Washed Out Leak

                Washed Out leaked. If you’re reading this, you know. Or if you don’t, get on top of it. Ernest Greene didn’t disappoint with this one. Most chillwave artists tried to stray away from their roots. You can’t imagine my happiness at Washed Out doing basically the same thing he did with his EPs albeit a slight change: There are less sample-based songs.  That’s the biggest evolution for him. Familiarity with his EPs is a must to see where he came from. If you’re unfamiliar, get familiar in particular “All Around You” perhaps the best song of his early work. People will be talking about this new album for quite some time. 

                I judge artists partially on how early their albums leak. An earlier leak indicates a greater anticipation and a possible criminal element within their fan base (depending on your judgment of leakers). Other chillwave artists leaked pretty early: Neon Indian’s album leaked a whole blog year (blog year = three months) before the album was due. By the time Pitchfork reviewed it saying how great the album was readers were like “Thanks for keeping me up to date with the latest news. Next you’ll tell me about the Wright brothers’ new invention called “the aero plane”.  Washed Out leaked pretty early. That bodes well for the project and for a continuing interest in Mr. Greene. Here’s where I admit Ernest’s self-releases of a few tracks kind made it pretty easy to figure out how this was going to sound. Nonetheless, considering all his previous releases were only EPs that’s a very good thing. He’ll be selling out shows wherever he goes, playing all his smooth, lovely songs. 

                Most other chillwave acts have a bit more of a direct, dance-pop influence. For example, Neon Indian wants you to get up and dance. Neon Indian wants you to take acid with him. All sorts of unmentionable things occur in Neon’s sound, perhaps too many unmentionable, potentially life-changing things. Washed Out deals with smaller details: how to hug, how to make love, etc. Perhaps these won’t change your life, but the nine songs make for excellent ‘make out’ or ‘love making’ music. It is a gentler sound, less dance based than rock based music. Think shoegaze. 

                How will others react to this? Will this be the album that saves the flailing genre ‘chillwave’? I feel it is chill enough; at least it will be until Neon Indian comes out with his new album. Unfortunately Neon Indian’s release may overshadow this quiet, understated album. We’ll have to see; each one has influential newspapers, blogs, bloggers, magazines, TV and other important sources of buzz. Ernest did do those Adult Swim bumps which help along with the intro song of IFC’s ‘Portlandia’. So at least Washed Out has a serious presence on Television, the laziest form of media. Can Washed Out and Neon Indian live in harmony? I think they can. Listening to this album, Washed Out seems pretty chill. With “Within and Without” Ernest solidifies his credentials as the ‘father of chillwave’. Respect your elders. 

Chad Valley – Equatorial Ultravox 8.1

                I first heard of Chad Valley about a month or so ago. When I heard the fifth track on here “Fast Challenges” I felt pretty excited. Here was an artist going back to the proud tradition of trance pop from the early 90s. Unlike some others working in the same sound, he deftly avoided any trace of irony. No, his work sounded fairly genuine, heartfelt even. 

                “Reach Lines” is truly great. The sound is pristine. I’m a little blown away. I mean, here we have all these artists obsessing about creating a lo-fi sound to impress others. Listening to it I’m reminded of a sweet Washed Out track. Vocals come from far away. Just for those not convinced, they bring out the vocoder. Oh this makes me happy. 

                With the full album, I’m reminded a bit more of the nostalgic vibes everyone’s been surfing on lately. Chad Valley’s work succeeds with the sheer smoothness of delivery. All those vocals make up most of the sound, taking up huge amounts of space. Vocals are more of an instrument than mere backup. This isn’t a bad thing; countless artists (Cocteau Twins) have convinced me of the importance on focusing of the texture of the sound. Besides, this is in English unlike the Twins’ made-up language. 

                Actually, most of the album explores the 80s more than that teaser “Fast Challenges” hinted. I’m not bothered by this fact. You’ll probably politely hum along with most of this album. The warmth it contains makes it pretty hard to dislike. Even the melodies are infectious.

                Of course, there are a lot of bands using a similar sound. Immediately the group “Games” comes to mind. Like Games, it stays true to a pop format, with all seven of these songs staying within five minutes or less. Similar to Games, it explores the myriad percussion and synthesizer pads. But the main difference is the more human approach to pop. The experimental impulse of the sound is kept in check by the human vocals. It’s a great summer album. Shame he isn’t coming to the US.

Movie Review: Fast Five

                ‘Fast five’ has accomplished something no other movie has: summer has moved forward to this Friday, April 26^th. Usually summer begins on June 21^st but due to the extreme hotness and anticipation of the fifth installment of the “Fast and Furious” franchise, well; let’s just say that groundhog didn’t see this coming. How could he? It was moving too quickly for him, leaving him in the dust. That groundhog didn’t even see the shadow coming. 

                The movie starts with a bang. Kid Charlemagne (Vin Diesel) is busy crafting legislation to increase the tax on ethanol in Brazil. Brazil is facing a serious budgetary gap, and may otherwise have to cut social programs to the poor. On television Kid Charlemagne tries to explain to the nation how everyone will need to sacrifice for the betterment of society. Halfway through his speech of eliminating poverty, he says “Fuck it” and chooses to steal money using really fast cars. 

                Everyone is shocked in Brazil at how the dedicated civil servant fell so far from grace. He establishes himself as the major player in an international drug cartel. Financing the underground musical movement called ‘chillwave’ he increases drug consumption in the United States by over 350% during the summer of 2009. Kid is considered a god among men, and his revolutionary spirit of financing music to take drugs to have countless impersonators. Only Kid has a leg up on them as he worked at his university as a radio DJ during the pivotal hours of 11:00pm to 1:00am on Thursday nights. No one realizes this except for a lone US Federal Agent.

                A US Federal Agent named Steely Dan (played by Dwayne Johnson) remembers those sweet jams Kid used to play. Memories flood Steely’s mind, of him and his Cousin Dupree, of his good friend Dr. Wu who wrote him prescriptions to painkillers he’s now addicted to, and of his orgies with the Babylon sisters. Knowing how tough it is to kick the habit, he hopes to at least help Kid turn back to his old ways, of helping others. Plus, he worries about stronger strains of music being unleashed, requiring even heavier drugs. 

                Driving furiously after Kid listening to jazz-rock fusion from the 70s, he fails to stop Kid’s most recent contribution to the popular music blog “The Hype Machine”. After Salem’s newest album hits the site, the site becomes nearly overwhelmed. Heavier drugs become an in-thing among the cool kids in such hip, relevant places such as Austin, New York, Portland, Chicago and Minneapolis. Tears roll down Steely’s face as he sees how absolutely strung out of his mind the lead singer of Salem is, like he doesn’t even know what’s going on or why people invited him to play at South By Southwest.

                Steely Dan is perplexed. In this role, Dwayne lived with Bill Murray for six months to get down pat the goal of being a hip older man. Then he read various hip blogs for an entire year to hone the exact language his character would use as a cool dad. Putting this together took time, and there’s a lot of screen time dedicated to Steely Dan g-chatting with his teenage son in the US, telling him to avoid purchasing wrap-around headphones. By avoiding that kind of purchase, Steely hopes his son will continue listening to music on those shitty waxy IPOD headphones and avoid the hypnotic grooves of Dubstep and Chillwave.

                Years go by as Steely Dan plans his next move. He’s trailing Kid, who grows stronger by the day. An entire team is assembled by Steely, set on destroying Kid’s influence on the young people of Brazil and the United States. This 80s throwback nostalgia stuff only makes kids want drugs even more, reminding Steely of the botched efforts he undertook in the late 80s working with the Reagan administration. 

                Finally, Steely’s team goes into action. Driving cars so insanely fast they have been banned from Germany’s famous Autobahn, they spring into action. This is the most intense chase of the movie and the longest, lasting for nearly 30 whole minutes. While we watch them drive at unreasonable speeds in the Bugatti Veyron, we get the most character development and dialogue in the entire movie. Apparently Kid had developed impotence, making him rely on ever-increasing amounts of Viagra to please his hipster wife Sue (played by Zooey Deschanel). Combining their musical taste made them an unstoppable force.

                Kid is used to being the best driver. But Steely’s excellent handling and reckless driving has him worried. Having to choose between escape or releasing the latest music fad (Post-Chillstep, a mixture of Post Rock, Chillwave and Dubstep which instantly makes the brain crave unconscionable amounts of dopamine) he chooses to live another day. While frustrated, Steely is happy to have somewhat defeated him. The movie ends with Steely abusing prescription drugs listening to Neon Indian’s “Deadbeat Summer” wondering where he goes from here. Steely looks down at his feet, mumbling ‘Bad Sneakers’ before passing out. 

                Masterfully directed by Vin Diesel, Fast Five is easily the best of the “Fast and Furious” series. The exploration of good and bad, alongside the latest musical trends, makes it a movie capturing the moment. I’d strongly urge everyone to see this, for Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnston give the performance of a lifetime.

Pink Flamingos – We Never Close 8.5

FYI: This cover has never been accused of coming from any other decade but the 80s.

                Consider this akin to finding an ancient artifact. I’m so positively thrilled about this album. Each song reeks of the 80s in the best way possible. You want to see pure, uncut 80s nostalgia without all the lenses, distortion and irony installed by chillwave, hypnagogic pop, and so on? Go no further than Pink Flamingos, who make AM hits so good they put my previous favorite (The Doobie Brothers) to absolute shame. Of course your ability to enjoy this will depend very heavily on how much irony you function off of on a regular day. Suffice it to say I’m more than happy about my discovery.

                Every bit of the early 80s is well covered. There are those piano ballads like “Just like in the Movies”. Heavier, more strung out songs are here as well. “Voodoo” sounds better after you’ve listened to homage Ariel Pink has written. In case the rhythm doesn’t get you, maybe the vocal spasm (you’ll see what I mean) about halfway through or perhaps the synthesizer at the end. I’m glad to see these guys (headed by Dave McArtney, a New Zealander) saw so much success in the early 80s. 

                What is the true hit on here though? “Hungry Night” might be the anthem I never knew dedicated to an unproduced 80s comedy. It would introduce the film with stock footage of 80s New York, complete with hard-working construction workers and waiting for trains. Oh man, this might be one of the best, most unintentionally ironic things I’ve ever heard in my entire life. Don’t worry, just because that movie never got produced doesn’t mean you can’t watch their infinitely excellent music video. 

                Slower songs work wonders too. “Anne was Hard” and “Prosperpine” conjure up images of the best of the early 80s. You want to know where the current 80s fetish gets its traction, I can tell. Listen to this, it’ll give you all the information you’ll ever need to know in some of the best pop morsels. Plus, did I mention the singer Dave McArtney has a BA in English and Renaissance poetry. That habit of his weaves its way into lyrics. 

                Man, mere words can’t describe this feat. Hear the history of so many AM-radio worshippers condensed into a simple, highly enjoyable album. It is just amazing the level of 80s AM-pop contained within here. “We Never Close” is such a fun listen.

Neon Indian returns!

                2010 must have been the year chillwave hibernated. Neon Indian toured, didn’t release very many (if any new songs). Instead, he just put out videos for pre-existing songs. People felt a certain amount of teasing, as he was just solidifying his position as one of the two highly respected chillwavers (the other being ‘Washed Out’). “Psychic Chasms” got instant ‘Best New Music’ on Pitchfork. No other chillwave artist managed to pull that off in their first go, even Washed Out got only an 8.0 on his first EP.

                Things have changed since the halcyon days of 2009. Since that time, a great deal of sub-par chillwave has entered the music stream, tainting its good, nostalgic name. Other chillwave bands have evolved, moved past the original sound. For Toro Y Moi, that meant a longer, better received second album. Ducktails had a second, less well-received album, getting only a 6.7, meaning Pitchfork was ‘hedging its bets’ on it still remaining a band which could obtain buzz. 

                What could Neon Indian do with his time, as he worked diligently on his second album? Alan Palomo lost a guitarist and gained “Flaming Lips” collaboration. By working with Wayne, he proved he will be the most profitable chillwave entity. Losing a guitarist didn’t hurt too much as Neon Indian has been mostly a singular affair. Guitarists are everywhere; though that guitarist’s funky outfits will be missed at live shows. I know I’ll miss them. 

                Finland proved to be the place where he re-discovered his chill. Since it is in Scandinavia, it embodies the essence of chill. The welfare state the Finns have created, along with being the only country to repay all of its World War II debt to the US makes it a pretty chill place, perfect for Neon Indian.  He needed to see how to make his second album even better than the first, as his popularity had only increased since his first album. Some magazines even called his 2009 released album “the album of 2010” which felt other-worldly to him. 

                Now he’s come out with some teaser trailer for “Heart Attack” part of a 3-part instrumental trilogy on his new album. That means the new album will be longer than the first, as previous outings have shown us, longer album means ‘maturing’ and shorter albums mean ‘running on empty’. So he has that part of the system down pat. Listening to the first track from it, it sounds fantastic, exactly what you’d expect from Neon Indian, completely amazing synthesizer and great beats. Hopefully he’ll keep that up for most of the album. 

                 I’ve seen him live a couple of times. Not once have I been upset or disappointed. By now, he’s gotten down the live show, a difficult thing for his kind of music. He’s also stated the new album will drop in early fall. Since his last album leaked so early, I’m assuming we’ll get it by around July/August area. Perhaps we’ll also get some sort of EP like we did for the last one, so people can get used to the major points of the album before he goes out with the whole thing. This last part I’m not so certain about, he’s maintained twitter silence for great periods of time, perhaps he wants to ‘shock and awe’ the audience. 

                Actually, when I heard the first song off of his early EP “Deadbeat Summer” I remember sending to virtually everyone I knew who was interested in music. Each one loved it. I kept those sent Facebook messages for a long time, to remind me that sometimes hype rewards a band deserving of the attention. Of course, I kept those messages out of the music nerd habit of saying “I called it” when you learned of a band way before everyone else. As most people aren’t music nerds, when you meet a real music nerd, it is the equivalent of a secret handshake. 

                Neon Indian appear to be a more responsible affair, at least avoiding some of the negative aspects of celebrity, public break-downs and drug abuse being the most common problems. Though apparently the Antlers tweeted their rehearsal with him was a nightmare and they should not have taken acid with him. Considering the bleak nature of the Antlers music, it might have to do more with their perception than Alan’s behavior.

                Honestly, I haven’t been this excited for a release in a while. Most of 2011 has gone by with a few decent albums. I want something beautiful. Neon Indian might have that album.

Washed Out is Not Washed Up

               Ernest Greene (better known as the first chillwaver) decided the waves needed to get a bit chiller: he’s announced the release of his first album. As his music is so heavily focused on the summer, the July 12^th release date on Sub Pop makes sense. Hopefully, just as the summer begins to drag on, we’ll have his sweet “With and Without” album to give lazy afternoons a better soundtrack.

                I can’t express the joy I have at reporting such good news. Forever has gone by since chillwave began with Ernest, a mild-mannered librarian from Perry, Georgia. He seduced us with spaced-out vocals and reverb, so much reverb. Reverb got reverbed, up to the point where you wondered the origin of such dreamy sounds. 

                Singles have been Washed Out’s stock and trade. Thankfully most of the album’s track list appears to be brand-new material. Having an album consist of nothing but a collection of EPs always feels lazy to me, Panda Bear, Uffie, and Real Estate fell into that trap. Obviously I feel dramatically different emotions regarding those three albums, but I do admit to enjoying a surprise.

                Washed Out doesn’t exactly seem terribly interested in surprises. In fact, the biggest surprise I could hear from Washed Out would be a continuation of his old sound, the sound that introduced “Portlandia” on IFC (It’s All Around You). Lately a great deal of chillwave bands have shunned that moniker, with Toro Y Moi going towards a full band sound, Ducktails taking a more tangible approach, and I’m not sure what Neon Indian will do, but I’m assuming he too will try to move behind his old sound. 

                Right now only one of the nine songs is out (You and I), the Adult Swim single with Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek, is the one people have already heard. Everything else will be brand new. I hope the rest of the songs are as good as these five minutes. With further ado, I present to you the song “You and I” available for download. See the below for the rest of the track list:

Washed Out, Within and Without:

1. Eyes Be Closed

2. Echoes

3. Amor Fati

4. Soft

5. Far Away

6. Before

7. You and I

8. Within and Without

9. A Dedication

Clive Tanaka y su Orquesta - Jet Set Siempre 1° 6.4

                 Clive Tanaka y Su Orquesta has an interesting backstory: it was created by a Clive Tanaka, a Japanese hikikomori who found his voice through this project. Hikikormori withdraw from society. Eventually he found his voice and willingness to interact with others through the power of his love of music. That sweetness appears quite often in the album. 

                The music is warm and inviting. Plenty of people are mining this sort of sound, and Clive does well in it, but many of the songs fail to distinguish themselves. Instead, the album goes on in a blur of sad pop nostalgia. 

                Songs like “Neu Chicago” offer signs pointing to a better future. Vocals are so happy, longing for happiness. Following up on that is one of my other favorites on here, the casual “Skinjob”. Otherwise the songs recycle a lot of the 80s style of music that’s become so trendy.

                Basically, the entire album is well-done but nothing quite manages to capture the attention or imagination. Clive clearly enjoys his equipment, and is capable of writing some great melodies when he’s inspired. The two aforementioned songs are the heart, but it feels the entire album is a letdown otherwise. I’m certain he’ll continue working on this profusely, and will be able to create a full album with the potential those two songs offer.

Teams vs. Star Slinger – Teams vs. Star Slinger 7.2

                You know, sometimes it is the simple things in life. Here we have full evidence of the simple things: some well-chosen samples, sparse but effective rhythm, and a few little complimentary melodies thrown in for good measure.

                US based Teams (Knoxville specifically) and Star Slinger (UK, whatever I’m not British) prove chillwave is still alive and kicking. Any kind of synonym with chillwave is used to describe this, strut-wave, glo-fi, take your pick. The beginning of this tiny EP could definitely be considered strut-wave as “Close to me” is pure glamour. Even at less than 2 minutes it is so magnificently juicy.

                When those samples are subdued is the best.  “Say Please” is greatly enjoyable as it emerges from the sonic ether. The 80s is obviously a point of reference in “Life Partner” and the closer “The Yes Strut”.

                I know about the proliferation of chillwave in the summer of 2010. These guys took part in that celebration of all things retro and nostalgic. Instead of overburdening their music with a ton of references, they kept it simple, easy and clear-minded. Focus does this little EP wonders.

Toro Y Moi – Underneath the Pine 8.8

            

                You know all that side chain compression he used for the last album “Causers of This”? Well, that’s gone. What you get now is pure organic, airy-sounding music. Each instrument is fully distinguishable. Few samples were used in the recording either. Instead, he’s moved away from the dictionary definition of chillwave. It is still chill music, but just clearer, more direct, and with a funkier sense of being. Even as rumors came out about this album, he released live takes of his pre-existing songs, showing off a talent lacked by many of his contemporaries from the South Carolina scene.

                If Chaz Bundick was responsible for chillwave’s increasing popularity and inspiration, I have a fairly good idea of what will happen upon this part of his career. Finally, the thing I thought would never happen has happened: Stereolab 60s French Pop worship will become an actual popular genre, just like I hoped. There’s a very distinguishable influence of theirs you can feel on some of these songs, particularly “Go With You” and “Got Blinded” which might have come from their latter-day material with sunny vocals and a driving rhythm. Another song would be one of my favorites “How I Know”. This one shows off his voice, which seems to have grown stronger since his last outing, helping me connect with it a little better. 60s vibes are found throughout the songs, whether it is from latter-day practitioners or true 60s innovators. The vocals give off the same warm feeling you get from the Beach Boys, complete with their same level of wonder.

                It is less compressed or slick. The recordings are surprisingly clear for a guy who used to embrace those murkier sounds like those found on his last outing. Plus, looking at the track lengths, he’s grown accustomed to working in larger formats. “Elisa” clocks in at 6 minutes, an amount of time where he usually could stuff in 2-3 songs, and ends the album in a grand fashion. Having the songs stretch out allows him to explore a few little flourishes of piano or vocal experiments that would be unwieldy in shorter songs, like the vocal panning in “How I Know” halfway in, or towards the end in “New Beat” with the playful keyboard.

                 Overall, this is a big improvement over his last outing. It is less electronic, so that might bother some people. Just keep in mind the album is a bit of a grower, so please give it the proper amount of listens before passing judgment. Summer came early this year I guess.    

Toro Y Moi – My Touch 6.5

              Before Causers of This, we had My Touch. Here you can see a lot of Chazwick’s ideas, some not yet fully formed. Even at such an early stage (about 3 years before his debut) he still had a certain knack for pacing and melody. 

                Now you could call this a long EP or a very short album. At 25 minutes, you get a feel that the stuff he ended up pursuing ended up being ultimately worth it. For a lot of these songs, they lack the ultimate warm impact that some of his more recent stuff has. Sounds come across a little too thick; he had yet to become better at dealing with the lighter sounds. 

                For me, the collection begins at “My Touch”. Here he has a light melody which gets drowned out in fuzzy synthesizer. It works to some degree. At this point, most of these songs are still wondering whether or not to be Les Sins songs or Toro Y Moi songs. 

                The highlight is “Lesson 223”. Here we get an absolutely delicious funk. Vocals are terrific, that flack he gets about being a crummy singer, thrown aside even at the tender age of 21. Even with his dense sound the melody shines through. 

                Ultimately, if you’re a fan, you might be interested. If you’re trying to get into his stuff, I’d start with his album. This works as a way of finding out where he began, not as a good place for you to begin.

Latest Hipster Runoff Gimmick: The Hipster Runoff [official] Facebook Profile

                Two weeks have passed since I last covered the online hipster phenomena known as “Hipster Runoff”. A lot has happened in those two weeks. 2011 is the year Carles ‘pulls out all the stops’ and truly solidifies his online presence, since the internet has fully sucked him in. My wondering of him existing as a human being only increases upon this event.

                Of course, I’m talking about Hipster Runoff [official] coming onto Facebook. At first I was confused, like didn’t Hipster Runoff already exist on Facebook. Apparently that was a fake profile and this one was the real thing. So now you get updates from every single part of your online existence, from your RSS feed to your twitter, now finally making it to Facebook. 

                 I rushed in, becoming one of the select few to claim they got there early. Sadly, ‘second’ was already taken by Carles himself, eliminating the joy one might have derived from this action. Who got first? That proved to be ok, it was nice seeing Carles expose himself, his true self, and via the anonymous presence he has on the internet.

                While I said before that Hipster Runoff becoming a dating site, well I was wrong. Its presence on Facebook is a whole another matter. None of those people posting on HRO generally had a picture up of themselves. Looking through the profiles of the people posting, I am surprised at the amount of cuteness. Some of them look like perfect alt-baguettes. I’m half-tempted to sort of flirt with them, but I shouldn’t though I probably will anyway. For both men and women, there are serious HILFs (Hipsters I’d like to Fuck) in the group. 

                Oddly, I’m assuming this is why Carles set up a Facebook fan page in the first place. Some may think it is just another gimmick for Hipster Runoff to get more readers. I don’t think that, this appears to be a genius way for Carles to flirt with cute twenty-somethings. Sure, that hasn’t happened yet, but it will. I would put $20 on it since he already does that with Twitter.

           

               People act differently as well now that they have a picture associated with their words. They could hide behind an anonymous name, spewing nonsense before this. Actually, I like seeing what the commenters looked like. I felt a bit sad since only one of my other friends ended up liking it on Facebook. Clearly she ‘gets it’ while the rest of my friends are busy reading books by Karl Marx and working on their Grad School thesis. 

                 2011 might be the year that Hipster Runoff gains some relevancy again. Lately Carles has been almost in crisis mode, constantly adding more and more to connect with him. We can call him, have him talk to us on Facebook, I wonder what’s next? Will Carles have a Skype interview? Will Carles visit your house and drink a couple of beers with you for 4 easy payments of $19.95? I’m a bit curious. He tried to charge $3000 for having him hand-deliver his shirts, and that didn't work. But he might try again, who knows.

                Right now he’s taking on the persona of a kid who just joined Facebook. He asks his followers to tag pictures of him. This is funny because not only is it impossible to tag a fan page, but no one knows at all what he looks like or where he is. He pokes fun at the oversharing on the internet by deliberately providing incorrect information. 6969 Blog Avenue is not a real address, so please do not address mail to him, as he will not be able to receive it. 

                Parts of the group worry me.  Some people are wondering if Carles spends too much on Facebook and whether or not it’ll dilute his blog further. I wonder. I ponder the effects of his writing after being exposed to so many people. Does writing suffer upon being discovered by more people, of tweaking your writing for a particular audience? Having read his early stuff, I get the distinct impression he’s going to spend 2k11 trying to find what made HRO so special in the first place.

                These gimmicks buy him some time. With each one of these gimmicks, people focus more on his online presence and perhaps less on new styles he may be trying out. Hopefully he’ll be able to coin a new genre like he did in 2K9, I’m not sure if I count “Slutwave” as a genre or as a general observation, reflecting more on the packaging rather than the actual content.

                Stay tuned for more public insecurity from Carles as he takes on new personas and perhaps changes up his style and approach yet again.

The Death of my first Musical Genre (IDM)

Yes, that means there were at least 16 volumes before this.

Everyone remembers growing up with a certain musical genre, one they truly could call their own. For me, that meant the Intelligent Dance Music, or IDM moniker. Used generally for electronic music that remained classified only by its unusual structures and lack of actual dancing, it served as the perfect gateway music for budding music snobs. The price of admission into this genre remained very low, basically anyone with a sense of melody and an interest in non-rhythmic music could join, so long as they had some ultra-cheap music software. 

Intelligent Dance music had to be the first musical genre created by and for the internet. Created in the US of A for the IDM list it was probably one of the first obsessive email lists dedicated exclusively for a specific type of music. Due to its origins in the US, a great deal of artists often described as “IDM” declared the term to be an American construct, particularly Richard D. James (Aphex Twin). Rather than just come to peace with the fairly stupid term, he decided to coin an even stupider term “braindance” and used that heavily for his own Rephlex record label. For whatever reason, the term “braindance” never caught on, probably because it looked so dang awful.

The weird thing remained how I never saw or heard the term “IDM” anywhere besides the internet. Even in what is commonly referred to as “reality” rarely did people bring up any artist who might have been considered “IDM”? What was going on? I later learned that this was an ultra-nerdy sub-sect of music which involved large doses of gear worship and familiarity with various avant-garde composers.

Just as I got it all together, that vast web of interconnected artists, it ended. That knowledge became useless, how this artist related to that one, when this one last put out a record, what record label released their first album. Genres never end swiftly, there’s always a few stragglers, a few artists who continue to follow their path. Listeners are even worse, I can’t tell you how many fans of Aphex Twin I’ve met, of undetermined ages, longing to stay young by listening to the music of their youth, when they were last relevant. 

Putting a year on it, I’d say 2004 marked the end. By then, only a few artists continually brought out a solid product, like Autechre, O9, and Venetian Snares. Most of the others had begun moving in other, more boring, directions. Squarepusher had passed his prime, Aphex Twin remained quiet. Pan Sonic came out with that absolutely monstrous Kesto 4 disc set, but those Finns could easily move themselves into the Glitch/Noise category if push came to shove.  

Snobby music changed in 2004. The indie renaissance began. Whoever were the arbiters of true taste decided that elitist music didn’t need to sound as masochistic as IDM. Instead, dance became simply dance music. DFA records confirmed that it was alright for us to re-explore the past, of what had gone on in that period between 1978-1989 in New York City. Dance music flourished, indie rock flourished. Even those who went the more masochistic route, by taking on noise, found that noise remained a less heavily curated genre than IDM ever was. Lacking the pretention of IDM while maintaining the weirdness, it fit those looking for something less accessible like a glove.

I remember releasing this genre had ended around 2004. As I looked around at the beach I was wandering around my friends put on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and I simply danced. No longer did I have to use obscure terminology for what I listened to. Instead, simple words like ‘dance’ and ‘rock’ became usable words again. I felt human, like part of a real community, a community that didn’t exist exclusively online. 

Part of me still misses the deeply weird musings of IDM. For that I have a few artists left who occasionally let out a great hurrah every now and then. But for the most part the scene left without announcement into cataloged internet posts, various dusty corners of the web, still keeping them warm with the music of the past.  

What was the hardest genre death for you to handle? Will Chillwave live? Is Witch house a real genre? What will 2011 bring, new genre-wise?