From Simon Paul Sent Wed, Sep 8th 1999, 18:24
From Simon Paul Sent Wed, Sep 8th 1999, 18:24
Fave lines: "All you're doing is sitting in a corner, sucking your thumb. And if that's engaging with the music, then I'm happy to be an old bastard who still lives with his mother." heh heh heh.....he's definitely a master of irony....ah well to each their own, writing about music is like dancing about architecture anyway :P sp Irene McC wrote: > This was written by a friend who's a free-lance correspondent for a (South > African) magazine called SL : this was posted on their on-line site and had my > jaw hanging open :-) I'd be curious to hear other people's opinions on the topic. > http://sly.co.za/flashbaby_060999.asp > > Monday, 6 September > The Body Electric > Miles Keylock > Flashbaby ponders just how people engage with music > > It's no revelation that I have a fundamental problem with the way people seem > (not) to listen to music these days. It's been a major thorn in my proverbial hide > that so-called dance music genres - music that's sole function is as a > commodity which primarily allows people to dance - have such a following in > this country. > > Perhaps it's not really a question of insisting that one listen to the music, now > is it? Isn't it more an issue of how - or whether at all - people actually engage > with the music. Be this cerebrally - a desire for an escape from the stimulus of > the body, or viscerally - a search for transcendence through the body itself. > Perhaps this is one reason why fans of dance music are only too willing to > tolerate self-indulgent and exaggerated sets from DJs. > > Don't let anyone try and tell you otherwise, dancing to house music or drum > and bass or trance is about the individual losing contact with the body, literally > getting out of their heads. Ultimately dance music is not about the DJ - who, if > anything serves merely as a conman, a visage, a cover version of the author. > And don't listen to your friends whining on about how "electronic music is so > cool because it's about the death of the author and the search for a new > signifier confronted with the pre-millennium realities of this post-modern era." > Bollocks! God is not a DJ! And a DJ will never be God. > > Despite their posturing endeavours there is no way that listening to a DJ spin a > few discs or a couple of records can have as meaningfully a corporeal effect as > watching a Nude Girls, a Groinchurn, a Nine, or a Fetish live onstage. These > people are gods! > > The appeal of rock music is that it speaks precisely to the body. It's about > embracing the fleshly textures of the music in all it's potential carnality: it's > about sex, booze, drugs and rock'n roll. All you have to do is listen and hear. > Whether you dance or not isn't an end in itself. By contrast, dance music is > simply about denial of the body. It's about a new age, smart drinking, asexual > looking, pill-popping paranoia of the flesh. > > The next time you go to a drum and bass club, just have a look at where the > kids are. Deep inside their own heads and way up their own arses. I'm sorry, > that's certainly not listening to the music. 'Cos if anything, dancing with and > inside yourself seems kinda sad to me. Who are you communicating with? The > DJ? I don't think so. They're definitely playing the music for themselves. > Perhaps the beats then? Oh, please. I think not. All you're doing is sitting in a > corner, sucking your thumb. And if that's engaging with the music, then I'm > happy to be an old bastard who still lives with his mother.