I've had similar feelings about new AFX/AE releases. But I find myself
wondering: how much of this nostalgia for things past is becuase the music
then was different (better?), and how much of it is becuase we the
listeners were then different? Or, differently put, because our musical
tastes crystallized at that point in time? This crystallization of musical
tastes, i would argue, is a well-established phenomenon. Ubiquitous it's
not to be sure (for instance, my 50-year-old father introduced me to
electronic music), but look at how oldies are still being played. They are
by and large the music that gripped an older generation (and an influential
generation, by virtue of its size) in its youth. The youth passed, but the
tastes stayed the same. Are those of us who long for music past undergoing
a similar transition to musical stasis and simply rationalizing it to
ourselves by claiming that there's something in the music from ten years
ago that today's music just lacks? Surely I've heard the same thing said
by my grandfather while listening to my music, wistfully recalling the
music of his youth. It would after all be very easy to back up one's
tastes with a quasi-objective justification. Pick a unique aspect of your
favorite music that's lacking from contemporary music, identify that as the
thing that makes music good, and lament its absence. Today, we speak of
the emotionality that's lacking in newer releases. Ten years from now,
people coming into their musical prime today might long for the rash
experimentalism, the unparalleled synergy with computers that 2013's
composers just lack.
Perhaps this is not the correct forum for such musings, but I think it's an
interesting way to look at the ever-recurring
"music-was-better-10-years-ago" lament. One problem with all of this is of
course definining what makes music good, and thus better than other
music. Most of us are not musicologists, I suspect, so it's a very
subjective business. Which lends credence to my argument, I guess: in the
absence of an objective "good" in music, any evaluation will be based on
the evaluator, and not the music, so if the evaluation changes, it's
becuase of the evaluator, not the music.
Aaron
np: Derrick May - The Innovator
At 03:05 PM 1/5/2003 +0100, you wrote:
quoted 86 lines Imo "ON " was his best release ever! That's the record which triggered
>Imo "ON " was his best release ever! That's the record which triggered
>my attention towards idm, avant-garde, electronix, braindance whatever.....
>I still think that often an artists' 1st period is the most interesting
>period
>I enjoy Aphex's, AE's, Squarepushers', Plaids' first records more than
>what they try to create now.
>Often it seems to me that nowadays they are trying/looking
>harder for weirdness instead of feeling/emotion.
>For instance, i really tried to enjoy Gantz Graf...listened to it
>quit often.... but i can't dig the stuff
>It's a bit too much: " See-how-we-know-our-way-in-software-music"
>To me, music is more than a clever and inventive
>way of arranging/triggering drumsounds
>
>I really don't care whether AFX's piano is modificated... i enjoy a "live"
>piano
>just as much.. maybe more!?
>I find it harder and harder to find records which i want to buy...
>only label i buy from with my eyes closed is TOYTRONIC .... but for how
>long?
>
>I don't mean to say releases from nowadays Suck... not at all... but records
>like
>SAW 85-92, Not for Threes, Music has the right to children, Anti ep, Anvil
>Vapre....
>Not sure whether i will new records as much as those...
>
>hey... maybe we're spoiled!
>
>Quibuz
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "B Peru" <mybadelf@yahoo.com>
>To: "ben gill" <gillette_foamy@yahoo.com>; <idm@hyperreal.org>
>Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2003 10:41 AM
>Subject: Re: [idm] drukqs is not a letdown by far!
>
>
> > I'm assuming there are a lot of people on this list
> > that got into IDM late in the game so they have a
> > different perspective. I think anyone who started
> > collecting Aphex Twin from the beginning would have
> > different perspective than someone who just discover
> > him a few years ago. Maybe I'm wrong
> >
> > If the history perspective is semi true, that might
> > explain the ratio? Even the most diehard old skool
> > idmers find it hard to stay on the list. Where the
> > hell is Alan Parry or Lance Mcgannon?
> >
> > --- ben gill <gillette_foamy@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > Wow. One post out of about ten that says anything
> > > close to something I agree with. I can't believe
> > > how
> > > many people have said things like everything before
> > > "RDJ" is boring, and stuff about how the more recent
> > > output is the best...keerist. I assumed waaayyyy
> > > more
> > > people would agree with the idea that the early
> > > stuff
> > > is the foundation, called "classic" for a reason.
> > > Did
> > > all the old school IDM-listers jump ship en masse a
> > > few years back?
> > >
> > > Ben
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
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