I agree with you, Simon. Kw
On 05/04/2008, at 21:59, duf duf wrote:
It's amazing . . does anyone like anything on this list. Maybe the 313 t-shirt should be .. "don't like it on 313" .. beatless humour aside .. I was thinking the other day that we might be getting genre confused with technique. ie. minimal is a technique like dub is a technique Alot of the slash/techno/electronic music I hear nowadays can belong to a different genre depending on who you talk to, what tempo you play it at .. and possibly what medium you play it with. I'll bet if it's on vinyl its techno, downloaded it's electro and if you play it off a laptop then it's minimal . I mean seriously the repetitive complaints I keep hearing about laptop dj's or copy cat stylists .. and references to the same single dubstep producer is wearing me thin. I've been beat up around here before . for saying this, but the music is moving. It's doing new things, in a million different ways. Beatport is only one black hole of a dozen where new players can loose their credibility to the hype. It used to be Magazines, or lists like this. However nowadays you can pick your sound, lift you ideas from a global pool and drop your tracks back into the same pool. I honestly can't tell any more the difference between house, techno, techhouse, detriot, minimal or any other genre you might want to mention. For me genres change between bars of a track. cut out the high hats and it's techno, pull out the mids and its minimal. Take out the bass & the highs sing some vocals and your in the middle of a trance track ?? Dub is a genre of music, but it's also a studio technique that can be transported across many different genres of music. The current era of music can mean everyone is a producer in their bedroom. So what I think we are hearing is people using the same sort of production techniques across similar tempo's and styles of music. What else are we too expect given the technology, history and culture of the music? I just think we might get more life out of electronic music if we start to look at some of the processes going on as the use of techniques as opposed to genreification followed by quick dismissal. Currently I am enjoying the sounds classified as minimal because they provide a group of tracks that enable me to play sets that contain a lot of spatial texture. The use of reverbs, delays, stripped out melody modes and monotonic rhythms enable out board sample layering and the use of off beats on the other deck to construct the type of sets I have wanted too for years. Lets face it every Dj wants to be producer with out having to do the hard work in the studio. The likes of Lee Perry lead the way by just dubbing an existing sound, opening the door for one knob wonders the world over. In this regard , yes, the use of minimalist techniques by many producers is tedious but no more than the 303 when it was flavour or the cow bell or siren or filters . etc etc. We listen to techno music, we listen to machines and plead desperately for soul. You can't have your drum machine and beat it too. .simon
