(idm) Chris Twomey knows nothing about 0.4 Can

From Greg Earle
Sent Sat, Oct 3rd 1998, 01:26

[ This is dissolving into ad-hominems, so this is all I have to say ... ]

>> Chris, would you kindly get the bug out of your ass?
>
> It's more like a bug in the bassbin.

Hardy har-har.  (How ironic, myself and everyone else that saw Innerzone
Orchestra raved about it.  I even put up with the drum solo.)

> My point with you and the other premee was that although you have the right
> to your (uninformed) opinion you would have got better results by

Get off of your "uninformed" high horse already.

> witnessing the whole show and participating in the event the way Can's
> audiences did (not from the back of the hall).

Did I say I was at the back of the hall the whole time?  When I noticed them
baked, I was at the back of the hall with Kenny and Michael Balch.  Earlier
I'd been center stage, 10 feet back.  Later on I was side stage, 15 feet away.
Don't assume that because I made that remark that I was at the back of the
room the whole time.

> Hitting the Can-type groove with a lineup a couple dates old is not instant
> like playing a video game or turning on a sampler.

HELLO.  THIS IS NOT CAN.  THIS IS NOT EVEN AN INCREDIBLE SIMULATION.

I am not interested in hearing early-70's "groove" music in 1998, thank you
very much.  I was around the first time.  (Oh, I forgot the other thing this
band reminded me of at times - The Dead.  And I fucking hate The Dead.)

> Obviously it was a mistake having idm content on
> the Damo Suzuki/Michael Karoli tour (Mark Spybey was included because he
> has the same management).

I would have gone if Mark wasn't on the tour anyway, just out of curiosity.
I suspect the others that went might answer similarly.

> An audience of nerds with Richie Hawtin hair cuts and Sesame Street-entrained
> attention spans is not going to inspire these guys.

Of all the IDM'ers that went, only Gilly has a "Richie Hawtin hair cut".

Most of the audience were post-Nirvana alterna-(stereo)types, with a small
smattering of out-of-the-woodwork types I've seen off and on for over 20 years.

And as for the "Sesame Street-entrained attention span" comment, do I *really*
need to point out the fact that I'll be 40 in less than 3 weeks, and probably
thus more than likely either your age or older?  I was a 15 year old stoner
space music listener back in the day too, y'know.  Stop pretending that you're
Mr. Older and Wiser than all of us that you're putting down.  'Cuz you aren't.
I know Can's place in music history.  I know they had a big influence on
people I respect, like early PiL, The Fall, Neubauten, Pete Shelley et al.
This has nothing to do with "uninformed".

The bottom line is, a bunch of us IDM'ers went and saw a band re-create turgid
early-70's Krautrock and it wasn't very interesting to us, either from a "This
sounds creative now" standpoint or a "This sounds like a life-like re-creation
of a formerly creative and influential musical genre" standpoint.  Get over it.

(Oh, and there was nothing "subtle and funky" about this Two Fifths Of Can.
 Can you say, "No Liebezeit or Czukay"?  Sure ... I knew you could ... )

        - Greg