Ambient works for ambient places and cafes
I was going to write a post on the dangers of R'n'B but found that it became complex.
As a general rule, there should be none.
But I would like to pose a question about abstract minimalist electronica. Lately I have been listening to a lot of pretentious techno and the like (the sort of thing which is recorded in lighthouses and wherever), which is not to say that I want to see it in a CD collection.
I always judge things by their covers, and feel that this type of album really tends to 'pretty up' a CD stack, so there is value in that. But, regardless of beautiful package design, if someone has too many CDs of droning 7 minute 'works' I start questioning who they are, what they are and why they are doing it.
Marc, perhaps it is you who should allocate figures to this genre of music. How many is not too many?
As a general rule, there should be none.
But I would like to pose a question about abstract minimalist electronica. Lately I have been listening to a lot of pretentious techno and the like (the sort of thing which is recorded in lighthouses and wherever), which is not to say that I want to see it in a CD collection.
I always judge things by their covers, and feel that this type of album really tends to 'pretty up' a CD stack, so there is value in that. But, regardless of beautiful package design, if someone has too many CDs of droning 7 minute 'works' I start questioning who they are, what they are and why they are doing it.
Marc, perhaps it is you who should allocate figures to this genre of music. How many is not too many?
posted by peter at
12:25 AM
3 Comments:
Came across this page from Marc's wonderful blog. Would have to say that around 5 ambient/techno wonder would provide adequate cover for those pretentious once a month moments when the sound of a bass drum fill like a hammer drill is appealing.
You really don't need more than that, given that the genre is really just the natural successor to the 70's prog rockery of the likes of Yes and Genesis (sans Goblin Kings and Peter Gabriel pretending to be a plastic daffodil with legs).
Amongst the candidates would have to be Aphex Twin's "Richard D James"Album and Amon Tobin's "Out from outwhere".
As for prettying up that CD collection, I would highly recommend any of the modern art masterpieces doled up by Autechre "LP5" and "Cornfields" being particularly fine looking specimens. Some good stuff on there too.
Basically I would say that Ambient/Techno is fine to be treated as any other subgenre but the compilation album rule is hard to enforce due to the number of alter-egoes due to light/dark polarities. I would be happy to see a collection of entirely electronic music at the moment. Without electronica your beloved Radiohead would have stopped at Pablo Honey, U2 would have haemorrhaged at Rattle & Hum and, well, need I go on.
Hip Hop and R&B are fine as long as, and this is the key, one is *discerning*. For sure. e.g. Mos Def, A Tribe Called Quest, NWA - fine. P Diddy, Chingy, Snoop Dogg post-Doggy Style are poor, poor, poor.
oh please, a collection comprised entirely of electronica hardly suggests diversity within a possible relationship, now does it?
that said, i am fairly lenient on this one. i agree with the amon tobin suggestion (no more than one though -- i have bricolage and never listen to it) but am a little suspicious whenever anyone gets too keen about aphex twin.
genesis: none, there is hardly a need. yes: i will allow fragile and miscellaneous scatterings on film soundtracks. king crimson: in the court of the crimson kingi love missy elliott but do i want to see a whole album? that's a tough call.
and marc i shudder at your grouping of hip hop and R'n'B into a single category from the point of view of this website. surely they must be treated separately? i would be much more inclined to go for someone with hip hop tastes than i would an R'n'B junkie...
and then i suddenly remembered mogwai... really, what is the verdict here?
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