From Martin Sent Tue, Nov 25th 1997, 15:42
From Martin Sent Tue, Nov 25th 1997, 15:42
>>>> But what I really would love to know is WHY there are limitations as regards running time? Surely it limits creativity and, erm 'artistic integrity' to be thus bound by time? Isn't there also a 4- track limit to EP's which causes so many "hidden tracks" that are on the CD but simply not listed on the sleeve? Who makes these rulings? What is the point? Who scores? <<<< its all connected w/ the british singles charts, the record companies efforts to manipulate them, and the people who control the charts (??) efforts to not let that happen. the game is basically - get single into some position in the charts, gain national airplay, the more singles y'sell, the more effectively it advertises the "real product" which unfortunately is usually a spice girls/oasis/blur/choose yer poison full length. if you are outside of the uk it's not obvious how cutthroat that whole 1st chart placing business can be. at one time they were giving away almost an hour of remixes and bonus tracks for the same price as a single w/ 6 minutes of music, which one would the consumer choose? aside from the fact that many of these remixes could be totally useless - "lets get dj arse from ny who did that madonna record to take the vocals off for the last 8 minutes and make the drums louder". so to stop all this and make the charts fair, they introduced the limit. it wasn't specifically aimed at idm artists - they just happened to catch a lot of the flack having longer tracks. anyway the record companies just changed to only charging one or two uk pounds ($2-3) for a cd single in the 1st week of release to get similar exposure. hence the the uk charts current in at #1, #43 the next week bouncing yo yo effect. apologies for the amount o' bandwidth that took obidm: finally got around to giving the mouse on mars "instrumentals" a spin. i can't remember who posted saying they preferred it to their other recordings, but i have to agree. its not quite ambient, there are beats and loads of clicks, but its all very blurred at the edges, and balanced so that nothing jumps out. there's also a lot of surface noise type effects, i don't think its just a bad pressing (?) 'cos the crackle and hiss seems to play an integral part in the overall sound, subtlely varying and shifting. (if it is a bad pressing - i'm gonna look a total arse). >>> Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 00:33:45 +0000 From: drew mcdowall <xxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxxxx.xx.xx> Subject: Re: (idm) [review] Quant - Breaking and Entering ... np:lee scatch perry-arkology (i finally got round to buying this excellent 3cd set, not this list but the upsetters' influence can be detected in much of the best idm). <<< funnily enough "instrumentals" had me thinking about the black ark sound. its got the same subtle, tho' complex rhythms, slow deep bass pulse, and a mess of hazy sounds that shift and open up through many layers. it probably isn't going to change the world, but has a warm feel that's got me giving it a lot of respins these days. -martin np - bowery electric/vertigo