lol I remember when Adam got bashed for using big words....LAWLZ! Well, I have to go to school I'll read it when I'm back.

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lol I remember when Adam got bashed for using big words....LAWLZ! Well, I have to go to school I'll read it when I'm back.

dual meaning here?

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Originally posted by nefardec dual meaning here?

wait....wh...what?

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Originally posted by wotyzoid wait....wh...what?

Exactly.

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wotyzoid really is priceless

Yes, it's a thing of the past now.

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but an ongoing consolidation of tastes has shifted the emphasis from local scenes to a global marketplace

This is part of it.

But I think the futurism that was an inspiration for early electronic music could last only as long as people still had some level of discomfort and unfamiliarity with computer technology. After everybody got p2p, iPods, after everybody and his dog bought turntables and tried his hand at DJing, after everybody downloaded cracked production software and tried his hand at production, that discomfort was gone. Nobody in the richer countries thinks of computers as alien, arcane, or disquieting anymore, and the newer, easier interfaces have even made regular use of computers much less foreboding when before it was the domain of weirdos, obsessed hobbyists, and nerds. If you live in a world where most people have little discomfort with computers or software, where half the population walks around each day with what is essentially a tiny computer filled with gigabytes of music in their hand, good luck making a super-technological future seem either romantic or frightening.

And I think the way that the death of electronic music's futurism parallels the growth of the PC industry and the consumer-friendly interfaces for Internet use bears this out.

Now people look at a highly technological, computerized future and say either, "Bring it on" or "Who cares? It's already here."

Last edited by MrJiveBoJingles on Oct-16-2007 at 14:03

Another thing is just that genres of music have (I think) become somewhat less attached to extra-musical "lifestyles" and "attitudes" than they used to be.

Thanks for posting this article, this is something that I find interesting and I am hoping we can get some nice discussion on it.

There are surely gonna be new elements in dance music, as more and more ethnically disparate, underground scenes pop up (Rio Funk and Kwaito) that more recognized producers will lap up and be influenced by.

I think the biggest worry, that the article alludes to, is seeing whole scenes and genres just drop off the face of the earth (progressive breaks, UK garage, electroclash, etc), before the genres have a chance to stabilize or expand outwards. Nowadays, I think every genre seems overly influenced by electro and minimal, this is creeping into every single genre creating some sort of homogenous sound.

Another thing that the article forgets to mention, really (aside from a pointless slag at Tiesto) is the continuing popularity of trance, which, to my knowledge, still holds a fair bit of popularity in more mainstream dance music circles.

It's kind of funny that I am 1 of only 291 people in the US who bought the Burial album, though!

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Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Yes, it's a thing of the past now. This is part of it. But I think the futurism that was an inspiration for early electronic music could last only as long as people still had some level of discomfort and unfamiliarity with computer technology. After everybody got p2p, iPods, after everybody and his dog bought turntables and tried his hand at DJing, after everybody downloaded cracked production software and tried his hand at production, that discomfort was gone. Nobody in the richer countries thinks of computers as alien, arcane, or disquieting anymore, and the newer, easier interfaces have even made regular use of computers much less foreboding when before it was the domain of weirdos, obsessed hobbyists, and nerds. If you live in a world where most people have little discomfort with computers or software, where half the population walks around each day with what is essentially a tiny computer filled with gigabytes of music in their hand, good luck making a super-technological future seem either romantic or frightening. And I think the way that the death of electronic music's futurism parallels the growth of the PC industry and the consumer-friendly interfaces for Internet use bears this out. Now people look at a highly technological, computerized future and say either, "Bring it on" or "Who cares? It's already here."

That might be true. Technology used to be this mysterious, romantic, magical thing, and now it's become so incorporated into our lives that we take it for granted. Earlier EDM captured this feeling especially well. It was an optimistic and uplifting view of our future, and now we're here and no one is impressed anymore.

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When bread becomes toast, it can never go back to being bread again.

I especially like his take on the demise of the subgenre:

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When was the last time you heard anyone seriously dispute the differences between "microhouse," minimal techno, and minimal? The terms that do arise — like "fidget house," to describe the kinetic style of London producers like Switch — by and large fail to stick. And as techno and house continue to blur, it seems that fewer and fewer people are interested in differentiating even between those two major pillars of electronic music. Today, subgenres are more likely to be objects of identification, more lifestyle brands than true subcultures. Whatever we're to call the movement encompassing Ed Banger, Kitsuné, and rock remixes, it seems less a subgenre than a promiscuous, post-genre approach.

This is more than idle observation; I think the convergence of subgenres, and the end of defined stylistic territory, is more telling than anything. The past ten years of dance music were practically defined by the incessant splintering of new variants, each claiming their own camp. One of the big surprises (to me) in the past three years has been the mass die-off of niche genres, and the tearing down of walls between, well, almost everything. As someone who grew up with dance music over the past ten years, I guess I assumed that it would continue as an ever-radiating zoo. This consolidation of dance genres isn't going to be reversed anytime soon, I suspect.

Regarding futurism, I think it's evident from the sounds today that old hands have been trying to bring it back. I agree with the author that it probably won't happen in the cultural context; futurism isn't edgy anymore. The cyber-impulse now evokes bad memories of dressed-up 90s cyberpunk, not the robot aesthetic of the 80s. Perhaps futurism will come back in some radically different incarnation, but not in the original techno mold.

Centerpointe upgraded their Holosync meditation cds a little while back and they made some of the background sounds appear to be in 3D. It's hard to imagine that you can get a 3d sound from two stereo speakers, but the cassette tape demo was amazing. Planes flying above and a bee buzzing around your head sounded very real.

The technology is called "Virtual Audio 3D."

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Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.