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+--- Thread: WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? (/thread-5992.html)
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - ALPHA OMEGA - 15th December 2003
seanie mack Wrote:music should be criticised
Music should be enjoyed.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - scart ridge - 15th December 2003
people should respond to music however the fuck they want to respond to music.
postmodernism 4->
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - seanie mack - 15th December 2003
ALPHA OMEGA Wrote:most importantly.seanie mack Wrote:music should be criticised
Music should be enjoyed.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - analytic - 15th December 2003
scart ridge Wrote:i don't think anybody needs to take an 'intellectual' stand on any of the supposed important issues and complications facing drum and bass today - say it with music, and make what's in your head. it seems easy to forget sometimes, but this is music, not running for political office.
As much as I'd like this to be true, I'm not entirely convinced. Although I'd agree that the general quality of the music is not what it could be (even as production know-how expands), I think that's separate from the issue of why the DnB scene (actually I prefer to think of it as an economy) is tanking. By which I mean that there's all manner of shit-poor music about these days that moves more units than any stripe of DnB, good or bad. As an example, I think that the mean quality of the overground hiphop being made is lower than it's ever been, ever. And yet still I find myself awash in this great deluge of shit-poor hiphop. The difference is that, for whatever reason, the hiphop people have a machine in place for making sure that people get exposed and that records actually get into the hands of those who would buy them.
I recently ran sound for a New Orleans hotpie band at a small party held in a conference room at a hotel and attended mostly by forty-somethings. And at this party there was a talent-scout from a somewhat reputable semi-independent hiphop and R&B record label there, and he gave me his card and everything. That's simply not anything that I could ever imagine happening in the DnB world, not in a million years. I'm not saying that any of us are in a position to start doing this sort of thing, but the point is, in the more industrialised areas of music there is an acknowlegement that you have to find new markets; you can't just wait for markets to find you, no matter how good your music is. I wouldn't say that we should become more industrialised, in fact quite the oppposite, but I do think there needs to be more of an effort made down on the ground just to let people know we exist. This means flyers, free mix CDs and white labels, and hustling club nights, and that's an awful lot like running for political office. We can't just seel each other records or internet forums. We need to make the music move elsewhere.
scart ridge Wrote:maybe if people weren't trying so hard to 'keep it real' they'd actually have a target market
I'll agree there, but having a target market and targeting that market are not the same thing, and in a sense, I think that DnB is over-targeted. One problem with DnB is that we're selling records almost strictly to each other, and the scene is hopelessly inbred, so people are beginning to age out of/bottom out on the scene. This happens in any community of enthusiasts, but with other crowds there's a steady influx of new participants. This is not a values problem, its a structural problem, and I think that it needs to be approached that way.
But I also think that things will likely get worse before they get better, because unless they get bad for literally everybody, NOBODY is gonna be brave enough to hang their ass out and potentailly lose some money on their releases for a while.
And speaking of which, I think it's odd that filesharing software has been so singled out as a source of woe for so many producers. I understand that trading dubs endangers the release of those tracks. But the exposure that could potentially come as a result of the ubiquity of filesharing technology I think justifies the risk, or at least it would if there was ANYTHING being done by ANYONE to actually reach people outside of our already-existing market. I certainly think that sharing straight-to-.mp3 dj sets can be nothing but a good thing, and that we should encourage that sort of thing, rather than discourage it. But again, that's a kind of political action, and nobody wants to admit to practicing politics.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - ALPHA OMEGA - 15th December 2003
I ask 'what the future holds' & everybody starts telling me all their gripes with d&b
Go Figure
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - million-air - 15th December 2003
ALPHA OMEGA Wrote:I ask 'what the future holds' & everybody starts telling me all their gripes with d&b
Go Figure
[figured]
comeon now sir
you stated a little bit more than simply that
ALPHA OMEGA Wrote:As you all know a lot of interesting things have been brewing within d&b & a lot of negative stuff has also crept in also.
Distributors dropping a lot of labels
Distributors going bankrupt
Labels shutting down
Artists chasing the money
Cocaine & pixie dust
Artists feeling alienated & unfairly critisized from their audience when they go on boards like DOA,DNBA,etc...
Rapidly declining vinyl sales
& it makes me wonder,what does the future of this music really look like?
With everybody doing their best to segregate themselves from one another & act like their shit don't stink,how's this music going to progress?
The whole ideology which was the underlying thread at the birth of rave was 'everybody under one roof raving together'
Now you couldn't be further from that if you tried.
What's happened?
Now everbody's like 'My stuff's great,whatever don't sound like how I want it to sound is crap'
Nobody's looking to unite the whole spectrum of d&b in anywhich way,shape or form & that's a fact!
I ain't gonna go on no huge rant but it's just weird to see something you thought u knew change into something which ,on the whole & truthfully,you just don't relate to at all
So what does the future really hold for this music
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - ALPHA OMEGA - 15th December 2003
Pedantic fecker
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - analytic - 15th December 2003
ALPHA OMEGA Wrote:I ask 'what the future holds' & everybody starts telling me all their gripes with d&b
Go Figure
But that's bound to happen when the question of DnB's future is so bound up with people's gripes. One thing's for certain: the future is uncertain. You can't even begin to talk about the future until you have some kind of grasp on the present situation; prediction depends on such an assessment. But now that you mention it, I guess it is time to stop assessing and start prognosticating. Let me get my crystal ball:
1. I predict that in the future there will be some dudes. Some of these dudes will be producers, djs, promoters and label owners, both actual and wannabe.
2. These dudes will attempt to create tunes and spin records, to host club nights and release tracks, either on vinyl, on CD, or via teh intarweb.
3. Some of these dudes will fail. Some of the music will suck. Some of the club nights will be underattended. Others will not. Most of the dudes will fail, and there will likely be little relationship at all between the quality of the music and their likelihood of success.
4. Some of the dudes will not fail. Hooray for them!
5. In the future, everyone will wear a funny hat, and all dudes will be named Cornelius by writ of law. Chicks will not have names at all. Drum and Bass will no longer be called Drum and Bass. It will be called Chicken Scratch Gatorade, and you will have to wear spandex and a cape to obtain it.
6. Everything else is fuzzy, unfortunately. No matter what happens, though, no matter how good or bad things become, I predict that most people will find something to complain about. And people will disagree. Because that's what people do when they are involved with something that means a lot to them, and they want that something to be as good as it can be.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - analytic - 15th December 2003
Also, one other thing I forgot to mention: In the future, breakfast cereal will be sold in paintbuckets, and dinosaurs will once again rule the earth!
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - million-air - 15th December 2003
million-air Wrote:place less emphasis on the perceived power of these internet forums/msg boards
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - million-air - 15th December 2003
go figure
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - elemental - 16th December 2003
Excellet thread.
My personal answer to the future of DnB (and music in general) is to fuck the politics and economics and create the future,
to express what is deep in my soul through the new tools we have.
'Rave' music is something sacred and powerful, connecting us to our ancestors who used to bang out rhythms on drums and sing and dance till the sun came up. Now we just have new tools to play with, to make never before-heard sounds -
but the inifinite possibilities I think is causing some people to narrow their styles. When there were clear bounderies enforced and created by our limited uquipment it was easier to conecntrate on ideas... now the endless software you can download for free can be like a sea of confusion.
As for the future....
I'm gonna explore the live side of breakbeat-oriented music. I think there is a lot of untapped potential there.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - System - 16th December 2003
analytic Wrote:Also, one other thing I forgot to mention: In the future, breakfast cereal will be sold in paintbuckets, and dinosaurs will once again rule the earth!you're a bad man!
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - Agent Sunshine - 16th December 2003
More people should make LPs and release them as CDs, and release singles from the LP (but not the whole LP necessarily) on vinyl. Aaron Myers is talking about doing this with Testflight I believe, and it sounds like a good idea to me. Not that many people want to buy 12" singles, and even fewer people want to buy quadruple pack LPs when they only wanna play one song off the album.
The music will be what it is. If you aren't hearing anything you like, make something you do like. That doesn't mean you can't complain or criticize, but don't make that your primary focus. Unfortunately a large portion of the "rave" scene is pretty well dead as far as I can tell, and a lot of clubs don't have soundsystems that really do justice to dnb. But what can ya do? There are still loads of people out there who love dnb but aren't part of the "scene" and I think at some point there has to be an acknoledgement of some divorce between the cliched club scene and dnb.
All of us have pretty diverse music tastes. Think about the "scene" around the other stuff you listen to. I'm sure it's very different than dnb. One of the big problems is that with dnb people expect to go out to some big night and hear the specific kind of music they like. If you go to a commercial jazz club you aren't going to hear Sun Ra. That doesn't mean you have to bag on the commercial jazz club, but if you want to hear Sun Ra you probably shouldn't go there, and most of the time you'll probably have to settle on staying home and listening on the stereo. Going out to clubs isn't "all about the music," even though we all might wish it was, and so you can't tie the two together, even though it is nice for them to cross paths.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - ALPHA OMEGA - 16th December 2003
Has economics become too instrinsic an element in 'underground' music for it to ever go back to the basis of being music from the soul?
Everything is geared towards making a living,not expression of self,not artistic integrity,not even making any kind of statement.
Everything & everyone is all about the pound signs.
Have we gone too far down that road of greed & self-gain?
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - DJFracture - 16th December 2003
whats pixie dust?
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - toon - 16th December 2003
ALPHA OMEGA Wrote:Everything is geared towards making a living,not expression of self,not artistic integrity,not even making any kind of statement.
That is a very big problem in today's dance music IMHO. I think today a lot more ithan in the nineties, music has to transport some statement. That does not have to be explicitly outspoken, but can also be transported through a certain attitude of the artist. I have the feeling though, that today's dance luminaries don't give a shit about what's happening in the world, as long as they have what they want (e.g. money, fame and so on...).
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - Blue - 16th December 2003
i dont care where its all going, i have my own agenda........
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - elemental - 16th December 2003
ALPHA OMEGA Wrote:Has economics become too instrinsic an element in 'underground' music for it to ever go back to the basis of being music from the soul?
Everything is geared towards making a living,not expression of self,not artistic integrity,not even making any kind of statement.
Everything & everyone is all about the pound signs.
Have we gone too far down that road of greed & self-gain?
I think its an unfortunate result of the way the whole dance scene has gone. and unfortunately artists have to make a living...
I hope the music becomes more community based, i.e. more local producers making stuff and playing it out, with less emphasis on the big names etc... I agree with whoever said the big boys are killing the scene. Fair enought they've been there from the early days but they are the ones who now have kids/mortgages etc so are therefore gonna be playing it much safer than an enthusiastic kid with fresh ideas.
I dont think we've gone too far, the root and purpose of rave music will always be there but people need to be reminded and shown why they started doing this shit in the first place.
To take us to another dimension! To connect each other to the place we all came from, to break down bounderies between people and make us realise we are all One. And to make us gurn like motherfuckers to phat beats and dirt-stinkin basslines!
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - karbonkid - 16th December 2003
bring back XTC and acid!!!
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - john doe - 16th December 2003
karbonkid Wrote:bring back XTC and acid!!!
was yours ever gone?
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - Code - 16th December 2003
ALPHA OMEGA Wrote:Has economics become too instrinsic an element in 'underground' music for it to ever go back to the basis of being music from the soul?
Everything is geared towards making a living,not expression of self,not artistic integrity,not even making any kind of statement.
Everything & everyone is all about the pound signs.
Have we gone too far down that road of greed & self-gain?
No.
My label, if it gets off the ground, will be for music that is under-represented in D&B these days.
It's purely for music NOT money. I have a day job for money, my label is for the purpose of putting out music that is creative and long-lasting - if it makes me money so be it but that's not why I'm doing it. I think there's a few other labels like that around?
Now, as you keep asking AO... what does the future hold???
Well, I think there'll be more people doing it for the love - hopefully! I think there's a few people around these parts looking to get labels going that have the music as top priority. Machu is doing a label (Forestry Service - DEADLY name!!!), there's that Platonic one in France and of course SC (dedicated to the subversive producers on a message board that LOVE their music! - if that's not an example of a label with a music-first policy then what is?), I think these labels alongside existing labels such as Bassbin, Inperspective, Paradox, Offshore, Streetbeats will put music before economics and still survive and indeed become stronger as time goes on. I think a corner has been turned... I hope it has.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - ALPHA OMEGA - 16th December 2003
every label Code just mentioned I'm signed to...
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - noisemonkey - 16th December 2003
ALPHA OMEGA Wrote:every label Code just mentioned I'm signed to...:alphaomegamythicalsmugsmileysurprise:
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE REALLY HOLD? - Code - 16th December 2003
ALPHA OMEGA Wrote:every label Code just mentioned I'm signed to...
By the way AO - I've listened to some tunes of yours on the DnB something or other site and they're absolute muck!
But, do you know what? I wish more people did what you did - i.e. make tunes to pay the bills and make tunes that will really stand the test of time aswell...you must be one of the only well known producers that does this now???
Why don't you tell us what you think the future holds instead of asking questions like a little 4 year old?