Another thread that's too long to quote...
I guess I'm feeling windy today because I can't stop talking about this stuff.
In my experience, music has the ability to do one thing: Create a Place. This place can be anything, a visual landscape (think: monolake, gobi ep), a field of sound, a mood (st. etienne, especially their most recent full-length, whose name escapes me now)...anything. These can be please or displeasing and in either of these circumstances, I can be happy or unhappy with the results...sometimes I'm not in the mood for beautiful, pleasing places that take me back to my childhood...sometimes I want nothing more.
The point is that IDM has grown into a genre of music created by certain tools...there's no such thing as an IDM sound anymore, no such thing as the IN-group these days...If you were listening to Aphex Twin in 1990, then you were IN...but today, this in not the place of IDM. Maybe the next big thing musically is a return to acoustic instruments or electronic symphonies or some such...but IDM has been around long enough that it's no longer the next big thing...maybe it's the current big thing, but it's past its Underground
Prime. It's not underground anymore, it's niche.
Music creates places...you either recognize these places or you don't...and then you either enjoy them or you don't. There is no such thing as objectively good, purely 'correct' music. It is the ultimate in subjectivism...
Are there necessary IDM albums? If you want to understand the genre and study its beginnings, sure...go get early Aphex, Autechre, Black Dog, Speedy J...early Warp, Rephlex...the Artificial Intelligence series...
But if you're listening because you like certain sounds and certain artists, don't ask for "necessary"...ask for stuff you might like. There is no such thing as 'necessary' when it comes to music...even IDM.
---brian
--
Save the whales. Collect the whole set. Trade them with your friends.
Brian Gause
Technical Writer
Applications Division
Oracle Corporation
(650) 506-1311
bgause@us.oracle.com
The statements and opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of Oracle Corporation.
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