The next new thing.....

[swears]

A future that never was

It's weird, I remember thinking in 1999-2001 that dance music in general would start to take influence from the Timbaland/Neptunes "keyboard beats" style of R'n'B and hip hop production. In the same way jungle and breakbeat acts were influenced by loop-centric hip hop like the Bomb Squad and Ultramagnetic MCs. Never really transpired much outside of 2step. I thought those staccato style beats would be the 00s equivalent to the 90s amen or funky drummer. But, most 00s trends have been very backwards looking, sadly.
And on a side note I remember thinking that Andrew WK would be like Nirvana in reverse and lead hard rock back away from those "crawling in my skin" sentiments so popular with the self-harming brigade these days.

 

[gek-opel]

Simplification- ie what is termed "minimalism" (ie an elegance of expression) can easily be seen as progression, rather than (or in competition) with increased ornamentation... in terms of the evolution of funk in the 60s from Soul, R'n'B and Jazz the greatest innovations (ie in James Brown's music) were in stripping all extraneous melody out of the music, refocusing on the beat with a full band playing only tiny cyclical elements, the vocals pared down to mere grunts and slogans, space and emptiness providing a new sense of propulsion and obviously= "the new thing". It would be fair to say that in fact minimalism more often than not in pop has been "the new thing", it is only later on when the new becomes old that further generations of musicians embroider upon its fecund surfaces...

So the question remains as to where this "new thing" will emerge... obviously, it is likely under closer analysis to not be entirely new, but rather an unforeseen mutation of a previously ignored or derided musical trope (see R'n'B emerging in the mid to late 90s from years of relative ignomy, or metal and folk in recent years)... but to be honest stripped down rock (a) isn't new and (b) has had a mini-revival as recently as the early 00s with garage rock... so I'm pretty unconvinced on this one... to plenty of people of course Dubstep will be "the new thing" this year I would suspect...

 

[bruno]

to plenty of people of course Dubstep will be "the new thing" this year I would suspect...

once you take notice of something it's pretty much a given that it's on its last throes or that the best has passed. unless you have connections, which i don't.

there are a lot of new things that take years, even decades, to be appreciated fully, krautrock for example.

 

[bruno]

Evangelical stuff. I think there's going to be loads more of this stuff.

yep it's a plague. i was thinking of this the other day as i have a neighbour who is intent on driving me insane with his born again music, and i still can't put my finger on what genre it fits in. it seems to they take existing genres and use them to their own ends, nothing totally new yet. it's something like game show music, the bits where people stand up and clap, etc. if this is the next new thing i'm packing up and leaving the country.

 

[DJ PIMP]

I was thinking the other day we need some additions to...

The End of Novelty Manifesto

No Guilty Pleasure
No Authenticity
No New Things

 

[Guybrush]

yep it's a plague. i was thinking of this the other day as i have a neighbour who is intent on driving me insane with his born again music, and i still can't put my finger on what genre it fits in. it seems to they take existing genres and use them to their own ends, nothing totally new yet. it's something like game show music, the bits where people stand up and clap, etc. if this is the next new thing i'm packing up and leaving the country.

Now I'm really intrigued, any artists your neighbour wish to recommend?

It would be fair to say that in fact minimalism more often than not in pop has been "the new thing", it is only later on when the new becomes old that further generations of musicians embroider upon its fecund surfaces...

This is true to some extent but an argument could be made for the exact opposite: it's the industrious embroiderers who turn a sound in to "the next thing". It all boils down to when a genre qualifies as "the next thing".

In my opinion a genre can be considered "the next thing" when its tentacles in some way reach the public consciousness. When employing this view dancehall, for example, can be regarded as "the next thing" in 2003, even though it obviously was well-known within music circles well before that. Now, what made Dance Hall "the next thing" in the general public's eye wasn't the stripped and minimalistic tunes that made up the bulk of the genre but ones that were decidedly melodic and ornated: Get Busy, No Letting Go, Turn Me On, (the god-awful) Tempted to Touch--I would add Never Leave You, Move Ya Body and others too since they were nowhere near as barelegged as most Dance Hall tracks, even though they were quite minimalistic by pop standards. Gross simplifications at work here but I believe the same argument could be made for most genres that get into the limelight.

 

[bruno]

Now I'm really intrigued, any artists your neighbour wish to recommend?

ha! probably, but i'm afraid if i ask him he will become even more of a nuisance. if things get stranger i'll ask, for sure.

 

[Grievous Angel]

The christian stuff is definitely UK as well, and goes across genres (cf Eden's point above).

Anyone want to pick up Gek's points above? Well argued, don't have much to add personally!

 

[zhao]

incidentally, I was thinking the other day... that a Gabba Flamenco Crossover could well sound pretty good.

 

[dogger]

Simplification- ie what is termed "minimalism" (ie an elegance of expression) can easily be seen as progression, rather than (or in competition) with increased ornamentation... in terms of the evolution of funk in the 60s from Soul, R'n'B and Jazz the greatest innovations (ie in James Brown's music) were in stripping all extraneous melody out of the music, refocusing on the beat with a full band playing only tiny cyclical elements, the vocals pared down to mere grunts and slogans, space and emptiness providing a new sense of propulsion and obviously= "the new thing". It would be fair to say that in fact minimalism more often than not in pop has been "the new thing", it is only later on when the new becomes old that further generations of musicians embroider upon its fecund surfaces...

all this is true, but seeing music merely as a struggle between minimalism and ornamentation, sliding back and forth along an axis of complexity, is too simplistic (ha!). for every new genre/style created by this method, you have one where the catalyst is technological invention (e.g. IDM), and one created by the fusion of existing, previously discreet genres (e.g. hip hop (tho obv here minimalism could be said to be at play too)).

that being said, the classic narrative for the emergence and development of a genre is: simple and "raw" at the start, scorched earth etc., then increasing complexity and sophistication, ending in a period of decadent "re-shuffling of the decks" (to quote your good self) at the end. of course, the mid and late periods can be equally interesting and worthy of study, the interest is merely of a different kind....tho this will be anathema to the modernist fanatics round here......moreover /all/ generic activity, including the emergence of "new genres" is actually "re-shuffling the decks", only on a bigger scale....

 

[Eric]

if this is the next new thing i'm packing up and leaving the country.

japan still seems to be free of it. (?) thank god ... (!!!!!!)

 

[polystyle]

We are working on our own 'next new' ,
only phase 1 so far aways to go but hard at it.
Involves NYC and UK musicians (Pete Jones from later PIL ) so far,
to be picked up when i get bk from Tokyo

 

[borderpolice]

Simplification- ie what is termed "minimalism" (ie an elegance of expression) can easily be seen as progression, rather than (or in competition) with increased ornamentation... in terms of the evolution of funk in the 60s from Soul, R'n'B and Jazz the greatest innovations (ie in James Brown's music) were in stripping all extraneous melody out of the music, refocusing on the beat with a full band playing only tiny cyclical elements, the vocals pared down to mere grunts and slogans, space and emptiness providing a new sense of propulsion and obviously= "the new thing".

Not completly disagreeing with what you say, but Clyde Stubblefield & Jab'o Starks drums are <I>not</I> minimalist, as you would see when trying to play/program them yerself. the genuis of something like clyde's drum work on "funky drummer" is that the whole song is essentially one big drum solo, yet sounds tight, locked-in with the rest of the band and funky as hell. musical genius of the highest order. similarly on the bass: bootsy's syncopated 16th notes all over the place are more complicated, less minimal than what was going on before, at least that's what it seems like to me as somebody who's not very knowledgable about pre 1970s music. so i don't think the JBs can easily be classified as "reducers".

speaking of clyde, it seems he's nearly destitute and cant pay for his health care! shame!

 

[gek-opel]

all this is true, but seeing music merely as a struggle between minimalism and ornamentation, sliding back and forth along an axis of complexity, is too simplistic (ha!). for every new genre/style created by this method, you have one where the catalyst is technological invention (e.g. IDM), and one created by the fusion of existing, previously discreet genres (e.g. hip hop (tho obv here minimalism could be said to be at play too)).

that being said, the classic narrative for the emergence and development of a genre is: simple and "raw" at the start, scorched earth etc., then increasing complexity and sophistication, ending in a period of decadent "re-shuffling of the decks" (to quote your good self) at the end. of course, the mid and late periods can be equally interesting and worthy of study, the interest is merely of a different kind....tho this will be anathema to the modernist fanatics round here......moreover /all/ generic activity, including the emergence of "new genres" is actually "re-shuffling the decks", only on a bigger scale....

I was following up on the points raised upthread really, of course minimalism/ornamentation is merely one axis of possible analysis, there are innumerable others... I was thinking that often the emergence of a new thing is about taking an element and magnifying it, taking an incidental moment and making it the entire point of the genre (see Merzbow talking about his obsession with those bits of records by The Who where they smashed up their guitars, wanting to make music that just sounded like that, magnifying it).

Another question: In an age of post-modernism can there be any clear breaks? If everything that has ever happened is happening right now, is "the new" impossible? Now whilst there are valid (but cynical) arguments against them, I would posit minimal house, post-metal, and dubstep as "new things", tho obviously re-shuffling of previously existing decks, they remove many of the cards, and focus on a tiny, highly mannered new subset. Indeed the minimalism of the "new thing" exists primarily on the level of what at first appears to be an absurdly mannered, obscurely styled version of a pre-existing genre, which is slowly explored in greater depth...

 

[tate]

I would posit minimal house, post-metal, and dubstep as "new things", tho obviously re-shuffling of previously existing decks, they remove many of the cards, and focus on a tiny, highly mannered new subset.

I am curious about this "post-metal." What bands do you have in mind? And what is it that you see them doing that counts as a "new thing"? I doubt that I've heard enough bands in this style or genre to know to whom you're referring. I am familiar with Sunn 0))) . . . but the phrase "post-metal" suggests a scene or movement. If so, what bands belong to it? Along what lines are they grouped, stylistically speaking?

 

[tate]

and Balkan Beat Box! Some of the tunes from their album went down a treat with audiences this last tour.

I can not say enough good things about the Balkan Beat Box record. It works on so many musical levels, it's just silly. I played "Bulgarian Chicks" and "Meboli" out last night and all I can say is wow.

 

[noel emits]

I am curious about this "post-metal." What bands do you have in mind? And what is it that you see them doing that counts as a "new thing"? I doubt that I've heard enough bands in this style or genre to know to whom you're referring. I am familiar with Sunn 0))) . . . but the phrase "post-metal" suggests a scene or movement. If so, what bands belong to it? Along what lines are they grouped, stylistically speaking?

I don't know about a movement as such, or if it is anything 'new', but there is obviously a lot of music that is informed in some way by the metalic but takes the aesthetic elsewhere or marries it to other impulses.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1852426,00.html

Aquarius Records cover loads of stuff in this area.

http://www.aquariusrecords.org/

 

[seahorsegenius]

To answer this question, or even grasp it, what is this definition of "new"? The only logical answer, to me at least. is music that can only be made now. Whether that be because of technology or just time taking it's course on genres.

Most music discussed on this board and abroad can only be made now. So, who needs a revolution?

There's already alot of "new things" happening. Why are the people in this thread completely ignoring the american underground? There's so much happening right now, it's almost hard to catch up.

 

[Guybrush]

There's already alot of "new things" happening. Why are the people in this thread completely ignoring the american underground? There's so much happening right now, it's almost hard to catch up.

What are you thinking of?

 

[swears]

To answer this question, or even grasp it, what is this definition of "new"? The only logical answer, to me at least. is music that can only be made now. Whether that be because of technology or just time taking it's course on genres.

Most music discussed on this board and abroad can only be made now. So, who needs a revolution?

There's already alot of "new things" happening. Why are the people in this thread completely ignoring the american underground? There's so much happening right now, it's almost hard to catch up.

I dunno, I hear a lot of stuff like say, Lightning Bolt, who everybody raves about, but that could easily have come out in the 90s. I think the 90s was so much more original: it really took the torch of a lot of 80s underground stuff (House, HipHop, Techno, "alternative" rock, etc) and ran with it. You had all these interesting new forms and styles. The only thing that's struck me about the 00s is the fact that the mainstream 80s isn't considered so crap anymore. Apart from a few things like Grime, some of the more original electro/minimal dancefloor stuff, a few IDM tracks...it's been very soulless and unoriginal. It's taken the 90s mainstream and ran with it: countless '96 style d'n'b producers, emo bands that sound like Weezer, Funky House that sounds like Armand Van Helden....shit, I'm depressing myself...