in my view there are several things at play that make the particular
brand of 'futurism' that techno is based on obsolete in this day and age.
firstly electronic synthesizers produce futuristic noises (in a
hackneyed 50's kind of way...theremins to blame here :) ). people now
don't think of the future when they hear electronic noises, they are
more likely thing who the f__k is ringing me on my mobile phone now.
if you think the noises coming out of your moog sound futuristic (ok
this still works on me) then you are more likely to produce a futuristic
feel to the way you approach music and surround that music with
futuristic imagery and names.
secondly techno, whilst undeniably based on earlier music, is an 80s
phenomena. up until the 80s most science fiction (especially that shown
in film) perpetuated the 50s style of optimistic futurism. sci-fi
writing got a lot darker during the 80s with cyber-punks etc (tho Philip
K Dick had been doing this for years, i digress) and now mass media has
caught on to that less than bright view of things (almost all sci-fi in
films is of this type now). it's far harder to have a musical concept
that appeals to people in a club that is _that_ dystopian.
thirdly, as has already been pointed out people now don't view the
technology as being the thing we aim for in the future (it's a given)
and look at a future where interpersonal relationships, rather than
peoples relationships with the technology, are focused on. possibly with
more of a focus on some kind of spirituality (see psy/goa trance?).
there's more to be said here but i better get some work done :)
my 2p
robin...
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
whatever happened to the future?
did it become an outdated concept?
all the bands I've seen lately have harked to the past,
really heavily. All the records I buy are obsessed with the past, or are
old.
even techno isn't futuristic any more. Jeff Mills scores films from the
'20's, Red Planet titles are all about native american indian issues,
instead of "sex in zero gravity" or "journey to the martian polar
cap"...... There's no "time, space, transmat" business anymore. I mean,
even the word "transmat" was made up wasn't it? No one does that any more,
there's no dreamers left, just flippin' historians.
so why? is it too scary to contemplate any more?
