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Posted by SPANIARD on Jul-12-2011 14:37:

Anyone else finding...

I'm pretty sure someone over the years has started a similar topic to this but I'll have at it anyways. I've realized now that just over half way through the year that if I were to make a top 10 or even 20 of my favorite tracks I've listened to this year it would be mostly composed of stuff that was not produced in 2011. Being more interested in Trance than some other users, I know this is not a shocker given the current state of affairs.

I find the reasons behind this is mainly due to...

1)Given the lack of time a Joe the plumber guy like me has, there is only so much time to sample/listen to music that you're bound to miss out and hear it some time in the future when it's not fresh off the press.

2)With the lack of intelligence at online shops, searching for what you want often ends up browsing the genre that has loads of stuff that is irrelevant and finding re-released old tunes. Yeah, it really, really sucks to find a track that says released today but was originally released in 2000 that would have made your set perfect.

I don't think I have a problem that I'm stuck in the wrong era as most of the tunes that would take part in my top 10 list would not be ancient. In fact some would not be older than 5 years and would sound very modern today.

So, anyone else finding this to be relevant in their lives?


Posted by SYSTEM-J on Jul-12-2011 15:37:

A few weeks back my list of favourites from 2011 was looking a bit sparse, but it's starting to come together now. The music I'm listening to is a decent mix of older stuff and up-front material. I do spend a fair amount of time trawling on Beatport and other sites, though.


Posted by skip on Jul-12-2011 19:38:

I only have two tunes released in 2011 so far. Been busy with life and I haven't read any beatport/djdownload/juno newsletters in about 1,5 years. Been using other methods for searching "new stuff" and it seems like my other methods don't yield much new stuff. All the same though. I don't care when a track has been released. It might be nice to know sometimes but it really doesn't make any difference on how much I like the tune or how I play it. I've never been interested in knowing what's current either so I don't put much effort in finding recently released stuff.

Edit: BTW, your thread title fucking sucks. It's not descriptive at all. You should change it.


Posted by SPANIARD on Jul-12-2011 22:07:

quote:
Originally posted by skip
I only have two tunes released in 2011 so far. Been busy with life and I haven't read any beatport/djdownload/juno newsletters in about 1,5 years. Been using other methods for searching "new stuff" and it seems like my other methods don't yield much new stuff. All the same though. I don't care when a track has been released. It might be nice to know sometimes but it really doesn't make any difference on how much I like the tune or how I play it. I've never been interested in knowing what's current either so I don't put much effort in finding recently released stuff.

Edit: BTW, your thread title fucking sucks. It's not descriptive at all. You should change it.

It wasn't meant to be descriptive. Who took the jelly out of your donut?


Posted by pozz on Jul-13-2011 02:58:

for sure.

i have no idea where this topic is gonna go though. my instant reply is that most new stuff is boring -- which is quite pointless as a comment.

the very real difficulty is finding some way of making sense of the situation. "look harder" doesn't cover it. anybody familiar with my mixes knows i dig deep into ambient music, but what they don't know about the tracks i end up choosing is that, for the most part, they are fairly boring. i end up having to do some very complicated layering and arrangement for the mix to flow and have some sort of direction. most tracks, on their own, will not keep you interested for the entire duration, and usually only have one redeeming element or section making them worth keeping. it was always part of EM to sample and sift and choose between old material. the 50s, 60s, & 70s EM composers made much of their material working with samples, for instance.

maybe the only difference today is that we have so much access to older material that we are forced into the position of "sampler". what's the last album you actually listened to end-to-end? what's the last album you would listen to end-to-end again?

i can't even think of a single contemporary producer who is as prolific as someone like Tilt in the trance scene.

one of the only avenues that will still bring interesting material is the jammed mix, one of those using 100 tracks arranged on a beatgrid to make totally new material. i've yet to see one that busy worth multiple listens, but i'm thinking someone devoted enough to today's trance would be able to recompose samples from about 300 tracks to make an hour's worth of interesting stuff.


Posted by skip on Jul-13-2011 03:28:

quote:
Originally posted by SPANIARD
It wasn't meant to be descriptive. Who took the jelly out of your donut?


You did. It's a thread with potential but with a title that says absolutely nothing like so many other titles. I think a lot of potentially interesting discussion might be left out because people aren't interested in clicking on yet another thread with a completely non-descriptive title. Also finding this thread with the search later on will be difficult as no one will remember the title.

Just saying, I don't think using a thread title like this makes sense at all�


Posted by justin on Jul-13-2011 03:39:

nicely put pozz
The idea of making best of whats available on the market without being too discriminatory takes practice, like KNOWING your records.


Posted by Bierheld on Jul-13-2011 08:58:

Meh, not so much. Maybe about 20% of what i buy these days is pre '10.
I've become a bit of a musical omnivore, focussing on the utilitarian approuch to finding music. Whilst genres swell and subside, if you just focus on what purpouse he music you're looking for should have, be it energetic, alien, visceral, groovey, uplifting, melodic or any other of such. There'll always be plenty to find. A lot of the time i'll end up in experimental or genreless music, which adds some extra intrigue. I'm still drowning in music really.


Posted by A.B on Jul-13-2011 17:12:

I made a point of trawling through Beatport once a week to source new stuff.

Haven't done it properly for about a month now!!

I just find it so tiresome and downright un-inspiring.

After listening to crap for about an hour, I may have came across a track that gains my attention but if my ears were not bored stiff of listening to other generic crap then who knows if it would have really been a stand out track.
My hold bin is full of tracks that I thought sounded good at the time.

The cdj's have hardly been touched recently.

Digging through old vinyl and appreciating the music from the last 20 years or so is where I'm at now. I get so much more from it.

My interest in 'discovering' new music is based upon tracks that have already been released many years ago.


Posted by pozz on Jul-13-2011 17:29:

quote:
Originally posted by Bierheld
Meh, not so much. Maybe about 20% of what i buy these days is pre '10.
I've become a bit of a musical omnivore, focussing on the utilitarian approuch to finding music. Whilst genres swell and subside, if you just focus on what purpouse he music you're looking for should have, be it energetic, alien, visceral, groovey, uplifting, melodic or any other of such. There'll always be plenty to find. A lot of the time i'll end up in experimental or genreless music, which adds some extra intrigue. I'm still drowning in music really.


i would assume this is true for most on this board. the issue is that when you are looking for a specific sound, especially within EDM, then the amount of contemporary releases you end up working with is very small. i never trawl on beatport because finding music via other sources is much more effective. but, then again, i don't spin dance music.

spinning IDM/experimental music means you have a much wider palatte of stuff to choose from, and this was always true, even from the early days of electronic music.


Posted by Bierheld on Jul-13-2011 20:29:

quote:
Originally posted by pozz
i would assume this is true for most on this board. the issue is that when you are looking for a specific sound, especially within EDM, then the amount of contemporary releases you end up working with is very small. i never trawl on beatport because finding music via other sources is much more effective. but, then again, i don't spin dance music.
That's what I was trying to get at though. If you're looking for a particular sound, for example a good trance track, you're automatically committing yourself to hours of tedious beatport trawling. If you look a bit further into what you actually like about that trance sound, and start searching in the electronica section for tracks that have similar properties. You might come out a happier man.


Posted by rdevito on Jul-13-2011 21:15:

quote:
Originally posted by Bierheld
If you're looking for a particular sound, for example a good trance track, you're automatically committing yourself to hours of tedious beatport trawling.


This is so true


Posted by Domesticated on Jul-13-2011 21:40:

About 95% of what I'm listening to at the moment is from this year, as there has been plenty of great stuff out.

The other 5% is CDs I'm ordering from Discogs; early '90s trance, prog rock, techno and drum 'n' bass, mostly.


Posted by Adam420 on Jul-13-2011 21:43:

quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
A few weeks back my list of favourites from 2011 was looking a bit sparse, but it's starting to come together now. The music I'm listening to is a decent mix of older stuff and up-front material. I do spend a fair amount of time trawling on Beatport and other sites, though.


Do you actually have a list?


Posted by DJRYAN� on Jul-13-2011 23:23:

I totally disagree. There's lots of banging tracks out that were prorduced this year.


Posted by pozz on Jul-13-2011 23:37:

quote:
Originally posted by Bierheld
That's what I was trying to get at though. If you're looking for a particular sound, for example a good trance track, you're automatically committing yourself to hours of tedious beatport trawling. If you look a bit further into what you actually like about that trance sound, and start searching in the electronica section for tracks that have similar properties. You might come out a happier man.


For sure, but one of the driving points made in the op is commitment to a particular sound. question is: is it only these days you have to trawl? was it true in other eras? is it true in other genres? was it ever true?


Posted by Adam420 on Jul-13-2011 23:47:

quote:
Originally posted by DJRYAN�
I totally disagree. There's lots of banging tracks out that were prorduced this year.


None of which you know about considering the filth that you call music in your sets


Posted by DoctorLW on Jul-14-2011 05:18:

quote:
Originally posted by Adam420
None of which you know about considering the filth that you call music in your sets


Really bro? Not that I've listened to his sets, but I completely agree with his statement that there have been a lot of great tracks this year.


Posted by Alex on Jul-14-2011 05:29:

quote:
Originally posted by Adam420
None of which you know about considering the filth that you call music in your sets



Posted by Adam420 on Jul-14-2011 05:32:

quote:
Originally posted by DoctorLW
Really bro? Not that I've listened to his sets, but I completely agree with his statement that there have been a lot of great tracks this year.


Haha it was just a joke. Of course there have been many great tracks released this year, it's just that the ones he'd most likely be referring to are crap.


Posted by nefardec on Jul-14-2011 05:58:

quote:
Originally posted by DJRYAN�
I totally disagree. There's lots of banging tracks out that were prorduced this year.



'nuff said.

/thread


Posted by Tweak on Jul-14-2011 23:15:

Re: Anyone else finding...

quote:
Originally posted by SPANIARD
Yeah, it really, really sucks to find a track that says released today but was originally released in 2000 that would have made your set perfect.


Why is this even an issue? Half the problem with music these days is its seen as being disposable. You can't listen to or play a track if its mroe than a couple of months old?

Good saying about 2 kinds of fools when it comes to music;

This stuff is new, it must be good
This stuff is old, it must be better.

Of course when you're trawling for a particular very specific sound for a set it's going to take a while, that's where you have to have a good knowledge of artists and in my experience know your labels, to help narrow the search as much as possible. I've spent weeks trying to find a certain feel to bridge different genres, but damn it feels good when you find it.


Posted by SPANIARD on Jul-15-2011 14:45:

Re: Re: Anyone else finding...

quote:
Originally posted by Tweak
Why is this even an issue? Half the problem with music these days is its seen as being disposable. You can't listen to or play a track if its mroe than a couple of months old?

I think you may have misunderstood what I meant. I agree with you on the listening/playing of older tracks (hence why I mentiond that most of the tracks I'd list would not be from 2011). My point was on the topic of new music which has been released/produced present day.

I would go a step further and say I'm even for DJ's playing older tracks if they weren't outplayed when they were released and could make the set all the much better. The issue I raised from which you quoted me as saying was in the context that I was hypothetically browsing for tracks I would use at a gig. From a personal stand point, I think playing a night which doesn't have a classics or retro theme should consist of having mainly newer tracks (you have a basis to debate that, I'm just giving you my 2 cents). That isn't my opinion based on how to get seen by Armin or Tiesto, that's my honest opinion on a great strategy to keep interested in your hobby as playing tracks you've heard thousands of times over can lead to unhappiness.

This is in large part to the music I like (various types of trance, prog house etc) and want to believe there is enough of it out there to create a set with limited older tracks. It would be ignorant of me to speak on behalf of other genres so I thought having people more familiar with things I'm unaware of could contribute to making this a useful thread combining all ends of the spectrum. I hope you didn't take this as believing my intent was to create an older vs.newer thread; apologies if that's what it you understood.


Posted by pozz on Jul-15-2011 18:00:

Re: Anyone else finding...

quote:
Originally posted by SPANIARD
if I were to make a top 10 or even 20 of my favorite tracks I've listened to this year it would be mostly composed of stuff that was not produced in 2011.


so nobody else finds this true?


Posted by SYSTEM-J on Jul-16-2011 13:01:

Re: Re: Anyone else finding...

quote:
Originally posted by Adam420
Do you actually have a list?


Not literally, but I have a good idea of what my favourite albums/EPs of the year are, so far.



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