quoted 1 line From: Alex Reynolds <polygon@jhu.edu>> From: Alex Reynolds <polygon@jhu.edu>quoted 6 lines I am talking about music; in particular, social aspects of this type of> I am talking about music; in particular, social aspects of this type of
> music and its fan base. I think it merits discussion; I would like to
> know other's viewpoints as well. It is very interesting to me that an
> artform by mostly white artists that borrows heavily from mostly black
> artists has a description that effectively states: "All other forms of
> (dance) music are unintelligent."
From what I understand, the name was pulled out of a hat when a list
was formed to discuss the artists on Warp's "Artificial Intelligence"
compilation. It's clearly problematic for the reason you suggest, but
few have adopted any alternative term to describe the aesthetic. I
prefer "abstract dance music" myself. Autechre is the musical analogue
to a Mondrian painting for me...
It's also an artform by mostly heterosexual artists that borrows heavily
from mostly homosexual artists, non?
Music that is for and about a subculture is great for enhancing personal
and group identity, but also gets stuck in aesthetic ruts. When
the music escapes those social roots, it loses much of its ability to
empower, but gains a great deal in artistic range, much in the same
way that the received musics of American blues and rock'n'roll were
misinterpreted and distilled down to the good ideas by the British
invasion.
I don't recall seeing anything pejorative about the Detroit and Chicago
house roots of IDM on here, indeed, the artists frequently speak with
reverence of their discovery of Model 500 (or whatever) tracks in
mid-80's record bins...
Darryl Roy ersatz@hal-pc.org Houston, TX
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