From Andrew Duke Cognition Sent Wed, Feb 24th 1999, 21:18
From Andrew Duke Cognition Sent Wed, Feb 24th 1999, 21:18
giles: i agree with what you say about kraftwerk, but we've really got to stop going on about ":stefan betke (pole) the artist cum studio engineer/masterer" and vice versa. (i'm sticking up for him here cos i can see his point about hating this). betke was doing his music well before he moved to berlin. he then got the job mastering at dubplates and mastering through hardwax in berlin. he'd be doing the pole music regardless of his dayjob as a masterer. he loathes the constant artist=masterer, masterer=artist. the mastering is just a dayjob to him and he doesn't want to be defined by it. i can certainly see why--if you knew what my "dayjob" was and saw how far removed from music/art/creativity it was, you would understand why i am annoyed by people in my life (friends, family, etc) who think all i do is work at my dayjob (when the most important part of my life is the music) and say "andrew are you going to work at your dayjob for the rest of your life" as if that's all i'm doing. urgh. anyway, . for betke it's the same thing, the mastering is just a dayjob, but the music as pole that he does on the side is the most important part of his life. you can hear him explaining this in the interview with him that's currently in the features section on http://www.globalserve.net/~cognition i've also written this up as a text feature but it has been eaten since then so i can't put it online. it will be published in the next issue of fix mag (los angeles) though. andrew :) ps speaking of getting eaten, the march 99 electronics, house/.tech house, and techo/electro reports and charts also appear to be eaten, so everyone who was asking about em: sorry, but the computer wins again. urgh urgh! i'm gbeing super polite about all this, but probably couldn't express how pissed off i am. low res.crank feaure (text version) has also been eaten twice, but i'm determined to get that done so it's a comin; soon. my life in an emoticon: :( Giles Dickerson wrote: > One of the most important points about kraftwerk that seems to always be > missed is the in point through which they came to compose elctrnic music and > electronic rhythm sequences. > > The way most artists become involved in making electronic music is they like > it, or dj it, and buy some gear, and then begin making music that the gear > allows them to make, and most of their creations, unless particularly > inventive, fall within the guidelines of what this gera will do. For > example, if you pick up a 909, the interface and the gear itself will > somewhat guide you to a particular sound and rhythmic structure. > > Now with kraftwerk, and this is what so many people fail to appreciate, > these guys decided on the music they wanted to make and then built equipment > like sequencers and drum machines to fill in the gaps that technology at > that time was missing. This is huge, because what this means is that they > had an idea of this music before they were entirely guided by the > technology, they were actually guiding the technology to meet their view of > the music they wished to compose. > > This is an important concept, because it seems to me, especially with > artists such as "pole" for example, who is a lathe and studio engineer gone > musician, that the people involved in developing new musical technology, > might be the ones who move the music ahead, mainle because they are the ones > creating the tools that so many of the artists to day use. > > This is the role kraftwerk played, and to me, this direction they took was > huge. It wasn't as if they stumbled on their music after fooling around with > a synth that failed in the popular market and ended up laying down electro > tracks. > > g i l e s d i c k e r s o n > D I C K E R S O N / B O S T O N > : : > <jeff mills>it feels like a mission actually, more so than a job</jeff > mills> > -----Original Message----- > From: Cognition Audioworks <xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx> > To: xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx <xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx> > Cc: xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx <xxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx> > Date: Wednesday, February 24, 1999 3:58 PM > Subject: (313) Re:newKraftwerkVSold/Atkins' opinion > > >I'm with Will. No one can deny the importance and quality of Kraftwerk's > >recorded material. And yes, electronic music since them owes them a huge > debt. > >But even > >Juan Atkins says they're a little bit behind the times re: their *new* > music > >performed lately (though he was extremely happy they toured and that those > >who knew them from their recordings could hear them live, while those who > >missed out on Kraftwerk (i.e don't know their electronic music history) > could > >experience them and get some education to the past. You can check out > Atkins' > >comments and opinions on Kraftwerk and plenty of other stuff in the > interview > >with him on In The Mix show 578 on http://www.globalserve.net/~cognition > >Thanks. Andrew :) > > > >C Twomey wrote: > > > >> Hey, let's not denigrate Ralf & Florian, who set the ground work for all > >> the music you like when Kirk Degiorgio could only reach the white keys of > >> his Rhodes. I'd refer you to any of the boots of the latest Kraftwerk > tours > >> - The Return Of The Man-Machine is an excellent one - to re-experience > the > >> subtle new tunes (and the extension of "Airwaves"), which in the > Kraftwerk > >> style mix accessible and avant garde elements (the computer-y sequence in > >> the 2nd one, which is as poly-rhythmic as any underground tech-house > >> stuff). The vocoder melody in the breakdown of 1st new one in the set > (the > >> Latin-y one between "Radioactivity" and "Trans Europe") has a particular > >> strange beauty, like the best of the European avant garde (old school > that > >> is). > >> > >> CT > >> > >> >From: Will Samuels <x_xxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx> wrote: > >> > >> >The new material they played live last summer wasn't that great. It > >> >sounded a little like dated Juno Reactor type of stuff. And it lacked > >> >the charm of their earlier releases. > >> > > > > > > > > > > >