Damn Tom - you're spot on today.
MEK
"Thomas D. Cox,
Jr."
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11/04/05 01:11 AM
Subject
Re: (313) The more things change
On Fri, November 4, 2005 4:02 am, Cyclone Wehner wrote:
> So you find it stimulating reading time and time again "I put emotion in
> my
> music." Don't you wanna know, well what do you mean about that? And sooo
> many DJs talk of their music in terms of 'journeys'. "I wanna take people
> on
> a journey." That's self-evident to me...
but does it make it any less true? i mean, getting emotion into the
grooves of those records must be much harder than people seem to give it
credit for since so few people really seem to be doing it. and taking
people on a journey is most definitely a foreign concept to 99.9% of the
deejays ive ever seen spin records. these things may be "self evident" to
you, but it doesnt mean people are achieving them! in fact, so few
actually are that aiming for that goal isnt really all that trite or
unoriginal. its just trying to provide a timeless experience.
> It's reductive and in 10 years I've heard so many people say it and it
> says
> and means nothing. If you want to lure people into your craft, you need
to
> lure them in - and illuminate. Sorry but that's my hack side speaking!
> It's
> a cliche as I have heard/read/transcribed it a zillion times.
maybe youre not asking the right questions of people? i mean, as a music
fan and a generally knowledgeable kind of guy, when i read any interviews
with musicians i love i cringe at the trite questions usually posed to
them. to be honest, just liking a couple of someone's records doesnt
necessarily mean that youre qualified to interview them. there are people
who could easily ask many more indepth and interesting questions of these
artists, but in order to do so they have an extremely intimate
relationship with their music. and really, how many people care enough to
read about these in depth things? not many. which is why those kinds of
interviews arent done. which is why i dont mind people giving the same old
answers to the trite questions theyre asked. i dont think anyone is trying
to get all long winded and philosophical about their music with no
prodding (jeff mills aside!). and even people like mills get ridiculed by
certain sects of people in the techno scene for trying to explain the
things that motivate them about their music. its so asinine.
> I've learnt that some musicians are better - and more comfortable -
> letting
> their music talk which I think is fair enough. I have to say I've
> virtually
> never heard that in Detroit circles as the artists are so invidualist
that
> they will share insights.
all im going to say about this is that on many, many occasions ive read
interviews with someone who said something really interesting about their
music, or ive read reviews which said something about the music that
really piqued my interest, and then ive gone on to actually listen to it
and wonder what everyone's panties were getting in a bunch about. my
record reviews come from putting the needle on the record. thats really
all that matters to me, and thats probably all that matters to most
artists who arent just trying to make money. so who cares what their
insights are? they make wonderful music and thats all that counts. let
some snobby music critic make up nonsense if they want.
tom
