Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
Well even if it's not a formal arrangement you will be doing other things. I have often given people feedback on things which I like. And I don't know any (dance) music writer who is not involved in some other aspect of the business - DJ/producer, publicist (which I have a problem with, actually), or whatever. Ahem! Although to be honest, I did spend four years writiing about music while promoting a club. Hell, i often wrote about my own events on multiple occasions.
RE: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 05 January 2005 22:27 To: Simon Vrebos Cc: 313@hyperreal.org Subject: Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds Can't really go into detail about all the points everyone's made about the bit of Simon Reynolds' writing (there are too many), but I do think you're all being a bit harsh: 1. I don't think it's right to say that he's inarticulate - I devoured this reasonably long bit of writing very quickly. Despite the fact that I don't agree with parts of what he syas, it's an enjoyable read at the very least. 2. I don't think that he writes in a drug-addled manner. He clearly thinks that drugs are a very important factor in the music we like, which they are. I don't agree with the extent that he thinks music should be subservient to the expecations of users of certain drugs such as ecstasy, but the drugs members of an audience have taken certainly play a part, what;s more a good part on many occasions. 3. Some of his points about the 'guarding' of Detroit music certainly strike a chord, even if his targets are somewhat indiscriminate. 4. His take on minimalism is spot on in many ways. I like minimalism, whereas he doesn't really seem to, but his observations seem quite acute to me nonetheless. Just my two farthings... *** As the 1940s clichéd film line goes: 'An interesting story, but it changes nothing!' :-). OK, that was my last comment before I actually *read* the thing in its entirety. Sorry for being flip Dan, couldn't resist! k
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
And I don't know any (dance) music writer who is not involved in some other aspect of the business - DJ/producer, publicist (which I have a problem with, actually), or whatever. Ahem! Although to be honest, I did spend four years writiing about music while promoting a club. Hell, i often wrote about my own events on multiple occasions. Also the role of the critic is changing with new technologies - even with forums such as this list. As many people would read reviews on this list as some music mags. Anyone can post a review on Amazon! I myself regard them as a form of entertainment. I always read reviews after I have listened to something. That's fun. I know many, perhaps rightfully, have a problem with the way that mags back trends but that dialectic has existed long before mags, there will always be flux in pop culture whether there is a traditional media or not. Is the 80s revival so very different to the classical revival in the Renaissance in terms of dialectic? And yes I doubt that Botticelli thought he was painting 'Renaissance art' but that's how we view it in retrospect, yet the art works exist on their own. Tags are everywhere.
(313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
I'm reading 'Energy Flash' by Simon Reynolds published by Picador (1998). In this book and more specific in chapter eight entitled 'The Future Sound Of Detroit' I read some 'interesting' viewpoints for discussion. Here's the entire last part of the chapter: KEEPING THE FAITH Jeff Mills belongs to a tradition of black scholar-musicians and autodidacts: Sun Ra, Anthony Braxton, Derrick May, DJ Spooky. Instead of inspiring thoughtless, sweaty fun, Mills believes dance music should be the vehicle for lofty intellectualism and weighty-verging-on-ponderous concepts. Let me be very very clear, he says, with the barest hint of annoyance. Underground Resistance wasnt militant, nor was it angry... Im not angry now... The music that I make now has absolutely nothing to do with colour. It has nothing to do with man/woman, East/West, up/down, but more [to do with] the mind. The mind has no colour... Theres this perception that if youre black and you make music, then you must be angry. Or you must be deep. Or you must be out to get money and women. Or you must be high when you made that record. Its one of the four. And the media does a really good job of staying within those four categories. But in these cases, its neither of those. To which you might respond, whats left? If you remove race, class, gender, sexuality, the body and the craving for intoxication from the picture, what exactly remains to fuel the music? Just the pure play of ideation. The result is music that appeals to a disinterested and disembodied consciousness. The formalism of minimal techno has some parallels with minimalism in the pictorial arts and in avant-classical composition; both have been critiqued as spiritualized evasions of political reality, as attempts to transcend the messy and profane realm of History and Materiality in the quest for the timeless and territorially unbounded. If the musical legacy of Derrick May and Jeff Mills is largely unimpeachable, the mentality they have fathered throughout the world of 'serious' techno is, I Believe, a largely pernicious influence. This anti-Dionysian mindset favours elegance over energy, serenity over passion, restraint over abandon. It's a value system shared by Detroit purists both within the Motor City and across the globe. In Detroit itself, artists like Alan Oldham, Stacey Pullen/Silent Phase, Kenny Larkin, Dan Curtin, Claude Young, Jay Denham, Marc Kinchen, Terence Dixon and John Beltran, uphold the tradition. Many of these producers were corralled on to a 1996 double CD compiled by Edie 'Flashin Fowlkes, which he titled True People as a stinging rebuke to the rest of the world for daring to tamper with the Detroit blueprint. Detroit is living in denial. Techno has long since slipped out of its custodianship, the evolution-through-mutation of music has thrown up such mongrels as bleep-and-bass, Belgian hardcore, jungle, trance and gabba, all of which owe as much to other cities (the Bronx; Kingston, Jamaica; Dusseldorf; Sheffield; London; Chicago) as they do to Detroit. The ancestral lineage of Detroit has been contaminated by 'alien' genes; the music's been 'bastardized'. But lest we forget, illegitimate heirs tend to lead more interesting lives. If anything, the idea and ideal of Detroit is even stronger outside the city, thanks to British Detroit-purists. Leading lights in the realm of neo-Detroit abstract dance include the British labels Soma, Ferox, Ifach and Peacefrog, and producers like Peter Ford, Dave angel, Neil Landstrum, Funk DVoid, Ian OBrien (who titled a track Mad Mike Disease as a nod to the endemic influence of the UR/Red Planet maestro), The Surgeon, Russ Gabriel, Luke Slater, Adam Beyer and Mark Broom (whose alter ego Midnight Funk Association is named after the Electrifyin Mojos legendary Detroit radio show). It is a world where people talk not of labels but imprints, and funk is spelt phunk to give it an air of, er, phuturism. One of the most vocal of the Detroit-acolytes is tech-jazz artist Kirk deGiorgio. From early efforts like Dance Intellect to his late nineties As One output, deGiorgio has dedicated himself to the notion that Detroit techno is the successor to the synth-oriented jazz-funk of fusioneers like Herbie Hancock and George Duke. I never saw techno as anything else but a continuation of black music, he told Muzik magazine in 1997. I didnt think of it as any new kind of music. It was just that the technology and the sounds were different. This neo-conservative attitude the self-effacing notion that white musicians like deGiorgio himself have nothing to add to black music; the idea that music never really undergoes revolutions reminds me of nothing so much as the British blues-bore purists of the late sixties and early seventies. Actually, given that Detroit techno was a response to European electro-pop, we should really reverse the analogy: Atkins,
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
Here's the entire last part of the chapter: Indeed, there it is...slow day at the office? ;) MEK
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
On Jan 5, 2005, at 9:44 AM, Simon Vrebos wrote: I'm reading 'Energy Flash' by Simon Reynolds published by Picador (1998). In this book and more specific in chapter eight entitled 'The Future Sound Of Detroit' I read some 'interesting' viewpoints for discussion. simon's been drinking his bongwater again, ugh. Like this part he sez: European neo-Detroit techno-phunk is music that feels anal and inhibited, crippled by its fear of heterodoxy. Its ‘radicalism’ is defined by its refusals, by what it denies itself – I wish this book would just kind of expire -- like Simon's drug-addled half-arsed theories-of-the-week nearly always do when given time. I've never been a fan. peace -- Matt MacQueen http://sonicsunset.com
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
On 5 Jan 2005, at 15:57, Matt MacQueen wrote: European neo-Detroit techno-phunk is music that feels anal and inhibited, crippled by its fear of heterodoxy. Its ‘radicalism’ is defined by its refusals, by what it denies itself – I wish this book would just kind of expire -- like Simon's drug-addled half-arsed theories-of-the-week nearly always do when given time. I've never been a fan. He's never heard the Cabs recordings from 1976...tsk... Cheers Martin
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
God, that's even worse than I remember. It's not only pretentious and poorly articulated, it's just plain wrong. I mean, most Detroit is about good plain fun, as opposed to a lot of the chin stroking madness these days (which I actually often like, but that's another discussion). It's as if he judged Detroit techno solely based on a poorly written blurb on the sleeve of one of Jeff Mills records (apologies, Jeff) - and even there, the FUN/funk of the Wizard and his eclectic sets certainly makes good for any failed attempts at conceptual art on Jeff's record labels. And not influenced by hiphop??? What an absurd notion. In Simpsons comic book guy voice: Worst... music 'criticism'... ever... ~David
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
At 11:31 AM 1/5/2005, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In Simpsons comic book guy voice: Worst... music 'criticism'... ever... What's sad is how many of friends consider Reynolds (and guys like pitchfork) inspiration/hero/grand influence/whatever. Sorry, Ryan. -- unsigned short int to_yer_mama; matt kane's brain http://www.hydrogenproject.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] || AIM: mkbatwerk
RE: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
-Original Message- From: matt kane's brain [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 05 January 2005 16:33 At 11:31 AM 1/5/2005, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In Simpsons comic book guy voice: Worst... music 'criticism'... ever... What's sad is how many of friends consider Reynolds (and guys like pitchfork) inspiration/hero/grand influence/whatever. I think there's a place in the world for Simon Reynolds, but like most music journalists, he's essentially making a career out of sniping from the sidelines, and someone who does that for a living can only be seen as an inspiration by people who aspire to that sort of position. I have to admit, I often prefer to read opinions (on music as well as other subjects) that conflict with my own; even though I'd ideally prefer these opinions to be better articulated than Simon Reynolds' often are! Brendan
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
We have discussed his insights at numerous points over the years. Basically, any music that doesn't fit his definition of hardcore (a somewhat malleable concept) is only fit for excision and derision. All I can say about his dis on Jeff Mills is, every time I drop a Mills track in a set, the floor jumps with the pure play of ideation. Simon Reynolds: autodidact or pretentious twit? Maybe both. -- fh
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
I've not enough time to do a line-by-line consideration of what's been presented here, but *based solely on the short excerpt given here* and being what I consider to be an open-minded person, who nevertheless relishes an intellectual punch-up, I'd challenge anyone to defend most of what he says as more than sixth-form essay standard. It's a shame really, 'cause it's an important set of ideas which Reynolds addresses. I am interested in reading the book though - I'd happy if he demonstrates that we're all wrong and he's right, and perhaps he does indeed do that in the rest of the book. So. I'm not going to indulge in ad-hominem arguments - and I'd suggest that no one here should. For me, these are never acceptable, but in this case, they certainly don't appear to be even necessary. After all, his thesis should stand or fall on the soundness of his reasoning only right? Having said all that, one thing which I can resonate with is the need to cull excessive reverence toward any type of movement in music. To me, that's pretty superfluous too. k
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
On Jan 5, 2005, at 3:40 PM, Ken Odeluga wrote: Having said all that, one thing which I can resonate with is the need to cull excessive reverence toward any type of movement in music. To me, that's pretty superfluous too. I agree with that thought, but provided the author doesn't replace the excessive reverence with their own intellectual psycho-babble, unproven theories passed on as 'canon', and coin new hybrid genre names in every paragraph. I'd recommend keep a barf bag handy as you thumb through it, but hey, you might love it. IMHO that book takes itself stunningly too seriously, had the whole thing been some half-drunk bar conversation it might have been more entertaining to me, but as a real critical piece trying to stand on it's own? Not for me, thanks. peace -- Matt MacQueen http://sonicsunset.com
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
It can be interesting to read books about music (or any form of art for that matter), you can think up interestingn concepts, made up some really interesting concepts on why music is music or whatever, or have a good track because you sampled 2 goldfishes having sex in the end it all comes down to wether you like the song or not. No theory or whatever made me hate a track i used to like. So i never took these things that seriously. KJ --- http://technotourist.org On 5-jan-05, at 17:33, Brendan Nelson wrote: At 11:31 AM 1/5/2005, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In Simpsons comic book guy voice: Worst... music 'criticism'... ever... What's sad is how many of friends consider Reynolds (and guys like pitchfork) inspiration/hero/grand influence/whatever. I think there's a place in the world for Simon Reynolds, but like most music journalists, he's essentially making a career out of sniping from the sidelines, and someone who does that for a living can only be seen as an inspiration by people who aspire to that sort of position. I have to admit, I often prefer to read opinions (on music as well as other subjects) that conflict with my own; even though I'd ideally prefer these opinions to be better articulated than Simon Reynolds' often are!
Re: (313) Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds
kj at technotourist dot org wrote: No theory or whatever made me hate a track i used to like. So i never took these things that seriously. I'd say a sign that a theory is interesting is if it makes you like tracks you used to hate. THAT's much more powerful, imo. In the end, though, it's important to remember that there'd be no theories without the art - but the converse is most certainly not true. -- Dennis DeSantis www.dennisdesantis.com
(313) Energy Flash
Looking around the old Submerge site, I came across this: THE DEFINITIVE DETROIT UNDERGROUND MUSIC INFO SOURCE http://web.archive.org/web/19980215140137/www.submerge.com/energyflash/ Unfortunately it was never archived and the links don't exist anymore. Does anyone have any copies of Energy Flash?
(313) Energy Flash records
Anyone ever buy from them? I saw they had a record simply called 1 listed on eBay so I was curious and emailed them for a description (as it says on their selling info) - this is what I got back... It's a listing cockup! Really helpful lads there. MEK
Re: (313) Energy Flash- nevermind
It was a misunderstanding in the slang (cockup = mistake for my fellow Yanks). Rich @ Energy Flash was cool enough to respond to my rather aghast email and explain what he really meant. Really helpful lads there. No Sarcasm this time. MEK Michael.Elliot-Knight @fallon.com To: 313@hyperreal.org cc: 02/24/03 09:33 AMSubject: (313) Energy Flash records Anyone ever buy from them? I saw they had a record simply called 1 listed on eBay so I was curious and emailed them for a description (as it says on their selling info) - this is what I got back... It's a listing cockup! Really helpful lads there. MEK
Re: [313] energy flash
Haye! does anyone know if the transmat release of beltram's energy flash (ms16) has ever been rereleased? i'd also be interested to know on which records this track has been released on apart from the vol.1 and the energy flash ep on rs. thanks for your time I have that track in RS Classics Volume 3 too. Lay Unconditional Empowerment http:://barkingcat.org/counterforce
Re: [313] energy flash
I've got it on a traxx joey beltram 89-90somethin' classics pack of tracks of stuff...yeah... josh23 --- Counterforce - Lay [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Haye! does anyone know if the transmat release of beltram's energy flash (ms16) has ever been rereleased? i'd also be interested to know on which records this track has been released on apart from the vol.1 and the energy flash ep on rs. thanks for your time I have that track in RS Classics Volume 3 too. Lay Unconditional Empowerment http:://barkingcat.org/counterforce - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/
Re: [313] energy flash
i ordered from watts about two years ago when transmat rereleased it. i bought a smile compilation five years ago, entitled rave anthems volume 1, especially for energy flash darren k From: Counterforce - Lay [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: peter mueller [EMAIL PROTECTED], 313@hyperreal.org Subject: Re: [313] energy flash Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 18:51:29 -0800 Haye! does anyone know if the transmat release of beltram's energy flash (ms16) has ever been rereleased? i'd also be interested to know on which records this track has been released on apart from the vol.1 and the energy flash ep on rs. thanks for your time I have that track in RS Classics Volume 3 too. Lay Unconditional Empowerment http:://barkingcat.org/counterforce - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
Re: [313] energy flash
It was a transmat Classics rerelease, but that was about four/five years ago. Might want to try www.transmat.com Tristan == Ten mixes, one album, various tracks, pics and info here: http://phonopsia.tripod.com/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] FrogboyMCI on AOL IM Deserve's Got Nothing to Do With it. -Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven -Original Message- From: peter mueller [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 313@hyperreal.org 313@hyperreal.org Date: Sunday, January 07, 2001 4:42 PM Subject: [313] energy flash hi, does anyone know if the transmat release of beltram's energy flash (ms16) has ever been rereleased? i'd also be interested to know on which records this track has been released on apart from the vol.1 and the energy flash ep on rs. thanks for your time peter - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] . [EMAIL PROTECTED] . _ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
