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
