Hello,
I've always thought that electro was closely linked with IDM, just
look at Two lone swordsmen's output. Many IDM artists profess their love for
the electro beat, from Autechre stating that early influences were hip hop
to the CLEAR record label from the mid 90's which featured bands such as
plaid and gescom messing about with electro beats, and whose very name was
a reference to an early electro record by Cybotron.
I think electro music represents a time when electronic music as we know it
was being born, when the rules about sound and composition with regards to
genres had yet to be written, and that is why I listen to IDM because it
embodies to me the excitement that I experienced when I first heard electro.
Anything goes.
Sorry for the waffle.
Dan 7ape.
np. I-F - Space invaders are smoking grass.
-----Original Message-----
From: Nuutti-Iivari Meriläinen [mailto:gordon@populo.vip.fi]
Sent: 17 November 2000 11:46
To: idm@hyperreal.org
Subject: [idm] Electro As IDM
Hullo All,
for the past years I've been starting to lean more and more towards
electro than the artists commonly discussed on the list. I am quite
certain that this is a natural progression for me, from the early
A.R.T./GPR/New Electronica/Likemind et al. sound through the harsher
Warp (Autechre, Phoenecia)/Skam/Markant etc. phase (where some rhythm
elements are definitely electro - just listen to ``Basscadet'') to what I
am buying more and more nowadays: Yunx, Jega, Phoenecia, Datathief and so
on. I have also been compelled to buy some pure electro-plays, like SCSI
and other similar labels.
Someone else besides me has to have noticed the recent uprising of
neo-disco in the form of labels like Gigolo and artists like Zombie Nation
with their roots deeply in the sewers of Hague and ears on the wall of
Moroder and disco - and that labels like RePHLeX jumped on that bandwagon
well before the genre was brought into mainstream attention (just listen
to DMX Krew and Cylob's ``Rewind'' and ``Sex Machine''). Speaking of
RePHLeX, there are some really, _really_ good (yet somewhat
disturbing) electro tracks on their back catalogue, mostly Cylob and Mike
Dred (and of course Drexciya and Dynamix II)).
I think this has been a fluid transition from the almost too abstract
rhythm programming on recent Autechre releases to the crisp (and
sometimes even melodic) yet not straightforward electro on records like
Jega's ``Geometry'', Yunx/Datathief split EP on Pitchcadet, more
experimental sound on Elektrolux (one of my current absolute favourite
labels), Phoenecia's ``Odd Jobs'' and ``Randa Roomet'', Team Doyobi's
``Pushchairs For Grown Ups'' - and the harsher, noisier chapter of Speedy
J's ``IEEE Mitten Menu'' and ``Pannik''. I'm still quite reserved in my
foray into electro - I have not run to buy every UR record there is, but
Carl Finlow and some others really have grabbed my attention with their
nonstandard electro sound. I still have mixed feelings towards the
neo-disco movement for a reason I'm unable to grasp, though. It is fun yet
I wouldn't listen to it at home.
A second point is the rise of the lo-bit electro movement - people using
C-64's and other 4-8-bit equipment to produce (mostly) electro. There was
a whiff of that on RePHLeX with the release on Bodenstandig 2000's ``Maxi
German Rave Blast Hits 3'' and Lektrogirl's ``I Love My Computer'' and the
more recent releases like Tero's ``First Blood'' on Rikos Records (I have
seen this guy perform _live_ with two C-64's - absolutely fabulous -
go get his first release (RIKOS003) _now_) and 8-bit Rockers (I don't
know if it's out yet). I'm not too keen on the lo-bit circuit (with the
exception of Tero), but it really is gaining momentum (or I'm just late to
observe).
(Rikos Records will release a Lackluster 7" soon.)
So what am I aiming at? Probably to claim that electro in its new forms
should be regarded as IDM (the concept, not a genre). Any takers? Ideas?
Am I totally off the mark here?
Cheers,
--
nuutti-iivari meriläinen gordon at diversion dot org
http colon slash slash www dot diversion dot org slash
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