From Chris Fahey Sent Wed, Sep 22nd 1999, 07:45
From Chris Fahey Sent Wed, Sep 22nd 1999, 07:45
Forgive me for beating this horse again, but I'll move on to a new, fresh horse to beat on in a minute.... Philip Sherburne <xxxxxx@xxx.xxx> wrote: > just a quick note: > claiming that house music is "body" music and IDM (whatever the hell that > is) is "brain" music is rather specious.... <snip> > and finally, i agree with chris fahey that the "difficulty" of much > "experimental" music (excuse the scare quotes) is often just a pose > masquerading as intellectualism. And I agree with *you* 100% ! ;) > david, i agree with you in one respect -- music triggers thinking, but it > doesn't convey thought (i think that's what you said). and so of course, > any music -- no matter how crap -- can trigger thinking. throw me out as a > cultural-studies head if you must. if African ritual music is "dance" > music, does that mean it can't be studied & intellectualized? I was going to say this to David too, but you said it so well and frankly I don't think David and I have to fight over semantic stuff like this anyway since we both love IDM! > (mind you, i also fault simon reynolds for privileging the bodi-ness of > dance music against the head-ness of geektronica... he's just upholding the > same pointless opposition.) Agreed. I don't want to say that there's no place for music that doesn't make you dance either, and I think it's okay for music to be self-reflexive, cerebral, and/or esoteric. I'm glad, however, that the "esoteric does not equal intelligent" argument is being bandied around here now and then. Many IDM artists aren't as intellectually stimulating as you might think, even though their music is out of the mainstream. Luke Vibert or Amon Tobin (both of whom I enjoy) spring to mind as musical naifs who put together really bumping funky ass tracks many of which, honestly, I would say are hardly any more intellectually stimulating to listen to or mentally challenging to produce than, say, Fatboy Slim, who I detest. > i hate to dance but i love dance music, I know a lot about art but I don't know what I like! That's the problem with being so damn intelligent! Che wrote: > There's nothing wrong with the word intelligent. Be highly suspicious of > anyone who says there is. That's very true, but now that I'm out of grade school and no longer subject to the direct abuse of unintelligent and inexplicably socially powerful and popular people (in fact, more often than not I am socially more powerful now because of my "intelligence"), I tend to think that to refer to oneself or one's culture as 'intelligent' without a drop of guilt or irony is terribly rude and egotistical. Perhaps, contrary to your argument, it even betrays an insecurity about one's own intelligence or social standing to use the term with such blatant pride. Intelligence, like wealth, is offensive when flaunted, which is why IDM is such a fucking stupid name. Speaking of popularity, Various People Said: > > > Recently I find myself drifting more and more towards what might > > > be classified as deep house, especially the more melodic end of > > > the IDM spectrum rather than power drills and washing mashines. > > > > i think tetsu inoue says in the urbansounds interview something about > > anyone can make weird, fucked-up sounding music, the harder thing to do is > > make it accessible. > > tetsu's point was not about making accessible music, it was about making > experimental music that is *also* accessible. if the rarity of such music > is any indication, i'd say he was spot on. Hmm, here's an idea.... how about let's try to think of any (recent) top 40 songs that we think might reflect enormous innovation and experimentation yet somehow resonated with enough with pop sensibility to appeal to millions of people. I say recent because in hindsight there is tons of top 40 stuff from the 50s and 60s and 70's I would probably put in this category. I actually have plenty of ideas, but I'm interested in what others might have to say... -cf ' - . _ . - ' ^ ' - . _ . - ' ^ ' - . _ . - c h r i s t ø p h e r f ª h e y . _ . - ' ^ ' - . _ . - ' ^ ' - . _ . - ' ^ xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx 2 1 2 - 6 3 4 - 6 9 5 0 x 2 5 8 http://www.raremedium.com - ' ^ ' - . _ . - ' ^ ' - . _ . - ' ^ ' - .