > squeeches and > squelches. > Again, it could just be my own bias talking, brought on by my > groaning > frustration with all things mainstream. > Or maybe, like I said, MC rapping and glitchy squelchy IDM > just don't mix > well. > I don't know.... > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org > For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org >
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