Originally posted by corjay9
But why? Its a way of describing the aesthetic of audio. Some techno is really polished and squeaky clean, some techno is over produced and compressed, some techno is dirty and grimy.
Because the obsession with one aspect of aesthetic is beginning to overwhelm the discourse of a whole genre and reduce all other musical concerns to a side-show to the tedious Gen Y craving for faux-authenticity.
There's nothing wrong with mentioning whether something sounds polished/grimy/whatever, but it increasingly feels like it's literally the first thing a lot of techno fans need to assess, and that is deeply silly.
rubez
does the amount of polish affect your enjoyment of the genre?
if so, it should totally be at the forefront of any discussion.
trance died as direct consequence of became overly polished, clean and bright. maybe some people even prefer their techno clean, but any sensible person knows it should be raw and dirty :D
love slam and soma... need to check this out!
AlphaStarred
quote:
Originally posted by rubez
does the amount of polish affect your enjoyment of the genre?
if so, it should totally be at the forefront of any discussion.
It doesn't, which was J's implication.
quote:
trance died as direct consequence of became overly polished, clean and bright. maybe some people even prefer their techno clean, but any sensible person knows it should be raw and dirty :D
No it didn't. Otherwise techno would've died, too, which isn't the case. What would be your definition of "raw and dirty" techno, rubez? It probably differs from mine.
Woony
quote:
Originally posted by AlphaStarred
Yeah, I'm sure it's intentional. Many will be waiting for the 12", I'm sure.
Eh, it's not so much intentional - it's more like vinyl is basically garuanteed to get delayed these days, so if you stick by your original release date /w the digital, it's basically almost going to come out first.
Soma does a lot of digital only releases, though. But they have something like a release every two weeks, doing that with vinyl is ing pain in the ass, if not impossible for smaller label now.
rubez
i like my techno with a busy muddy rhythm to offshoot searing highs. basically as far away from the minimal mentality as possible.
here's a cracker, raw and dirty.
AlphaStarred
quote:
Originally posted by Woony
Eh, it's not so much intentional - it's more like vinyl is basically garuanteed to get delayed these days, so if you stick by your original release date /w the digital, it's basically almost going to come out first.
Soma does a lot of digital only releases, though. But they have something like a release every two weeks, doing that with vinyl is ing pain in the ass, if not impossible for smaller label now.
I can see that, although I thought the digital in this case was released to get some publicity first...maybe not. Is Soma considered a smaller label now? It's pretty huge and was around since the early 90's or so.
AlphaStarred
quote:
Originally posted by rubez
i like my techno with a busy muddy rhythm to offshoot searing highs. basically as far away from the minimal mentality as possible.
here's a cracker, raw and dirty.
That's not really techno, but ok. I was thinking dirty a la Beverly Hills 808303, Unit Moebius:
corjay9
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Because the obsession with one aspect of aesthetic is beginning to overwhelm the discourse of a whole genre and reduce all other musical concerns to a side-show to the tedious Gen Y craving for faux-authenticity.
There's nothing wrong with mentioning whether something sounds polished/grimy/whatever, but it increasingly feels like it's literally the first thing a lot of techno fans need to assess, and that is deeply silly.
Well, I feel that for techno its more important. Real techno for the most part is super simple: a few synth stabs, a bass line, the kick and hats. How these sounds (and the space between sounds) mesh together.. the aesthetic, is super important to me.
Techno that's really clean and polished for the most part is too busy, overly produced, overly compressed, cheesy break downs, white noise sweeps. I don't think I give it a chance to be honest, I'll listen to the kick and hats, and I'll know if I feel it or not, know what I mean? Maybe I just don't give it a chance.
I do like clean sounding music: ambient and downtempo, trip hop, IDM, RnB come to mind.. but for techno, house music, and hip hop, even rock (Tame Impala as a recent example) I really like dirty raw sounding stuff. It's what hooks me to keep listening.
Just like all art, true beauty lies in the imperfections.
AlphaStarred
quote:
Originally posted by corjay9
Well, I feel that for techno its more important. Real techno for the most part is super simple: a few synth stabs, a bass line, the kick and hats. How these sounds (and the space between sounds) mesh together.. the aesthetic, is super important to me.
Techno that's really clean and polished for the most part is too busy, overly produced, overly compressed, cheesy break downs, white noise sweeps. I don't think I give it a chance to be honest, I'll listen to the kick and hats, and I'll know if I feel it or not, know what I mean? Maybe I just don't give it a chance.
I agree with all this, except for the part about "real" techno - I think a more apt term would be "oldschool." I also prefer oldschool techno, but there is some modern stuff that's definitely worth a listen.
You can really say techno (and other music genres) have evolved, mostly due to the incorporation of software and new gear. It doesn't mean it's better than before, but it's definitely evolved.
Woony
quote:
Originally posted by AlphaStarred
I can see that, although I thought the digital in this case was released to get some publicity first...maybe not. Is Soma considered a smaller label now? It's pretty huge and was around since the early 90's or so.
Well by small I mean 'not a major label'. Even the biggest underground dance music labels dont shift more than 1000-2000 copies now, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the size of Adele or Michael Jackson reissue runs. There's a couple of pressing plants that only work with indepents, but apart from that, you're going to at the bottom of the waiting list. (Hell, even underground indie/rock/metal vastly outsells dance music)
AlphaStarred
Damn. Makes sense, I was talking to some label owners and they also mention delays in pressing plants. I guess it's become more of a norm these days.
SYSTEM-J
quote:
Originally posted by corjay9
Well, I feel that for techno its more important. Real techno for the most part is super simple: a few synth stabs, a bass line, the kick and hats. How these sounds (and the space between sounds) mesh together.. the aesthetic, is super important to me.
Techno that's really clean and polished for the most part is too busy, overly produced, overly compressed, cheesy break downs, white noise sweeps. I don't think I give it a chance to be honest, I'll listen to the kick and hats, and I'll know if I feel it or not, know what I mean? Maybe I just don't give it a chance.
I do like clean sounding music: ambient and downtempo, trip hop, IDM, RnB come to mind.. but for techno, house music, and hip hop, even rock (Tame Impala as a recent example) I really like dirty raw sounding stuff. It's what hooks me to keep listening.
Just like all art, true beauty lies in the imperfections.
There is, and always has been, very clean and sleek techno. A lot of the Detroit stuff is defined by this pristine quality. The aesthetic, the mastering, the production of a track are all subordinate to the intended effect and even in techno there are many valid approaches.
