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roachboy · 10-12-2004, 07:54 AM

it is interesting, this question
but really difficult to respond to because the category is so huge...

so i figured that rather than sort out what electronic music is, i would say a couple things about the scene i am involved with, which is more "experimental" and/or electro-acoustic...old school synths, shortwaves, piano, voices, tape/tape manipulation, longform, dissonant type....

i do not have a single answer for why this stuff is not more popular here.
and by popular, i assume you mean able to draw large-ish audiences for live events.

maybe it is the length of the pieces
maybe that the music ignores the usual structural elements that set up a relation to pop forms (chord changes in particular, beats in a version of 4 for another, the usual hierarchies between/among instruments)

maybe it is the ritual element of performances, which can fill the room with a strange energy

maybe it is that the music makes significant demands on the listener.

maybe it is that people seem, for some reason, to want to see live copies of what they already know

what surprises me a bit is that netradio seems to have made almost no difference--if it is true that "electronic music" in its various mutations is more popular elsewhere than in the states, and if netradio is one mode that would enable you to cross scenes (click on the link and your head is in london, say...) you would think that this would translate into a gradual breaking down of divisions between scenes/audiences, no?

but it does not seem to work that way.
i wonder if this is a function of people now associating netradio with where they live, so that it simply does not occur to folk to hear things live in their area that might plug them into the space they inhabit via the radio?
maybe it is a function of how information about music is or is not transmitted by netradio outlets?

or maybe the problem is that people do not listen to much music in that format, that they still in the main rely on friends or recommendations or broadcast radio for access to new music?

or maybe it is something more prosiac: limited distribution for non-mainstream types of music.

at the same time, however, the scene feels like it is quite big, but not in any particular place---if you judge by the amount of (for example) tape music from the 1960s that is being reissued--someone must be buying it--but where are they?

turntable-driven forms might have an easier time of it because they mix rather than fundamentally fuck with forms of music that are already in place (in audience terms)---and they are cheaper to tour, can rely in more venues having decent (if not good) equipment.

any commentary?

10-12-2004, 07:54 AM	#16 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	it is interesting, this question but really difficult to respond to because the category is so huge... so i figured that rather than sort out what electronic music is, i would say a couple things about the scene i am involved with, which is more "experimental" and/or electro-acoustic...old school synths, shortwaves, piano, voices, tape/tape manipulation, longform, dissonant type.... i do not have a single answer for why this stuff is not more popular here. and by popular, i assume you mean able to draw large-ish audiences for live events. maybe it is the length of the pieces maybe that the music ignores the usual structural elements that set up a relation to pop forms (chord changes in particular, beats in a version of 4 for another, the usual hierarchies between/among instruments) maybe it is the ritual element of performances, which can fill the room with a strange energy maybe it is that the music makes significant demands on the listener. maybe it is that people seem, for some reason, to want to see live copies of what they already know what surprises me a bit is that netradio seems to have made almost no difference--if it is true that "electronic music" in its various mutations is more popular elsewhere than in the states, and if netradio is one mode that would enable you to cross scenes (click on the link and your head is in london, say...) you would think that this would translate into a gradual breaking down of divisions between scenes/audiences, no? but it does not seem to work that way. i wonder if this is a function of people now associating netradio with where they live, so that it simply does not occur to folk to hear things live in their area that might plug them into the space they inhabit via the radio? maybe it is a function of how information about music is or is not transmitted by netradio outlets? or maybe the problem is that people do not listen to much music in that format, that they still in the main rely on friends or recommendations or broadcast radio for access to new music? or maybe it is something more prosiac: limited distribution for non-mainstream types of music. at the same time, however, the scene feels like it is quite big, but not in any particular place---if you judge by the amount of (for example) tape music from the 1960s that is being reissued--someone must be buying it--but where are they? turntable-driven forms might have an easier time of it because they mix rather than fundamentally fuck with forms of music that are already in place (in audience terms)---and they are cheaper to tour, can rely in more venues having decent (if not good) equipment. any commentary? __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite