I can relate to what you've said below. I have a particular fondness
for the ambient techno/trance/house/jungle of that general period.
The "sound" of that era is more or less gone, but I think that mindset
persists and still appears in contemporary musical forms.
As far as relatively recent "intelligent" goes, off the top of my head,
I can think of Isolee, Mike Shannon, Bruno Pronsato, Tupperware, Carter
Tutti (aka Chris & Cosey), Boxcutter, Skull Disco, Texas Faggott,
Stewart Walker, Paradox, Gescom, Burial, Sutekh, Horsepower Productions,
Troll Scientists, Illusion of Safety, Flying Lotus, etc.
The early 90s is as gone as the early 80s, the roaring 1920s, the early
Romantic, high Baroque and rockin' 13th century. There never will be
another period like those because the factors that made them what they
were have passed. No biggie. There are tons of eras gone by, if you
think about it, yet there is still good music to be found.
For me, it doesn't matter so much that those eras are gone because the
music from those time periods is still close to my heart and so never
sounds or feels "old" to me. It is still part of my living present, as
much as the newer things I like are.
Finding new music that grabs me has always required a lot of sifting
through musical mediocrity. Some period have more spurts of innovation
than others, but it still requires that I keep my ears open since it is
always possible that someone can serve up everything I like about Atom
Heart, Vulva, Air Liquide, PWOG, etc without being derivative, retro or
nostalgic.
Michael Kuszynski wrote:
Maybe I am simply reaching a little too hard to get back to what makes
me an ardent follower of FSOL or the ambient techno electronica
universe of futurist, space age, on-the-dawn-of-a-new-era mysticism
that I found so appealing as a youth and as it carried me through to
now, but I am having a hard time floating through what music is now
and how to find things that continue reshaping the order of my world
in regards to recorded sound.
I feel like all I can do is feel like there's an era gone by, but I'm
not sure what there is as a music after techno? (or ambient / uk
electronic, what have you).
Also - I am unsure if I am simply a victim of my own obscured frame of
reference which is defined by my own transition from being an active
fanatic and always listening to music and working on synths non stop
when I was younger to having entered real life (work, corporations)
and reliving days gone by. Maybe they are simply gone by for me, and
my own attitude is that of an old timer (even if I'm young) saying
that there will never be another this or that, or that music is over,
etc. Maybe there is always people doing interesting things, building
scenes, and achieving breathtaking aural and all encompassing art, but
this is just a mood I am in now on this reflective Sunday.
Any thoughts?
I know my reference to FSOL or classic early 90s electronic techno
ambient what have you isn't explicit Detroit relevant, but I think
many can identify to these themes.
The below definitely reference detroit artists, and they even speak!
part 2:
-----
FYI - I am double posting from another friend's list, but check this
out, if you haven't yet:
http://www.subrosa.net/online/main_dr_catalogue_electronics_detail.php?AlbumID=76
you can even listen to it for free before buying on this thing called
deezer:
http://www.deezer.com/en/l-r-radiomentale/i-could-never-make-that-music-again-A40541.html
I Could Never Make That Music Again
L-R & RadioMentale
with the voices of Derrick May, Stacey Pullen, Autechre, Matmos, Alec
Empire, A Guy Called Gerald, Mad Mike (Underground Resistance),
Coldcut, Mixmaster Morris, DJ Shadow, Kid Koala, Steve Reich, Claude
Lévèque, Rioji Ikeda, Richie Hawtin, Richard James (Aphex Twin),
Thomas Brinkmann, Mantronix, Christian Fennesz, Squarepusher, The
Residents, Tony Morley, David Toop, Matthew Herbert, Simon Begg,
Andrea Parker, Pole
SR249
I Could Never Make That Music Again is a choral album, a sound collage
crafted out of interviews,where artists, musicians, DJs and sound
makers talk openly about their work, their visions, their hopes, their
moments of doubts and their regrets in a loosely constructed
narrative. Even though most of the people interviewed here have just
met on a few occasions, they have all participated in the making of
the history of electronic music; from the early tape experiments in
the 1950s to the latest trends in techno.
