Some conversation at Bill's party about unusual grooves on vinyl records (that's the actual needle-vibrating, spiraling cut, not rhythmic "grooves"). Maybe Tom could compile the cites, but the guy I was trying to recall, who had a record with two different spindle holes, was Rhys Chatham. Check out his "Is Rock Dead" essay if (like me) you're nostalgic for the future circa 1990. I really thought ecstatic dance music was happening, but instead of My Bloody Valentine and the Orb taking over MTV, we got Nirvana (great as they were) and another cycle of the same old Rock myth (and nobody in the Detroit I lived in ever heard of Techno).
not groove
I enjoyed the "Is Rock Dead?" essay and commentary. When I heard what was going on with house, techno, and breakbeat 'ardkore in the early '90s, I was excited, since I'd been a fan of electronic music since the '70s and there never seemed to be enough good examples of it. Suddenly the rhythms got more sophisticated and the music developed real energy and drive. I started taping a mix show off the radio and playing the tapes steadily; after a few months "rock," even the rock I liked, started to sound decelerated, cliched, and old. Now, to me, the wail and skronk of electronic guitars sounds false--an emblem of corporatized rebellion, devoid of meaning. And I disagree with Steve that electronic dance music has been similarly assimilated: yes, it's used in Volkswagen commercials, but TV and radio stations have always used electronic bleeps and trills for background. I remember hearing Terry Riley playing behind local TV news shows in the '70s, but that doesn't mean anyone was buying it or understood what it meant.
I have a record by the band White Flag which is 33 rpm 3/4 of the way through the record, it ends with an endless groove-loop track. Beyond that the rest of the record is cut at 45 rpm. I don't remember if the music is any good.
In the late 70's Smegma put out a 7" with one off center spindle hole.
I agree with Chatham that most of the interesting music to come out in the past 12-10 years was in the dance scene. Alex, the psychedelic 90's DID happen, just not on MTV or the radio.
On one side of a 12" by Ectomorph (a year 2000 Interdimensional Transmissions reissue of 4 Detroit electro tracks from '95), the track "Skin" plays normally from the outer edge of the record halfway to the label, then ends with a (silent) locked groove. The track "Last Days of Skylab" begins at the label and plays halfway to the outer edge (the music isn't backwards, only the groove), and also ends locked. In the 1/2-inch-wide, plain vinyl band between the two tracks, there are two locked single-grooves that play simple rhythm loops. The four "tracks" must be played by lifting the cartridge and lowering it more or less precisely onto the starting (or single) groove(s).
Yes, I've heard of this record, had forgotten the artist though.
And I have an LP which plays one of three different recordings depending on which groove the needle hits. I think it might be a John Giorno project with William Burroughs, Laurie Anderson and others.
Tom, my point is that most of the new electronic music I hear seems to have fallen into a rut, with less experimentation going on. At the same time it is featured on countless TV commercials and has been co-opted by MTV and pop producers.
At South By Southwest a couple of years ago A&R people were looking to sign "electronic acts" and nothing else.
Ahh, maybe it's just that I'm getting old.
I'm hoping that the techno-electronic-dance music will go through a simmilar reworking that rock-n-roll did with the British Invasion. (OK, I know that already happened around 1989, I'm hoping for a second)
I believe electronic dance music has proven fairly resistant to mainstream marketing--marketing needs a "face" and the music is so anonymous. The best The Industry has come up with is the Prodigy and Moby. Meanwhile, great music keeps coming out--when I was dj'ing last year I could hardly keep up with it. I like DJ Assault, the house-influenced hiphop on the Cash Money label (what I've heard), Swayzak, Beroshima, Safety Scissors... There's still a lot of good drum-and-bass and 2-step garage going on. (The websites for Breakbeat Science and Throb have scores of good samples).
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- alex 7-06-2001 9:41 pm
not groove
- bill 7-07-2001 12:17 am [add a comment]
I enjoyed the "Is Rock Dead?" essay and commentary. When I heard what was going on with house, techno, and breakbeat 'ardkore in the early '90s, I was excited, since I'd been a fan of electronic music since the '70s and there never seemed to be enough good examples of it. Suddenly the rhythms got more sophisticated and the music developed real energy and drive. I started taping a mix show off the radio and playing the tapes steadily; after a few months "rock," even the rock I liked, started to sound decelerated, cliched, and old. Now, to me, the wail and skronk of electronic guitars sounds false--an emblem of corporatized rebellion, devoid of meaning. And I disagree with Steve that electronic dance music has been similarly assimilated: yes, it's used in Volkswagen commercials, but TV and radio stations have always used electronic bleeps and trills for background. I remember hearing Terry Riley playing behind local TV news shows in the '70s, but that doesn't mean anyone was buying it or understood what it meant.
- tom moody 7-07-2001 6:48 pm [add a comment]
I have a record by the band White Flag which is 33 rpm 3/4 of the way through the record, it ends with an endless groove-loop track. Beyond that the rest of the record is cut at 45 rpm. I don't remember if the music is any good.
In the late 70's Smegma put out a 7" with one off center spindle hole.
- steve 7-07-2001 7:02 pm [add a comment]
I agree with Chatham that most of the interesting music to come out in the past 12-10 years was in the dance scene. Alex, the psychedelic 90's DID happen, just not on MTV or the radio.
- steve 7-07-2001 7:26 pm [add a comment]
On one side of a 12" by Ectomorph (a year 2000 Interdimensional Transmissions reissue of 4 Detroit electro tracks from '95), the track "Skin" plays normally from the outer edge of the record halfway to the label, then ends with a (silent) locked groove. The track "Last Days of Skylab" begins at the label and plays halfway to the outer edge (the music isn't backwards, only the groove), and also ends locked. In the 1/2-inch-wide, plain vinyl band between the two tracks, there are two locked single-grooves that play simple rhythm loops. The four "tracks" must be played by lifting the cartridge and lowering it more or less precisely onto the starting (or single) groove(s).
- tom moody 7-07-2001 8:01 pm [add a comment]
Yes, I've heard of this record, had forgotten the artist though.
And I have an LP which plays one of three different recordings depending on which groove the needle hits. I think it might be a John Giorno project with William Burroughs, Laurie Anderson and others.
- steve 7-07-2001 8:10 pm [add a comment]
Tom, my point is that most of the new electronic music I hear seems to have fallen into a rut, with less experimentation going on. At the same time it is featured on countless TV commercials and has been co-opted by MTV and pop producers.
At South By Southwest a couple of years ago A&R people were looking to sign "electronic acts" and nothing else.
Ahh, maybe it's just that I'm getting old.
I'm hoping that the techno-electronic-dance music will go through a simmilar reworking that rock-n-roll did with the British Invasion. (OK, I know that already happened around 1989, I'm hoping for a second)
- steve 7-07-2001 7:40 pm [add a comment]
I believe electronic dance music has proven fairly resistant to mainstream marketing--marketing needs a "face" and the music is so anonymous. The best The Industry has come up with is the Prodigy and Moby. Meanwhile, great music keeps coming out--when I was dj'ing last year I could hardly keep up with it. I like DJ Assault, the house-influenced hiphop on the Cash Money label (what I've heard), Swayzak, Beroshima, Safety Scissors... There's still a lot of good drum-and-bass and 2-step garage going on. (The websites for Breakbeat Science and Throb have scores of good samples).
- tom moody 7-07-2001 8:15 pm [add a comment]