Sean Booth quote about being surprised by how similar electronic musicians sound to one another..?

[awepittance]

it doesn't have to be condescending, but at the same time no one should get defensive either. If one has an inferiority complex about their own art, that's an isolated problem that should probably be dealt with by the individual themselves. More often than not, that type of defensiveness spills over into discussions about this topic. Clearly AE are one of the most avant-garde yet still very musical and 'listenable' musicians out there. I would argue that they eclipse most other music in this regard, but especially in electronic music. So removing the idea that it's easier to sound like another electronic musician vs projecting a unique sonic fingerprint into the ether, why aren't more people inspired by AE's creative approach, rather than being inspired by AE's aesthetics and specific elements on their sound?

[lumpenprol]

this thread is pretty dumb. Good artists make good art, bad artists don't. If you can't tell the difference, you suck. Yay!

[psn]

Amen.

[awepittance]

i think it turned pretty dumb, but Booth's quote brings up a lot of important questions that i don't think many electronic musicians actually address, and when they do becoming huffy about it seems to be a pretty common reaction. Why is that?

[Friendly Foil]

Many people like afx/boc/ae, but want more than just an album every two-five years. So they make similar music to satisfy that need. Seems pretty simple to me.

[SR4]

i think it turned pretty dumb, but Booth's quote brings up a lot of important questions that i don't think many electronic musicians actually address, and when they do becoming huffy about it seems to be a pretty common reaction. Why is that?

 

 

because accusing musicians of sounding similar is a lazy, uninformed retort.

[eugene]

in most of the interviews i can recall sean comes off as an irritating cunt without an interest to get himself interviewed and to pass on some truly interesting stuff

[sweepstakes]

He gets irritated when he feels there's not much of a connection with the interviewer, especially when the interviewer is fawning over their prestige or the mystique of their process, rather than asking questions that require thoughtful answers. Which doesn't seem totally unreasonable to me. But yeah he does often come off like a cunt at those times.

[oscillik]

in most of the interviews i can recall sean comes off as an irritating cunt without an interest to get himself interviewed and to pass on some truly interesting stuff

probably because most interviews ask the same shit, over and over and over again.

[eugene]

it's usually the interviewee who's in the position of power during interviews, so he could elaborate more if he wanted regardless of the question. it's just clear that he doesn't like it but continues to do them anyway, maybe it's some label obligations ?

[cichlisuite]

Yes, but these interviewees are usually politicians or philosophers or whatnot. The interview serves them as a form of getting more contextual answers out in public, which is essential in their field of work.

Whereas, Ae are releasing music, and there isn't really much to talk about here. Apart from their sound design which is understandably a secret.

I believe it is up to the interviewer to set the tone and vibe in this case. They could talk about the expressionist philosophy set behind, or emotional struggles, or political concerns if you like, but is that really relevant?

 

So bottom line, interviews in music field are more or less of promotional nature.

 

A: "So you're about to release a new album?"

B. "Yeah, it will be out in the next month."

A: "That's cool. Any tours planned?"

B: "We will announce tour dates on our FB/Twttr/website soon."

A: "Alright. Thank you for your interview."

B: "No probs, man"

 

It's the world we live in. I bet if it wouldn't depend on their income to survive, Sean and Rob would post tutorials on their websites and have blogs about their sound design.

[auxien]

if WATMM could get our shit together and put make a real list of questions i bet we could interview the fuck out of AE.

 

and with our newfound relevance (KEYOSC) added to our many connections (EVERYFUCKINGBODY getting a promo) i bet we could weasel our way into one. make it happen guyz

[jeyemusik]

So removing the idea that it's easier to sound like another electronic musician vs projecting a unique sonic fingerprint into the ether, why aren't more people inspired by AE's creative approach, rather than being inspired by AE's aesthetics and specific elements on their sound?

 

I see your point and I would really love to hear more bands that are influenced by the creative process, but I also think that there are plenty who are inspired but the very nature of that process means that it could end up sounding so different that you might never realise they were coming from the same process.

 

For myself, I reckon half the time I'm inspired by processes that are about trying to go in totally new directions and really push the limits (as far as I'm concerned). But the other half I'm wanting to make something that it hits me in a more straight ahead emotive way. Some of the time I think maybe I'll come across some nice hybrid of the two approaches that will be genuinely interesting but I suspect the reality is that I'm falling well short outside of my own head.

[thehauntingsoul]

I find it perplexing how little these guys reach out to their audience. Most artists will post stuff on twitter, or engage in some amount of discourse with their fans. These guys say absolutely nothing ever outside of the occasional interview. I don't get why they don't feel like reaching out ever. I probably would do if I were in their position.

I can see that posting on a forum or something would probably get annoying after a while but I'm still surprised that it literally has never happened.

[Hugh Mughnus]

I find it perplexing how little these guys reach out to their audience. Most artists will post stuff on twitter, or engage in some amount of discourse with their fans. These guys say absolutely nothing ever outside of the occasional interview. I don't get why they don't feel like reaching out ever. I probably would do if I were in their position.

 

I can see that posting on a forum or something would probably get annoying after a while but I'm still surprised that it literally has never happened.

 

It might be part of their PR... Similar to how Aphex was for years. Even Squarepusher never used to make public appearances. Make them mysterious, an enigma. etc.

 

It sells records.

[thehauntingsoul]

I think they are past selling records now. They could release vids of them reciting children's rhymes and it wouldn't touch their record sales.

[Hugh Mughnus]

That's true, but that doesn't necessarily mean Warp doesn't have a say in how their PR is conducted. And if Warp says mysterious enigmatic duo sells more records than duo that uses twitter and engages fans, unfortunately autechre have contractual obligations etc.

 

I don't know why exactly but I strongly feel this is the case.

[awepittance]

 

So removing the idea that it's easier to sound like another electronic musician vs projecting a unique sonic fingerprint into the ether, why aren't more people inspired by AE's creative approach, rather than being inspired by AE's aesthetics and specific elements on their sound?

 

I see your point and I would really love to hear more bands that are influenced by the creative process, but I also think that there are plenty who are inspired but the very nature of that process means that it could end up sounding so different that you might never realise they were coming from the same process.

 

For myself, I reckon half the time I'm inspired by processes that are about trying to go in totally new directions and really push the limits (as far as I'm concerned). But the other half I'm wanting to make something that it hits me in a more straight ahead emotive way. Some of the time I think maybe I'll come across some nice hybrid of the two approaches that will be genuinely interesting but I suspect the reality is that I'm falling well short outside of my own head.

 

thanks for understanding my point, it's somewhat of a relief because almost no one in this thread did besides you.

And that's I think part of the fun of being inspired by the process/concept of AE's music, is that the results might end up sounding drastically different. On my own personal level 'experimental' music can result in many failures and re-approaches from different angles and paradigms to the essence of a concept you've tried before but with not great results. I think for a good number of musicians having this amount of failure leads to a sort of malaise, where you just want to have fun and enjoy from beginning to end to process with a clear goal of where the composition you started will lead.

On AE's music it sounds to me like a lot of the time there is no clear end-game established when they start composing tunes. It's especially evident on albums like Exai or Untilted. Maybe they start with a clear concept but eventually that takes them into totally new unexpected directions.

As for beat oriented electronic music i find that it's rare for musicians working within this context to take a similar approach. Even for people who are more on the experimental side like Vsnares, his music always feels very succinctly laid out as if he's repeating the same process every time and leaving the 'experimental' portion to the bits and pieces within that same process.

[thehauntingsoul]

This awepittance, I agree fully with everything you've said

[apriorion]

That's true, but that doesn't necessarily mean Warp doesn't have a say in how their PR is conducted. And if Warp says mysterious enigmatic duo sells more records than duo that uses twitter and engages fans, unfortunately autechre have contractual obligations etc.

 

I don't know why exactly but I strongly feel this is the case.

 

When I try to put myself in the shoes of the artists I admire, I conclude that I would probably do exactly what they do (Aphex, BoC, Autechre, etc.). Here's why: if you reach out via twitter, facebook, etc., you are either reaching out to the general public or the fans. If you reach out to the general public, you're wasting your time, since the general public likes stupid shit like "Honey Boo-Boo" or whatever that guy was telling me about at some coffee shop (it sounded really dumb, is all). In other words, it's a waste of time reaching out to the general public because you don't want them listening to your music, anyway. There's another relevant point here, too: human nature is such that people are fickle--they love you and want to hear all about what you're doing. And they mean it: they are genuinely infatuated with your life, work, ideas, etc. However, they turn on you: two weeks later, they're mocking you for being in the pigeon-hole that they stuffed you in. Fuck people.

On the other hand, if you're reaching out to the fans, you're also wasting your time. Either the fans get you already, in which case such twitter tweets for facebook facies (or whatever the fuck stupid name people have for these things) are just a circle-jerk ego stroking session; or else your fans are crazy. Come on, we all know that our favorite musicians have their fair share of the crazies following them. Maybe some of us are like that and we're not acknowledging it. My point is that reaching out to the proper subset of the general population that might be called "fans" is a waste of time, as well. I wouldn't do it.

 

There's another reason I would add for not reaching out, and that's critical reflection on one's own words. One way to minimize the regret that people sometimes experience after posting a statement on social media is to simply abstain. I don't know how some of these guys would feel about that (some of them seem to not care at all about how people take what they say), but I am often annoyed when people misunderstand what I've said, especially when I've taken great pains to be as clear as possible. One way to avoid all this shit is to say "fuck it" and not "reach out".

[thehauntingsoul]

I dunno, judging by the transcript from the 2008 interview ism did that I just finished re-reading, SB is amused by this place, and chances are he's seen some of the antics we've been up to in anticipation of Exai. I don't see why he or Rob wouldn't at least go public with their forum account name, and post the occasional 'lol' or participate in the occasional intelligent discussion such as the one we're currently having. Of course it does nothing for their popularity as nothing they say would lose or gain them any fans, but I'd like more opportunities to either pick at or have someone else pick at their brains and figure out more of their ideas and philosophies towards music. I'm interested for many reasons, and I'm sure there are lots of folks who would agree with this.

I mean not being Dieselboy and posting cringeworthy "I'm hot fire, I'm fucking awesome" type of crap every other day on facebook is one thing, but these guys seem pretty opinionated during interviews and I'd like to interact with them more than the one sided reading of other people's questions being responded to.

[LimpyLoo]

I dunno, judging by the transcript from the 2008 interview ism did that I just finished re-reading, SB is amused by this place, and chances are he's seen some of the antics we've been up to in anticipation of Exai. I don't see why he or Rob wouldn't at least go public with their forum account name, and post the occasional 'lol' or participate in the occasional intelligent discussion such as the one we're currently having. Of course it does nothing for their popularity as nothing they say would lose or gain them any fans, but I'd like more opportunities to either pick at or have someone else pick at their brains and figure out more of their ideas and philosophies towards music. I'm interested for many reasons, and I'm sure there are lots of folks who would agree with this.

 

I mean not being Dieselboy and posting cringeworthy "I'm hot fire, I'm fucking awesome" type of crap every other day on facebook is one thing, but these guys seem pretty opinionated during interviews and I'd like to interact with them more than the one sided reading of other people's questions being responded to.

 

It was also be nice if they disclosed their blood type and favorite color.

[Guest pixelives]

Also the way they have worked has worked for them up to this point, so why change?

 

We are so used to total 100% 24/7 contact and updates in the social media landscape world that we forget there is other ways to go about it.

 

I'm just glad they're concentrating on making music and not updating their twitter (unlike a lot of artists out there)

 

FWIW SB has (or did have) a personal FB account.

[thehauntingsoul]

I'm not looking to creep the guy, I'd just like him to do a reddit style AMA on Watmm or something of that nature, would be interesting.

[Guest RadarJammer]

I dunno, judging by the transcript from the 2008 interview ism did that I just finished re-reading, SB is amused by this place, and chances are he's seen some of the antics we've been up to in anticipation of Exai. I don't see why he or Rob wouldn't at least go public with their forum account name, and post the occasional 'lol' or participate in the occasional intelligent discussion such as the one we're currently having. Of course it does nothing for their popularity as nothing they say would lose or gain them any fans, but I'd like more opportunities to either pick at or have someone else pick at their brains and figure out more of their ideas and philosophies towards music. I'm interested for many reasons, and I'm sure there are lots of folks who would agree with this.

 

I mean not being Dieselboy and posting cringeworthy "I'm hot fire, I'm fucking awesome" type of crap every other day on facebook is one thing, but these guys seem pretty opinionated during interviews and I'd like to interact with them more than the one sided reading of other people's questions being responded to.

 

this place is pretty well tainted by all sorts of unsavory flavors, i'm not sure it would be wise for them to directly associate the AE legacy with this place