From Bob Bannister Sent Fri, Apr 9th 1999, 02:55
From Bob Bannister Sent Fri, Apr 9th 1999, 02:55
Sharon Maher wrote: <(3) Sounds to me like Reynolds isn't concerned with "geektronica" at all, but rather the precedent that it could set, i.e. that music becomes [an] increasingly non-commercial entity. In which case his position in the music industry heirarchy as a lofty and rather pompous music critic would be rather unimportant.> I bet he's concerned with "geektronica" to the extent that he'd love another of the terms he coins to enter the general vocabulary (when was the last time any of you said "neurofunk"?). However, you're quite right - I don't know how old he is, but psychologically at least, Reynolds is very much part of the generation of rock critics (Christgau, Greil Marcus et al.) that came of age in the late 60s, during the few years in which some of the most interesting music the counterculture had to offer was also the most popular and actually appeared in the pop charts. That crowd has never quite gotten over the fact that that is no longer the case (Xgau coined the term "semi-popular" in the 70s), not least because the leftist bias they bring to all music criticism requires that the music reach the broadest cross-section of "the people" to effect its real work which is some half-baked half-century old notion of "revolution" that has nothing to do with the aesthetics of music (sorry, this a well-worn soap box but I'm happy to climb on for a moment). Of course, this crudely Marxist scenario really requires lyrics to convey its message so IDM and all electronic music without vocals is always at odds with this worldview, except for populist assumptions about dance music (you snooty middle-class intellectuals prefer to appreciate your music from an armchair while the salt of the earth sweats it out on the dance-floor). The standard issue rock-crit in this mold paid lip-service to Chicago house and Detroit techno because of the non-white, urban and gay cred that came along with it, but ultimately the NY/LA hip-hop axis gave them a lot more verbal fuel and (aside from mainstream rock - by which I mean "alternative" ) it dominates the Village Voice critics poll and similar US institutions, where IDM is still virtually non-existent - this continues to make the Wire look good by comparison. Bob