the Artist engages in an argument about the quality of their own music

[vamos scorcho]

artists can make whatever they want. criticism is almost entirely useless and is the work of people who can't create

 

I personally know many working critics who are also practicing artists, so I don't agree that critics by definition 'can't create',

 

i figured this statement would come off as foolish. and it is, somewhat. there have been great musicians who worked as critics. and criticism is interesting.

 

however, in the end, the music is the important part. criticism takes all the attention off of the music onto a bunch of words which cannot possibly describe the music.

 

 

saying tycho rips off BOC or anything of the sort does not explain the act of hearing his music. therefor criticism is inferior to creating, by far.

 

 

that's all i was saying. i don't like the idea that critics should feel entitled to anything. i think critics can be cool and helpful, however their job is basically just leeching off of the real work that artists do. therefor i personally view critics through a negative lens of connotations. i view them as gluttonous pigs. that's just the basic thing going on.

[vamos scorcho]

Squarepusher

 

 

probably the greatest genius on this website. he is a true artist who has genuinely disregarded all critical bullcrap throughout his entire career.

 

 

 

 

all of our most respected artists have constantly, always said, "do what you like. don't care about what anyone else thinks."

 

and they pound this in. listen to the 28 minute James Stinson interview. he locks himself in his house so he doesn't have to deal with the outside world and the influences of criticism. this is, in my opinion, the ultimate way to block out useless, silly criticism.

 

 

I do not see a world where the Flashbulb becomes a favorite artist of mine because he listens to the criticisms put forth in this world.

 

 

 

 

 

So, taking music seriously is pretty bad. but it is also really good, because at a certain point there is, and yaya ya, a difference between a true musician and someone who makes music as a hobby.

[Candiru]

Anyone who responds somewhat emotionally towards their critics on a message board shows a lack of confidence and it's just not a good idea. Tycho should have kept it brief and objective. Easier said than done though, when you work hard on something.

[Guest Lucy Faringold]

edit, too late - need sleep!

[oscillik]

Squarepusher

 

 

probably the greatest genius on this website. he is a true artist who has genuinely disregarded all critical bullcrap throughout his entire career.

 

 

 

 

all of our most respected artists have constantly, always said, "do what you like. don't care about what anyone else thinks."

 

and they pound this in. listen to the 28 minute James Stinson interview. he locks himself in his house so he doesn't have to deal with the outside world and the influences of criticism. this is, in my opinion, the ultimate way to block out useless, silly criticism.

 

 

I do not see a world where the Flashbulb becomes a favorite artist of mine because he listens to the criticisms put forth in this world.

 

 

 

 

 

So, taking music seriously is pretty bad. but it is also really good, because at a certain point there is, and yaya ya, a difference between a true musician and someone who makes music as a hobby.

i said it was a joke

[awepittance]

i just started following Tim Heidecker on twitter and i was actually surprised to see him dissing on Russel Brand. It's rare these days to see a person of high stature in entertainment ripping on someone else in the same field as them, even just a little bit. There was an incident where Amee Mann was talking about how ridiculous it was to see Ice Tea on one of those bad new cop shows and he saw it and twitted back something along the lines of 'eat a bag of dicks'

 

Zach G ripped on January Jones in a recent interview responding to a claim she made about her finding him 'hilarious' he told a story about how she was kind of a bitch to him a bar. I like this, we need more of this

[Guest Lube Saibot]

All this convo begs the question: When is an artist taking their music too seriously?

 

there is no such thing as taking music TOO seriously.

[ganus]

Didn't read the rest of the thread, but when I see artists popping in and responding to criticism, there two possible reactions for me. The first possible one is the kind of panicky "daddy's heard what I've said and is coming to get me" sort of thing. Same kind of feeling as an admin cracking down on something I'm a part of, whether I respect them particularly or not. The second, is if they are clearly super broken up/insecure about it, and embarrass themselves by raging at people, or diss other artists to make themselves seem big. If that happens I just forever after consider them a fucking joke.

[Dan C]

I think politics runs the world whether it comes to Washington or the cash generating culture in Electronic music.

 

this is basically true. however there could potentially be a 'rebellion' where artists stopped sucking so much cock to get where they want to be. it seems like there are so few musicians these days content just to make the music and succeed. then again, you often don't hear about those musicians.

 

 

let me tell you, it is the 'critical establishment' which has created this problem, in combination with the usual label bullshit. once people stop reading pitchfork to find music and turn to user run databases such as discogs or rateyourmusic or last fm [entirely disavowing the 'critical establishment'] then all politics will likely dissipate.

 

people like good music, they just are too stpid 2 find it

 

 

 

 

hmm what else. politics do run music label stuff, and everything. however, not all musicians should be playing this game. it's a shame in a way, to see it. i know it would take a lot of 'balls' to say, 'fuck the system' and do things your own way, with courage, truly, but it's probably the best thing right now.

 

as spoon said, cut out the middle man.

 

 

the middle man is the problem. I mean, maybe a band like CAN had to deal with politics. honestly I doubt it.

 

[patternoverlap]

There was an incident where Aimee Mann was talking about how ridiculous it was to see Ice Tea on one of those bad new cop shows and he saw it and twitted back something along the lines of 'eat a bag of dicks'

 

 

This is kind of funny but uninformed, as he has been on that show for 11 years.

 

 

As has already been said, I think the days when there is a divide between artists and their fanbase/the public at-large is slowly going away. Part of the new business model seems to be to keep some level of direct contact with the fans, whether maintaining a Facebook page, Twitter feed, or a more dedicated site or messageboard. It is true most of the larger acts have someone who does that for them but it is still more contact than before, where you got the work and some media hype on the radio, television, and print/billboard ads. Striking the right balance of distance and contact has been a tricky thing to establish. Some fans seem to enjoy and expect the extra access to the artists and some are put off by the artists' opinions. I think each artist will find what ratio works for them.

 

Interesting example: Goon seems to enjoy giving lots of access to his process. He posts lots of preliminary tracks and seems to use the feedback in a constructive way when putting together releases.

[Guest Adam]

so im going to start a list of artists who read watmm that we know for sure

 

- Clark's 'friend' (most likely clark himself imo)

 

Is it me?

[sneaksta303]

All this convo begs the question: When is an artist taking their music too seriously?

 

there is no such thing as taking music TOO seriously.

I disagree. The world doesn't revolve around us music makers after all.

[Blir]

I have two angles on this:

 

1. If somebody says "Com Truise sucks!" and Com Truise signs up to have an argument over that then I think it's ridiculous. I think any time you argue subjectivity it's ridiculous. So it's great that Jules argued what a shit name "Com Truise" is instead of just backing down because the artist is present. I've seen people on forums just puss out when the famous person appears and retract their statement but if it's what you think then fuck that guy. I should be able to say I don't like an artist, or a tune an artist made or even the fucking artists haircut should I want to, without them bothering to defend themselves, it's pointless.

 

2. If somebody comments on how they think the music was made, like the hardware/software discussion then I think it's great if the artist signs up to discuss this. Surely that's what everybody wants right? From the horses mouth? Although I picked up a bit of insecurity in his first post, though maybe I just read it wrong.

 

In any case, I try not too be too negative towards any artist I'm not fond of on a forum because why focus on something you don't like? Also with me sometimes it can just lapse into personal insults which are never called for really. It'd be well within the artists rights to call me out on being a prick if that's the case.

 

Whatever, Com Truse sucks anyway. So does DJ Nate, the fucking untalented piece of shit, probably would have been better off aborted so we didn't have to hear his poor excuse for "music".

[encey]

This is one of those threads that, by the time I get to the bottom of the page, two more pages of posts have been added.

[o00o]

 

 

In any case, I try not too be too negative towards any artist I'm not fond of on a forum because why focus on something you don't like? Also with me sometimes it can just lapse into personal insults which are never called for really. It'd be well within the artists rights to call me out on being a prick if that's the case.

 

Whatever, Com Truse sucks anyway. So does DJ Nate, the fucking untalented piece of shit, probably would have been better off aborted so we didn't have to hear his poor excuse for "music".

 

lol

[chassis]

so im going to start a list of artists who read watmm that we know for sure

 

- Clark's 'friend' (most likely clark himself imo)

 

Is it me?

 

You're definitely not Clark. If you were, you'd have house-cat syndrome.

[awepittance]

Interesting example: Goon seems to enjoy giving lots of access to his process. He posts lots of preliminary tracks and seems to use the feedback in a constructive way when putting together releases.

 

on watmm? i find that shocking honestly it's been a while since YLC was actually a useful place for that and not a tribal clique back and forth

[Guest Adam]

so im going to start a list of artists who read watmm that we know for sure

 

- Clark's 'friend' (most likely clark himself imo)

 

Is it me?

 

You're definitely not Clark. If you were, you'd have house-cat syndrome.

 

I'm obvously not. I'm curious who Awepittance thinks is.

[sneaksta303]

Interesting example: Goon seems to enjoy giving lots of access to his process. He posts lots of preliminary tracks and seems to use the feedback in a constructive way when putting together releases.

 

on watmm? i find that shocking honestly it's been a while since YLC was actually a useful place for that and not a tribal clique back and forth

 

yeah man, he's been doin that for awhile. Shit, his newest release is a collection of tracks picked BY fans.

[Salvatorin]

also sean booth and rob brown are on watmm

[awepittance]

Interesting example: Goon seems to enjoy giving lots of access to his process. He posts lots of preliminary tracks and seems to use the feedback in a constructive way when putting together releases.

 

on watmm? i find that shocking honestly it's been a while since YLC was actually a useful place for that and not a tribal clique back and forth

 

yeah man, he's been doin that for awhile. Shit, his newest release is a collection of tracks picked BY fans.

 

well to be honest it does kind of make sense since his music does have a somewhat acid flavor, a lot of other tracks that don't fit into certain paradigms get totally ignored. YLC has always seemed to play favorites to me, i don't think i'm alone in this belief on this forum. That's for an entirely different discussion though, the politics and favoritism of YLC itself can have it's own thread

[Guest Adam]

So who is Clark or his friend and who is Machinedrum? You did that list and haven't provided any sources.

[awepittance]

the list was very half assed, sorry. The clark 'friend' comment was before the clark subforum and now i can't find the thread. Does anyone remember that one? Machinedrum apparently did not actually post on watmm, i was basing it on the comments of another member in this thread.

[autopilot]

YLC has always seemed to play favorites to me, i don't think i'm alone in this belief on this forum.

 

Totally agree with that. But I'm okay if a bunch of talentless Aphex & BoC wannabes don't listen to my tunes because I don't respond to 12 threads a day.

[Guest Z_B_Z]

i havent heard any com truise but im assuming its 'hip' 80s derived fluff?

 

i kid. sort of.