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

I'm actually more excited by music now than ever before - sortuva combination of being interested in the direction it's currently going, finding old stuff I like in a wider range of genres I previously would have wrote off, and feeling an emotional connection to it now instead of just appreciating it from the technical stand point. I dunno though, maybe that's just what happens to people in their early 20s as they get exposed to more stuff.

Also I'm pretty sure there's a thread with this exact same title in the Constipated Peoples Anonymous forum.

  On 2/26/2012 at 6:50 PM, azatoth said:

I've become jaded. I do remember when I discovered IDMz in the beginning of the noughties, it was full of joyous moments, downloading countless albums through Soulseek and hanging in the chatroom when a new Autechre release having just leaked...ah the good times.

I'm agreeing with a lot of points, but the beginning of the noughties and soulseek have roughly ten years between them. Soulseek came around just before Drukqs was released.

  On 2/26/2012 at 9:41 PM, goDel said:

  On 2/26/2012 at 6:50 PM, azatoth said:

I've become jaded. I do remember when I discovered IDMz in the beginning of the noughties, it was full of joyous moments, downloading countless albums through Soulseek and hanging in the chatroom when a new Autechre release having just leaked...ah the good times.

 

I'm agreeing with a lot of points, but the beginning of the noughties and soulseek have roughly ten years between them. Soulseek came around just before Drukqs was released.

The "noughties" are the 00's.

Also, the way I've avoided being musically jaded is to listen to genres I haven't given the time of day to. How much classic hip hop have I not heard yet? A criminal amount. So that's a lot to look forward ot right there.

Woops, I was suddenly being sidetracked by the nineties.

Discovering IDMz in this century eh? Ha! Youngsters!

  On 2/27/2012 at 1:19 AM, Candiru said:

Also, the way I've avoided being musically jaded is to listen to genres I haven't given the time of day to. How much classic hip hop have I not heard yet? A criminal amount. So that's a lot to look forward to right there.

This is what keeps me going as a music fan too. There's so much good music that's already been made that it's basically impossible to listen to all of it... I keep delving into new genres and also finding things I'd never heard in genres that I liked already. I think even if I was confined to only listening to music from the 80s or the 90s it would take me years before I ran out of cool "new" music to discover.

I usually find music in bursts, so I still get quite a bit of joy out of it. You can get stuck for awhile, then all of a sudden you find a new record label or genre and you're flooded with great music.

My main problem is that I pay for my music and I don't have the money to buy all of it (or even listen to it).

Bumping because Rifts by Oneohtrix Point Never. I only heard it for the first time a few weeks ago, but I'd put it at least on par with SAWII or any other straight-ambient album I've heard (which admittedly is probably less than a lot of people on here).

It's probably just my imagination, but I feel it has a direct resonance with my generation - kids who were born into a world where video games & the internet were already established things, & the idea of interactive digital worlds wasn't a strange idea at all. As we got a bit older, we started making things for ourselves, with more access to tools than any previous generation (IE free audio/video/photo software, cheap cameras & technology, easily available digital media). The potential seemed endless.

But then we got into our later teens & started to realize that most of the crazy ideas we were coming up with had already been done in previous decades (kinda), it was just back then less people were doing it & it was less available & generally more mysteriously cool. There was this distinct moment where it felt like previous generations were going YEAH YOU KIDS AREN'T SPECIAL, YOU'RE JUST RIPPIN OFF STUFF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. But that's what kids do. It's just that in the past it was much harder to make & distribute a somewhat professional looking/sounding product.

This would have been round 2007-09ish, right before hipster culture started to really take off in the mainstream. I think what happened was, we started to come to terms with the fact that our bold new world was largely recycled, & responded in one of three ways:

-attempting to make the most it by applying our somewhat unique Gen Y emotional perspective to old ideas

-doing everything "ironically" to avoid getting too close to anything that could bite

-becoming increasingly disillusioned with society & even reality itself, wondering if the Gameboy landscapes we knew when we were 4 weren't that different from the 3D adult world we find ourselves suddenly thrust into

I mean, that's what I think of when I listen to Rifts.

Righteous post.

And I STILL can't get over Physical Memory. That track is triumphant.

I get humongous boner everytime someone mentions Physical Memory

first post!

a few albums from 2008 - 2012 that i truly love

2008

bruno pronsato - why can't we be like us

shed - shedding the past

(hercules & love affair - s/t)

2009

the field - yesterday & today

dj sprinkles - midtown 120 blues

monolake - silence

2010

john roberts - glass eights

echospace - liumin

clive tanaka - jet set siempre 1°

kanye west - mbdtf

2011

sean mccann - s/t

balam acab - wander / wonder

grouper - a i a

obviously i didnt mention a lot of other albums that i love but these are the ones i cherish the most. so yeah it's all good.

of course if what you want is an instantly acclaimed modern classic you'll prob be hugely disappointed. but it doesnt matter at all imo.

sup rubbermeng

I only know few of these artists/albums you name!

I'll check em out, maybe there is treasure for me in it

I still haven't heard anything like Body Riddle. Maybe that isn't so recent, but it's within a decade. There's also some really great underground stuff stemming from the eccojams style genre which is kind of like Witch House but with a bit more Com Truise thrown in and just somehow different. I mean shit, there's probably been more cool music since 2000 than there has been time since 2000.

http://youtu.be/TFN0hEBITlA

http://youtu.be/o1DyteW1YM4

And yeah, Rifts and Eccojams were both monumental releases.

I'd also like to add that usually music and art change rather slowly. Game changing releases are usually predicated on earlier, more underground art.

Still think the concept of this thread is just utterly ridiculous.

I don't listen to music by following different genres, I just get into artists. Like I don't listen to breakcore, only Venetian Snares. I don't listen to folk, only Sufjan Stevens (and fleet foxes). There's a quality running through everything they do and I mostly love it all. Getting into their decade's worth of music is like exploring every facet of a musical world they've created. I don't listen to jazz-rock, but I love the Zu Carboniferous album. I don't love it necessarily because it's jazz rock, I love it because it's really alive with energy, but I could listen to lots of other comparable stuff that's recommended and find it naff and utterly lacking in all the things I like about that album. There's so much crap to wade through I barely bother anymore. There's more music than ever, but also more rubbish. I want something artistic but fun, nothing too po-faced, something energetic and pure. I tried to listen to other breakcore, but hated it. It isn't the breakcore in Venetian Snares' music that I like, it's the way he does it. Like I love the Amon Tobin track Switch, but I think I'm going to forget trying to find something even remotely like it which I'll like. I've come to accept there's plenty of music I like that is actually unique and incomparable. It might just be one track by an artist out of hundreds he's released.

  On 3/8/2012 at 6:46 PM, Cryptowen said:

Bumping because Rifts by Oneohtrix Point Never. I only heard it for the first time a few weeks ago, but I'd put it at least on par with SAWII or any other straight-ambient album I've heard (which admittedly is probably less than a lot of people on here).

 

It's probably just my imagination, but I feel it has a direct resonance with my generation - kids who were born into a world where video games & the internet were already established things, & the idea of interactive digital worlds wasn't a strange idea at all. As we got a bit older, we started making things for ourselves, with more access to tools than any previous generation (IE free audio/video/photo software, cheap cameras & technology, easily available digital media). The potential seemed endless.

 

But then we got into our later teens & started to realize that most of the crazy ideas we were coming up with had already been done in previous decades (kinda), it was just back then less people were doing it & it was less available & generally more mysteriously cool. There was this distinct moment where it felt like previous generations were going YEAH YOU KIDS AREN'T SPECIAL, YOU'RE JUST RIPPIN OFF STUFF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. But that's what kids do. It's just that in the past it was much harder to make & distribute a somewhat professional looking/sounding product.

 

This would have been round 2007-09ish, right before hipster culture started to really take off in the mainstream. I think what happened was, we started to come to terms with the fact that our bold new world was largely recycled, & responded in one of three ways:

 

-attempting to make the most it by applying our somewhat unique Gen Y emotional perspective to old ideas

-doing everything "ironically" to avoid getting too close to anything that could bite

-becoming increasingly disillusioned with society & even reality itself, wondering if the Gameboy landscapes we knew when we were 4 weren't that different from the 3D adult world we find ourselves suddenly thrust into

 

 

 

I mean, that's what I think of when I listen to Rifts.

this post inspired me to search this album... and it is just.. wow.

  On 3/12/2012 at 5:56 PM, sergeantk said:

this post inspired me to search this album... and it is just.. wow.

Seriously. It's great.

While it isn't worth a whole lot, I happen to have a two fold copy of that album from the original printing (or whatever they call it, I can't remember). I bought it the day after I heard about Oneohtrix Point Never.

Yeah that oneohtrix compilation is truly strong & producing a 2CD full of ambient tunes with old synths, is not the easiest thing.

i haven't heard anything remarkable for a while, i guess you could say the new burial comes close but it was only an EP.

nothing landmark brilliant, game changing yet

  On 3/12/2012 at 9:53 PM, k h o v said:

producing a 2CD full of ambient tunes with old synths, is not the easiest thing.

Yeah, it's one of those things that sounds really easy in concept - get some swank-ass analog synths, make some simple loops on a sequencer, leave it running for like 10 minutes, repeat - but to actually pull it off in a way that's interesting to listen to & sonically distinct requires a lotta finesse & unwavering dedication to an idea.

To me the album has a very digital feel to it. I don't mean as in digital gear, because as mentioned most of it seems to be analog, but more in the stylistic feel. The layered walls of arpeggio square-waves feel like 1s & 0s floating in a grid, & of course have the nostalgic thing going because arpped squares were all over old 8bit soundtracks. The musical progressions at first seem really cold & alien compared to say Aphex or Brian Eno, but once you get into it you start to feel the emotional vibes. I dunno, it reminds me of computers.

The Generation Y comparison was sparked by negative reviews I've seen of it, people saying "dude just listened to too much Tangerine Dream & threw in some BoC pads". I mean, I can hear the similarities, but to call it a knock-off seems to undermine the individual intent, just like what happens with a lot of stuff being put out these days. I think sometimes electronic music fans get too caught up on the need for things to be sonically unique & ignore the emotional/musical aspect. It's like a buncha George Lucas's trying to make everything the auditory equivalent to the Star Wars prequels.

To be fair, Rifts was really just a compilation album made of various different releases before. Still great, though.

  On 3/12/2012 at 11:08 PM, kaen said:

i haven't heard anything remarkable for a while, i guess you could say the new burial comes close but it was only an EP.

 

nothing landmark brilliant, game changing yet

You should listen to some of the stuff posted on this thread then.

I think my biggest problem with most electronic music thats being released these years, is that everything just sounds too nice and clean. I don't know how to explain it really, but most earlier electronic music just sounded much more grittier (don't know if thats the right word to describ it) . Which i loved.

That might also be the reason why I think Burial is one of few truly amazing artists thats releasing music now. He has that sound.

I'm not saying all new music is terrible, not at all. But there's just too far inbetween the amazing releases for me. And I feel like I listens to alot of new stuff.

And I agree on OPN hype. Rifts was one my favorite realeases in the naughties.

  On 3/23/2012 at 12:03 PM, Npoess said:

I think my biggest problem with most electronic music thats being released these years, is that everything just sounds too nice and clean. I don't know how to explain it really, but most earlier electronic music just sounded much more grittier (don't know if thats the right word to describ it) . Which i loved.

 

That might also be the reason why I think Burial is one of few truly amazing artists thats releasing music now. He has that sound.

 

I'm not saying all new music is terrible, not at all. But there's just too far inbetween the amazing releases for me. And I feel like I listens to alot of new stuff.

 

And I agree on OPN hype. Rifts was one my favorite realeases in the naughties.

I think you're looking for the word "warm" or "analogue". "Clean" is definitely not it, because Death Grips, Actress, Daniel Lopatin, etc. etc. are not "clean" in any way (except maybe Replica). Much of the rage now is glow-fi and Witch House and other slowed down and distorted music.

Everyone has their opinions, but I personally think the title of this topic should be "It's been like five minutes since the last truly great release". If you've seen stuff here that you haven't heard, hear it up. I assume you've heard Trademark Ribbons of Gold by VHS Head, but if you haven't then listen to it. Maybe try a non-electronic genre; Liturgy is cool. Rap is nice.

With the sheer amount of music being produced, I doubt you would be able to go more than a year without finding something you love if you look hard enough.

i agree that the concept behind this thread is absurd. there's just as much great, ground-breaking music, it's just no longer represented by soundscan sales numbers. things are so much more niche now, you're just less likely to hear about breakthroughs on a massive scale (because they don't happen!) of course i don't think lol is saying that high sales #'s = great, so i'll just disagree with the point more generally.

there are exceptions of course, those artists who do "break out" to greater exposure. i'd put burial in that group amongst probably others.. but i'm trying to think and i can't seem to find others easily. that's not to say of course there haven't been many many great releases, it seems silly to even list them. if i was to pull one from the list of others already posted here, i'd definitely say john roberts' "glass eights" by far. fucking fantastic and one of the best records of the last 3 years for certain.

edit: "what have you done for me lately?"

Tamer Animals by Other Lives is a truly great release

High Violet by The National is a truly great release