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interesting: matmos on 'idm'
 

offline happy cycling from berlin on 2004-01-15 21:24 [#01035422]
Points: 2786 Status: Regular



As for "Intelligent Dance Music", the phrase seems sort of
absurd if you take it at face value: the notions of rhythm,
"melody" and form found in most alleged "IDM" doesn't even
come close to the complex intelligence of your average
Saariaho or Xenakis composition, and yet the creepy
Mensa-style pretensions inherent in this assertion of
supposed "Intelligence" persist precisely because its
adherents never exit their own charmed circle, and generally
speaking, seem unwilling to try anything other than IDM,
thus preventing them from ever stumbling across something
that might challenge their notion that they're really brainy
and special for digging Autechre. Sure, I love Autechre and
the Schematic label, but I also like James Brown and Trouble
Funk and Basement Jaxx and Daft Punk- does this make me
unintelligent? The snooty attitude towards "real" dance
music inherent in the term IDM fits all too easily with the
stereotype of the bedroom collector geek who is hopelessly
alienated from the bodily hedonism of a decent
soundsystem/rave/club party and who thereby fashions a
resentment based alibi for why he can't get down.
Furthermore, if you consider the sociological origins of
contemporary electronic dance music in black and gay clubs
in Chicago and New York and then consider the overall
"whiteness" and "straightness" of the average IDM artist and
fan it all starts to look kind of sinister, like people
patting themselves on the back because they are so much more
advanced than those savages who leap about to their wild
drums or something. Sheesh. That said, I belong to the
weblist called "IDM" and occasionally enjoy the discussions
there, because I like some of the artists who get lassoed
into that category (not to mention that we, occasionally,
are lumped into that category too), and because you can
occasionally find out about interesting records on that
list. Like any other community, it allows for networking and
exchange of information which is really useful and
productive and powerful- but like a


 

offline happy cycling from berlin on 2004-01-15 21:25 [#01035423]
Points: 2786 Status: Regular



but like any community, it always needs to define itself
through exclusion, clique-ishness and the fashioning of some
"other" excluded terms: rock music, women, noise, "real"
dance music. I've noticed that whenever discussions drift
towards anything about gender or sexuality on that list the
cluelessness factor jumps off the chart. Matmos is IDM if
that only means "might be talked about on the IDM list"- but
I don't endorse that term "intelligent dance music" because
it's laughable. Rather Interesting Records had a nice slogan
that kind of says it all: "Remember: Only Stupid People Call
It "Intelligent". When we made "The West" we didn't know
about the term, but we knew that we were sick of lazy
reviewers comparing us to Autechre and we wanted to ditch
all those comparisons and reflect the fact that we love
Robbie Basho and Hawaiian guitars. A bit more risk-taking
all round would be nice...

(from http://www.furious.com/perfect/matmos.html)


 

offline roygbivcore from Joyrex.com, of course! on 2004-01-15 21:26 [#01035425]
Points: 22557 Status: Lurker



matmos are art fags


 

offline dariusgriffin from cool on 2004-01-15 21:28 [#01035426]
Points: 12423 Status: Regular



Well, I couldn't agree more. Therefore, Matmos are k3wl.


 

offline happy cycling from berlin on 2004-01-15 21:31 [#01035433]
Points: 2786 Status: Regular | Followup to roygbivcore: #01035425



then i'm an art fag wannabe.


 

offline Dinosaur from United Kingdom on 2004-01-15 21:32 [#01035436]
Points: 312 Status: Lurker



i dig the point of view 100%


 

offline roygbivcore from Joyrex.com, of course! on 2004-01-15 21:33 [#01035437]
Points: 22557 Status: Lurker



all i'm saying is anyone who spends that much time disecting
a music genre for being pretentious can't be that humble
them self


 

offline thecurbcreeper from United States on 2004-01-15 21:35 [#01035442]
Points: 6045 Status: Lurker



although i didn't read that entire thing (and i probably
should have) i think the whole fuss over the name is silly.
first of all, this supposed pretentious, afraid to listen to
stuff outside of the genre, and thinking one is smart and
brainy because they listen to idm exists in many genres.
many people become genre specific and scoff at other music.
this isn't an isolated case. oh shit i've just gone to
switch my laundry and i've lost all my desire to rant on
about this. to sum things up that i haven't exactly said
yet. who cares what it's called. it's just a name. if you
like the music, you like the music, if you don't, you don't.
this whole 'pretentiousness' about idm is silly. isn't
pretentious about being better than everyone else? isn't
calling out idm's pretentiousness trying to be better than
everyone else? isn't my post about how it's all silly trying
to come off as better than others? oh wait, fuck it is.
that's life. so all in all, everyone should shut their
mouths.


 

offline dariusgriffin from cool on 2004-01-15 21:37 [#01035443]
Points: 12423 Status: Regular | Followup to roygbivcore: #01035437



It's from an interview.


 

offline happy cycling from berlin on 2004-01-15 21:37 [#01035444]
Points: 2786 Status: Regular | Followup to thecurbcreeper: #01035442



ok, but to be fair -- this interview was done five years
ago, when the whole 'idm' thing was a bit less masticated.


 

offline thecurbcreeper from United States on 2004-01-15 21:39 [#01035446]
Points: 6045 Status: Lurker | Followup to happy cycling: #01035444



sorry i didn't mean to come off a little crazy about it.
well for a second i came out strong and in the end it was
weak and flacid. yes, flacid.


 

offline dariusgriffin from cool on 2004-01-15 21:41 [#01035448]
Points: 12423 Status: Regular | Followup to dariusgriffin: #01035443



My point being : they were asked, more or less, they not decide "hey, let's talk aboutt how the term
'IDM' is pretentious".

This previous sentence has no structure whatsoever. WELL
FUCK OF?EFZ.


 

offline plaidzebra from so long, xlt on 2004-01-15 21:47 [#01035451]
Points: 5678 Status: Lurker



maybe the only thing dumber than the term idm is to try to
create a phony stereotype of idm listeners. i guarantee you
it was a *music journalist* who coined "idm" and gave birth
to all of the grumblings and debate about elitism.

i think according to this statement by one of matmos, the
definition of "idm listeners" is "people who only listen to
idm," therefore the elitist stereotype is a forgone
conclusion. in other words, just a reason to give matmos a
long, hard pat on the back for not being like those "closed
minded idm elitists."

how many people on this mb listen exclusively to so-called
idm? almost no one.



 

offline DeadEight from vancouver (Canada) on 2004-01-15 21:52 [#01035453]
Points: 5437 Status: Regular



i doubt his viewpoint would be different today... in many
ways he is right (either Martin or Drew, whoever was the one
who said it)... but i think that a lot of the people who
he's singling out feel the exact same way he does, but have
let the name stick for the sake of communication.... what
always confused me about people talking about how
pretentious idm was, is that i can't really think of many of
those at the forefront as being pretentious in any way... is
rdj pretentious? not at all... what about ziq? vibert?
snares? ae? (well maybe on some level... but i'd just say
they have a very different artistic vision than most)
jenkinson? the answer is no... but all the tigerbeat people
decided it was yes anyway, and went off and made a lot of
shitty music about what unpretentious jokesters they are (of
course matmos, is an exception, as far as quality
goes...)...

as for the comment about white people and exclusion: well
that's pretty ill conceived, because idm is as much
influenced by black dance music, as black dance music was by
white techno (ie kraftwerk) and it's all just trying to stir
shit up unnecessarily...


 

offline spoonz from Edmonton, AB (Canada) on 2004-01-15 21:53 [#01035454]
Points: 3219 Status: Regular



lots of words = hating.

which is too bad, cuz i'm interested in reading, i just
can't be arsed tonight.


 

offline DeadEight from vancouver (Canada) on 2004-01-15 21:53 [#01035457]
Points: 5437 Status: Regular



well, i wouldn't say that there isn't anyone who fits their
description, plaidzebra, but those people will come around
sooner or later...


 

offline happy cycling from berlin on 2004-01-15 21:57 [#01035461]
Points: 2786 Status: Regular | Followup to spoonz: #01035454



fav+?


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2004-01-15 21:58 [#01035462]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker



"who thereby fashions a resentment based alibi for why he
can't get down"

mmmmm words like caek

that's some mighty fine hatin


 

offline DeadEight from vancouver (Canada) on 2004-01-15 22:12 [#01035477]
Points: 5437 Status: Regular



it seems like all people can do is hate


 

offline plaidzebra from so long, xlt on 2004-01-15 22:15 [#01035484]
Points: 5678 Status: Lurker



nevertheless, the term "idm" was, i think, coined by a
journalist looking to characterize a style of music, a
scene, a listening community. to appropriate the term has
nothing to do with elitism.

any music considered remotely fashionable or "granting cool
outsider status" will attract poseurs. yet the poseurs
really have nothing at all to do with the music...


 

offline teapot from Paddington (Australia) on 2004-01-15 22:26 [#01035494]
Points: 5739 Status: Regular



i think he's spot on.


 

offline Sanguine from San Francisco (United States) on 2004-01-15 22:43 [#01035512]
Points: 859 Status: Lurker



Great response, very happy with that... respect for Matmos
raised a couple notches


 

offline r40f from qrters tea party on 2004-01-15 22:52 [#01035518]
Points: 14210 Status: Regular



how often does a genre label really do the music justice?
genres are just there to help people try and create a
general category for music that is similar (and of course
for marketability). whatever the genre is called tends to
be rather irrelevant and usually unwelcomed by the people
who participate in it.

for example, is "stoner rock" all stoners playing rock? of
course not - it shouldn't be taken that literally. so
likewise, "intelligent dance music" shouldn't be interpreted
as literally as that. i mean, the "dance" part doesn't
really make sense for later-period autechre, does it?

so my point is, genres are just quick marketing ploys
devised by journalists and labels and you shouldn't take
them at face value. you should just use genres as a general
frame of reference and disregard the irrelevant denotation.

that said, i like matmos's music very much and think that
they're funny. and i will continue thinking of them as
industrial/idm crossover whether they like it or not. :)


 

offline happy cycling from berlin on 2004-01-15 23:04 [#01035525]
Points: 2786 Status: Regular | Followup to Sanguine: #01035512



yeah, moi aussi.


 

offline kochlear from aud-stim.com on 2004-01-15 23:24 [#01035547]
Points: 2311 Status: Addict



i think we should make up a phrase instead of IDM so people
don't get the wrong idea.

from now on all experimental electronic music will be known
as Gragledy Fremniak.

hopefully autechre is coming out with a new ep this year,
since they are the best gragledy fremniak band ever.


 

offline DeadEight from vancouver (Canada) on 2004-01-15 23:32 [#01035549]
Points: 5437 Status: Regular



they could call it the Gr.gl/D% Fr~mn!#k ep


 

offline kochlear from aud-stim.com on 2004-01-15 23:34 [#01035551]
Points: 2311 Status: Addict



no it should be called the "we've done so much acid we get
worried when the walls STOP talking" ep


 

offline Clic on 2004-01-15 23:56 [#01035574]
Points: 5232 Status: Regular



I agree with him.


 

offline uviol from United States on 2004-01-16 00:00 [#01035580]
Points: 2496 Status: Lurker



who gives a flying fuck
i like the term intelligent dance music. hell, I think it's
more intelligent than other kinds of dance music. I like
other kinds of dance music, but I don't evaluate it the same
way. i see Autechre, for example, as more like art or
'sound architecture' so to speak more than 'music' anyway.
I'd don't think I'd like it if I listened to it in the same
way as I listened to pop trance. Just as I'd dislike pop
trance if I evaluated it the same way as I did certain IDM.
People get into these conflicts because they only see music
as one thing when it's actually a very diverse medium that's
used for many purposes.
Matmos is right in some respects, but on the other hand,
it's nothing we all haven't thought already. they're not
being that profound.
I agree with thecurbcreeper: some of these IDM label bashers
are just as pretentious as the fans.


 

offline nhiiq from the hanging valleys on 2004-01-16 00:17 [#01035593]
Points: 481 Status: Regular



1- hey, lets take a term "idm", assume that most of these
artists actually (want) to call their stuff "idm".
2- lets use a name and group all these artists by this "idm"
name... and stereotype them as pretentious, white, middle
class, straight
3- press and public come up with this "idm" term... most
artist's dont like the term but since their music could/ is
termed by public/ press they must be "intelligent" elitest
assholes
4- lets assume they only listen to other "idm" artists
5 - wait to come off like pretentious, wanna-be, postmodern
assholes... im not even going to comment about their music.

there are spelling errors, but that's cause im fucking
stupid.

thankypi/.


 

offline infinitum from Melbourne (Australia) on 2004-01-16 00:32 [#01035603]
Points: 26 Status: Lurker



what an absolutely useless post the above is.



 

offline infinitum from Melbourne (Australia) on 2004-01-16 00:32 [#01035606]
Points: 26 Status: Lurker



and you are indeed "fucking stupid"



 

offline mappatazee from ¨y¨z¨| (Burkina Faso) on 2004-01-16 00:35 [#01035610]
Points: 14294 Status: Lurker



are we going to have a lurker battle?


 

offline nhiiq from the hanging valleys on 2004-01-16 00:36 [#01035612]
Points: 481 Status: Regular | Followup to infinitum: #01035606



hmm personal attacks how intelligent


 

offline mappatazee from ¨y¨z¨| (Burkina Faso) on 2004-01-16 00:37 [#01035614]
Points: 14294 Status: Lurker



IDM is gay, stop talking about it.


 

offline DeadEight from vancouver (Canada) on 2004-01-16 00:44 [#01035619]
Points: 5437 Status: Regular



hey! it says they're regulars now, show some respect!

honestly though, i think he was primarily referring to the
scenesters... and less so the musicians...

but it's okay, cause matmos is pretty awesome, and it
doesn't really fucking matter what they think of their fans


 

offline str_ph from Cambridge (United Kingdom) on 2004-01-16 02:45 [#01035741]
Points: 779 Status: Regular



I thought people enjoying IDM (whatever it's called) have
enough musicla culture to not believe that electronic music
has not been created from scratch by gay people in the
detroit clubs. He mentionned Xenakis who greek but not gay
and except wendy carlos I can't see many gay people or black
people.

I also think that this mb is the living proof that people
digging IDM are also very open to other musics and other
forms of art.


 

offline Bob Mcbob on 2004-01-16 03:01 [#01035749]
Points: 9939 Status: Regular



A- i listen to IDM.
B- what does that stand for?
A- intelligent dance music.
B- that sounds a bit pretentious.
A- yes, thats why we shortened it to IDM.


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2004-01-16 03:05 [#01035752]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to roygbivcore: #01035437 | Show recordbag



Bang on.

I'm suprised that they think, "...precisely because its
adherents never exit their own charmed circle, and generally

speaking, seem unwilling to try anything other than IDM"

'scuse me, but "IDM fans" seem to be the most open to music
of other genres. Try going to a rap forum and asking if
people like the new chemical brothers release or try going
to a rock forum and asking about the new N.E.R.D. one;
You'll find that people there are far less inclined to even
listen to, let alone like, stuff outside their genre. The
fact that IDM is one of the most diverse genres, spawned out
of many different influences (see the cover of Warp's
seminal AI compilation for some hints- I reckon there's 80s
hip hop in there too) and that has no set rules about what
is idm, to quote Ishkur, "That's why it's the one genre that
doesn't have any kind of cohesive sound." means that the
listeners will of course be very open to other genres.

IDM fans are attacked a lot, it's easy to do, the term
"intelligent" makes us an easy target. I wonder if it was
called something else, would we have the (IMO unjust)
reputation as elitists?


 

offline Bob Mcbob on 2004-01-16 03:10 [#01035755]
Points: 9939 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #01035752



no i have to agree with him, aside from idm all i listen to
is big beat, and that might be because i liked big beat
before i discovered idm...i almost never listen to anything
resembling rock or pop or soul....


 

offline belagio from lakeside on 2004-01-16 03:33 [#01035779]
Points: 102 Status: Regular



Interesting how what they said gives similar effect to me as
their music does - having a bit of point but boring, trying
to be funny but annoying. Very intelligent about producing
such effect.


 


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