2011-A good or bad year for (electronic) music

Discuss

The year is not over (finger crossed for AFX and BoC) ..

..so far its been good, but not memorable.

First year ever where I had as many memorable first time listens with current stuff as with old stuff, but I think a lot of that comes from me not trying to play genre classic catch-up nearly as much as in the past

only like 3 releases really blew me away

fairly good. better than last year. but i'd still say the last 10 years has been pretty crap compared to the decade before that.

  On 12/18/2011 at 3:45 AM, sirch said:

fairly good. better than last year. but i'd still say the last 10 years has been pretty crap compared to the decade before that.

I think the big difference between 90s & 00s electronic is that it's gone from being kind of an esoteric hobby for geeks or people with money to the kind of music that anyone can produce without spending money or getting a bunch of friends together or spending months learning to play an instrument.

Although a better comparison would be 80s vs 00s. The 90s were a kind of transnational decade where a bunch of kids realized they could make all those crazy sounds from the Kraftwerk CDs with some stuff from the junk shop.

The genre somehow got attached to Skrillex. That almost made it bad, too many good releases too care though.

  On 12/18/2011 at 3:52 AM, Cryptowen said:

  On 12/18/2011 at 3:45 AM, sirch said:

fairly good. better than last year. but i'd still say the last 10 years has been pretty crap compared to the decade before that.

I think the big difference between 90s & 00s electronic is that it's gone from being kind of an esoteric hobby for geeks or people with money to the kind of music that anyone can produce without spending money or getting a bunch of friends together or spending months learning to play an instrument.

 

Although a better comparison would be 80s vs 00s. The 90s were a kind of transnational decade where a bunch of kids realized they could make all those crazy sounds from the Kraftwerk CDs with some stuff from the junk shop.

yeah and those 80's kids did it and did it right. and they gave us that glorious decade of "IDM" or whatever you wanna call it.

the noughties has been rubbish, really. in fact, 1 of the worst decades, i'd say. for all things human.

Not bad by any means, but the trend of too many 'just good' and 'fairly interesting', and too little 'revolutionary' and 'essential' albums is getting more and more alarming. I'm picturing a situation in 10 years time when I'll want to blast some classics from the past, and there probably won't be anything from 2011 worth considering.

very good. new scenes are emerging.

  On 12/18/2011 at 5:22 AM, vamos scorcho said:

very good. new scenes are emerging.

this. I think artists such as Rustie are kinda paving the way for some new melodic styles of electronic dance music, thank fuck. I'm kinda sick of dance music being minimal, I want something with super crazy melodies that I can also dance to. I hope to become part of this 'scene' too, with my Pselodux stuff.

That said though, I really want people to get over the 'slow'/half-time thing, whether it be dubstep or otherwise. And wonky beats never really did anything for me. I want to start hearing stuff that is super tight, fast and highly melodic!

  On 12/18/2011 at 3:42 AM, Cryptowen said:

First year ever where I had as many memorable first time listens with current stuff as with old stuff

  On 12/18/2011 at 3:43 AM, Joseph said:

3 releases really blew me away

  On 12/18/2011 at 3:54 AM, chassis said:

too many good releases too care

Wow, what was good this year? Please share! The only 2011 thing that's stuck with me were Actress's Twitter tracks. And there's like 4 of them.

  On 12/18/2011 at 6:02 AM, modey said:

  On 12/18/2011 at 5:22 AM, vamos scorcho said:

very good. new scenes are emerging.

this. I think artists such as Rustie are kinda paving the way for some new melodic styles of electronic dance music, thank fuck. I'm kinda sick of dance music being minimal, I want something with super crazy melodies that I can also dance to. I hope to become part of this 'scene' too, with my Pselodux stuff.

 

That said though, I really want people to get over the 'slow'/half-time thing, whether it be dubstep or otherwise. And wonky beats never really did anything for me. I want to start hearing stuff that is super tight, fast and highly melodic!

Did you read this by Simon Reynolds? You hit on some points he made, including Rustie's output http://pitchfork.com...maximal-nation/

Skrillex and brostep - I'm fucking over it. This was without a doubt one of the most frustrating years as a electronic music listener, my first experience watching a scene/genre I loved (dubstep) from very early on transform into a shitty, godawful meme BUT I realized it was not only pointless to dwell on it, but a cynical view. This has been one of my favorite years as a music listener. I explored more new releases and artists than I had in previous years, most of which are considered "dubstep" or "future bass." In other words, I realized this was a great year once I stopped paying attention to the crap out there.

  On 12/18/2011 at 6:45 AM, sweepstakes said:

  On 12/18/2011 at 3:42 AM, Cryptowen said:

First year ever where I had as many memorable first time listens with current stuff as with old stuff

  On 12/18/2011 at 3:43 AM, Joseph said:

3 releases really blew me away

  On 12/18/2011 at 3:54 AM, chassis said:

too many good releases too care

Wow, what was good this year? Please share! The only 2011 thing that's stuck with me were Actress's Twitter tracks. And there's like 4 of them.

phoenecia

wagawaga

shabazz palaces

dalglish

good year more like PRETTY FRICKEN AWESOME year 4 music imo

I don't think I liked 2011 in music really. Especially because a couple of my favourite producers came back with bad follow ups.

Spent the year mostly getting into doom and sludge, but not stuff from this year.

mind you, i'll get two months into next year and realise one or two releases were absolutely genius, so can't really say yet.

the backson the backson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpiD21jtWGA

It's been really thuggin' good

Not even Amon Tobin could have saved this year.

  On 12/18/2011 at 10:06 AM, MAXIMUS MISCHIEF said:

the backson the backson

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpiD21jtWGA

That movie was adorable.

As far as stuff I like, this year was pretty good. New Phoenecia release, good new Gasman album, more Oizo.

However, let me cry in the corner about how Vsnares only release a 4 track EP that was somewhat forgettable, even if neat.

Some good releases, Scintilli, Midnight Section, Severant was great. Erm, can't think of any more off the top of my head. People have been raving about the Fear Ratio album (not heard it yet). Liber Dogma's yet to sink in properly with me, but I'm sure it will in time. I don't get the same boner over electronic music that I used to, but then I am a geriatric.

EDIT: Forgot the reissue of Lego Feet, surely that should save the year for most people, even if it is from 1991? Or does that prove the point for the pessimistic?

foolish mortal, thinking i hadn't already googled my user name many times...

the backson the backson

Good year. But I am easily pleased.

been loads of great releases by the likes of zomby, ezekiel honig, martyn, 2562, machinedrum, leyland kirby, omar-s, sbtrkt, roska, alva noto, vladislav delay, byetone, v.i.v.e.k, andy stott, ceephax, bjork, com truise, burial, virgo four, cosmin trg, steffi, blawan