people's passion for supporting marginal electronic musics such as that
released by skam, spymania, musik aus strom, worm interface, dot, suction,
etc. etc. seems to have kicked into high gear within the last six months or
so with forcefield, phinnweb, fresh's rephlex site, the new clear site,
james' gescom and autechre discos and the proposed faq, the bochum welt
site, etc. (there are many more i've forgotten) all proving the value of
diy in contributing to the vitality of dance-based experimental electronic
music and culture. the web, obviously, provides a rare opportunity for
this, and many of these individuals have used it to an inspiring degree in
providing comprehensive, well-compiled, well-designed and maintained
informational resources about various different artists and labels.
so much so, in fact, that it would be nice to maybe add a new catagory or
two to the idm poll to reflect this. although most of what's discussed here
seems to be of a more popular bent (big-name artists such as aphex twin,
autechre, etc.) for some (such as myself) this is about the only place
where i can learn about many of the smaller, more marginal artists that i
am interested in, their releases, their histories, their other projects,
etc. where else, for example, has anyone seen, say, a funkstorung review?
q&a with global communication? a hab review? a reference to schematic or
suction? roupe discussing the impetus behind his new album?...it's not my
intention to turn this into a popularity contest, just to acknowledge the
contributions of certain individuals to our collective passion for and
appreciation of this music.
the/se catagory/ies could be/include:
best overall independent emusic resource
best label resource (clear, skam, rephlex, etc.)
best artist resource (squarepusher, bwelt, paradinas, etc.)
best ezine (magic feet, forcefield, etc.)
although i have a nervous feeling that this will tend to become just an
adjunct to whoever gets artist of the year (if it's mu-ziq, the mu-ziq page
will win; if its squarepusher, the squarepusher page; etc.) this will at
least provide the opportunity to express appreciation for people who
otherwise selflessly toil away in their little corner of fanaticism for the
rest of the year.
just an idea...
sc