quote:

Originally posted by nefardec Do we not want to make new things because the old paradigm is still working for us? Still making us happy? People are still finding dance music anew even though many of us realize it is old... And for those who have been in it long enough to be nostalgic, are they living in the past?

i don't think music should be forced to sit on a timescale.

there seems to be massive overbearing pressure from the electronic music 'elite' for everything electronic to sound groundbreakingly different and well.. new (this doesn't necessarily mean futuristic, if say, it involves taking retro influences & twisting them into an updated sound), when really most people (i would think) just want something that pleases their ears, regardless of how new or old the sound is.

i think that because dance music goes through different trends every few years, it gives the illusion of an overall evolution. when really these trends largely consist of: a) a core group of fickle enthusiasts who wildly support these trends for being avant garde or whathaveyou... and b) a different wave of new clubbers/edm listeners each time, whom during their honeymoon phases will follow the leads of said enthusiasts. so when certain popular artists decide to push boundaries & make new subgenres popular, i don't see it as pushing evolution within dance music; i just see it as one sound being bigger than it was before.

i think that if history starts repeating itself & old sounds become popular again, then it will tear down the notion that good music needs to evolve along a linear timescale, and maybe things will sound less restricted. i'd love to hear more instances of new sounds mixed with old sounds, or new sounds that sound like old sounds. basically anything that would lead towards tearing down the ideation of having a '2007 sound' or a '2008 sound' that periodically updates itself whilst leaving the old styles behind...

too bad this probably won't ever happen on a large scale, since the majority of top DJs seem to root themselves into one particular style at a time before wearing it out & moving on, which ends up influencing alot of followers too (as mentioned two paragraphs above)

For better or worse, Western art has situated itself on a time scale for the past four hundred years or so, each artist priding himself on innovation or besting his predecessors in some way. I doubt that this will change any time soon.

re: table thing

Yeah that's cool, I think we've all seen it by now...

but is that going to create a subculture that produces music, clothing, art, new building paradigms just because you can turn a cube around and make fancy patterns?

Subcultures have retreated to the Internet. There's less friction online.

@isoterra -

you're missing my point, which is that there has been a shift in outlook from liberal to conservative, from experiment to marketability, from a futuristic, optimistic outlook, to a historicist, cynical outlook...

i mentioned in my reply that the problem is that too many people are focused on the sound rather than the process and the technology, the culture, the motives, etc.

I agree that there is far too much emphasis on a superficial level of an 'innovative' sound. That's my critique too - that's why we get imploding subgenres.

If that's the central thrust of that article, it could have done without the meandering statements of the bleeding obvious on a variety of subjects.

It begs the question: do we become less interested in futurism the more technology advances? Is that really true? Surely the concept of the "future" is inherently unreachable, as no matter how far we advance, what we cannot do remains futuristic? Futurism just keeps moving onwards. Perhaps 80s and 90s conceptions of futurism have become uninteresting, just like the sci-fi of the 50s now looks painful, but that doesn't mean there's no appeal in futurism anymore. We just need to find a new musical expression of it.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J It begs the question: do we become less interested in futurism the more technology advances? Is that really true?

Not less interested in the future in general, just in specific visions of it.

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Subcultures have retreated to the Internet. There's less friction online.

Seriously, though. How did furries find one another before there were Internet message boards and mailing lists?

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Not less interested in the future in general, just in specific visions of it.

Exactly. What was futuristic in the 1980s is no longer, as technology moves on. Just as what was cutting edge in the 1950s (space travel, nuclear power) is no longer interesting in this way.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J If that's the central thrust of that article, it could have done without the meandering statements of the bleeding obvious on a variety of subjects. It begs the question: do we become less interested in futurism the more technology advances? Is that really true? Surely the concept of the "future" is inherently unreachable, as no matter how far we advance, what we cannot do remains futuristic? Futurism just keeps moving onwards. Perhaps 80s and 90s conceptions of futurism have become uninteresting, just like the sci-fi of the 50s now looks painful, but that doesn't mean there's no appeal in futurism anymore. We just need to find a new musical expression of it.

I don't think so - it just means something different. That is the essential question I am asking in the thread though - what is the musical expression? not that I can really expect anyone to answer, but...

I do feel, however, that there is not as much appeal for futurism in the world at large. I think most people are concerned with convienence and entertainment.


I think jivebojingles might have hit it when he started talking about furries.

Maybe the latest technological developments just aren't predisposed towards music.

Maybe I am missing all the innovation because it is not obvious. Maybe it's in internet partnerships, maybe it is the global consciousness itself that I am criticizing.

I might just be actually anti-futurist here, not wanting to accept the inevitable that everything will become the same

quote:

What was futuristic in the 1980s is no longer, as technology moves on. Just as what was cutting edge in the 1950s (space travel, nuclear power) is no longer interesting in this way.

I suppose we ought to choose a new futuristic vision for trance then. What should it include? Robots? Post-apocalyptic bands of warriors?

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J It begs the question: do we become less interested in futurism the more technology advances? Is that really true?

Not futurism writ large; futurism in dance music.

The techno aesthetic used to be tied up in the edginess of electronic music-making. That coldness of the machine doesn't resonate much anymore.