From Che Sent Tue, Dec 8th 1998, 11:04
From Che Sent Tue, Dec 8th 1998, 11:04
At 03:15 AM 12/7/98 -0800, Gonzi Merchan wrote: >New Artist of the Year >New Label of the Year >Vinyl Only Release of the Year >Track of the Year >Remix of the Year >Most Under appreciated Label of the Year >Most Under appreciated Artist of the Year >Best Live Show of the Year In addition to the Under-appreciated Label and Artist categories, I'd add Under-appreciated Track and/or Album. I'd also like to see Most Overrated Label, Artist, Album, and Track categories. Also, how about Most Prolific Artist and Missing In Action categories? >What do you think IDM people? I always enjoy reading the poll results >but the same few labels/artists always seem to get the majority of the >votes year after year while some of the smaller labels (and in my >opinion most interesting music) gets ignored in favor of more widely >available releases. The nature of record polls is that those releases which have been heard by the most people have a better chance of winning. <rant mode on> As for "smaller labels get[ting] ignored", I'd say they get enough attention on this list as it is. There are only a handful of people reviewing records, and it seems that most of them focus on records that I can't find in my local shops from small labels that I otherwise wouldn't hear of. My guess is that there are a substantial number of people on this list that would like to hear more about records that they actually have a chance of hearing for themselves (hint hint: if this is how you feel, post more reviews!). I don't subscribe to the "the more obscure it is the better it is" theory. These artists tend to stay obscure for a reason. It seems that the people who are really good go from obscure to widespread distribution rather quickly, like Amon Tobin. Usually when I bother to track down some obscure release, I have a hard time believing that you guys are raving about it for any other reason than your having one of 300 copies (it's awfully suspicious that there aren't more negative reviews of these releases). Accuse me of having populist tastes if you will, but I have trouble finding people in my town who have heard artists like TPower, Underground Resistance, or Black Dog. Besides, unlike some of you college kids living on Daddy's Visa card, subsisting on Top Ramen, or however the hell it is you manage to drop so much on records, I've got a fairly limited record budget. I have to stick to records which I have a high probability of liking, and depend on compilations and remixes for exposure to new artists. Che