cool thread on aphex

Maybe I used a wrong word. Purpouse is somewhat misleading.

Any music that has some worth conveys some emotion. And also it conveys the feeling of the times in which it was composed. I remember distinctively looking a crowd of people moving faster in a club while a track by aphex twin was playing (and I was not altered, it was just the music). I dunno if that would happen again, if the same track would link to the people in that way.

What I was trying to say is that every music has its moment when is linked with the spirit of the time. godd music will laways be good, but not as excellent as when played in the right time. It is time for doing acid while listening to SAWII anymore? Prolly kids today doesn't have that urge. Would they be better off by doing that? I dunno, if so they'd do. Times move on, new children are born, expectations change. So music change to go along with new times.

The whole, 'who is the new aphex..?' thread reminded me of why I so often start writing a reply on forums, and then just delete it halfway through writing and move on...

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techno-fascist

-.-

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...computer music hasn't so far brought culturally useful messages...

It generally hasn't provided any messages, being largely instrumental music intended to dance to.

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neo-folk singers

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5J0xVfHNZs[/media]

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Roller Derby

Something sensible at last. :D

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In my small section of the universe I think the majority of performance innovation is happening with the live modular / live electronics crowd. A sort of post-circuit bending renaissance with better ideas, better execution and not so much geekery.

Huh. From the little I've heard, circuit bending and tinkering with modulars tends to involve more electronics geekery and less actual music making.

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improvised noise

Improvised noise will never be popular. It's not predictable enough, and we're essentially pattern recognition machines. We need music to be more ordered than plain chaos, yet not totally repetitive. A middle path, a balance, in which we can play the fun game of predicting what it will do next, and sometimes being right, and sometimes being pleasantly surprised.

  On 11/22/2012 at 12:09 PM, pierlu said:

Maybe I used a wrong word. Purpouse is somewhat misleading.

 

Any music that has some worth conveys some emotion. And also it conveys the feeling of the times in which it was composed. I remember distinctively looking a crowd of people moving faster in a club while a track by aphex twin was playing (and I was not altered, it was just the music). I dunno if that would happen again, if the same track would link to the people in that way.

 

What I was trying to say is that every music has its moment when is linked with the spirit of the time. godd music will laways be good, but not as excellent as when played in the right time. It is time for doing acid while listening to SAWII anymore? Prolly kids today doesn't have that urge. Would they be better off by doing that? I dunno, if so they'd do. Times move on, new children are born, expectations change. So music change to go along with new times.

I think you did use the right word. It seems to me there's always been something particularly magical about good electronic music and people don't seem to find it as magical as they once did. Maybe it's simply novelty wearing off like this douche suggests, but I'm more inclined to agree with you that it's a lack of social/ritual context. A lot of not-so-new electronic music is still quite powerful and shockingly unique, but it's hard to have your mind blown with one eye always on your smartphone.

I think "kids these days" are becoming more borg-like. People have always been mostly extroverted, and there are still loners, but the norm of connectivity is so high now. Social acceptibility seems to always be on the mind now.

I think we have come to a point that simply using electronic instruments does not create a futuristic and out of this world feel because we are constantly surrounded by electronic sounds from different gadgets and they have just become part of the everyday environment. I think that was partly what the guy quoted in the first post was seeing but he was reading too much into it and got lost in the pomposity and went off in a tangent.

If you like live modular noodling more than pre-sequenced tracks, then do that but thinking that you are going to save the Earth from a "techno-fascist distopia" while being in "proto-shamanic space" while twiddling the knobs is a bit far fetched idea.

  On 11/22/2012 at 2:36 PM, mokz said:

I think we have come to a point that simply using electronic instruments does not create a futuristic and out of this world feel because we are constantly surrounded by electronic sounds from different gadgets and they have just become part of the everyday environment.

Agree, but I would say that this doesn't mean electronic music is necessarily run-of-the-mill now. There are aspects of a lot of this music that are still pretty unusual - microtonality, phasing, rhythm textures that don't sound like real drums (or 808/909 drums), examining the continuum between rhythmic repetition and tonality ("Bucephalis Bouncing Ball", OK maybe that one has become more mainstream), spectralist composition, utilizing reverb and spatial effects to create a complex/exaggerated/impossible sound stage, etc. There are so many ideas in electronic music that are still not often heard or explored.

But yes, simply being made from electronic sounds is not enough to be interesting now. However, has it really been that way since the "Switched-On"/Moog-everything days of the 70s?

  On 11/22/2012 at 3:09 PM, sweepstakes said:

But yes, simply being made from electronic sounds is not enough to be interesting now. However, has it really been that way since the "Switched-On"/Moog-everything days of the 70s?

Well, in a sense that you were not constantly surrounded by machinery that could create Moog like sounds it has not. Moog-like sounds were not coming from everyday household items, like phones had actual little bells inside them for ringing instead of speakers playing back whatever digital sound you may want. And in general things were not constantly bleeping and blooping around you. I think this stretches over to the visual design as well. The fucking vacuum cleaners look like a spaceships now.

So I can see the attraction of having a wood paneled modular synth over a laptop with a midi controller because it does not convey the feeling of a consumer product. In fact I have my own wood cased modular system.

I strongly disagree with the first point and agree with the second one.

Aphex Twin is the next Nirvana. duh..

  On 11/22/2012 at 3:17 AM, AdieuErsatzEnnui said:

What a bunch of stupid bullshit.

also, where's the "cool thread on aphex" ??

lol its like this guy is having a mid-life crisis and needs a reason why he is depressed

Aphex still plays on festivals around the globe so he is wrong. I like his ideas but at the end its about how good are the melodies and arrangement. If they are good there the stuff becomes timeless even if the original context is long gone. Look at the Jazz-genre to know what I mean

  On 11/22/2012 at 4:14 PM, compson said:

lol its like this guy is having a mid-life crisis and needs a reason why he is depressed

this. Relevant:

  On 11/22/2012 at 2:36 PM, mokz said:

I think we have come to a point that simply using electronic instruments does not create a futuristic and out of this world feel because we are constantly surrounded by electronic sounds from different gadgets and they have just become part of the everyday environment.

This is what I was trying to get at in my first post

This isn't to say that we've seen the end of weird otherworldly music, just that now the focus will be less on how strange the sounds are & more on the strange ways in which those sounds are pitched/arranged.

I know not everybody's diggin it but I think Oneohtrix Point Never is a good example of this. Like (early) Aphex he tends to stick with pretty straightforward synth sounds & electronic music tropes, but still manages to bring a very distinct character to it

There is always some cunt complaining about how music is dead. Watch Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii, Roger Waters brings it up there and that was a billion years ago lol (note he wasn't the one complaining).

Anyone he starts down that road can get fucked, and shove their fucking beard-stroking-poncey-essays up their arsehole

Now I feel better, ahhhhhhhhh..

I'd like to see this dork say this twaddle to Richards face.

Hah.

He'd be too busy on his hands and knees sucking Aphex's cock. No doubt.

for clarification the parts I agreed with in that original post were about how complex tightly sequenced IDM isn't really a major cultural force at this point (but was it ever? I thought it was just a thing for nerds that entered the semi-mainstream for a while in the late 90s) & about how innovative performance will probably be a bigger factor in the future (but not a deal maker/breaker for musicians)

Disagreed with the suggestion that Aphex is a "trend" musician (because to me he's the exact opposite of that), & while I am a fan of semi-improvised modular synth livejams, the fact that a modular player is the one championing it as the next big thing is kinda lol

ive never cared what made the music. a robot, or a guitar. who cares. is the music good? do i like the music? Yes? Ok, that's the end

  On 11/22/2012 at 1:23 AM, yikes said:

Yes, so the Innovation metric?

 

So, who is innovating?

http://youtu.be/NJHsT8kEyzs

Yes, so the Innovation metric?

So, who is innovating?

"fanfare for the common prick"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSm5IQFaTZA

i posted this thread because there were some interesting anecdotes,opinions, and such.

the guy I quoted was just one opinion of many and not meant to be taken as the gospel.

It seems RDJ agrees in action about "the future is in performing,not releasing more music"

obviously we all want new aphex material but until then dig the lasers man.

i don't think every person who posts on gear slutz is a musical loser.

example:charlie clouser posts some very interesting stuff as do many others.

to write off the entire thread or the forum is a bit shortsighted.

50% of that thread is dedicated to people riding richard's jock.

It's funny to see how protective and reactionary you are all towards RDJ and overall I find it cute and endearing.

I didnt read the thread, just found that dudes post to be a bit pointless as cultural relevance with music has a lot less to do with style and more to do with fragmentation (due to stuff like last.fm/pandora and the death of radio/mtv).

I really like that aphex piano vid up there.

Just saying

  On 11/22/2012 at 11:03 PM, yikes said:

Yes, so the Innovation metric?

 

So, who is innovating?

 

 

"fanfare for the common prick"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSm5IQFaTZA

This is a bit different from RDJ's piano bit I think. Okay maybe "a bit" is an understatement

Both are pretty cool though

I bet it wasn't really flying.

I bet they used wires and harnesses and stuff like that.