IDM Mailing Archive

quoted 1 line What do other IDM'ers think of singing on electronic music?

>> What do other IDM'ers think of singing on electronic music?

I say, why not? The trouble with pop-rock-blues music is it is essentially intended as poetry... the music is merely an excuse for someone to sing some lyrics they wrote that they think are neat for a few minutes, and the masses generally accept the music based upon the lyrical, rather than the musical quality. I prefer instrumental music in general, because pop music, with its emphasis on the lyrical and its slew of lazy, poorly trained and untalented/unimaginative musicians, tends to produce the same backing tracks with the same few chords and drum rolls over and over again using the same dull instrumentation, whereas instrumentalists are forced, by the fact that their music will be taken not for the value of its lyrical content but as music in and of itself, to add richness, complexity, and subtleties to their work. This is, of course, still not neccessarily true; in house music, for example, which is mostly instrumental, many artists produce dull, repetitive, dance oriented tracks, which may have lyrics in them but are designed to move the body and not neccessarily the mind. However, IDM as a genre is genreally comprised of artists who spend some measure of time and effort on their tracks, and generally produce complex and interesting music. Putting vocals over the top, not just sampled/repeated stuff and/or wailing, coudn't neccessarily hurt, in fact, it might lead to the creation of a new kind of pop music (which does already exist, but is decidedly rare), one that would contain lyrical as well as musical invetiveness and perhaps sensitize our misguided youth to the value of good musical content in their music. The trouble with most of my pop-rock loving friends is that they are unable to understand the point of having music without words, that sometimes, music is just for listening. I feel they are missing alot.

On Thu, 10 Oct 1996, Sugatis & Co wrote:

quoted 2 lines What do other IDM'ers think of singing on electronic music?

> >> What do other IDM'ers think of singing on electronic music? >

Well, as usual when vocal idm is mentioned I always like to take the chance to plug some of my favourite bands. So, be on the look out for: slowdive 5ep: Vocal idm at it's best. slowdive in mind remixes: remixes of the above brought to you by bandulu and reload. ecstasty of st. theresa: greatness, with guitars and moog. see bella's homepage at hyperreal. st. etienne: good remixes here and there. I like underworld - cool kids of death, secret knowledge - pale movie and aphex twin - quex-rd. Scala: ep and album are good fuzzy trip hop cocteaut twins: Mark clifford remixes. nicely ambient from another vocalic idm band, seefeel. Funnily enough, looking at these now, I see that they are all male producer/writer with female vox. Comments anyone? Phil Downey

On Thu, 10 Oct 1996, Philip Downey wrote:

quoted 2 lines cocteaut twins: Mark clifford remixes. nicely ambient from another

> cocteaut twins: Mark clifford remixes. nicely ambient from another > vocalic idm band, seefeel.

This is really a nice EP. Being a Cocteau Twins fan, this was like chocolate and peanut butter. Any more collaborations in the works? An album perhaps? khannan suntharam kxs28972@bayou.uh.edu