Well, some of the responses from my first post regarding this original
post had some valid points, but I did just want to say a couple things I
maybe didn't make clear.
All in all, I still very much enjoyed the new Funkstorung. I felt there
was still enough solid material there to recommend it, despite all the
annoying rap vocals. I just think it doesn't mix with their style of music.
There's many of different styles and flavors to IDM, of course. If I
were to expect rap vocals to pop up in an artist's music that I wouldn't
normally associate it with, let's say I'd be less surprised if I heard them
in, say, a Boards of Canada track. (I don't think I would like it any
better.) But with their more down-tempo, melody laden compositions, like
"Aquarius" for example, it would seem less surprisng more appropiate for that
sort of thing than something more glitchy squelchy style of Funkstorung.
I've gone back and listened to Appetite again, wondering if I was being
too harsh. But I still cringed after the first few bars on the tracks when
the MC's piped in.
But then it brought to mind another notable track recently which I went
back and listened to. The first track of Bola's Mauver EP. On that track I
think the rap vocals worked a little better because the rapping seemed to
become another element of the overall track and meshed far better with
everything else that was happening, and didn't seem to stand out so like on
the Funkstorung. Perhaps because the MC's vocals on Mauver were vocoded and
otherwise digitally processed however which way give them that other worldly
tweaked affect which meshed much better with the track as a whole.
But at the same time, whiled I liked the Mauver EP overall, track one was
still my least favorite.
Then I started thinking of all the other tracks I heard that have
incorporated rap or "rap-like" vocals into them. "Ccec", track 2 from Ae's
EP7 came to mind. Now, there, I thought the combination worked pretty damn
well. Because what hey did was took a sample of an MC (?) (or someone who
appeared to be making rap-like vocals), but twisted and contorted it into a
new shape all their own that worked very well with the track, making it just
another element.
And if were to expect rap vocals to turn up in any one of Ae's tracks,
and most of the type of glitchy IDM I like, I wouldn't expect any less.
But the impression from Funkstorung wasn't them same. It didn't seem
like the compositions that featured that rap vocals were appropiate for what
was happening. It just seemed that the vocals here being such an active
element clashed more than meshed. It seemed their inclusion was more an
afterthought, and that the tracks that featured the vocals could have been
any one of the other tracks on the album that didn't, and it wouldn't have
made much difference.
With the Ae track, it seemed as if the vocals were absorbed as another
part of the whole. And with Mauver, more of an equal pairing with the IDM
side of the mix making more of a concession from it's usual disjointed
glitchy style, taking up more of a funky line to meet up with the rap side,
forming more of an equal mix. (Notice that the last 3 tracks of Mauver of
very different from the first.)
And maybe that's simply what my problem with Appetite is.
So maybe it wasn't fair for me to call into question the whole of IDM and
it's flirtation with rap. I guess, like anything, it's all of matter of how
it's approached.
I DO think it's a VERY difficult thing to pull off well, and I think
that it'll probably be more prone to fail than fly at this point.
But hey, like I said, IDM if ever moving forward. Maybe I just haven't
met the artist who, for me, will bridge the gap between these two very
divergent styles.
I didn't expect everyone to agree, of course, and I also knew I was
opening myself to bit of flaming. And while I don't post very often, this
was just something that's bugging for a while that I wanted to put out there.
The purpose of the IDM list is a forum where people can air different
opinions and discuss and talk about it. That's why I'm subscribed to it.
It should go without saying though, that everything I said is in my own
very humble opinion, of course.
. . .
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org