---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: techno <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>On the subject of older techno like 808 State sounding dated, I
would say
>that is true especially with techno from the rave era.
>With electro, Detroit techno, and older Chicago house from the
Trax era,
>some of the music seems to obtain an electronic purity.
>A term people quite often use to describe this pure electronic
concept is
>techno purist.
as far as "Rave" music goes, i think the lack of commitment to any
given sound as its "foundation" is what makes it seem to not have
aged well. as im sure dj Entropy would love to point out, you can
hear the major offshoots of rave music cycle through the "rave
sounds" pretty frequently. the fact is that alot of rave-y techno
falls too far BPM and production qualitywise from any of those
related sub-genres to be mixed up with them and still sound
current. of course ill also shift some blame for that to the
increased awareness of studio virtuosity amongst the drum and
bass, breakbeat, etc production crowd. its like people are too
afraid to make lo-fi sounding rave tunes anymore, and i dont know
why. i mean the lo-fi thing worked in rock music, it works for
theo parrish, etc. with techno this doesnt matter so much since
alot of production still utilizes the same damn equipment used in
the early days. you can even look at the aging of the older 4 hero
and guy called gerald stuff (who had a pronounced techno/detroit
influence) compared to other stuff that was made with just a
sampler and some old house and reggae records and see that some
degree of simlilarity to newer stuff will go a long way to making
older music still sound relevant.
>Current music that will not stand the test of time in my opinion
and will
>sound extremely dated atypical of this time period are idm, trance,
>progressive house, and drum'n base.
>With idm you find that people are almost trying to be too clever
with the
>the use of sampling and plug-ins/ software, more focused on
clever sequence
>sound aesthetics than good practical dance music.
yeah i think idm is almost as guilty of losing the plot as drum
and bass is. drum and bass bears so little resemblance to old
hardcore and jungle that it doesnt sound even similar to new
audiences. its like they lose the history of the music altogether,
what happened in the past is no longer relevant, the only thing
that matters is what will happen tomorrow. IDM has some great
classic albums: surfing on sine waves, selected ambient works,
etc. but now the music has gotten to the point where none of it
even sounds remotely connected to its past. i guess thats the
appeal of the whole IDM thing to some people, to constantly
progress without looking backwards, but personally i think it cant
last too long. everything in music eventually doubles back on
itself, and IDM will be guilty of it one day as well.
>It reminds me of the Art Of Noise and Yellow in the 1980's, more
about
>technology and experimentation than good music, the use of
sampling was
>supposed to sound hip and sophisticated at the time but now
sounds extremely
>dated.
yeah ive been having some arguments recently about the objectivity
of good music, and one of my biggest arguments is that "new \=
good". of course experimental music is always a good thing to
listen to and keep up on just because one of those great ideas
could be used and taken advantage of in good music, so i wont say
only bad things about "forward thinking" music. i just think that
good quality songs never go away, and thats what should be
concentrated on.
tom
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