quoted 5 lines genres are invented by journalists (and now dotcoms) as places to>genres are invented by journalists (and now dotcoms) as places to
>"hang things"-
>not by musicians or record labels that love what they're doing. how
>many artist interviews have i read where the artists are unable to
>define what to call what they do?????
while i think this is true to an extent. . .it cannot be said that genres
are *completely* artificial and imposed by extra-musical forces. i mean,
when i sit down to write a tune i will often think about genre. i too have
been involved in many genres over my (admittedly shortish) musically
conscious life (i'm 26, and let's say that i began to "think" about music
in spring 1986 when i bought AoN "Invisible Silence"). since then i've
jumped head first into many genres, and declared each to be the lost mother
Ur-tounge of music (hip hop, metal, EBM, acid house, techno, belgian hoover
tracks, uk 'ardcore, the whole new school ambient thing and idm, drum and
bass, and finally whatever slop i'm into now). i like to think that i have
matured, at least in the sense that i no longer think that whatever i'm
into now is the great white hope of music.
yet, at the same time, these genres were incredibly helpful in giving me
the lexicon to think about music. sure, i could have been some musical
savant who just naturally arrives at whatever semi-informed conclusions i
would have arrived at, but that didn't happen. by comparing and
contrasting differing musical styles i've learned SO MUCH about what music
is. i can talk for hours about the differences in what Cosmic Baby (great
example) and, say, Remarc brought to the musical table in 1994. i get
invigorated by these discussions, and the whole "thesis + antithesis =
synthesis" thing just gives me a boner. perhaps i'm just a jaded
postmodernist crap artist, but i absolutely appreciate the differences in
genre as something to examine and (possibly) cherish.
i understand that Ninja Tune is based on the "melting pot" ideal, which is
absolutely fantastic and probably one of the reasons that i consider it to
be the best label in the world right now. but you can't say with a
straight face that Vibert (whom i love), Roots Manuva (whom i don't), Burnd
Friedmann and others on NT don't think about genre. Friedmann, a wonderful
example, uses genre as a diving board to explore whatever fancy he has at
the moment, be it jazz, dub, or pop. maybe if he wasn't doing this he'd
just be making whatever electronic music he deemed appropriate (the musical
savant thing), but he CHOOSES to align himself with these conceits, and i
think the reasons for him ding so are obvious. personally i love this.
hell, i'd love to see him explore tejano or black metal or appalachian
folk, just to hear what a new perspective on old thinking can do.
anyhow, i really wish i could boil down this stupid post into something
simple and to-the-point. what i'm trying to say is that genre/formalism is
a double-edged sword. it's not uniformly evil or good. i'd hate to think
that the fact that journalists can option to use these labels does dilute
their usefulness to honest musicians and appreciators of music. i will
continue to use these labels, and if it makes me some kind of brainwashed
robot then so be it :P
</self-righteous>
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1642 try 621
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