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Underground > Radio & Music >

Left-field werido twanging synthy bloopy crap

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Pin

06:59 / 26.09.01

Err... so, yeah, I really do have much greater respect for this sirt of music then I appear to be letting on, but my question is... What do people here think of it? What would you class as it? What's a good introduction to it?

Basically, I'm talking about bands that have got thmselvs a reputation for being "difficult", such as Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Godspeed You Black Emporer!, A Silver Mount Zion and Radiohead, as well as more dancey stuff like Aphex Twin and that werid guy with the "[greek letyter]-Ziq" name that's pronouced "Music".

And how many people feel the need to shout "Where'd all the nice tunes go?!"

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:26 / 26.09.01

The nice tunes are on the last two Radiohead albums. People who don't hear this are living in a parallel universe.

deletia

07:41 / 26.09.01

Fuck, you two are populist.

"Oooh! Oooh! I really like Sigur Ros! I really like Radiohead! I really like Godspeed you Black Emperor! They're dreeeeeeeeemy!"

Christ, what are these meant to be more left-field and weird than? Billy Ocean?

I like Chimney Factory.

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:04 / 26.09.01

quote:Originally posted by The Haus of Willow:
Fuck, you two are populist.

Never claimed to be anything else, bub.

Isn't the term for bleepy-Autechre-Aphex stuff "glitch"? As genre names go, it's not bad...

deletia

08:49 / 26.09.01

Chimney Factory were made up by Stewart Lee to act as a paridigmatic unknown band, and thus to allow him to be the biggest trainspotter in the world ever, by the simple expedient of claiming to like Chimney Factory. I was joking.

Sigur Ros are great, but I wouldn't describe them as "glitch"...

08:49 / 26.09.01

Sigur Ros sound kind of like whales.

Nice and all, but a bit too wishy-washy and floatation tank for my liking.

"Where'd all the nice tunes go?"

The last Mogwai album I think you'll find. Lovely, lovely melodies..

I mean, that's the missing link really.. how fucking good would it be if Godspeed.. discovered melody? I mean, obviously they're great, but all the atonal droning gets punishing after a while..

08:49 / 26.09.01

Oh, and didn't Aphex Twin officially give his genre a name?

'Braintrance' I think it might have been, except that that sounds crap..

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:49 / 26.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Rizla Year Zero:
Sigur Ros sound kind of like whales.

Nice and all, but a bit too wishy-washy and floatation tank for my liking.

Brilliant description. Not too bad on record, but fuck me, they're boring live (I say this having walked out on them at Shepherd's Bush and then endured them supporting Radiohead in Oxford).

The Natural Way

08:49 / 26.09.01

"Glitch"? Crap journospeak. Makes it sound as though something's somehow going wrong with the music - and it's also an attempt to reduce a plethora of very different, challenging sounds to something easily recognizable in Jockey Slut's review section. And the Aphex and Autechre sound of yesteryear could hardly be described in a way that suggests computers malfunctioning - The cathedral like beauty of Polynomial C, or the sad bleeping of Analogue Bubblebath, the moody atmospheres of Lowride or Selected Ambient Works Vol 2..... Definitely not "glitch". I prefer the term "electronica" or just plain "techno", simple man that I am. But I'm sure I'll get with the new lingo if it gets popular enough, because, you know, I wouldn't wanna be left out....

Pin, have you heard Mouse on Mars, Scnieder TM or Matmos yet? You should. Go buy.

I don't know why I'm plugging all this odd shit, my favourite tune's Carl Craig's Relativity at the moment; and you'd hardly describe that as "challenging" etc. Deep House at its best, though.

Pin

08:49 / 26.09.01

Yeah, Aphex called it Braindance and released a £5 sampler under the name for his label Rephlex.

08:49 / 26.09.01

Runt:
""Glitch"? Crap journospeak. Makes it sound as though something's somehow going wrong with the music"

I always thought glitch - or, as the Wire call it,'glitchtronica' - referred to stuff that really was built from things going wrong. Wasn't it Oval who used to make a point of using fuck-ups and errors to make tunes? Then there's Autechre who sound as if they use vinyl clicks and scratches. I don't think the term is meant to be sniffy or derogatory, it's useful to describe the sound of those clicky-schnicky bands, of which there seem to be many. I trying to think of the label that was cheifly responsible for champoning the sound - Mille Plateaux?

Thassit, go here

[ 26-09-2001: Message edited by: Saveloy ]

The Natural Way

08:49 / 26.09.01

I didn't mean that it was meant to be derogatory...

But yeah, cool, it does describe the "physicalness" of the Autechre, Schnieder, etc sound pretty well.... See! I'm already turning - so much for my last post! Ignore the bleatings of this rash young runt who fails to think before he emits.

And I think Aphex, as usual, was probably just taking the piss: "Braindance"? S'meant to be silly, isn't it? Most of the stuff on that album slipped easily into one recognizable pigeonhole or another - The Railway Raver pulls off some Deep House, Squarepusher warps Chaos AD into some spastic jungle hardcore, Luke Vibert does the techno, and Aphex remixes Baby Ford of all people - s'all pretty accessible stuff; not really deserving of a new genre title.
That said, I fucking love it - esp that Laila tune.

deletia

10:05 / 26.09.01

Laila? Could we be on the verge of NONCEROCK?

The Return Of Rothkoid

11:55 / 26.09.01

Haus: only if Peter Frampton's involved.

Pin: try here-
Sigur Rós downloads.
GYBE live MP3s - a couple of shows.

MP3it.com probably have a couple of bands you're interested in online. Epitonic.com also has samples of stuff, with links to "sounds like" artists.

That Braindance sampler CD that's kicking around for about a fiver is well worth the investment. As are things like Peel sessions, for the bands that have 'em.

Most of these things aren't as difficult as people'd have you believe. Honestly.

13:40 / 26.09.01

I tend to point out that, especially with the electronic side of things, just because it's interesting doesn't make it easy to listen to. I quite like Aphex Twin, but find it bloody hard work to sit through an album.

Anyhow, to this list, add: Two Lone Swordsmen. And Mouse on Mars again, because they're great. And Pilote, because he's ill in the head.

And Osymyso. Whose album, "welcome to the palindrome", is abysmally hilarious.

That said, Squarepusher can fuck right off. But yeah, TLS's "Stay Down" is a great offbeat electro album thingy. Odd, but great.

deletia

13:41 / 26.09.01

Christ no. Most are more commercial and easy than the average STEPS tune.

The only decent, interesting, experimental electronica out there at the moment is the stuff on Coldwater Suplex records.

The Natural Way

14:57 / 26.09.01

I wouldn't really describe Stay Down as particularly "offbeat" - it's quite easy to get yer head round really. And which Aphex albums are you checking? The earlier ones are pretty much easy listening - some of them very gentle, and very varied. Compare the boneshaking industrial noise that is Quoth with the ticking, moody, sad house strains of If It Really Is Me - two tunes that have nothing in common, but share air space on the same album: Surfing On Sine Waves. The ambient mutterings of Selected Ambient Works Vol 2 have nothing in common with the chattering drill and bass breaks and stacatto symphonic bursts of The Richard James Album.....etc, blah.

In short, I'm not sure Aphex is quite as inaccessible/difficult to listen to as you claim. He's produced such a wide body of work that there's probably something there for everyone.

deletia

15:22 / 26.09.01

Yup.

Fucking sellout.

16:36 / 26.09.01

Didn't a lot of this stuff used to be classed as 'intelligent techno'? I never really understood the term, as it suggested there was 'stupid techno.'

Then I heard gabba.

There are some weird bloopy things mentioned in this thread.

Skam records and, of course, Warp records are good: as is Mu-ziq's record label Planet Mu records.

But don't get me talking on this, we'll be here all night.

Oh, and Haus: keep doing this 'amusing' sniping and I'll pop into one of your threads where you're deconstructing Roland Barthes' 'Author-God' concept in light of new developments in Saussurean theory and start banging on about 'Play some fuckin' techno!'

18:54 / 26.09.01

This thread reminds me of all the problems of comparative religion.

Well, hmmm. Let's take two or three roughly similarish bands, and find something that compares in a few ways. Then let's find something vaguely related, and then throw in a few more things to make up the list.

By this logic, I'll add Aqua to the list. You see, they use computers. And in some small, small way, have a touch of subversion and poignancy.

If we're headed into weirdy boffiny electronic territory, then:

Go: Bogdan Raczynski! You are schitz! You inadvisedly sing! Your beats are twisted! Fnck You DJ is hilarious! You're an utterly screwed up stalker character!

Go: Matmos! Crayfish Neural Tissue? Let's sample it! Someone having their nose broken? Let's make it into a breakbeat! Lyposuction? It'll add character. The sound of pure, concentrated evil.

Go: Michael Fakesch! What's going on? I'm chilled, yet somehow... involved. Are there melodies on this album, or am I making them up?

Go: Photek! Total immersion breakbeats; deep soulful house; perfectly poised tension; tracks that sound like they're about to assassinate you.

Go: Boards of Canada! Children laughing cuts me up inside.

Go: V/VM! No... on second thoughts, you really don't want to hear about them. They're very bad men. Fuckin' brilliant, beautiful music, but an "aquired" taste.

Seriously considering changing my name to werido.

Godspeed...? No melody? What record were you listening to?

[ 26-09-2001: Message edited by: expressionless ]

11:58 / 27.09.01

expressionless: you and i are on the same track, good stuff there. matmos' a chance to cut is a chance to cure is one of those rare albums i find myself listening to more than a few times.

tho i definitaly enjoyed the new radio head as well and like stuff much noisier than v/vm. cEvin key did a nifty album ... spook-idm? heh.

how about cex? his style is fresh and he always makes me laugh . . . even tho the jokes on me.

i'm generaly more into the electronic side of things. the kids who hang out on soulseek seem to follow the "idm scene" and there's ussually some neet stuff being passed around. push button objects, squarepusher, wagon christ, pole, plone, oval, delarosa and asora (agony part 1 is another great disc), brothomstates.

i wouldn't call gabber the only "unintelegent" techno music. i don't think any music is better or worse than any stuff but i can't sit down and _listen_ to some dance oriented techno cd the way i can with an autechre disc. dance music is nice and predictable so you can dance to it--nothing wrong with that it.

Goodness Gracious Meme

15:43 / 27.09.01

matmos are fab, if pretty strange, saw them live the other day, and made quite an impact, altough sometimes it was just cat-strangling noise...

heard a great single the other day by a chap called Capital K, well worth checking out if you like the above stuff...

and talking of warped (ho ho) old skool rave, the new Squarepusher album is a wunnerful thing.

and i think the young runt meant Leila, whose album 'Like weather' is utterly fab.

Ganesh

09:54 / 28.09.01

I feel old again. Bah.

Red Cross Iodized Salt

09:54 / 28.09.01

More glitch than you could shake a stick at (plenty of dub too).

[ 28-09-2001: Message edited by: Suddenly there's Vancouver ]

Pin

09:54 / 28.09.01

Fuckwits! Fuckwits fuckwits fuckwits! HMV's sale does not include any of the dancier stuff mentioned (though it may have Mogwai, Godspeed... !, Sigur Ros and so forth, and didn't have long to check), and doesn't even stock Mu-Ziq, Mathmos and, I'm fairly sure, many others.

09:54 / 28.09.01

Though it DOES have Patti Smith, Television, Talking Heads, Black Sabbath, Pixies, Jurassic 5, Kraftwerk, Captain Beefheart, Lou Reed, PJ Harvey, Mercury Rev...

..guess where I spent yesterday afternoon.

Fengs for the Memory

12:59 / 28.09.01

Vinly has such lovely packaging. It as good away to pick stuff up as any. Glitch or no glitch. Sigur Ros sounds like a character from the Moomins.

10:15 / 02.10.01

quote:Originally posted by The Haus of Willow:
Laila? Could we be on the verge of NONCEROCK?

Hahaha! Noooo, Leila is on Warp and did the tune that I take my name from.

No star here laces

12:48 / 02.10.01

Can I just say that 'electronica' is ponce-ass masturbatory soundtracks for perennial dickwads who wouldn't know real music if it punched them in their student loans?

I mean for god's sakes if you want to listen to something this intellectualised and remote couldn't you just buy classical music? At least it's actually good, and it lets you be as much of a posey cunt without the pain of having to listen to the likes of Mathmos. Go out and buy some Janacek.

Happy hardcore, now that's what electronic music should be about.

13:18 / 02.10.01

quote:Originally posted by Tyrone Mushylaces:
Can I just say that 'electronica' is ponce-ass masturbatory soundtracks for perennial dickwads who wouldn't know real music if it punched them in their student loans?

I mean for god's sakes if you want to listen to something this intellectualised and remote couldn't you just buy classical music? At least it's actually good, and it lets you be as much of a posey cunt without the pain of having to listen to the likes of Mathmos. Go out and buy some Janacek.

Happy hardcore, now that's what electronic music should be about.

Almost everyone on this thread has posted somewhere, sometime else in the Music forum professing a love of deeply spontaneous music, whether it is emotional, spiritual, protest songs, good ol' fun pop or all three. So I guess we're from a "both/and" type perspective.

You, however, seem to be relishing your own antagonism, and can't get your head past "either/or." We agree that there's a lot beautiful music outside of electronica. We also think there's a lot of beautiful music inside electronica as well. And that beautiful music is sometimes cold, calculated and passionless (although it's often not).

Your post was crap, by the way. But at least it was Steven Wells style funny crap.

[ 02-10-2001: Message edited by: expressionless ]

No star here laces

14:46 / 02.10.01

And expressionless has just amply demonstrated the perspective-deficit inherent in this style of music.

I'm off to bang my head to some simplistic jungle rhythms like the philistine that I am.

Pin

15:18 / 02.10.01

quote:Originally posted by Tyrone Mushylaces:
And expressionless has just amply demonstrated the perspective-deficit inherent in this style of music.

Um... how?

19:43 / 02.10.01

quote:Originally posted by Tyrone Mushylaces:
And expressionless has just amply demonstrated the perspective-deficit inherent in this style of music.

Maybe you didn't read my post. Maybe you didn't understand it. One more time:

The people posting to this thread agree with what you like about music, Tyrone, and why you like it (at least, I'm making a big assumption about the kind of attitude you're into - kind of inferring something positive out of the negativity of your post). We also like a whole lot of other stuff, for totally different reasons.

The point is, we have no problem with anything you listen to, because the chances are we're all into simliar stuff for exactly the same reasons. You, however, seem to have a problem with a specific genre that sits outside your record collection, that other people happen to listen to and love and enthuse over.

Only one person in this topic seems to have "perspective-deficit" problems. I have just stated my case for using that term to describe you, Tyrone. I'd be very fucking interested in how it applies to me or anyone else who love the groups we've discussed.

No star here laces

07:59 / 03.10.01

What it means, matey, is that you shouldn't take my comments so seriously when they are just a pastiche of a standard critique of this style.

07:59 / 03.10.01

Glad we got that cleared up. Although I'm not sure what the point was to your second post, seeing as I told you I thought it was funny in my first response.

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