Sunday, July 12, 2009

electronic music doesnt like you either

let me start out by saying that i love all music, including electronic music.

just in case you didnt know, electronic music is the way of the future. 90% of what you hear on pop radio was created using electronic instruments. for those of us in who record music, we are somewhat split. most of us (at least those who have real engineering jobs) embrace digital technology as a faster, more efficient way of working. the old ways of recording music to tape with real instruments are pretty much a novelty in the current day and age. although it might be trendy to track to tape or print vinyl (i love vinyl by the way,) it is still a trend, and should not be treated as an alternative. side note: if you are into this kind of music or interested in music recorded on analog tape, check out Jack White's new project, the Dead Weather. it was recorded on 8 track 2-inch at 7.5 ips. ill assume you know what that means...


just so you know, i think electronic music is pretty cool. these days you dont need to buy a guitar or take guitar lessons or play drums or even sing. all you have to do turn on your computer (which you do every day anyway) and mess around with some audio software (i realize I'm over-simplifying.) some people are amazing at it, and these people (with the right guidance) usually see some sort of success, especially in Europe. sometimes i wish america wasnt so into bruce springsteen. bruce springsteen is ok i guess...

quick question:

How many americans can name 5 electronic musicians outside of Hip Hop (which i consider electronic music) that arent Daft Punk or Justice?

Answer: id say probably 10% or less.

i went to music school and learned nothing about the history of electronic music. there is a history you know. how many people know the difference between drum and bass and house music? or how many know that techno refers to a specific kind of electronic music? or that "electronica" as a genre is not a real genre (begin argument here)? stupid americans.

i love rock and hip hop and pop just as much as anyone else. i am a music lover. but 99% of Americans who are also self-proclaimed "music lovers" are complete idiots when it comes to the exponentially expanding world of electronic music. most people thought auto tune was a talkbox, like the one stevie wonder used. it wasnt until Jay-Z said that auto tune was dead that people actually googled it and found out that it was a plug in. well thanks Jay-Z, i guess...


i am not one to get frustrated easily over other people's stupidity. i learned at an early age that doing so is a waste of time. i dont like to rant either, unless it is a rant of passion. i guess this is a rant of passion.

ok ok, im almost done, just do me a favor and next time you claim to listen to "everything but country," do yourself a favor and say "everything but country and the endlessly vast world of electronic music."

remember, listening to justice and daft punk doesnt count. they are merely a drop of water on the surface of an even greater ocean of music.

heres an idea: how 'bout you scroll down on justice's or daft punk's page and click on SebastiAn. while youre at it check out wolfgang gartner (avoid tunes with lyrics) and fake blood. like what you hear? this is commonly called "house music" or more recently "electro." electro used to refer to the early 80s music popularized by Afrika Bambaata, but now it is synonymous with the term "house music." there you learned something today. now you're cooler than your friends.

hey you know what? if you like this kind of music, check out my friend's blog. he does all the work for you, you fat, lazy american.


you know why europeans dont like us? because we're stuck on acoustic instruments. those damn europeans and their advanced use of technology.... boom chic ack chick boom chic ack chick...

well if youre mad at me by now, it probably means you have some work to do, so get on it. im gonna go away now and advance music into the 21st century.

3 comments:

  1. Had to write this whole thing out twice. FUCK teh interwebz.You make lot of great points here, but your anger and frustration seems a little short sighted.

    First of all, you are an avid insomniatic music whore, self-proclaimed. You spend most of your time thinking about, writing, listening to and composing music. You are a snob about this, which is fine. You went to music school; that puts you in a category all its own. All of the resources on the internet are ready to slake your educated musical thirst. This is not the case for everyone, because they lack the same direction most good musicians/engineers possess.

    Don't hold your innovative desires against people that don't share them. Most people can't help that they don't want to spend countless hours discovering new music- most people are not driven on that level to learn and create. Rather than shout into the ether about how lazy and worthless they are, how about engaging them? Seems like a worthwhile investment to me.

    I don't think the reason people don't know anything about electronic music in the U.S. is laziness. We certainly are lazy, and I'm sure it contributes to the lack of knowledge. It isn't really their responsibility to hunt for new music all the time. There are many variations of music lover; the vast majority simply appreciate good music and are open to new things. they're not scholars or composers, and don't devote a lot of time (comparatively speaking)to learning about or exploring music. An economist could expect a musician to appreciate the principles of a true free-market economy, but wouldn't expect a musician to spend his spare time reading Adam Smith- that takes a special type of person. Similarly, you as a musician can expect music lovers to appreciate great electronic music, but you shouldn't expect them to wikipeida its history, or spend three hours finding people that JUSTICE listens to.

    Most people are ignorant to electronic music because there isn't a market for it here; save a few tiny, obscure and startingly bitter townships across the country. listeners are at a disadvantage to learn about it, because it's not as easy to come across.

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  2. Let us, for a moment, don the "average american listener" hat:

    Myspace is a terrorizing amalgam of confused and disorganized information. Facebook is much easier and user friendly- not to mention the significant decrease in spam...and shitty middle-school power trios. Myspace is an effective tool for an active musician- someone who invests a lot of time and effort into their myspace page, and its appearance. The average listener probably hasn't posted on their since 2006. It's inefficient and outdated to weed through countless "top friends" to find an artist you like.

    Most people hear about new music through word of mouth. Say your source is your roommate's guitar playing boyfriend, or that adorable bearded produce guy at whole foods. you'll check out the music they recommend, and you'll probably like it, but you won't go to great lengths to hear their influences or research their careers.

    What about pitchfork? Pitchfork doesn't really discover anything all that often, they just eavesdrop. If they put out a bad review of something great, they've got their retroactive approval technique- very effective, especially for selling hip-hop to hip-starz. Don't get me worng, Pitchfork is a great resource, IF you're willing to think critically and do a lot of legwork- you, the avergage listener, are not. Instead you'll rely on them to dictate which band to namedrop to secure a date with mr. organic endives at W.F. (make it lightning bolt, you're in).

    Pandora and LastFM are pretty cool resources too, but only if you have a very good idea about what new music you want to hear. If you're on your own, they'll generate a playlist of the same sounding music- what you already like- it maybe new, but it's certainly not challenging. Only recently did Pandora provide the "mix it up" option, allowing you create stations with more than one artist- generally, it doesn't work that well.

    Okay, hats off. Bottom line- we shouldn't shoot the messenger or the message- we should just blow up the parcel delivery sevice headquarters while all of the employees are on vacation for the 4th of July.

    Create an online radio station that uses the "genome" concept, then intentionally throws in a random track to expose the listener to soemthing new. Or every fifteen minutes a tidbit of information about contemporary music history pops up, rather than an ad for weight loss patches. Maybe give the artists or contributing authors blogspace to tell you exactly what they're listening to. Maybe you're already doing that.

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  3. Americans ignore electronic music because Americans *hate* electronic music. You know how many daft punk albums sold in America? Alot. You know how many songs with the sample of a daft punk song sold in America because it was a hip hop track? Twice as many if not more than that.

    America just hates electronic music, period. It will never change, so quit bitching and move to the UK or produce other music and leave your electronica to your bedroom like Moby still does, mkay?

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