on 7/17/01 2:42 PM, ian. at schmoko@Mindspring.com wrote:
quoted 29 lines i think reynolds' point is that the laptop movement is entirely different
> i think reynolds' point is that the laptop movement is entirely different
> from the european IDM scenes of the past. european IDM has always been
> about mysterious distant producers of mysterious distant music. there were
> never any personalities, the record sleeves were of alien landscapes and
> fractals. Warp is a faceless company with faceless artists, as is Skam, as
> is Rephlex. the artists have no personalities, and prefer their music to
> sound like it came from machines (with the exception of later RDJ, SP, and
> Paradinas). even the equipment used is secret, the music made in far off
> machines, out of the hands of mere mortals..
>
> the "new" american IDM scene is very different from this. the laptop
> represents the confrontation.. a laptop is something you or i can pick up
> and use to make music after a couple downloads. and even though Autechre
> use laptops just like Kid 606, Cex, and Matmos, Autechre are mystery men
> behind a mountain of equipment live-- Kid 606 is bouncing behind his
> laptops, sometimes even *gasp*-- smiling. Cex shouts at you. this is a
> very different IDM scene. the record jackets are more akin to punk rock
> then to early IDM movements.. these artists have personalities, song titles
> that are in english ("luke vibert can kiss my indie-punk whiteboy ass" vs.
> "zeiss contarex"), a human element that is a completely new approach.
>
> and, i think this new approach is best symbolized by the laptop. as easy as
> it is to despise Simon Reynolds as electronic music's mainstream
> "historian", i think he's dead on with the "laptop music" term. im pretty
> sure ill still cringe as much as everyone else during "chapter 11: laptop
> punk and powerbook pop" chapter of Generation Ecstacy 2 though. (should such
> an atrocity every exist)
>
> schmoko.
The only thing I give credit to the Europeans is that they pioneered a lot
of what we have today, people like Kid606 and Cex had to go and be "punk"
and make a joke out of it. Which, I like Kid606, and not that it is
necessarily bad, but I too wouldn't even compare it to AE. I would dare on
the other hand compare it to RDJ, he seems to have the same kind of fun with
the music as Kid606.
again, I reiterate, the article was suppose to be about laptop musicians, am
I not right? So why didn't he focus on that instead of a specific
movement. And besides, I would hardly consider Matmos and Kit Clayton as
being of the same category as Kid606 and Cex. So if you want to argue on
that note, the article is still off. Also, like Sherburne mentioned, maybe
Spin magazine dissected his entry to the point that the "real" article was
fucked up beyond recognition.
Geesh, I didn't realize my simple entry was going to upset so many.
-Peter "Pachinko" Schrock-
http://www.mp3.com/pachinko
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