From Che Sent Sun, Mar 7th 1999, 03:25
From Che Sent Sun, Mar 7th 1999, 03:25
At 09:22 AM 3/5/99 -0800, eric hill wrote: >who are these people who have been able to completely detach themselves >from all they've experienced, from everything that they'd draw upon when >making music? all musicians participate in the history of music, though >whether their path through it is recognizable or not seems to be the issue >here - to idolize artists who are better at hiding their influences. Yes, the recognizability is the issue. There's a difference between seeing the influence of Japanese art on the Impressionists and a paint-by-numbers copy of "Blue Boy". Likewise, there's a difference between hearing the influence of Dub on The Clash and that execrable paint-by-numbers cover of "Heroes" on the Godzilla soundtrack. Personally, I find overtly recognizable influences to be very, VERY distracting. For instance, with the Pixies I found myself trying to identify which Wire song they're ripping off, instead of listening to the music. One of the main reasons I completely bailed on Rock for Electronic music is that Rockers have become completely unable to not wear their influences on their sleeves. The Smiths were the last Rock band I heard that sounded completely fresh, in that I couldn't identify their influences thru their music. Grunge - what a 70's flashblack nightmare! Newbuild & Utd.State 90 completely blew the top of my head off in terms of originality (ok, I hadn't heard any Phuture prior to Newbuild, but Newbuild is still in a league of its own). Then I heard Detroit. Wow. Then I started hearing people like Black Dog, Aphex, Beau Hannant, The Orb, Orbital, Reload, Autechre - they all had (and still have) their own ever-mutating sound, and I couldn't hear their influences in the music. So now I'm buying Skam 12"s and asking myself - uh, which one is the Gescom track? I hear Boards Of Canada and ask - what kind of retro shit is this? (I know BOC is one of the current darlings of this list, but what little I've heard has been far too derivative for my tastes) I can't tell you the last time I heard a Techno artist that sounded fresh & original, which is why I started buying stuff like Squarepusher, TPower, Photek, & Amon Tobin - they've all distanced themselves from their genre(s) in a very IDM way. Yeah, I'm still following my old Techno faves, but the IDM end of the genre is distinctly lacking in new blood, at least to my ears. The recognizability factor has passed my threshold of tolerance. Your threshold might be higher - great for you, because I'm afraid it's going to take an increasingly higher tolerance for derivative music to enjoy the Techno side of IDM. It may be time to start working on the obituary... Che There's nothing that'll make me reach for the MUTE button faster than a Philips commercial...except Alannis Morrisette.