Bounced for Mike J. Brown who wrote:
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Tai Nguyen wrote:
quoted 6 lines [paraphrase: AFX & FSOL are not the gods they are made out to be]> [paraphrase: AFX & FSOL are not the gods they are made out to be]
>
> I have always tried to avoid
> being labelled because I believe labels limit your own personality; when
> you try to define yourself, you begin to live by your definitions rather
> than having the definitions be a description of how you live.
Only if you let it. A label can be just a reference point. If the only
meat you eat is chicken, in comparison to most people you are a vegetarian,
so if someone asks you, "are you a vegetarian?" you can say "yes" and not
be under any obligation or peer pressure to restrict yourself to what may
be the textbook definition of vegetarian.
Applying the reasoning to music, prior to the ambient house boom, "ambient
music" had a very definite meaning, encompassing basically what Brian Eno
defined to be ambient and not much else except ambient industrial and perhaps
the instrumental Sylvian & Czukay works. Yet as more music comes out that
incorporates elements of the textbook or pure ambient, the definition of
ambient has expanded to encompass these new varieties. Now one can look
at what was once labelled "instrumental progressive rock" "experimental"
"electronic music" etc. like all that Virgin back-catalogue stuff on A Brief
History of Ambient vols. 1 & 2, and call it "ambient," whereas you couldn't
(well, you *could* have, I guess) before.
So if you are of strong enough character, you can "be labeled" and go on
about your business in your own unique way, perhaps not conforming to the
textbook definition of the label that has been applied to you, and take
comfort in the knowledge that you are redefining the meaning of the label.
You could apply that to record labels, too. Labels with a strongly
identifiable sound are defined in part by their intent and in part by
their output.
Mike
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|\| _\_ \ \|\||=| Tai Nguyen |\| email address: |=|
|=| /__/\_\ \=||\| Cornell University |=| thn1@cornell.edu |\|
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|=|/ / /\ \ |=||=| "These are not my figures I'm quoting. They're |=|
|\/__/ \_\/ |\||\| from someone who knows what he's talking about." |\|
|=\__\/\ \ |=||=| - unknown congressman in debate |=|
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