"it seems to me that the timelessness of IDM is severely undermined by the fact that so much of the music is created in the context of ever-changing technology, which doesn't lead musicians to spend as much time perfecting their compositional skills. this isn't necessarily a bad thing (I often describe myself as being more interested in sound rather than music), but this does lead to a large percentage of music which is forgotten or outdated when the next set of plugins makes the rounds."
Well, I'm not sure about this really. A lot of IDM focuses around using older synths and electronic technology that has been available for quite some time now. I think this is less a problem with IDM in general and more with musicians who constantly rely on the newest technologies and developments to create their music. I'm not saying either route is better or not--plenty of great stuff has been made on centuries old instruments as well as newly developed software.
"the only electronic music which I'm pretty convinced will be listened to far into the future is kraftwerk. ... i could almost believe brian eno also fits into this category - primarily because he's been involved in so many parts of music history. but his actual music (or at least the ambient works i've heard thus far) are not striking enough to make me believe people will bother with him 50 years after he's gone."
This whole statement is interesting, but I don't think any of us can really say who or what in music will last. It depends on cultural memory. The reason so much of the classical stuff has lasted has a great deal to do with what has been recorded and remembered. Obscure classical composers from the same time as Beethoven and Bach are being re-discovered and highly regarded in the same way. Technology has improved over the past 60 years or so to such a degree that such re-discovery has actual been more like re-firing brain synapses that were dying out. A lot of the music revered from the past century is simply regarded because it's more easily remembered. Cultural memory is short-lived. I wonder how much longer the Beatles will insist on being remembered. And let us not forget the impatient minds growing up this very instant--many of them will not regard a lot of this music. There is too much out there being 'remembered' to choose from that is happening right now. Too much choice as opposed to very little choice centuries ago--when they took mostly what came to them or what they had the chance to hear with more limited channels of information.
Blah.
Most of electronic music (mostly I would imagine more mainstream stuff than the avant garde, take this statement whatever way you want) has evolved from using old technology anyways--808 drums, analog synths making weird otherworldly sounds rather than imitating acoustic ones-- despite a very large amount of new technology. Goes to show that it's more how you use the technology as a form of sound or music.
Enough puke from us.
cheers,
Mark & Melissa
hellothisisalex
www.hellothisisalex.com / records.hellothisisalex.com
mp3s at www.raw42.com/cgi-bin/featuredartist.pl?artist=213; www.headjunk.com
mark@hellothisisalex