From Greg Earle Sent Sun, Apr 11th 1999, 13:42
From Greg Earle Sent Sun, Apr 11th 1999, 13:42
Bob Bannister eloquently wrote:
> 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
> 60's, 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).
Bravo! Truer words were never spoken. I would point out, however, that
Reynolds was born in 1963, so he's only 35, not 50-something like the
aforementioned crew. And, unlike them, he at least gives products of
rave culture some credence, which none of them ever do ... (to the L.A. Times'
Robert Hilburn, Electronica outside Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and Underworld
simply doesn't exist - no sales or mass popularity == no currency in his
worldview, as Bob stated)
> 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.
Indeed ...
I think I'll e-mail this post to Robert Hilburn ... IDM post of the year :-)
- Greg