From KaisrSolze Sent Tue, Jun 30th 1998, 05:11
>possibly, but my take on it is that the record industry has convinced >all the people that deal with it that nobody can sell anything without >lyrics. =09And whenever they try, they can't. They don't know how to market it, = and by=0Anow there are no popular alternatives through which to hear musi= c. USA Radio=0Ais very niche-driven, except for low power college radio = which does its best=0Ato not cater to a mass market (not that there's any= thing wrong with that).=0AHow would it sound if KRock in NYC threw on Orb= ital (a poppy electronic group,=0Abut with little relation to rock) in be= tween a tired grunge ripoff and Oasis?=0AGood, poppy electronic has nowhe= re to go marketwise (on the most basic level,=0Athe songs are far too lon= g, the hooks are structured completely differently,=0Athe repetition is o= f a different sort), except for the strictly partybased=0AEurobeat / high= NRG stuff, which usually sucks (I have no problem with=0Aimpugning this p= articular genre, I'm sorry to say). It's a bad form of disco,=0Aand peop= le use it as background music, becuase there's no way of convincing=0Athe= mass market that "electronic listening music" exists. People on this li= st=0Amay criticize a magazine like Spin, but I think it does a good job o= f=0Apresenting electronic, and other non-popular, but still pop, forms of= music as=0Aviable alternatives. Problem is, relatively few people read = it in the grand=0Ascheme of things. And honestly, even though stuff like= jungle and house is=0Anice to listen to, they are usually dance musics, = which are better grooved to=0Athan sat down to. So, until the US changes= its entire music culture/economic=0Astructure, stuff outside of the Prod= igy, with vocal hooks, short songs, and=0Arock sounds, won't sell much. = That's whdant/right here I sound redundant." =09What's the radio/marketing situation like in Britain? Is radio so "ni= chey?"=0ADon't outlets like the BBC present good listening alternatives? = Why the hell=0Adid techno break through in England/Europe in the first p= lace, and get out of=0Athe clubs? Did Strings of Life really change ever= ything that much? It has to=0Ago deeper than that. >How about Amon Tobin? I have the Creatures EP and have heard his stuff >as Cujo. Any tips on his Ninja releases? =09Buy his stuff ASAP. The only jazzy jungle stuff I've liked, and I lik= e what=0AI've heard a lot, as does pretty much everyone on this list who'= s posted about=0Ait. The jazz is actually real jazz, instead of the Buke= m noodling, and the=0Ajungle is halfway between dancefloor and experiment= al. Plus Brazilian=0Abreakbeats / rhythms, some dark stuff, some more am= bient parts. Permutation=0Awould be the album to buy (the folks in the r= ecord store where i work have=0Aalready dubbed it drum and bass album of = the year, and we get a lot of jungle=0Ain), but Bricolage and the singles= are supposed to be fine too. =09And guitars are great instruments, which have created much of the best= =0Apop/art music ever IMO. Even if there are IDM tunes up there in the p= antheon,=0Athe sheer number of great guitar songs outweighs anything elec= tronic. They=0Ajust have a longer history, and frankly, lyrics can be ve= ry meaningful. Great=0Arock is a good thing, all apologies to Che. Peop= le aren't closeminded to give=0Arock the benefit of the doubt over instru= mental electronic wanking. Let the=0Amusic prove itself. Sam=0A