Drew from Matmos writes:
quoted 3 lines What bugs me about "intelligent ( . . . )" is that it encodes a
> What bugs me about "intelligent ( . . . )" is that it encodes a
> compliment to itself and its audience into its very name. Can you think
> of any other genre-name that does this?
Hmm... I agree to some extent, but I don't believe that's the point of
the term.
The first techno I really heard was Italian house like Blackbox's Ride
On Time, in the lateish '80s. No diss to those who like it, but I
thought it was horrible crap. Similarly these days, Fatboy Slim to my
ears is no-effort recycled rubbish, nothing to stimulate the mind or
anything.
Now people might want to argue with the particulars but there's two
things going on here:
Firstly, to the general public, "dance" music has always been a vaguely
derogatory term, implying music which is just suitable for people to
move their bodies to, and not to listening to or thinking about, or
about moving one emotionally, and so on... Jazz was derided in such
terms earlier this century.
Secondly, apart from this public perception/tacit assumption, I think
that for a lot of people who listen to/make the sort of music we're into
on this list, they want to set it apart from the mindless commercial
drivel that's produced. Of course, it sounds pretentious and elitist,
but maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing.
I know that for both these reasons - personal preference and what most
people's assumptions are - I feel uncomforatble telling people I
make/listen to a lot of "dance music" or "techno" because I know they'll
assume it's club music, house or whatever, which is pretty far removed
from what I'm actually into.
Nevertheless, I'd feel like a complete idiot saying "Oh I listen to
Intelligent Dance Music". So I characterise it as "experimental
electronic" or "experimental drum'n'bass/hip-hop/techno" or somesuch.
Whatever its origins, the term "IDM" is a semi-useful categorisation,
just because it picks out (with admittedly very hazy boundaries) a
selection of types of music that would be hard to define otherwise.
Well, anyway, I think "Intelligent Dance Music" is a seriously flawed
and somewhat embarrassing name, but nevertheless I don't think that
"Only Stupid People Call it Intelligent" - there's pretty good reasons
for it.
P.
--
Peter Hollo raven@fourplay.com.au
http://www.fourplay.com.au/me.html
FourPlay - Eclectic Electric String Quartet
http://www.fourplay.com.au
Raven: experimental electronic
http://www.fourplay.com.au/sound.html
"Of course, dance music can be a music where you lie on your back and
your brain cells dance" -Michael Karoli of Can, quoted in Wire mag.