The intrigue of the anonymous artist

[WAREHOUSE]

Also think a forum account doesnt help if you ever want your music taken seriously

Agreed. For some reason its so off putting.

[chekov]

Also think a forum account doesnt help if you ever want your music taken seriously

Agreed. For some reason its so off putting.

what's worse is when people put "official" in their forum name when they're like some 16 year old kid that no one's ever heard of

[Shum]

shumVEVO

[crabb_steppa]

Also think a forum account doesnt help if you ever want your music taken seriously

Agreed. For some reason its so off putting.

you know how many respected people have accounts on this site?

[incnic]

tbf engaging in any kind of chatter on dsf is a bad look
\too many american kids

[ultraspatial]

just another gimmick imo. specially seeing how certain producers put way too much effort into remaining low-key.

[rap_dot_com]

This was written a couple of years ago by a random blog about the same topic and about the Weeknd or w/e.

http://blatantineptitude.blogspot.com/2 ... n-web.html

This has been a tactic of a lot of people in the arts for a long time. i-D magazine said in their last issue that there is no look that is more fashionable than invisibility, citing Martin Margiela (who is pretty anonymous) as an example. JJ Abrams has for a long time discussed the "mystery box" factor when he writes screenplays (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpjVgF5JDq8)

[Perej]

tbf engaging in any kind of chatter on dsf is a bad look
\too many american kids

amen

[Sinergy]

Been thinkin about this too lately.

Not just being anonymous, but the whole "official" with Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Soundcloud, etc. etc.

It might make sense if you're a big time artist, and I think this trend was starting by the the whole "EDM" wave.

I wonder sometimes, these people who are on all these websites under official, and only post about music, and stuff in their lives related to their music, do they have a real life version of themselves?

I mean, I get it if a big time artist has this persona that has taken over who they are (or vice versa), and therefore they are seen that way by the masses (i.e. Skrillex, he is Skrillex and will probably be known that was by the masses forever). But what about those who haven't attained such fame like that and insist on having this, illusion of being someone important by "officalx-y-z" on everything, and insist on being known as that.

It's as if the idea of an alias has changed altogether, before it was for the sake of being anonymous, but now it seems like it's for the sake of sounding cool, or just because everyone else is doing it, or having this monopoly over social networking and creating this illusion of self-importance to themselves.

It's just out of place to have all this when there is an audience for it. Like I said before, if you're some huge name and have all this maybe thats just how it works, but "up and coming" artists who rather than seek to make music, seek this internet/social network presence that means absolutely nothing because they are nobody in the end. It's not that nobody cares, because I'm sure someone does, but it's this forced persona to make it look like someone cares that it seems people trade their own true identity for.

Not sure I'm making sense at all haha, ets say there is some dude named Bill Hanson.

Bill has been making music for a little bit, has a release on some label, nothing huge, not really making a living or anything, but he likes what he does. But SUDDENLY he is no longer Bill Hanson, he is now "Blazzznarg" or something like that. Look it up on any social site you'll find that musical persona that means nothing. "Official Blazznarg", there is no longer Bill Hanson, because look up bill Hanson and you find Blazznarg instead, and every page is detailing and embellishing his music and what he does as Blazznarg.

And there are thousands like this, and its as if they are no longer people on these sites, just illusions. Do there friend call them that in real life? Does everyone in their lives regard them as this persona? As crazy as it sounds, thats the way a lot of these "artists" make themselves seem.

[Terpit]

Also think a forum account doesnt help if you ever want your music taken seriously

Agreed. For some reason its so off putting.

In what way?
Stupid thing to say.
I can rhyme all day.

[Jizz]

In what way?
Stupid thing to say.
I can rhyme all day.

these old things, about to throw them away
with the gold rings that make em dont fit like OJ
usually I take em off with oil of ole
MC's is crabs in a barrel pass the old bay


weird how that bit came on right after reading your post lol

[Terpit]

these old things, about to throw them away
with the gold rings that make em dont fit like OJ
usually I take em off with oil of ole
MC's is crabs in a barrel pass the old bay

Amazing

[pete_bubonic]

I've always found it a bit, I dunno, sycophantic. I've got no problems if someone doesn't want to be in the limelight, but those that obviously and painfully try to brand themselves as enigmatic are usually intently boring. I really don't care if a producer is a self styled mad genius or lager swilling football thug. The fixation and fascination on the branding of artists is so bloody detracting from the quality and the substance of what an artist is actually fucking doing, which should be making music.

[mIrReN]

idk,

tbf the true identities of Zomby and Burial and all those unknown artist leave me stone cold hanging
just can't give a fuck :s
also what pete says. Very understandable that you wouldn't want the exposure as well, I know I wouldn't like it
also icnic lol

[Dustwyrm]

I think the whole argument on people picking an alias for themselves is a poor concept. It's commonplace in the world today to choose a cool name that you like to represent yourself.

Shit, everywhere we go, everything we do requires you to 'create a login' / 'create a character name' / 'create a username....email etc etc'

Simply 99.99% of everyone shares the same name with thousands upon thousands of other people in the world.

In the example above from Sinergy --- Bill Hanson had to choose Blazznarg because there are 5million other Bill Hansons and he wants to create some originality and represent himself as the only Blazznarg around. I think people choosing an Alias for themselves is great and give listeners the opportunity to remember them aside from some everyday name like John McDonald. You know?

[incnic]

blaazznarg
cool name
i have learnt something today

[InternetSlaveMaster]

First of all- very excellent thread.

Anyways, I'm not too up-to-date on the mysterious EDM producers (honestly I think that's a bit of a joke- you make dance music, not fucking black metal or something.)

My favorite group that does this is The Radio Dept., a dreampop/shoegazey band from Sweden. It's not gimmicky- they just don't care about anything other than the music, and I love that. They hardly do interviews, and when they do, you can tell that they are genuinely low-key and shy people who don't seek fame and fortune.

Also, they release music every 4 years or so, not fucking every other month like these "mysterious" EDM guys.

Over all though, I'm not sure if it really affects my view of their music. It's not like I knew they were so low-key before I got into them, it was only afterward that I discovered it, but honestly I think it's kinda nice. I only see them for their music and that's how it should be.

Another example of this is Burzum. He's there, you can read Varg's posts and what not, but he's not on Facebook pushing his shit all day, or like mentioned in this thread, uploading instagram pictures of his microwave. It just comes off as natural, not gimmicky and sad.

It's definitely annoying when people (ESPECIALLY THE FUCKING TEENAGE NOBODIES) try and replicate this though. Like, the kids on Soundcloud who decide one day Burial is cool so they unfollow everyone and delete all their comments on other people's tracks to try and seem "dark" and "mysterious", it's just gimmicky and pretentious. (It also makes them look like they don't give a shit about any sort of community, thus making me (and the community) stop caring about them.)

People should just be themselves, this is music, not some MMORPG where you are Nelfor the Orc Slayer, where you are ultra-powerful and your mom doesn't yell at you to clean your room.

[Phigure]

First of all- very excellent thread.

Anyways, I'm not too up-to-date on the mysterious EDM producers (honestly I think that's a bit of a joke- you make dance music, not fucking black metal or something.)

My favorite group that does this is The Radio Dept., a dreampop/shoegazey band from Sweden. It's not gimmicky- they just don't care about anything other than the music, and I love that. They hardly do interviews, and when they do, you can tell that they are genuinely low-key and shy people who don't seek fame and fortune.

why is it only okay for non-edm (that term makes me cringe fuck) artists to do it?



i dont think theres anything wrong with wanting to be unknown as long as youre doing it for the right reasons (or almost rather not for the wrong ones). skwiggo put it pretty well, imo that's /thread right there

[InternetSlaveMaster]

First of all- very excellent thread.

Anyways, I'm not too up-to-date on the mysterious EDM producers (honestly I think that's a bit of a joke- you make dance music, not fucking black metal or something.)

My favorite group that does this is The Radio Dept., a dreampop/shoegazey band from Sweden. It's not gimmicky- they just don't care about anything other than the music, and I love that. They hardly do interviews, and when they do, you can tell that they are genuinely low-key and shy people who don't seek fame and fortune.

why is it only okay for non-edm (that term makes me cringe fuck) artists to do it?

Because in essence, dance music is meant to... be danced to. To be played in a large room packed with people having a good time. Other forms of music, (say, ambient music) is meant for reflection in a usually more intimate setting, and ***GENERALLY SPEAKING***, has more (intellectual) content than dance music, hence the musician being unknown can enhance that. (No, intellectually deep movie quotes don't count towards this.)

Dance music by nature is meant to be a social experience, why would the person making it want to flaunt being unsocial? Not wanting to do a fuck ton of interviews/be in the spotlight all the time isn't what I'm talking about, it's total anonymity to the extent of it being a gimmick that I'm referencing here.

I'm not trying to diminish the importance of dance music, keep that in mind. I love dance/electronica music very much.

If anyone has any sort of question/problem with what I've said, kindly message me and we can chat it out in private.

[mks]

Yeah, you posted it in public, it should be talked about in public. Don't pull this anonymous shit on me maaan...