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Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by curst 07/23/2004, 1:28pm PDT
Fullofkittens wrote:

I would say there's very little relationship between those first three bands and the second three.


I'm basically going by what seem to be the most popular method of categorization for these guys. Then again I've long since lost touch with how electronica is being sub-categorized... what is the difference between jungle and drum-n-bass and two-step and drill-n-bass again? Is there a difference?

Amon Tobin and BoC aren't usually categorized as IDM (though nobody tries to get called that now, apparently) - abstract hip hop is what I see more often.


Hmm, I've seen them labeled as IDM more than once. Probably Rolling Stone's fault, or Pitchfork's. But either way, I have to wonder what the fuck the guys calling them "hip hop" (of any kind) are smoking because COME ON. Maybe IDM isn't the right category, but whatever turns out to be the perfect label, it sure won't have the words "hip hop" in it. The closest thing either group has done to hip hop, Tobin's "Verbal", still has nearly zero hip hop influence in it. Decent enough beat, but definitely not FUN-KAY, what vocals are there are all chopped up to shit in grand Prefuse 73-like fashion, no record scratching - sorry, that ain't hip hop, abstract or otherwise.

Manitoba's Up In Flames, as my non-electronic-music-listener friend pointed out, is more like a Beck record than anything in the usual electronic canon. I'd call that electronic indie rock (his previous album is more middle-of-the-road IDM).


Yeah, I lumped him in with the IDM crowd because of "Start Breaking My Heart", which I don't like nearly as much. (Of course, I don't like 99% of all music nearly as much as "Up In Flames" - it's the goddamn best summer album of the past few years, by far.) Anyway, the Beck comparison isn't bad at all, although I'd say Manitoba's a bit more... wistful, more nostalgic. Pitchfork's review mentioned Phil Spector as an obvious influence, and from what little I remember of Spector I'd agree - "Up In Flames" really is sort of a throwback to the 60s in general at times, and when it comes to Spector's "Wall Of Sound", well, I don't know of a better description for many of my favorite moments of "Up In Flames" than "wall of sound". As much as it might be the warmest album I've heard in a long time, it still sledgehammered its way into my heart more than anything.

All three of those IDM artists peaked a long time ago and are currently releasing bullshit. Ultravisitor, on reflection, can eat a dick.


I can understand maybe sort of liking some of this stuff - I'm always down with a little experimentalism. But most experimental things tend to fall flat on their face at some point. Autechre's "Confield" is the most recent super-glitchy thing I've heard, and it goes so over-the-top with the concept of "let's make this as non-catchy as humanly possible" that I will never understand how anyone can actually LOVE it. To me it sounds like a non-stop stream of noise. Switch a radio to AM, hit record, rapidly turn the dial for 40+ minutes straight, BAM there's your next LP of IDM brilliance. Ugh. I predict that one day they'll simply leave their phone off the hook for an hour, record that, sell it, and the Pitchfork writer who gave "Confield" a fucking 8.8 will still be stumbling over his own gay-assed cock giving it a 8 or above.

You should try Four Tet's Rounds (if you haven't already) because it's a lot like the bands you like.


Oh yeah, already have, and it is pretty good. I always heard people comparing them to Bonobo, and yeah they are somewhat similar, but I'll take Bonobo every time. Still, I've definitely got one eye on Four Tet at all times now.

If I wasn't on dialup I'd check out that swordsmen thing. =(


Exactly, the single worst thing about dialup, even moreso than not being able to play UT2K4 online, is that I can no longer try-before-I-buy. Luckily I wasn't misled in the case of TLS.
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Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by curst 07/20/2004, 9:36pm PDT NEW
    Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Zseni 07/20/2004, 9:45pm PDT NEW
        Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by curst 07/23/2004, 2:11pm PDT NEW
    Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Entropy Stew 07/20/2004, 10:23pm PDT NEW
        Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by curst 07/23/2004, 2:07pm PDT NEW
            Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Fullofkittens 07/23/2004, 5:31pm PDT NEW
                Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Entropy Stew 07/23/2004, 8:42pm PDT NEW
            Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Entropy Stew 07/23/2004, 9:01pm PDT NEW
    Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by William H. Hayt, Jr. 07/20/2004, 11:57pm PDT NEW
    Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Fullofkittens 07/21/2004, 3:43pm PDT NEW
        Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by chunguo 07/22/2004, 12:59am PDT NEW
        Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by curst 07/23/2004, 1:28pm PDT NEW
            Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Fullofkittens 07/23/2004, 5:43pm PDT NEW
 
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