mms said:
i 'm more talking about sound design techniques, new ways of making music and hearing it back really, but again this can position a type of music in history quite easily. but then do you really want something timeless? what does that mean really..
Well this is it. Everything has a life including musical movements.
Rave music is very much of a certain place in time and belongs there. 15 years ago it was new and fresh and sounded like nothing else. Now it sounds like "rave" or whatever; it has changed and grown up (for better or worse) into tech house minimal jungle dubstep etc, which is still cool esp. if you get a good dj.
I guess what we're all waiting for is the new holy grail of something that sounds like nothing else before, or at least convincingly pretends that it does.
I like this idea of a necessary element of perversity in vital music: but one could say the same about any good art. That queasy feeling, whether you're listening to Analogue Bubblebath or watching an episode of Fawlty Towers, is your brain interacting with art, themes ideas resonating etc (I hope that makes sense).
Norma Snockers said:
Normally some fad like burial comes, goes, that's it. A few mouse clicks and pontifications and that 'scene' is soon dealt with.
Well, that's the problem of dealing with sensual topics like music in an a priori, strictly talk-based manner (eg. internet forums etc) without engaging with a record over a period of time, and/or going to a club/gig and engaging with a scene personally. Some personal live interaction is desirable. As I read somewhere recently: if you want to understand the world you have to get involved - even if it means getting burnt a couple of times.
I'm not setting myself as some kind of paragon of virtue here as I have been just as guilty of point and click critiques, esp. when it comes to such things as indie rave revivals which
to me seem easily dismissed in such a manner, but I do like to think that some of my opinions are based on some empirical data.
I guess this is the problem of electronic networking like this in that where previously scenes had a chance to grow and fester in relative obscurity such that something interesting should eventually emerge along with a back-catalogue to explore, now someone's private experiments are immediately uploaded to myspace or something and immediately ignored, pilloried or overhyped.
I'm not trying to discredit online armchair criticism (I'm not going to stop : ) but rather problematise it, if that makes sense - approach it in a critical manner.
Aufgehoben and all that...?