claudedefaren wrote:But yo, as much as I agree that there is overall a lack of "caring" about MUSIC from a lot of bro-y producers today, I feel like you're expecting more out of this stuff than you should.
Not me. I'm not expecting a lot out of it but I am agreeing that there has been a greater emphasis placed on sound design particularly on bass sounds but as much on basslines which falls into the compositional aspect. But then again, I'm a bass player and have been a musician my whole life long before I started producing and dj'ing which automatically makes me an anomaly in the electronic music scene it seems.
claudedefaren wrote: What's wrong with a one-note bassline?
Nothing, if the song is good I like it.
claudedefaren wrote: Music is the change in sound over time, not "as many notes as possible."
Shit, if I wanted that I would go listen to Mahavishnu Orchestra.
claudedefaren wrote: But look at deep or minimal house. There's a beauty in the musical simplicity and repetition.
Sorry, but that's not a good example. I've been a deep house head since about 2000 and there are chords and harmony in that music.
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 11:45 pm
by ineffable
fragments wrote:Relabel it today's Beatport Top 10.
But yea, I'm sick of the sound design circle jerk.
Part of me is kinda glad I don't listen to much electronic music so I'm not effected by the the same way you are. But otoh I barely know what you're talking about because I don't listen to a lot of electronic music.
Some of the stuff I have heard I like, while some of the other stuff sounds like the singularity is trying to assimilate my brain.
There's defenatly a lot to be said about "less is more".
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:25 am
by fragments
I guess I just want something more than three notes a shitty beat and weird grindy glitchy sounds
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:42 am
by Add9
fragments wrote:
Add9 wrote:Maybe I'm alone on this but I don't think that all music has to have intricate melodies or complicated chords in order to be worthwhile.
I mean there's plenty of electronic music that does have these elements, it's just that the popular stuff is for clubs, and people who are dancing care more about the beat than about how many different notes the baseline is made out of. You gotta know your audience. I mean it's not like all these people are going to the club so they can try and hear when the neopolitan chord comes up or to marvel at clever tritone substitutions or anything like that.
I get you, but a lot of popular dance music is just really, really, dumbed down these days. But you can ignore me as I'm an old geezer who doesn't go out to clubs anymore and is pretty much done with "the scene". So, for me, I'm wanting some at least a little sophisticated in my beat oriented music ;p
I had been going to a weekly for a while, but I got tired of the younger kids who immediately abandoned the dance floor when someone wasn't playing a (stupid) filthy banger. I'd see their faces, some of them would get all disgusted and pissed. Meanwhile, the older folks hung around for everyone's set no matter what they were playing.
Either things are really different or I need to start doing hard drugs again.
Maybe the music is dumbed down these days, I'm only 22 so I guess I don't have the greatest perspective on this issue. To be honest I don't really go to clubs for dubstep that often, my friends are all into trance tbh... so I don't really know what kind of stuff goes on at dubstep shows. And I don't usually pay attention to other people... I'm kind of in my own world at the club, lol! It's more the experience for me than it is actually listening to the music.
But I do agree with you that when I listen to music at home, I do find that a lot of the popular stuff is somewhat recycled and not terribly original or interesting.
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 1:04 am
by fragments
^Yea. I dunno, lol. Half the time I feel like I'm just suffering from that whole "everything used to be better" syndrome when really it's the same, it just seems different, lol.
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 1:29 am
by Genevieve
It can't be worse than the acid house days. A Roland drum machine playing a four-to-the-floor + a 303.
Music always has the tendency to be formulaic and predictable. Music's just more accessible now so you hear more of it at once.
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:47 am
by mtl6
i think there's more amazing music out there now than ever really. sure there will always be repetitive trends that people will repeat ad nauseum, but that doesn't mean you won't find some hidden gems out there.
balam acab, clams casino, phaeleh, blackmill, dntel, bondax, disclosure, mount kimbie.... hell even pretty lights' new EP is sweet- they're all are doing some pretty amazing stuff in my opinion.
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 3:55 am
by Huts
Look further than any of the beatport charts, in any genre, and you'll find some quality stuff. Everything has it's place though. That mashup of those bigroom house tracks all sound the same but they each tear up a dancefloor, so what are you gonna do? If you're not feeling it don't listen to it
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:05 am
by claudedefaren
mks wrote:
claudedefaren wrote:But yo, as much as I agree that there is overall a lack of "caring" about MUSIC from a lot of bro-y producers today, I feel like you're expecting more out of this stuff than you should.
Not me. I'm not expecting a lot out of it but I am agreeing that there has been a greater emphasis placed on sound design particularly on bass sounds but as much on basslines which falls into the compositional aspect. But then again, I'm a bass player and have been a musician my whole life long before I started producing and dj'ing which automatically makes me an anomaly in the electronic music scene it seems.
claudedefaren wrote: What's wrong with a one-note bassline?
Nothing, if the song is good I like it.
claudedefaren wrote: Music is the change in sound over time, not "as many notes as possible."
Shit, if I wanted that I would go listen to Mahavishnu Orchestra.
claudedefaren wrote: But look at deep or minimal house. There's a beauty in the musical simplicity and repetition.
Sorry, but that's not a good example. I've been a deep house head since about 2000 and there are chords and harmony in that music.
I didn't say that there were no chords or harmony in deep house. And i don't think anyone could kid themselves into thinking there's no chords or harmony in most beatport top tunes.
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:12 am
by mromgwtf
I'm not saying that A LOT OF NOTES = good music, and a little notes = bad music.
You can make a fucking amazing melody with like 5 or 6 notes or so.
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:10 pm
by fragments
Genevieve wrote:It can't be worse than the acid house days. A Roland drum machine playing a four-to-the-floor + a 303.
Music always has the tendency to be formulaic and predictable. Music's just more accessible now so you hear more of it at once.
A fair point, except most at that time had never heard anything like that. Now, everyone has heard "techno" at some point. If only inserted into some form of pop culture.
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:42 pm
by wub
fragments wrote: everyone has heard "techno" at some point. If only inserted into some form of pop culture.
Our generation would blame that on Moby - Play, I guess.
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:48 pm
by fragments
wub wrote:
fragments wrote: everyone has heard "techno" at some point. If only inserted into some form of pop culture.
Our generation would blame that on Moby - Play, I guess.
Also, that one Fat Boy Slim album ...can't be arsed to look it up, You've Come A Long Way, Baby or whatever. But Moby - Play for sure.
Clearly there is skill behind it because Beats by Dre
Also, I just cleaned my ears out with bleach after listening to that : )
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:08 pm
by nameless133
This topic is true. As others said above people are mostly focus on the sound design and not the on arrangement and sound. They are overcomplicating everything.
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:15 pm
by claudedefaren
mromgwtf wrote:I'm not saying that A LOT OF NOTES = good music, and a little notes = bad music.
You can make a fucking amazing melody with like 5 or 6 notes or so.
Or one note.
Was it you who was talking trash on one-note basslines? Why would more notes be better? The essence of music is how sound changes over time. You can achieve that soooooo many ways other than having more than one note.
I remember buying all of these tattered old guitar pedals — they were so cheap about 12 years ago — and running keyboards through them. Everyone would be saying, 'You can't do that. Those are for guitars,' but I'd say, 'Listen to it. It sounds great.' Anyway, at least a lot of my teachers encouraged me while the traditional jazzers were freaking out. [The students] would be focussing on their playing ability while I'd be sitting around, reading how my heroes like Brian Eno were saying, 'I'd rather hold one note for an hour and modulate it so that it means something than play 3,000 notes in 15 seconds.' I'd repeat stuff like that to people and they'd say, 'That's just wrong.' I'd say, 'No, it's not. Music is supposed to be a catalyst for expressing emotion, and that's what I want to learn about.'
Re: Today's electronic music
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:29 pm
by alphacat
A nice exception is this LP: lots of subtle variations and changes that really add to the overall effect.
