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Ishkur's interview on Detroit Movement Guide
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| Lira |
It's Music Discussion, isn't it? I guess this is the right place to post this, even because his name was mentioned several times in his forum anyway :)
| quote: | Originally published by Detroit Movement Guide
Ishkur.com has been one of my favorite sites for awhile. If you have never visited his Guide to Electronic Music, Guide to Rave Culture, Raver Captions or his Dancers and Drugees RPG you are missing out. Now be aware Ishkur is a very opinionated and funny guy. You may not agree with everything he says or thinks...but at least he is entertaining. Well today he was kind enough to answer a few questions for us so we can see a little bit into his mind and world.
Quote from www.ishkur.com [... the reason why this site exists is to re-establish a sense of self in this fractured scene. I am declaring a State of Emergency on rave culture. It has gotten too banal, too hokey and too stupid to be taken seriously anymore. It has reached the depths of depravity. It has stopped innovating, stopped evolving, and seems perfectly content now riding on the coattails of pop music formulas and teen fashion trends. In short: it sucks. But rather than be a spineless quitter and leave, I'm going on the offensive and attacking all the elements that have sucked the life out of it. This is your wake-up call, rave scene. It's time to put the women and children to bed and go looking for dinner."]
Rave Culture:
DMG: What is still working?
ISHKUR: The drugs. But they never needed help. Ironically, the things that never needed fixing we ended up breaking, and the things that were broken to begin with we decided we needed more of.
DMG: What's broke?
ISHKUR: Promoting. When you have nothing to lose you are free to do anything, take risks, branch out, do something new and inventive and creative. When you acquire something of value (money, or status), your priorities change from doing something incredible to doing something that cements your position and protects your ass. Freedom sacrificed in favor of security (haven't we all heard that before). Promoters have become complacent, safe and boring, concerned only with selling a product and maintaining their status as promoters, not celebrating a lifestyle.
DMG: What needs to be fixed?
ISHKUR: The culture of DJing. I was content with them being unobtrusive techno-shamans, called upon when needed and respectful of their role and duties. When they above everybody treated their own profession with reverence. Like a sacrilegious rite, not to be taken advantaged of.
Now they walk around like ginos, they expect special favors everywhere they go, they exploit their status for cheap gain, they think their don't stink, and they want you to idolize them for doing the technical equivalent of riding a bicycle. Too many DJs are trying to become rock stars, living icons who transcend the music. And when they do that, it's really hard to take what they do seriously.
DMG: What needs to be tossed out and replaced?
ISHKUR: Money, which caused all aforementioned things. It attracted the parasites, the leaches, the opportunists, the scum sucking hanger-ons who don't produce anything but expect to make a living off the scene without actually contributing anything of value to it.
The scene will naturally return to equilibrium, like a gyroscope, when the money leaves.
DMG: How can we convince frat boys to put their shirts back on?
ISHKUR: Stop inviting them to intimate, clandestine underground illegal weekend-long dance parties.
All-inclusive tolerance has never been a signifying feature of this scene, and I don't know who decided that it would be. It's a Temporary Autonomous Zone. That means ostracizing the outside world of social pretentiousness.
Ishkurs guide to British DJs
DMG: What is it all about?
ISHKUR: Brit DJs (duh)
DMG: When will it be complete?
ISHKUR: Technically it already is. Originally going to be a big feature about 3-4 years ago. A lot of notes were compiled, but it was difficult to keep the thing up-to-date because the Brit scene was in a state of flux at the time, and names and labels changed too quickly, that some names dropped out and other names made it big overnight. All the time.
So the project got perpetually shelved in favor of other, less volatile things. Most of the notes did not go to waste, however: they slowly, over time, got cannibalized by the site's other sections (including the music guide) for snappy content. Every time you come across an passing comment or opinion piece on a British DJ or the brit electronic music scene in general, that was probably something originally going into the Brit DJs section.
The rest of the notes got destroyed in the Great Hard Drive Crash of 2002. Other than that, yeah: The Guide to Brit DJs is already online, scattered all over the bowels of www.ishkur.com .
The Ishkur Electronic Music Map:
DMG: Too many styles or not enough?
ISHKUR: Not enough, by many accounts. People who like electronic music or have generalized tastes like it. People who have specialized themselves to the point of ignorance, where they are extremely adept at a single sub-genre or scene but are completely clueless everywhere else (nor do they care), are the irate ones. Their unhealthy obsession with minutiae is staggering sometimes. Some of them--like the psy freaks, the ambient clowns, the Miami bass/ghetto tech fools, the IDM elitists, the NRG jibtek warriors, the industrial rivetheads, the trip hop turds, the b-boys, the junglists, the deep househeads--profess there existing at least 15-20 genres under their particular subgenre umbrella.
If I took them all to heart I could easily blow the thing up to about 5-600 genres. It's a good thing I don't.
DMG: Will there be a Version 3.0?
ISHKUR: Does there need to be? I was toying around with the idea for a 3d version, but it's cumbersome to navigate. Usability is a big issue with me, even though it doesn't seem like it. The first version took 2 weeks to build. The second version took 6 months. I'm going to need to hire a staff for v3. There is no funding for this. This is not my day job. I'm just one guy, working on it in his spare time, whenever he can.
Rave Captions:
DMG: Favorites?
ISHKUR: #1. Honestly, I think that's my favorite one. I made it just offhand one day, and I was going to submit it to the Retarded Ravers of America site....and then it occurred to me that I had ideas for many more. Rather than submit all of them, I just opted to put them on my own site. It kind of expanded from there. Most of the latter ones are rather dumb though.
DMG: Ever get any hate mail?
ISHKUR: All the time. The ratio for praise:hate is around 10:1 though. It depends how much email I get when which forums discover it. Some days I get none. Some days I get several dozen, because it hit Metafilter or Slashdot that day.
You personally:
DMG: What's on your playlist?
ISHKUR: Dave Armstrong - Touch me. Beautiful French House that will STORM the club scene this summer. Don't look for it, it's not released yet, though it will probably go to press in a couple weeks (I managed to get my hands on a promo copy). It will make its debut during the WMC, most likely. I predict this track to take over everything like Music Sounds Better With You and One More Time did. If you didn't know the name, you'd swear it was Daft Punk's new single. It's that good.
Other than that: oldschool 80s italo disco. It's making a comeback this year. Don't believe me? What do you think Alan Braxe was going for when he made 'Rubicon'. We've done the synthpop/electroclash thing for a couple years now....the music is now about to get a little bit more tinny. Watch.
DMG: Should DJs feel obligated to only play one style of music in a night, like so many seem to do?
ISHKUR: Hell no. In fact, they should get shot if they do. They should play what's best for the set, for the crowd, for themselves and for the atmosphere of the event, building adequate tension and release. Divide their sets into sections, or mood pieces, to give weight to what the music is doing. Like telling a story. DJs rarely do this anymore, likely because they don't know how. Today it's all about just playing whatever the flavor of the month is. A set without form, direction or purpose. And unhealthy. Like eating candy for dinner.
DMG: Who is not getting enough attention musically?
ISHKUR: In this scene? Icon of Coil, VNV Nation. I'd like to see more of the industrial-trance/futurepop/industrial pop music at regular parties/clubs (not rivethead joints), whatever the hell they call it.
In fact, I'd like a lot of that: scene-specific music in non scene-specific settings. Goa music that's not in a forest surrounded by hippies and tie-die fractal art. Jungle music that's not surrounded by camouflage netting and urban rasta chatta. Cheesy eurodance in an evil-looking environment. I like contrasts.
DMG: Who is getting to much attention?
ISHKUR: Dutch trance DJs. Devoid of substance and emotion, the Linkin Park/Evanescence of whiny narcissism.
DMG: How much time a week do you dedicate to your site and other things?
ISHKUR: It depends on what I'm currently doing as -paying- projects go. Those always come first. I'm not one to loaf around though. I always like to keep busy working on things, either personal or professional. I'm currently writing a novel.
DMG: Your favorite Stupid Rave site of the Week?
ISHKUR: www.iloveraving.com is the poster boy for the Stupid Site section. It represents everything revolting about how the scene betrayed itself: good-natured, wholesome, friendly, innocent, nice. I hate nice. Who the hell wants to be nice? These are raves, god ing dammit. Not your grandmother's Sunday ice cream canasta club. ISH |
I believe he explained some of the points people seem not to understand on his guide, reason why I decided to post this here. It may bring some nice discussion.
Or entertaining flames :D
Here's the link, by the way:
http://www.detroitmovementguide.com...75e5cc540cfa96a
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| Cobalt |
I must say that's the most balanced and rational piece I've ever heard out of Ishkur. I guess he does have a soul.
I completely agree about the overinflation of Dutch DJs and the lack of set balance, though. There are exceptions, but they should be the standard. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| He makes me laugh sometimes, with his crusade against capitalism. Seriously, anything involving money is bad to Ishkur. I bet he doesn't even listen to music anymore, because its all too commerical, with record labels and all that. |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
He makes me laugh sometimes, with his crusade against capitalism. Seriously, anything involving money is bad to Ishkur. I bet he doesn't even listen to music anymore, because its all too commerical, with record labels and all that. |
but he's a eurodance addict, how could he hate commercial stuff? :p |
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| T-1000 |
| Makes sense, for the most part atleast. A good read:) |
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| swe_Trancer |
| yeah...I agree with mosy of what Ish says. Most of it, not all... |
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| Vigilante |
I think i might go check out his site. I just read his guide to the history of dance music (or whatever it's called) the other day, and i thought it was good, although a bit hard to navigate at times.
I agree with a lot of what he said.
I don't think that dance music will ever become "underground" again, because money is a very powerful force. In the future, dance music will only become bigger and more commercial, particularly with its growing acceptance in America. |
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| razzi |
very nice read. ive been through his site and i think his views on alot of the genres is hilarious, yet quite startlingly true.
this was a great interview though. thanks for postin |
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| Ishkur |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
He makes me laugh sometimes, with his crusade against capitalism. Seriously, anything involving money is bad to Ishkur. I bet he doesn't even listen to music anymore, because its all too commerical, with record labels and all that. |
Totally. I hate capitalism and money. Despicable things.
For more information on how much capitalism and money are ruining mankind, please send $20 to the following address:
Ishkur
PO Box 18532
Delta, British Columbia, Canada
V4K 4V7
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| Wicked Neo |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ishkur
Totally. I hate capitalism and money. Despicable things.
For more information on how much capitalism and money are ruining mankind, please send $20 to the following address:
Ishkur
PO Box 18532
Delta, British Columbia, Canada
V4K 4V7
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ROFL :rolleyes:
Ishkur wishes to be ruined . . . .
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| Orko |
| quote: | | ISHKUR: Hell no. In fact, they should get shot if they do. They should play what's best for the set, for the crowd, for themselves and for the atmosphere of the event, building adequate tension and release. Divide their sets into sections, or mood pieces, to give weight to what the music is doing. Like telling a story. DJs rarely do this anymore, likely because they don't know how. Today it's all about just playing whatever the flavor of the month is. A set without form, direction or purpose. And unhealthy. Like eating candy for dinner. |
thank you. somebody finally said what I have felt for a long time! I was never really able to express what had been missing from edm the last couple of years. proper 'tension and release'.
I love the new tracks people come out with these days, but all too often, its a set filled with the new big track, mixed together using state of the art tech, but not enough emotion which is induced with track list order and feel. too many djs rely on the song itself to produce the atmosphere, and not their own skills.
I want to hear less super smooth sets, and more sets with varied emotional peaks and troughs |
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| PETRAN |
[QUOTE]Other than that: oldschool 80s italo disco. It's making a comeback this year. Don't believe me?
well, i dont now if that is completely true (i hope so , though)as italo is fu**ing genuine melodic twisted music. im currently listening to legowelt-truely awesome, i was tottaly blown when i first heard tracks like sturmvogel and strange girl, retro-futuristic at its best!open-minded trance-addicts PLEASE dig them!(also bangkok impact, putsch 79 and savas pascalidis they all trully rock) |
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