cesium5hz :
quoted 4 lines flip side which is for listening (after dancing). Is it just me or do I>flip side which is for listening (after dancing). Is it just me or do I
>perceive most idm listers as just concentrating on music made by Caucasian
>American/ Europeans, and not enough on the Afro Population. Perhaps we do
>need to re-assess our perception of idm.
well, the classic archetypal dichotemy btw white/black (when contrasted) is
geeky/closed vs. funky/open. i think it is largely the black influence
that has brought to most modern/pop culture the sense of freedom (and the
beats) that pulled it down from the (clicheed expression) ivory towers of
western art and even dance music before the twentieth century.
at a time like this it is always wise to quote simon reynolds :
"...the not uncommon 1992 slogan of 'intelligent' or 'pure techno' clubs :
the 'no breakbeats, no lycra' promise. on the surface, 'no breakbeats'
merely indicated that a particular sound--the breakbeat-driven hardcore
that dominated the big raves and the pop charts alike--wasn't on the menu.
but by implication, it proposed the purging of the black hip-hop influence
that had 'polluted' the detroit-descended genealogy of pure techno."
ok this doesn't quite make sense because detroit techno was black-produced.
but the point is that idm, or 'intelligent' techno, had/has as its first
goal a return to the search for beauty by mental endeavor rather than by
long spells of dance fever.
it is funny to say this because i am white and i have ascertained that i am
a poor dancer, and i do like geeky music that is intellectually satisfying.
but--and i wish i could cite it properly--one of the early detroit
producers said of the reason for kraftwerk's success among post-funk black
kids...
"they were so white, they were black."
and this says a lot for the geeky-cool-and-back-again feel of idm's
funk/noise harmonic/jarring combination of synths and beats.
.af.
ps; the above is purely a comment on twentieth-century trends.... if we
were to go before that..into cultural archetypes (a potentially heated and
**OT** discussion), traditional african polyrhythm and idm's disdain for
4-2-th'floor could be mentioned......
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