Shifting musical tastes

[Candiru]

I was wondering how many posters on the WATMM no longer consider themselves a part of the IDM fan club. This is not an "Us vs. Them" style thread, as my musical tastes have largely changed but I still post here and buy Autechre tickets and whatnot. It's just that when I started listening to IDM, the esoteric, off-the-beaten-path experience of it was interesting and exciting stuff when it clicked. But for me, the things I was listening for are far more present, and handled more tastefully in various sub-genres of hip hop, jazz and metal. And now I feel like I was wasting way too much time on IDM, and it should have seemed obvious. It seems more like a novelty to me than ever. I'm turning into Steve Albini on this topic, pretty much.

 

A lot of the time I think someone isn't necessarily looking to break the rules to make the best track they can, but sacrificing quality by making a track needlessly obtuse, so that it can fit into the "cutting edge", or "not accessible" box.

 

[Guest Chesney]

Listen to what gets you excited, regardless of genre. I know this is a well trodden subject and a worn out opinion but fuck genres man! They pen you in and restrict your imagination.

Listen to anything and anything that sticks out listen to it more and get to know it. Music is on a conveyor belt right now and we don't give anything the attention it deserves unless it's by someone we know and feel we should like and even then sometimes we give too much times to them even if it does not push the buttons it used to.

Granted, it's nice to be a fan but if you're spending time on something because you feel you should be loyal then you might be missing out on things that might get your neck hairs dancing.

 

*typical elitest semi rant over ;)*

[cruising for burgers]

i don't IDM anymore!

[sweepstakes]

Listen to what gets you excited, regardless of genre. I know this is a well trodden subject and a worn out opinion but fuck genres man! They pen you in and restrict your imagination.

Listen to anything and anything that sticks out listen to it more and get to know it. Music is on a conveyor belt right now and we don't give anything the attention it deserves unless it's by someone we know and feel we should like and even then sometimes we give too much times to them even if it does not push the buttons it used to.

Granted, it's nice to be a fan but if you're spending time on something because you feel you should be loyal then you might be missing out on things that might get your neck hairs dancing.

 

*typical elitest semi rant over ;)*

This, all the way. Problem is for me not much "sticks out" except IDM or whatever weird electronic music is called these days. Occasionally I will get into something that's pretty normal-sounding but tastefully done like John Hopkins. But it's usually just a track or two, to hold my attention you really have to let that freak flag fly, and not many people are doing that with guitars or microphones.

[joshuatxuk]

I listen to IDM / Braindance on occasion in binges. I certainly did expand my palette of musical taste and interests greatly since I joined here. My obsession with obscure releases by RDJ lead me to WATMM and WATMM lead me to so much other music. It's ironic that I hadn't been listening to IDM much at all, or even Aphex as much, so when the Caustic Window / Syro / Soundcloud it kind of brought things full circle. Tomorrow's Harvest was a huge deal to me personally as well.

 

I think it's not unusual to get burned out of entire genres / styles and feel a need to take a break from them. They can become very insular. That happened to me with vaporwave this year - lot of excellent releases all year but my enthusiasm and interest in it has waned a lot.

 

In fact, I think it's important to return to music you fall out of interest or obsession one, re-listening to it years later can be more than nostalgic, it can be revealing and refreshing. For example after listening to IDM and Rephlex stuff for years, and pouring over WATMM threads about, I found myself returning to music like the Chemical Brothers and other big beat (which I had thought I had outgrown) wondering how the hell they made their music, and finding it very "fresh" sounding. I mentioned vaporwave earlier - it's a very insular genre so all this kids are like unintentionally (or coincidentally) remaking mid-90s dnb, IDM, and electronica as progressive vaporwave but for me it's just made me want to go listen to old albums that originally got me into electronic music.

 

 

A lot of hyped music these days I don't even bother with, I instead have been trying more time to seek out older albums I hadn't heard before or truly underground and lolcal DIY electronic music. Honestly I depend on WATMM a lot as a recommendation gatekeeper of worthwhile music to check out.

[Ivan Ooze]

i mostly listen to dank music but sometimes i like to play some rad music asswell

 

to hold my attention you really have to let that freak flag fly, and not many people are doing that with guitars or microphones.

a shitload of mindblowing flying freak flags that involve guitars and microphones out there men, you just have to find the ones that tickle your ball

[Berk]

do you even IDM bro?

[Friendly Foil]

I mostly listen to poppy stuff these days but I don't think I'll ever abandon the stuff by the featured artists completely.

 

tbh imo

[Silent Member]

Instead of shifting I'd say it has been steadily broadening since I was a teenager. I haven't abandoned IDM at all, but it's definitely not the majority of what I listen to anymore.

[Npoess]

I feel my preferred music genre changes by the month.

 

But some of the IDM classics I'll probably always listen to will always have special place in my consciousness. The only reason I don't listen to IDM anymore, is because I don't think this genre produces that much interesting music anymore. Tomorrow's Harvest was pretty good though, but that was the last new IDM record I truly cared about.

[Braintree]

IDM as an experimental genre is basically done. You don't really get tracks like "Kill Robok" anymore. Everything under the umbrella is more dance based these days. By no means is this a bad thing, since there are killer tracks that you can dance to, but it's not an "intellectuals only" club anymore. Probably a symptom of its age and place in the influence of modern dance music.

 

I still like finding new artists, but I listen to a lot of stuff. I'm a bit more focused on hardcore and grindcore lately. I also regularly listen to baroque composers.

[frankbooth]

Agree the term 'idm' is bullshit. But for the sake of this topic, fell down an idm hole in 99 and haven't wanted to crawl out since. Was into hip hop and classic rock before that, but whenever I listen to that stuff now it feels so cheesy. Must be the lyrics. Plus the electronic greats from 99 are still releasing mind bending cuts, as are plenty others. Now back to this AE LIVE.

[GetSquirrely]

i listen to whatever i feel like listening to. one week i'll listen to idm/ambient and the next i'll listen to breakcore/speedcore, thats usually how it goes. sometimes metal will work its way in there, i dont see my "taste" changing much considering i've been listening to the same albums for 10 or so years now

[Verdant Hickies]

I still listen to some music that would fall under the genre but it accounts for a small fraction of my library these days.

[cwmbrancity]

Mark Fell did a really tidy project with an Oxford Uni anthropologist on changing musical tastes over time,,,,,,

 

Fell was asked to do a series of mixes on specific eras within his own personal past,,,,,, the results and tracklistings should give you an idea of whats being reached for, ie: a fair representation of 1 person's journey through music. The mixes n accompanying blurbs can be found here, but a lot of it ties in with whats already been written above - that tastes may change but the olde faithfuls remain firm favourites:

 

http://www.markfell.com/wiki/index.php?n=Mf.DawnOfMan

[chenGOD]

that's an excellent looking project, cheers for the link cwmbrancity. :)

[beerwolf]

Yeah I've been thinking the same thing.

 

Generaly I've always gravitated between the various strains of guitar/vocals or electronic music. I like both because when I want to be quiet and paint pictures and emotional landscapes in my mind I want electronic and when I'm more in an extroverted mood I want guitars and vocals.

 

There is no doubt since cleaning myself up with class A's, B's, C's, D's and E's I'm listening to more guitar/vocals. More Neil Young, more Sonic Youth, Deerhunter, Led Zeppelin, Tool, Bob Dylan, early Mercury Rev etc etc etc. I've been pulling all my old albums out and buying loads of new stuff. It's refreshing for me.

 

There was definitly a time when I was just buying loads of electronic music when I was deep in a very dark hole, I remember just having a hatred for music with vocals, a hatred for other peoples opinions. People singing with any sort of passion even if it was a passion for dark subjects, was a no go. I remember being well fucked up and looking at my row of Dylan albums and remembering how much I used to love them and yet then hating them. Whereas I could just go and buy some electronic music from bleep or download a free mix off Fact or RA and it would mean nothing. I could just drift away in electronic music cloud. Just floating on by.

 

As always though Aphex, Autechre, Boards of Canada and Squarepusher still remain as the best music for me. And always will be.

 

Sorry if I'm going off on one, just this thread really hits home for me.

[Adieu]

I like all good music, and I don't spend much time thinking about it beyond that. Hence, I can enjoy some old school top 40 shit, a shitty song with a good beat, and all the classic tunes, plus all the amazing experimental and mind bending stuff. I have no allegiances.

[sweepstakes]

I'm listening to more guitar/vocals. More Neil Young, more Sonic Youth, Deerhunter, Led Zeppelin, Tool, Bob Dylan, early Mercury Rev etc etc etc. I've been pulling all my old albums out and buying loads of new stuff. It's refreshing for me.

Ah, yeah, I really dig Deerhunter. The only other (fairly recent) guitar-based music that comes to mind that I really dig is Seefeel.

 

At the risk of shifting the thread focus a bit, I for one would appreciate more names being dropped behind statements like this:

a shitload of mindblowing flying freak flags that involve guitars and microphones out there men, you just have to find the ones that tickle your ball

I do like guitars and vocals a lot, I've just kind of lost touch with what is pushing my buttons in this department, except maybe hip hop (Danny Brown, Killer Mike, and a lot of older stuff) In fact, I'm specifically getting more hungry for vocal music lately, especially female vocals. I think vocal-less electronic music is great for doing work on a computer, so that verbal processing circuits don't get sort of short-circuited, but I'm really enjoying singing along to stuff lately.

[jellyrajah]

I feel my preferred music genre changes by the month.

 

also +1 for Seefeel!

[hello spiral]

Mark Fell did a really tidy project with an Oxford Uni anthropologist on changing musical tastes over time,,,,,,

 

Fell was asked to do a series of mixes on specific eras within his own personal past,,,,,, the results and tracklistings should give you an idea of whats being reached for, ie: a fair representation of 1 person's journey through music. The mixes n accompanying blurbs can be found here, but a lot of it ties in with whats already been written above - that tastes may change but the olde faithfuls remain firm favourites:

 

http://www.markfell.com/wiki/index.php?n=Mf.DawnOfMan

 

oh shiit I remember this!

 

Cheers for the reminder!

 

[sweepstakes]

returning to music like the Chemical Brothers and other big beat (which I had thought I had outgrown) wondering how the hell they made their music, and finding it very "fresh" sounding.

I've found this to be the case for me as well. Their processing in the 90s at least was so weird and psychedelic in the 1960s/1970s sense of the word, creamy and colorful and visceral. Specifically "Elektrobank" which is kind of cheesy and silly and definitely more than a little repetitive but that transition to the outro gives me goosebumps every time. The cheesiness seems to even give that moment more impact when it does hit, like some annoying awkward kid revealing his unique talent.

 

I also still like Fatboy Slim from time to time. I like to think it's not just nostalgia because I feel that nostalgia is an insidious force that can disconnect you from the beauty of the present. Some of the chords and sample choices are very nice and that 90s Akai sampler sound has such a nice warm midrangey "pawn shop" flavor, while again being pretty silly and cheesy.

[Thiefinger]

Shifting musical tastes?

 

I used to be into metal. Like really. I even played guitar in a metal band for several years. Then i started having panic attacks onstage because i hated the music. So I quit. Now I make electronic stuff and I'm happy.

But yeah my musical taste has changed really much and I think it will always change. Life is not about finding something that will stay one way for the rest of your life. It's about constant change. And musical taste is one thing that will change. Why would you even want to protect it? Your musical taste reflects your current state of being Yeah deep lol whatever....

[Guest Calx Sherbet]

i'm still nuts about the idm'z. especially if it's dat mental drill n' bass thingie.

[Candiru]

Oh yeah I mean there's a shit ton of electronic music I still dig, I think I'm just more particular, which comes with old age(28)