entertainment

Well-known member
I like some of the music, but hate the part of having interpretations imposed on me. Takes everything interesting out of it and reduces it to a fixed posture. Maybe some of these artists wanna make statements more than art, let alone music.
 

luka

Well-known member
Well Reynolds makes a very good case for them being what he calls a "scab class of grant vultures" that is to say what they do is predetermined by the market and they have no goal beyond building and sustaining a career.
 

luka

Well-known member
"As he explains from his Richmond, Virginia home, he envisions merging Paradiso with his current project—a book/soundtrack titled Eroica, based on his fine arts master thesis—and developing the composite into spin-offs in other media: a film, a graphic novel, a play, an art exhibition, even garment production. “It’s like these layers upon layers,” he says."

This is Exactly what has happened in hip-hop for many, many years, spin offs into other media such as branded vodka, shoes, t-shirts, energy drinks, TV shows, video games. "Layers upon layers."
 
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luka

Well-known member
The whole article reads like a parody. The vacuousness of the 'concepts' and the explicit inadequacy of the music make it seem like some KLF art-prank. People who have set their minds on being an 'artist' without having the slightest idea of what that might entail,, without having anything to impart, being sent into this inept, art-student scrabble for ideas to fill these empty spaces. The end of year show is approaching, what are you going to do Sophie?
 

luka

Well-known member
"The video for the single “Unhappy” consisted of a montage of shopping malls, armed police, advertisement hoardings, drone strikes seen from above, and gaunt models taking selfies against a backdrop of urban decay. At the end, Latham walks away from the camera with the slogan “Class War” visible on the back of his jacket, then the inspirational message—“Stop Being Afraid—Another World Is Possible”—flickers across the screen."

This is not even Goldsmiths end of year show, this is far thinner gruel, and far more gauche, it's the utter inability to imagine. It's beneath contempt.
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
Unfortunate echoes of Goldie's 'breakbeat symphonies' there which I guess goes to show how far removed these people are from actual dance music discourse. There's no respect for the source material and how, as Kodwo Eshun went to some pains to explain, it is already conceptual and to a very high degree. This is the frustratingly regressive aspect to all this.

can you name a jungle record that is highly conceptual and maybe political without it being explicitly mentioned, or without selling itself as such?
 

luka

Well-known member
can you name a jungle record that is highly conceptual and maybe political without it being explicitly mentioned, or without selling itself as such?

We've spent years here talking about the ways meaning is created with sound.
 

luka

Well-known member
If you're asking music for programmatic statements, then of course not. It's not that crude.
 

chava

Well-known member
"The video for the single “Unhappy” consisted of a montage of shopping malls, armed police, advertisement hoardings, drone strikes seen from above, and gaunt models taking selfies against a backdrop of urban decay. At the end, Latham walks away from the camera with the slogan “Class War” visible on the back of his jacket, then the inspirational message—“Stop Being Afraid—Another World Is Possible”—flickers across the screen."

This is not even Goldsmiths end of year show, this is far thinner gruel, and far more gauche, it's the utter inability to imagine. It's beneath contempt.

Word. These are not 'concepts' let alone artistic. It's more like bad TV advertisements. In fact high capital are doing 'ironic' adverts like this for a long while now.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I don't mind it, though - why not?

As long as the music's good.

AFAIK most of the really good music from the past decade and EVER hasn't been avowedly conceptual.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
It's like conceptual ART. Some of it IS good, but because it has actual visual/spatial qualities to it that tickle the aesthetic g-spot. Or it genuinely unnerves and challenges you.

A lot of it is just CLEVER, though. And it's ONLY clever if you read the caption next to it.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
I don't mind it, though - why not?

As long as the music's good.
Yeah, I find that the funding-pitch blurb that these things are marketed with is pretty much orthogonal to how I enjoy the music. I'll go to a thing that's pitched as an exploration of liminal spaces between consumerism and sexuality in late-stage capitalism, it turns out it's glitchy minimal techno with vaguely thematic visuals. Is it enjoyable? Maybe. Do I come out with a deeper understanding of the liminal spaces between consumerism and sexuality in late-stage capitalism? No. Would I have been more likely to go if the listing had pitched it as "glitchy minimal techno with vaguely thematic visuals"? Probably.

And wow, yes, searching twitter for conceptronica gives you a proper parade of the hard-of-reading and/or thinking doesn't it?
 

sadmanbarty

Well-known member
For all its critiques of capitalism, conceptual electronica exemplifies many of the worst elements of consumer culture. It takes something that's wholly vacuous and superfluous and brands it as a psychological necessity. It exploits and cheapens its cultural inputs. It's nods to ongoing struggles for trans rights and acceptance come across as tacked on; they're disingenuous marketing ploys. Is there really much of a difference between Sophie and Kendal Jenner's Pepsi advert?

Reynolds is venomous! I love it!
 

luka

Well-known member
It's as brutal a hit piece as I've ever seen from him. Usually he reserves his venom for other writers, the competition.
 
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