Thomas D. Cox, Jr. wrote:
here's the problem: IDM has gone from being more traditionally
techno/ambient based in the early 90's to being a reaction against
just about anything they feel like going against, mostly melody
and rhythm as far as i can tell. it seems (to me at least) that
its just on this course of making music as
mathematically "complex" as possible while becoming increasingly
unlistenable.
I completely agree with your explanation. I just don't hear these
things as inherently negative.
I tend to really enjoy music that struggles to break out of its
inevitable connections with history. The struggle (and subsequent
failure) to create something entirely new often tends to push the
boundaries, and I'm often a big fan of things that push those boundaries.
(Now at this point, anyone reading this who's heard my music is probably
thinking "Push boundaries? This dude writes froofy tech-house that
sounds like 70s disco mixed with 60s jazz!" Well, that's true. I
reserve the right to not practice what I preach ;)
> if it kept its
> roots, it wouldnt be quite so harsh and unlistenable to the
> average dance music fan.
I don't think they're shooting for the average dance music fan. I
recently read an interview with Richard Devine where he talked about
designing systems that would churn out musical material using chaos
theory and fractal math. I can't imagine that he's thinking about Timmy
Trainspotter or Ellen Ecstasytab if he's discussing those things in
interviews. For better or for worse, I think those folks are after a
completely different target market than most folks who are writing
floor-friendly techno. And I think that's healthy. I think diversity
among electronic music sub-genres is a good thing. And I think those
weird areas where the boundaries blur (like the early Aphex records you
mentioned) are amazing as well.
--
Dennis DeSantis
www.dennisdesantis.com
