On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 7:20 AM, Aidan O'Doherty
wrote:
> i simply loathe the term 'IDM' - pompous.
This is rather a widely held attitude, going back basically to the
beginning of the IDM list.
Honestly, there might be a better thing to call music fitting that
description, but it has persisted, and has life as a genre tag that
will likely outlive the relevance of the e-mail list, if it hasn't
already.
Besides, it isn't strictly true that the 'intelligence' implies idiocy
on the part of the rest of dance music. Historically, the
'Intelligent' followed from the mailing lists' formation in response
to the Warp "Artificial Intelligence" compilations and release series.
In that context the 'intelligence' has more to do with the interplay
between the human act of musical creation and the machines that enable
it.
The artistic manifesto implicit and overt in every e-mail posted to
the list in the early days was not a rejection out of hand of existing
dance music styles. It was more a matter of encouraging and promoting
the music and musicians who had the talent and took the time to push
beyond the merely functional in creating their music.
In fact, Detroit techno artists and their fellow travelers were
frequent topics of discussion on the IDM list in the early days.
Arguably, the Detroit producers were and still are pioneers in making
durable art in the context of dance music, in stark contrast to the
frankly disposable nature of most of the dance tracks that come out.
And yet, Detroit Techno is very able to deliver on dance music's
grounding purpose -- to make people want to dance.
The IDM list as it stands now is very low traffic, and most posts
comprise announcements of music releases, musical events, and radio
shows. I think a lot of this can be attributed to the rise of web
forums and social media -- the conversations have moved there, as
younger computer users are much less focused on E-Mail as a central
on-line activity. The 313 list has become a lot quieter for the same
reasons.
But I think the decline of the IDM list is a consequence of a
refinement of focus onto deliberately difficult music that is
intricate for its own sake. Instead of being what it was early on --
a bunch of people casting about without regard for genre for music
that excited them -- it became insular. Music was being produced that
would appeal only to IDM listers, often made by IDM listers
themselves. At a certain point it became like a tailored virus,
particular to a limited audience, and many of them aged out of
passionate involvement in any musical scene, as families and jobs and
mortgages took more and more of their time. Or they (re)discovered
Thelonius Monk and Marvin Gaye, and found that spoke better to their
condition.
There isn't a sense of currency and immediacy that would attract new
people to refresh the subscriber pool. Which is a shame because the
original intent of the list was expansive and inclusive, not elitist
and exclusive. I'd like to see that original spirit come back in new
forms.
