I dunno about all this.
I read one post that said something to the effect of 'Aphex Twin's music
is very original, because it doesn't sound samey and have that 4/4 thump
driving it like every other piece of shit dAnCe tRaK out there.' See,
that's just it though - that's such a relativist statement - sure, his
music may be WONDERFUL when it's lumped into the 'techno' category - but
does it hold up when viewed in the context of music as a whole? I think
some of it does - some of it is genuinely beautiful, expressive music - but
I don't think that everything he does is worthy of the slavish praise it
seems to generate.
I read some article in Option (and another in Spin) which compared the
Aphex Twin to other accomplished musicians in the 'experimental music' vein.
Does this hold? I mean, sometimes I think that a statement like that
undermines what a lot of us do musically - when I was a senior in high school
I used to sit down and start ideas - most of them were quite melancholic,
melodic, little pieces that were highly rhythmic - driven by hip-hop in-
fluenced beats - but they remained in loop form, and were never arranged
into songs that developed thoroughly and grew. I was just messing around.
Then I heard Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works and it reminded me of what
I used to do, because the tracks were similar in nature and feeling (although
my sounds were not nearly as analogue or reverberant), and in structure too.
And I would not dare compare myself to any musician who's made a dent thus
far in music, be it experimental or not. I can only hope to be able to
improve to the point where I'm able to create artistically/musically credible
pieces using this medium. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this style/
medium has too much potential that hasn't been reached yet - and to label
anyone as a master of it would be extremely premature. I think all of us
who are out there making music and learning about the process of creating
using this technology are striving toward the same thing. Some may be
further ahead than others at this point, but it's all so relative.
Maybe I've taken all of this too personally? I'm really good at over-thinking issues, as if you haven't noticed..
Darshan