Quick shout to a handful of websites that I use to obtain info about new music:
-the users of http://floasis.net WAYLiT thread
- http://glitchhopforum.com
- http://dubstepforum.com
- http://last.fm
- http://idmforums.com
- http://ihatebreakcore.com
- http://idmtrade.blogspot.com
- http://gabber.od.ua
- http://torrentech.org
- http://addictech.com
- http://beatport.com
As well as scouring myspace for new releases (from previously known artists + their friends) and youtube for remixes.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
On to my current musical endeavors, which start at about age ~18. This is the time when my musical focus becomes very myopic. For ~5 years I was consuming all the EDM that I could get my ears on, taking it all in and slowly sorting it all out. As of ~18, I begin a stage in musical appreciation which some call narrow-minded. I call it knowing what I like and knowing what I don't like. I tend to compare my musical tastes to my food tastes. I'm in my 20's, I've eaten (been fed) a LOT of different types of food. That's not to say I'm some kind of food connoisseur, but over the years I've developed a mental library as to which foods I like and which I don't like. For instance, I've tasted beans--I don't like their taste or texture. However I've never eaten a bean burrito. Some people say that I should try bean burritos, but I insist against. They note that I've never tried one so I don't know if I'll like it or not. But what I have tried are the ingredients that make up the burrito--and I dont like them. The same can be said for music. There are certain qualities (and quantities) of music that I enjoy and there are many that I do not. When a certain peice of music (or genre) is defined largely by the qualities that I've sampled in other tracks, artists or genres--and didn't enjoy--I believe it's safe to say that I will not enjoy this new music.
It comes down to time, really. On a given day, I find ~2-3 new artists and listen to 5-6 new albums. If the 4 tracks in your myspace page are not impressive, I will not get your album and give it a listen. Your samples to the world should be representative of your music as a whole. There are simply too many genius-level musical artists in existance to waste time with those who are not. If i have 17 hours in a day to listen to music and there are 17 hours worth of genius musicianship available to me every day, then there is no point in listening to anything less than such. I believe this ratio is not only true, but more substantial than I make it out to be (in that, there are not enough hours in every day to physically take in all of the musical genius in the world in 1 lifetime). It is for this reason that some call me "picky" but I believe it to be a matter of simply knowing what I enjoy.
Typically, I may say something like "house music sucks." Mind you, I live around chicago, IL, the birthplace of house music. You can't, with a straight face, tell me I just haven't heard "the right" house track. I've heard good house tracks, tracks that I really enjoy. Tortured Soul, Les Rhythmes Digitales, some Jamiroquai tracks, some remixes, etc but when I say something like "XYZ genre sucks" that is to imply that I don't enjoy 99.9% of it. I believe that in EVERY genre (even happy hardcore), there are rare gems of musical genius or even just tracks that I can get down with for whatever reason.
As of current, I generally listen to: breakcore, IDM, glitch-hop, dubstep, neo-classical, glitch, downtempo, jungle, backpack hip-hop, post-rock, and variations and combinations of each of the aforementioned. The posts from here on out will likely be centered around one of those.
It comes down to time, really. On a given day, I find ~2-3 new artists and listen to 5-6 new albums. If the 4 tracks in your myspace page are not impressive, I will not get your album and give it a listen. Your samples to the world should be representative of your music as a whole. There are simply too many genius-level musical artists in existance to waste time with those who are not. If i have 17 hours in a day to listen to music and there are 17 hours worth of genius musicianship available to me every day, then there is no point in listening to anything less than such. I believe this ratio is not only true, but more substantial than I make it out to be (in that, there are not enough hours in every day to physically take in all of the musical genius in the world in 1 lifetime). It is for this reason that some call me "picky" but I believe it to be a matter of simply knowing what I enjoy.
Typically, I may say something like "house music sucks." Mind you, I live around chicago, IL, the birthplace of house music. You can't, with a straight face, tell me I just haven't heard "the right" house track. I've heard good house tracks, tracks that I really enjoy. Tortured Soul, Les Rhythmes Digitales, some Jamiroquai tracks, some remixes, etc but when I say something like "XYZ genre sucks" that is to imply that I don't enjoy 99.9% of it. I believe that in EVERY genre (even happy hardcore), there are rare gems of musical genius or even just tracks that I can get down with for whatever reason.
As of current, I generally listen to: breakcore, IDM, glitch-hop, dubstep, neo-classical, glitch, downtempo, jungle, backpack hip-hop, post-rock, and variations and combinations of each of the aforementioned. The posts from here on out will likely be centered around one of those.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Dance Machine
It was in the teenage years (circa 2000) that because I got so interested in EDM, I wanted to go hear it live (like a concert, ya know?). Turns out "concerts" exist few and far between with EDM, but it's played at "raves" and "clubs" every weekend. So my adventure begins in those two scenes, spanning from outdoor festivals, to teeny bopper clubs, to warehouse parties. It was at these events that I discovered a new passion--dancing. It was subtle at first, a thing of necessity. It was what everyone did to this music and I felt the urge to do it too. I started using those computer skills to look up how people did it. I stumbled into a few communites, some tutorials, some videos and long story short (because i'd rather this blog not be about my dance history), I was really trying my best to be a dancer, rather than a person who simply danced.
Because of this hobby, I found even more music. Things like electro, breaks, jungle, house and genre names for all the music that I had been acquiring. This sent me on a quest of categorization--psytrance, darkstep, nu electro, glitch, disco house, speedcore...endless subgenres of subgenres and all of it came with new artists to listen to. Infected Mushroom, Deiselboy, AK1200, Anthony Rother, Baby Anne, Freestylers, Mojo, mu-Ziq. Dozens and dozens of different styles to choose from and moods to match.
It was at this stage that I was the most...how shall I say, open, to musical variation. From this point forward, I became less and less so, picking specific producers and genres that I would go wild over for months at a time before moving on to the next. (Note: this began to happen when I was about 17/18 and I still do this today).
Because of this hobby, I found even more music. Things like electro, breaks, jungle, house and genre names for all the music that I had been acquiring. This sent me on a quest of categorization--psytrance, darkstep, nu electro, glitch, disco house, speedcore...endless subgenres of subgenres and all of it came with new artists to listen to. Infected Mushroom, Deiselboy, AK1200, Anthony Rother, Baby Anne, Freestylers, Mojo, mu-Ziq. Dozens and dozens of different styles to choose from and moods to match.
It was at this stage that I was the most...how shall I say, open, to musical variation. From this point forward, I became less and less so, picking specific producers and genres that I would go wild over for months at a time before moving on to the next. (Note: this began to happen when I was about 17/18 and I still do this today).
Teenage...Wasteland? I think not.
Circa 13 years old, my parents and I moved away from the neighborhood in which I grew up and I made new friends in my new junior high (and soon, high school). There was no fanaticism among music in these new "cliques." I was left wanting, fending for myself. It was at this time I met some people that had a slight inclination towards electronic music. In my head (circa 2000), "electronica" was a road that ended a few years prior with the supposed death of the rave scene (not that I knew the reason behind it, but this was). I just didn't really hear anything new about it for ~2-3 years and figured it was like a disco resurgance gone horribly wrong.
These rapscallion friends of mine started me in on trance.
-Tiesto
-Paul van Dyk
-Oakenfold.
You know the lineup. It was something genuinely new to me. Again, I ate it up. As I started doing bit by bit research on the internet for popular electronic music, I came across something my friends haven't found, but I really enjoyed. The holy trinity of my teenage years:
-Aphex Twin
-Squarepusher
-Autechre
So there I am, between the ages of ~14-16 I'm trying to get my hands on as much electronic music as I possibly can. Mind you again, this is circa 2000, the year that often times marks the death of the culture that Electronic Dance Music belonged to (the rave scene), so I had a lot of catching up to do on the years that I had been missing out. Over the next ~4 years this catching up included stuff like: Aphex Twin classics, Orbital, Astral Projection, DJ Icey, (more) PVD, (more) Oakenfold, and tonnes of others. This was an entire world I had never seen or really heard of all at my fingertips because of the internet.
These rapscallion friends of mine started me in on trance.
-Tiesto
-Paul van Dyk
-Oakenfold.
You know the lineup. It was something genuinely new to me. Again, I ate it up. As I started doing bit by bit research on the internet for popular electronic music, I came across something my friends haven't found, but I really enjoyed. The holy trinity of my teenage years:
-Aphex Twin
-Squarepusher
-Autechre
So there I am, between the ages of ~14-16 I'm trying to get my hands on as much electronic music as I possibly can. Mind you again, this is circa 2000, the year that often times marks the death of the culture that Electronic Dance Music belonged to (the rave scene), so I had a lot of catching up to do on the years that I had been missing out. Over the next ~4 years this catching up included stuff like: Aphex Twin classics, Orbital, Astral Projection, DJ Icey, (more) PVD, (more) Oakenfold, and tonnes of others. This was an entire world I had never seen or really heard of all at my fingertips because of the internet.
Music: The Early Years
I grew up in a middle class home, in a middle class neighborhood. Went to a middle class school filled with middle class kids. I know, once again, fascinating. My early years (circa 10 years old) of music fascination/appreciation/obsession started like how I can only assume most childrens' begin. I listened to and loved what was forced down my throat by my peers and the media. If it was on Q101, B96, MTV, or my friends liked it--I in turn liked it.
The Rap Game
-Bone Thugs n Harmony
-Crucial Conflict
-Snoop Dogg
The Rock Game
-Smashing Pumpkins
-Nirvana
-Oasis
The "Electronica" Game
-Prodigy
-Chemical Brothers
-Crystal Method
There were no other games, but many other artists. I have a tiny place in my heart for many of these original obsessions. I'm not sure if it's because I genuinely enjoy(ed) their music or because they bring back memories of simpler times. Either way, as I'm beginning a hobby of DJ'ing, I'm always on the lookout for remixes of these kinds of childhood classics.
The Rap Game
-Bone Thugs n Harmony
-Crucial Conflict
-Snoop Dogg
The Rock Game
-Smashing Pumpkins
-Nirvana
-Oasis
The "Electronica" Game
-Prodigy
-Chemical Brothers
-Crystal Method
There were no other games, but many other artists. I have a tiny place in my heart for many of these original obsessions. I'm not sure if it's because I genuinely enjoy(ed) their music or because they bring back memories of simpler times. Either way, as I'm beginning a hobby of DJ'ing, I'm always on the lookout for remixes of these kinds of childhood classics.
ohai!
First blog entry in years, where to begin...
PURPOSE!
This is mainly going to be about my daily musical musings, but it'll also have some dance, party and travel related commentary as well.
So I guess I'll start with a bit about myself:
-My name is kai. If you're not related to me, you'll know me by that name.
-I'm in my early 20's.
-I live around Chicago, IL.
Fascinating.
PURPOSE!
This is mainly going to be about my daily musical musings, but it'll also have some dance, party and travel related commentary as well.
So I guess I'll start with a bit about myself:
-My name is kai. If you're not related to me, you'll know me by that name.
-I'm in my early 20's.
-I live around Chicago, IL.
Fascinating.
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