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I was a rave/club promoter for 5 years, until

I just couldn't stand it any longer. So I've heard it all. Sooooo laaaaame.

 

Actually I can take it in small doses - like

if I go out to a club and it is actually a

fun club night with a skilled DJ, I can deal.

I like to dance.

 

But the whole thing with everyone being a DJ is

super lame. There are at least 100 terrible

DJ's for every good one. And that's true on

the jetsetting level as well as the local

level.

 

 

Same with club nights, 100 lame nights for

every good one. Well at least around here.

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oh yeah, and i just don't get

-listening- to dance music when you are

not dancing. seems like you're kinda

missing the singular point of the music.

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Electronic music isn't just for dancing. It can take you on a journey and effect your mood like no other kind of music. Also theres no limits to what can be done with electronic music - It isn't constricted by the boundaries of traditional instruments.

 

Anyway Barok, you're arguing your opinion and I'm arguing mine - Different strokes for different folks - Music wouldn't be as varied as it is if we all liked the same thing!

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Not only does what Matt says apply, but also what you happen to be doing is also important. I hate dancing to trance and repetitive mostly beat music - I like a good toon, and some lyrics for dancing.

 

But that sort of music is great for working to, and driving to if I'm in that mood. For translating, which is what I do, anything too interesting is a distraction, but the right level of trance music stops me getting bored. Spanish music is good for working too as well - the lyrics aren't distracting as I have not the least idea what they mean.

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Electronic music?

What exactly is that?

 

Ambient stuff - like The Orb, etc

Stuff like The Chemical Brothers?

Harder stuff - like The Prodigy?

Techno stuff - like...all them techno people?

DJ stuff - like Fat Boy Slim?

Pop stuff - like Pet Shop Boys

Darker pop stuff - like Depeche Mode?

Stuff that can't be categorised - Moby?

 

Difficult to put all them dudes in 1 place.

 

Sure I've missed out loads of other "categories" too........

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You guys......forget about it !! ! !! !

 

In my opinion, there is nothing better than getting totally, 100% ****ted - completely twisted , ........having conversations with Baby Jesus, the whole works. Whilst in this state, being bushed, pulled and coaxed on a wonderful, magical journey of the consciousness.

 

The guide is Dr hoffman himself.... eek.gif

 

The sound is, of course progressive and psychedelic trance........spirals and all.. cool.gif ...

 

 

.....hay, this is my opinion, and at least I'm honest, and realistic in why I like what I do....

 

P.S. The tunes stay the same in winter, but the good Dr spends his time wrapped in plastic.... wink.gif

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 Quote:
Originally posted by barok:
But the whole thing with everyone being a DJ is super lame. There are at least 100 terrible
DJ's for every good one.


The point about most people being not very good is probably true, but why's it lame that everyone has a go? Sounds like the epitomy of the punk spirit to me.

90% of all forms of music are rubbish. At least with electronica, the technology is giving people the ability to do things that have never been possible. You couldn't have made drum'n'bass ten years ago even if you had tried. Sequencing technology wasn't up to the task.

Regardless of what technology is used, it still takes a lot of talent to make something good. With technology that's developing, however, there are still possibilities yet to discovered. Most things possible with guitar,bass,drums,vocals were done years ago. The vast majority of rock now sounds completely derivative. In most of the arts, the truly great artists are the ones that embrace new media and seek out new forms of expression. I think if Jimi Hendrix or Miles Davis were reincarnated, the chances of them playing the guitar or trumpet are virtually zero. In the same way, a reincarnated Matisse and Picasso wouldn't paint in oils.
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 Quote:
Originally posted by NoFakie:
The point about most people being not very good is probably true, but why's it lame that everyone has a go? Sounds like the epitomy of the punk spirit to me.

The vast majority of rock now sounds completely derivative.


responding to your post and maybe a few
others, NoFakie. I think it would be the
epitome of the punk spirit if people did
it on a personal level, and if there wasn't
so much attitude and ego involved.

i can't tell you the number of times some
fool has come up to me all arrogant like

"hey maaan i'm DJ Flash G, check out my mix
it's super dope, i rule, i spin here and
there and everywhere, book me, i'll rock it"

and after listening to the first 2 tracks
it becomes obvious that they have been
spinning just long enough to barely
beat-match the tunes. that means there is
no style, no flow and the tunes themselves
are the same records everyone else has,
and that's just sad. After talking to
hundreds of these "DJ's" it becomes pretty
obvious who is in it for the music and the
love, and who is in it just to be cool, or to
get chicks.

and if you just want to be cool and get
chicks that's fine, but it doesn't mean that
you should irritate people on stage.

and sure, most rock is derivative - that's
too bad because whenever a new band comes
out it's like "ohh Rancid. . . yeah they
are just biting the Clash or that other
band just sounds like Oasis ... or Pearl Jam"
and I like these new bands, but I guess it
just happens when there are a million bands
over the course of 50 odd years.

but NOTHING sounds more derivative than
house music - from acid house to vocal house
to funky house to speed garage to hard house
to tech house to 2-step (basically speed
garage all over again) and now to glitch
house or twitch house or whatever - it's all
the same, just something, anything, over a
4/4 beat. it's the SAAAME THING.

(that doesn't mean I hate it or can't have
fun with it - I just think it is waaay
overdone, over-hyped, and in most cases
played-out)

now sure I'm jaded and negative on the whole
thing, but I think there truly are some
great DJ's. The best one's I know feel the
same way about it as I do about snowboarding.
I think the number one quality that makes
a good DJ is intelligence. you have to be
smart to be a good DJ, end of story.

John Acquaviva is a good DJ, so is Miles
Maeda, Justin Nichols, Richie Hawtin,
DJ Flux, Dan Efex, UFO!, Stareyes, and a few
others.

And lastly, as Matt pointed out, none of what
I'm saying really matters since taste is
subjective anywayz. you like yours, I like
mine.
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Hey hey, my my, rock n' roll will never die.

 

On an impulse I downloaded 'Fade to Grey' by Visage (prompted by a subliminal reference in a semiconductor manufacturing equipment manual I happened to be translating, indeed.) With great anticipation I loaded it in my player, put it on, and apart from an involuntary guffaw when those boys sang, in all seriousness, "we fade to grey" in their funny English accents, thought, 'By God, this sounds modern!' Which goes to show, at least for someone who is not well up on the details of modern DJing, that a lot of what you hear now has very little new about it, in spite of technical developments.

 

You can certainly overstate the technical case. I read rave reviews about those tribute tracks where a living person miraculously jams with Bob Marley or Jimi Hendrix. Hi-tech gives us Lauryn and Bob singing a duet. But actually, it's crap. Compare that with Lauryn Hill, Cee-lo and Santana's brilliant track on the Supernatural album, and it's clear that what can be done has completely obscured what should be done.

 

There's more to the picture than meets the eye. Hey hey, my my.

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NoFakie...

I think you need to listen to some more music...jimi would definetly still be playing his guitarr if he were around today...

 

bands like Medeski,Martin&Wood, John Scofield, Pat Metheney Group, Charlie Hunter, and on and on are pushing the limits of music...with "standard" instruments at the core...have a listen

 

music is alive and kickin!

 

danz

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 Quote:
Originally posted by danz:

bands like Medeski,Martin&Wood, John Scofield, Pat Metheney Group, Charlie Hunter, and on and on are pushing the limits of music...with "standard" instruments at the core...have a listen

danz


Thanks for the tip. However, I've got nothing against real instruments. My favourite contemporary artist is Erykah Badu whose killer weapons are her voice and her lyrics. My point is that the typical rock guitar,bass,drums,vocals thing has been done to death. A lot of bands (Radiohead etc.) have moved on, but quite a few haven't and seem to take some perverse pride in a neo-Luddite "this is rock-this is music-all them computers is cr*p" suprematism.

None of the artists Danz mentions uses the kind of lineup I've mentioned. What I've heard of MMW sounds close to Booker T or the JTQ, which is soul music in my book. I like John Scofield's old stuff with Miles, but the jazz-funk thing he's doing now doesn't sound that far off older jazz-funk like Lonnie Liston Smith, Roy Ayers, Weldon Irvine and that crew.

As it happens, probably the most interesting form of "electronic music" at the moment is what you'd call club-jazz, music that's taking the syncopation and polyrhythms of jazz and latin music and adding the groove-centered feel of house and spacey sounds of techno. If you're in Japan, it's the stuff people like UFO and the Kyoto Jazz Massive play.

As for house

Not everyone understands house music
It's a spiritual thing
A body thing
A soul thing.

Of course, a large proportion is still rubbish. Seek out the good and you'll be rewarded.

PS Most bands have egos too.
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Big fan of the 80's blitz/new romantic era, as that is when I was DJ'ing. So I totally love Soft Cell version of Tainted Love.

 

Big fan now of Drum'n'bass/Jungle and trance, especially when on the dance floor.

"Justify Your Love" by Madonna is my favourite early trance track (crank it up, get amped and dim the lights)

My CD collection goes from Ashley MacIsacc to ZZ Top, with Gypsy Kings, Fragma, Linkin Park and every other style in between. Music is good, and you need to be able to suit your mood.

 

As the saying goes "It's all good"

 

 

[This message has been edited by Raury (edited 24 May 2002).]

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Hey Raury, I hope that's not the 12" version of Tainted Love? Nothin' worse than finding yourself stranded on the dancefloor while the record works it's pointless way through all that dreary 12" filler.

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Hey Ocean, must disagree.

 

Extended 12 inch mixes are sorely missed. Now replaced by sampled tuneless pieces of carp that sound nothing like the original toon

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oo, 12" singles spawned all that sampled shite. Originally you had a good toon and some more or less mindless lyrics and it was all over in a pleasant few minutes and the next lot came on. Then came 12" inch singles where some sound engineer got the idea that a living could be made out of fiddling with knobs, and thus we're at where we are today. It's not all bad of course, but a good deal of it is.

 

I loved Tainted Love when it came out, but I still remember that 'oh gawd not the 12" feeling' when I went clubbin'.

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