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headplastic

Knob Twiddlers
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Everything posted by headplastic

  1. @zero thanks for the responses. I was thinking about the diversity question a lot during my time in-class with my colleagues. Because it seems like a welcoming community, and I've learned quickly that it truly is, but the reason as to why the scene is not more diverse may be due to the white-male history of the genre. Still, from what I've learned about the rave culture (I was born in the 90s), it has always been welcoming, free-spirited, and untainted by bigotry for the most part. I think @Stickfigger makes a good point on that topic. Also, yes, true, the statement is a bit loaded. As I said in my reply to @dingformung, the term 'underground' is a bit finicky in general. There are debates in popular music studies about the defining differences between 'popular, mainstream' and 'underground, subcultural'. But I think you ask good questions here that are worth exploring. Ultimately, I don't think terms like 'underground' are really that useful today. Unless 'alternative' counts as a catch-all
  2. Good question, and as many things are in academia the definition is up for debate (why can't people just agree on shit!). Whatever the case, 'underground,' much like the term 'subculture,' has changed in the last 20 years because of the impact the internet has had on communities and commercialism. The definition my research subscribes to is a community of artists and listeners that operate distinctly apart from mainstream values, popular trends, and widespread attention. The tricky part here is how musicians, such as the Featured Artists on WATMM, make money while remaining "underground" or apart of that community without becoming a sell-out. I argue, as many others do, that they use tactics to shield their underground identity. For example, Aphex Twin skips the Grammys when he wins with Syro, among other examples. This is similar to what you are pointing out @J3FF3R00, thanks for that detailed response btw. These kind of actions protect his subcultural capital, a form of social value that identifies community members respective of their community (eg. this is not a country music community, there is a lot of evidence for that). The thing with many niche or underground musics these days is that they are not in opposition of mainstream culture so much, at least in a political nature, as are traditional subcultures like Mods, punks, Teddy boys, or rockers. @Zephyr_NovaI think this is interesting. There is a large sense that idm/braindance evolved with an incredible amount of influences from other types of music, so much so that the production is too complex to simply define. Jazz had a similar problem. Luke Vibert mentions in an interview, "Whenever I’d pop up to London to buy some records they would always just say names of genres I’d never heard of before. You’d think, ‘Oh god,’ we’d just think of it all as dance music, or all acid house, or whatever we called it at the time." Just goes to show that the early ideas some of these guys might of had towards classification never mattered in the first place! But still, it has to sell and thus be categorized. In terms of what you guys are saying about diversity: Yes the white, educated males with left political views. It is really interesting, and unusual, that the diversity is in age range. I think that says something about the music itself in terms of legacy, but I'm quite sure what it is yet. The phrase "ahead of its time" is mostly banned in the academic circle, hahah. But I'm sure it's something like that. @Ivan Ooze, just to clarify, by the "new Arca" do you mean post-gender transition Arca? Who identifies as 'she'? Or a new form of music she released? A growing trend right now in academia, and the progressive left, is reconciliation, gender fluidity, racial equality, and the recognition of these topics. So I feel like part of my responsibility in this paper is to discuss these matters. Do you guys think these topics fit into IDM/braindance at all?
  3. Yeah, good point. I think the music evolved as the artists began to explore the tech and their own musical sensibilities more. What may have started as a sort of experimental techno definitely evolved into something different. I think braindance is a a good term. I mean, there are tonnes of crappy sounding genre names, I think RDJ comments on how silly the name hip-hop sounds, for instance. Such a badass music genre gets a primary school name
  4. @toaoaoad Hahahah that's great. Yeah I didn't take it that way, I see it as a great document as well and thanks for the suggestion. Combing through this forum is key to providing a description of the community and how artists are represented. WATMM has been active for so long and does not follow the same community structure as many music fandoms do. YouTube, Instagram, reddit, and other social media platforms are mostly used these days, so I see it as unique
  5. Thanks for the responses here. I'll try to respond to you guys in this post, so far: @usagi Yeah I know autechre has been pretty straight forward, and I can appreciate them for that. I should have rephrased that statement. I find Squarepusher is similarly outspoken and candid about his ideas especially on the topics of commercializing music and gear obsession. You bring up a good point in regard to how underground scenes have their moment and then ultimately feed into what remains as mainstream. It's similar to what @Satans Little Helperdescribed, crossovers and borrowing may have created an accessible gateway to IDM and the more artsy, experimental output. I mean, for the pop music listener, "Avril 14th" is more accessible than, say, "Ziggomatic 17" yet they are from the same album. How pop musicians sample underground/experimental music seems to shed light on the impact that IDM heavyweights had. @Alcofribas, prime historical analysis hahah. I wish I could submit that proper! The history of IDM has already been established, this project is to gauge where it fits as popular music, because what defines popular music vs underground music is up for debate. Warp, Rephlex, R&S, among other labels, all had a hand in marketing the music to a wider audience once the rave scene dissolved. Most notably Warp and the AI series, as some of you have mentioned. @zkom thanks for putting Raster on my radar. Any other labels you could recommend? @toaoaoadI see what you're saying, and I've definitely heard it before, but the main focus is not on the term itself. If anything, I'm using IDM in the same way popular media does, to gain attention. The term itself is easily dismantled, as we've seen. I opt for the term experimental techno or plainly experimental electronica. IDM is what gets attached to these artists and their music, and that can be productive when discussing commercialization of subgroups and underground musicians. The project is meant to advance the subculture capital theory I outlined above, which is ultimately a social theory. The classification of these terms is not the fun part but it's still something the community can comment on, even if it's grudgingly. As a general note, I'm aware that the discussion of the term 'IDM' and the semantics of it all are exhausted. I gather that it was never taken very seriously by the artists or the community, but it is still interesting because it stuck in popular culture. Perhaps part of the reason it stuck was the relative controversy around the term. @zkom mentioned braindance, is that term not synonymous with IDM as a genre? What about 'experimental techno'? I can acknowledge that this kind of discussion can seem pointless but I think it does matter because how we classify music makes a difference to who listens to it, how they find a community, and how well it sells. Popular music is typically based on sales, branding, and an artist's image, especially today with the impact of social media. If interest remains intact, and we can escape the topic of terminology, respond to this post and I can offer more (interesting) questions.
  6. If you can find a similar thread, please let me know! It would help with the research
  7. Hello WATMM, I am a graduate student from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. I am currently conducting a thesis project that analyzes intelligent dance music as popular music. In this analysis, I argue that IDM has a historically fluid relationship with mainstream values and the issues surrounding commercialization, a surplus of electronic music technology, and how popular image (eg. the AFX face) distort our understanding of what deems an artist 'popular' to mass audiences. The topic is endlessly complex, as this notion of 'mass audience' is becoming more and more outdated and digital communities, such as this, fragment social groups as if they are tribes rather than subcultures or scenes. With the rapid emergence of the online world and digital technology, our ideas of what constitutes a community are changing. This means it is difficult to understand what popular values are in comparison to underground values. What's more, is that the growing impact of brands and commercial identities skew the notion of authentic music. A key theory that I am utilising in this research is Sarah Thornton's notion of subcultural capital. Essentially, this theory argues that artists, listeners, and related institutions accrue a form of capital that helps to identify if someone or something is part of a subculture or popular culture. These values change depending on the community in question, and can be visualized as a spectrum. For example, some popular IDM artists such as Autechre or Aphex Twin are notorious for creating myths about their identity, actively shitting on pop media, and declining interviews. One could argue they maintain and shield their subcultural values by acting in this manner. I can go into more detail as the discussion unfolds. If this post and research interests you, feel free to comment or PM me to keep the discussion going. I have various questions prepared in an interview-like format, but I think it is best to remain conversational in this discussion. There are some challenging questions I may offer, but I will wait to see how the discussion unfolds first. Some general research questions as food-for-thought: - Would you consider the IDM community a diverse social space? Is it a cohesive community or fragmented in some way? - What constitutes "popular music" in this digital age? Is IDM popular music? - Does the online underground exist? What kind of impact does it have on listeners? At times I will have to play devil's advocate, but please keep in mind this is my job, and it's only a means to extract interesting ideas about this important research! Cheers
  8. great stuff, nice attention to detail - your other stuff slams as well!!
  9. I just saw open world being a trend at the time, plus I didn't play the first two - The grit of max payne 3 was glorious....
  10. Sleeping Dogs, a game I wanted for so long but I kept playing Fallout and GTA. So glad I finally played it, the martial arts fighting is as cinematic as a Jet Li movie. Plus the racing is top notch, tons of cars to choose from and awesome stunts. Definitely a top game for me If you're into open world games give this a shot. Graphics still hold up too especially on PC. Has anyone played Max Payne 3? That's a Rockstar game that I was initially disappointed in bc it wasn't open world, but the story ended up being badass af. Forever in my memory that one...
  11. I would recommend the two hits by Ari Aster, Midsommar and Hereditary. Both pretty gruesome and the music/sound editing is stellar. Use surround sound or good headphones if possible
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