it's been a while since there's been a truly great release

  On 2/1/2012 at 5:02 PM, LOL Alzado said:

And Keltoi, not really

so maybe i deserved your snidey put-down for some reason?

this is usually the time when something comes along that changes everything, but music has become so fragmented Im not sure this will happen again.

  On 2/1/2012 at 3:52 PM, o00o said:

I wonder if release like The Wall or the Beatles stuff is just regarded this epic because there was nothing before that. I mean if you would just listen to that today it would totally get lost between all the noise and you only give it a chance and by this establish a connection because you know how epic its legacy is

It was a time during which the average person was exposed to far less than today. Allowing such artists to become hugely popular because everyone was listening to them and little else. Unlike today where there are thousands of ways to discover new music.

  On 2/1/2012 at 6:30 PM, sidewinder said:

  On 2/1/2012 at 3:52 PM, o00o said:

I wonder if release like The Wall or the Beatles stuff is just regarded this epic because there was nothing before that. I mean if you would just listen to that today it would totally get lost between all the noise and you only give it a chance and by this establish a connection because you know how epic its legacy is

It was a time during which the average person was exposed to far less than today. Allowing such artists to become hugely popular because everyone was listening to them and little else. Unlike today where there are thousands of ways to discover new music.

+1

  On 2/1/2012 at 5:57 PM, keltoi said:

so maybe i deserved your snidey put-down for some reason?

no! my snarky put down was just as dumb as your fart release

  On 2/1/2012 at 6:30 PM, sidewinder said:

It was a time during which the average person was exposed to far less than today. Allowing such artists to become hugely popular because everyone was listening to them and little else. Unlike today where there are thousands of ways to discover new music.

true, but it's more than that. the possibilities for pop music were comparatively less explored at that point too. as time goes on, it will be increasingly difficult to craft groundbreaking material because there just isn't as much ground to break...at least not in the genres with which we're currently familiar. so it will take someone creating a bold new direction for pop music. it's hard to conceive of without hearing it, but hopefully it's out there waiting to be discovered.

absolutely groundbreaking, game changing stuff mostly comes with new technology, and as there hasn't really been any difference in what you can do with computers and such since 2001, except being able to do things faster, you are right in that aspect. I would say that that's the necessary distinction here. There HAVE been loads truly great releases, but there hasn't really been much game changing stuff.

I can't imagine what it could possibly be, but eventually, there will almost definitely be another big technological discovery that affects music, and there will be new ground broken again.

Skrillex is groundbreaking.

  On 2/1/2012 at 6:43 PM, LOL Alzado said:

  On 2/1/2012 at 6:30 PM, sidewinder said:

It was a time during which the average person was exposed to far less than today. Allowing such artists to become hugely popular because everyone was listening to them and little else. Unlike today where there are thousands of ways to discover new music.

 

true, but it's more than that. the possibilities for pop music were comparatively less explored at that point too. as time goes on, it will be increasingly difficult to craft groundbreaking material because there just isn't as much ground to break...at least not in the genres with which we're currently familiar. so it will take someone creating a bold new direction for pop music. it's hard to conceive of without hearing it, but hopefully it's out there waiting to be discovered.

I agree. But the chances of some one person or band creating and becoming known for a bold new direction in music is much more difficult now than before. First because so much has been done already, and second because so many more people are going for it that every time you hear a new sound you've already got a half dozen artists doing it and it gets diluted very quickly, sometimes into a cliche before it even has a chance to get big. Or if it does eventually get big, those of us that are really into music have been listening to it for years already and it's just too commercial by that point. We don't have a tolerance for it anymore. Maybe it's that things take too long to get to the mainstream because the surface-skimmers/FM-radio listeners/corporations are too slow to adapt to new sounds. They're too conservative. The underground has already moved on to new things. I think I've lost my point now.

  On 2/1/2012 at 6:59 PM, oscillik said:

Skrillex is groundbreaking.

yeah cuz his drops are da biggest. he break da ground w/ hiz sound

  On 2/1/2012 at 6:58 PM, ganus said:

absolutely groundbreaking, game changing stuff mostly comes with new technology, and as there hasn't really been any difference in what you can do with computers and such since 2001, except being able to do things faster, you are right in that aspect. I would say that that's the necessary distinction here. There HAVE been loads truly great releases, but there hasn't really been much game changing stuff.

I can't imagine what it could possibly be, but eventually, there will almost definitely be another big technological discovery that affects music, and there will be new ground broken again.

I think there's some degree of truth to this but I think more than technological progress determining when groundbreaking art gets created, I think this has to do with paradigm shifts in how people interact with the technology. A lot of the time these shifts are because of technological breakthroughs and in retrospect seem almost inevitable, like how hip hop and jungle exploded as sampling technology improved and became more accessible.

But it's very possible for some fuckin weirdo to do something totally different with what's laying around, whether that means tunage or making new tools that change how those tunes are created. And at this point, I think that's what's needed to get the cultural/technological ball rolling again.

I mean look at how much Coil is in that "Strange Music" thread. It still sounds weird and fresh today and it's not relying on electronic gimmicks, it's just coming from such a different place from other music.

And what's so amazing about Burial or Boards of Canada? Not the technology they use, but what they're doing with it, and how different it is from what others are doing.

  On 2/1/2012 at 6:39 PM, LOL Alzado said:

  On 2/1/2012 at 5:57 PM, keltoi said:

so maybe i deserved your snidey put-down for some reason?

no! my snarky put down was just as dumb as your fart release

Maybe just as dumb but infinitely more snidey.

I use komputor for to make music: bleep blurp blorp boop beep

there has been alot of good stuff by alot of left field artists but no definitive album. saru released machine in 2007, that's probably the most recent one for me that truly blew my mind.

  On 1/30/2012 at 8:37 PM, soundwave said:

welcome to the internet generation where all is available anywhere any time and collective pop culture has been dissolved into a wash of commercial BS and disposable image statements

 

I think there are probably mind blowing albums out there its either you don't know it yet or you just haven't dug deep enough

this is probably true.

  On 1/30/2012 at 4:56 PM, oscillik said:

Skrillex

sadly, yes.

all i know about skrillex is what i've seen in youtube clips. it just seems like dub step distilled for the masses. unless i'm really missing something, i'm content to hear no more.

  On 2/1/2012 at 7:10 PM, sweepstakes said:

  On 2/1/2012 at 6:58 PM, ganus said:

absolutely groundbreaking, game changing stuff mostly comes with new technology, and as there hasn't really been any difference in what you can do with computers and such since 2001, except being able to do things faster, you are right in that aspect. I would say that that's the necessary distinction here. There HAVE been loads truly great releases, but there hasn't really been much game changing stuff.

I can't imagine what it could possibly be, but eventually, there will almost definitely be another big technological discovery that affects music, and there will be new ground broken again.

 

I think there's some degree of truth to this but I think more than technological progress determining when groundbreaking art gets created, I think this has to do with paradigm shifts in how people interact with the technology. A lot of the time these shifts are because of technological breakthroughs and in retrospect seem almost inevitable, like how hip hop and jungle exploded as sampling technology improved and became more accessible.

 

But it's very possible for some fuckin weirdo to do something totally different with what's laying around, whether that means tunage or making new tools that change how those tunes are created. And at this point, I think that's what's needed to get the cultural/technological ball rolling again.

 

I mean look at how much Coil is in that "Strange Music" thread. It still sounds weird and fresh today and it's not relying on electronic gimmicks, it's just coming from such a different place from other music.

 

And what's so amazing about Burial or Boards of Canada? Not the technology they use, but what they're doing with it, and how different it is from what others are doing.

^good explanation

  On 2/1/2012 at 10:25 PM, LOL Alzado said:

all i know about skrillex is what i've seen in youtube clips. it just seems like dub step distilled for the masses. unless i'm really missing something, i'm content to hear no more.

I actually despise other brostep producers (Excision, certain Borgore tracks, Datsik, "Dubstep Remixes") more when it comes to the music. He's like the Lady Gaga or Madonna of EDM though, super hyped by the media and fanatic teen fans, he's "trendy" and his image is a huge part of what he is. Like those too pop singers it's obvious he's rehashing what others have done, yet he's the clearly the most popular. He's like #2 on the list of "dubstep" artists on last.fm, after Burial and before Nero. Digital Mystikz aren't even in the top 8.

So much thought is taken up by the little media device in your pocket/the thousands of songs on your player etc, which are essentially other people's work constantly taking up your thoughts. I think if musicians took more time away from the constant barrage of stimulus, they would give their brains some space to have unique thoughts and find some different directions to go. At the very least it would help their music become more personal, which (IMO) is where most of the best and most groundbreaking music comes from.

  On 2/1/2012 at 10:41 PM, patternoverlap said:

So much thought is taken up by the little media device in your pocket/the thousands of songs on your player etc, which are essentially other people's work constantly taking up your thoughts. I think if musicians took more time away from the constant barrage of stimulus, they would give their brains some space to have unique thoughts and find some different directions to go. At the very least it would help their music become more personal, which (IMO) is where most of the best and most groundbreaking music comes from.

Well said. Unplug if you want to innovate.

I still mantain that Ys is fucking amazing.

  On 2/1/2012 at 10:41 PM, patternoverlap said:

So much thought is taken up by the little media device in your pocket/the thousands of songs on your player etc, which are essentially other people's work constantly taking up your thoughts. I think if musicians took more time away from the constant barrage of stimulus, they would give their brains some space to have unique thoughts and find some different directions to go. At the very least it would help their music become more personal, which (IMO) is where most of the best and most groundbreaking music comes from.

yeah, i very much agree with that too. the most interesting music is the most alien one, one where you can't identify the influence easily, also i think self-indulgence is a very good quality for a musician.

there will never be a "groundbreaking" stuff again, like, because, anything now "different" is tagged as, dunno, IDM or Alternative rock or, or avant garde... I must be wrong but that's what I think ^^

  On 2/1/2012 at 10:41 PM, patternoverlap said:

So much thought is taken up by the little media device in your pocket/the thousands of songs on your player etc, which are essentially other people's work constantly taking up your thoughts. I think if musicians took more time away from the constant barrage of stimulus, they would give their brains some space to have unique thoughts and find some different directions to go. At the very least it would help their music become more personal, which (IMO) is where most of the best and most groundbreaking music comes from.

Totally agree. Not only that we are constantly stimulated but that for all the pontification about the long tail, we still have the same basic cultural pool that everyone draws from: we still have e.g. in the wider culture celebrities and pop stars and in our own little niche we have our own "stars" that everybody knows about.

We still have the same reference points so how can we expect to draw substantially different conclusions from them?

I think even in moderation, unplugging from the social media can help a lot for real creativity. And I would be willing to bet (although not really knowing any personally) that you would find this kind of intentional unplugging from some of the most well-known, creative, and productive artists.

  On 2/1/2012 at 11:29 PM, sweepstakes said:

And I would be willing to bet (although not really knowing any personally) that you would find this kind of intentional unplugging from some of the most well-known, creative, and productive artists.

drexciya.

  On 2/2/2012 at 1:01 AM, ganus said:

  On 2/1/2012 at 11:29 PM, sweepstakes said:

And I would be willing to bet (although not really knowing any personally) that you would find this kind of intentional unplugging from some of the most well-known, creative, and productive artists.

drexciya.

Omar-S?

Intentionally unplugging is the only way I can be creative.

the biggest change in music is people can't play like they used to because they had to get it right for tape. It was a time when people really knew how to play instruments. Secondly, the record companies used to nurse artists and take care of them. Help them develop. They would have top studios with expert producers and engineers running things. (a dying art). Those days are going bye bye. It is a diy world now. Less money. More artists. More choice. Less elite. Some good. Some bad. This doesn't eally apply to IDM. downloading music has been nothing but bad for small record companies like rephlex i imagine.