From Chris.Hilker Sent Thu, Jul 2nd 1998, 03:49
From Chris.Hilker Sent Thu, Jul 2nd 1998, 03:49
Note: I can't retrieve my mail for the time being (but I can send) so I may not see any replies to this for a while. >>And that's your loss... > >no it's not.. I like a lot of house.. I just said it's not IDM, as in the >genre _IDM_.. or what I believe it to be anyway. Tell me more about this "genre _IDM_" (as opposed to the self-explanatory "intelligent dance music" or simply "music discussed on this list"). >>This is a huge gross generalization that just doesn't hold up. A good house >>record (like the new Herbert disc I just got from Bent Crayon) is *less* >>repetitive and *more* complex and individual rhythmically than e.g. the >>Boards of Canada album everyone was blowing so much smoke about. Yes, the >>Herbert record's repetitive, but it's got a lot more variation within that >>repetition than BoC ever do. > >no way man.. all house has the same beats over and over.. they are what is >defined has HOUSE beats.. and this just reinforces what daniel said about >ppl not liking house "Just because it's got a house beat." A lot of ppl are >annoyed by that beat. "People don't like it" can't possibly be tantamount to "it isn't IDM" if you contend that IDM is an actual genre apart from other forms of dance music, as you do. I can name quite a few people on this list who hate the Aphex Twin but that doesn't mean he doesn't make IDM records. As for your contention that "all house has the same beats over and over," I've put up some MP3 files at ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/cs/cspot/ with excerpts from the first three tracks on the Herbert record I mentioned - the first ten seconds of each minute after the first. The variations in the rhythms are subtle, but they're there. And anyway, what's the connection between repetition and (musical) intelligence? Lots of IDM is highly repetitive, like Panasonic, Chain Reaction stuff, etc. Are you saying that's not IDM either? Or are they doing something that can't be done in a house context? (Think hard before you answer that one in the affirmative.) >and like I said before, BoC album is pure triphop, so the beats are very >repetative and simple. but it's good none the less, and a lot of it to me is >damn well brilliant. So triphop is allowed to be IDM if the beats are repetitive and simple but house can't be IDM even when it's less so? >>Disagree. On both counts: oversimplifications that don't hold up in the >>face of intelligent house records and floor-friendly idm. > >What about the definition of IDM that Alan set? is that not true? Please quote the relevant passages. I'm not sure what you're referring to. >anyway.. I >am sorry if you disagree, but I believe that the majority of >house/trance/breaks/goa artists make tracks simply so they will move >people's asses on the dance floor. I don't deny this at all. But there's a huge leap in logic between saying that the majority of a genre's records are simply functional dancefloor music and saying that no records from that genre can ever be IDM. If you said: No electro record can ever be IDM No drum & bass record can ever be IDM No triphop record can ever be IDM No lounge record can ever be IDM You'd get laughed off the list. What's so different about house that you can't imagine someone doing something intelligent with it? (The same goes for the other genres you mentioned, of course, but I haven't heard any records in those genres that I'd consider IDM. I have heard such house records.) The Aphex Twin made a *Prodigy* record last year and people accepted it as IDM. If *he* makes a house record, will that be IDM? C. -- Chris.Hilker (xxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx) "What I don't understand," said Richard, "is what these people have against dictionaries. Maybe they don't even know they can't spell."