death of the underground

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gumdrops

Well-known member
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/dec/21/changing-sound-underground

found this interesting. nice little bit on grime. i remember an old interview with target saying that people dont look at going commercial/getting in the charts as a bad thing anymore (compare that with old interviews with junglists who were vehmently against the idea), but then you look at roll deeps faces on TOTP doing the avenue and you can tell theyre still conflicted about it. all very confusing lol.
 
hi2u

hi2u

tyranical rhetoric rex
fantastic read. can't believe it was written in '91 seems almost too true of our present day.
 
G

gremino

Moster Sirphine
I think this is a very important issue to discuss. Why so few replys? Is it just too over-discussed subject? :)

Whether this is about death of the underground, or how it has changed, I feel that the competition about social status - popularity contest - has become an essential part of underground. It's a problem when people doesn't acknowledge it to themselves. But for instance in road rap people are very open with it, it's part of the game, so they aren't hypocritical.
 
Dusty

Dusty

Tone deaf
Shrinking of the mainstream is the bigger change here. The base of the long tail gets flatter as the internet creates endless sub-sub-cultures. Like the 2nd reply to Reynolds post, I can't really see what point he is making here, seems to me he is stating the bloody obvious rather than a revelation. The topic of how the internet has changed society and subcultures has been done to death?

I suppose the idea he hits upon at the end is true; that to be proper-underground you don't use the internet at all. I suppose people like Pom Pom and Sandwell District are examples of that deliberate avoidance (maybe not Sandwell anymore, since you can get the mp3s on Beatport now, along with interviews with people like Resident Advisor).
 
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bassbeyondreason

Chtonic Fatigue Syndrome
There are definitely still local underground micro-scenes. Like round here, there's this whole group of noise/doom/whatever labels where it's like, gigs get recorded, put on CD-R, handed out for free at the next gig. Although, they're actually listed on discogs, fuck knows how many of them really get anywhere.
 
G

gremino

Moster Sirphine
Yeah maybe one of the reasons are the splintery of underground which makes it look like over. There's no big strong movements going on. Though again, you could say that it's just about being different than before.

But I think it's going to change - things are just re-arranging!
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Yeah, those carp had the decade on lockdown ;)

(Think you got the wrong link, but a v interesting story nonetheless, and amazing pic)
 
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polystyle

Well-known member
baboon2004 said:
Yeah, those carp had the decade on lockdown ;)

(Think you got the wrong link, but a v interesting story nonetheless, and amazing pic)
Click to expand...

Whoops, late night posting - and not checking ! corrected now.
Article rounds up from a US POV.
BTW, hearing the 'underground id dead' - someone says it everyone once in a while ...
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
Martin Dust said:
I don't think it's dead but most artists want to be a brand these days, famous for 15 friends I guess.
Click to expand...

well if you want gigs outside of your bedroom, and if you want to sell a few measly mp3s for a small symbolic profit, every little bit helps.
 
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