90s revival: starting prices
- Thread starter bun-u
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if the 90s were just a continuation of the 80s (as mentioned upthread) then this must qualify for a position in this thread
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connect_icut
Well-known member
I love pretty much every era of Mego (and glitch generally) but the early stuff is logically the stuff that will come back first. I can see No Backup by farmers manual and Frantz by General Magic being albums that people would enjoy (re)discovering. Maybe we'll start to hear more glitchy, disruptive sounds finding their way into wonky, dubstep and minimal techno. I could see Max for Live being important in making that happen.
In any case, glitch has already come back into favour somewhat, at a grass-roots level. Maybe a real revival will kick off when magazines and websites start putting Oval's 94 Diskont in their "best albums of all time"-type lists (where it belongs!)
glitch has remained alive... if not completely well (heh). there's a fair bit of it in current electro acoustic music, a little bit in some minimal techno, on the box cutting side of d.step, and even shows up in the odd pop song here and there... sometimes it is used well, but most times as a gimmick...
but what i was referring to with early Mego is the early 90s left field electronic spirit of experimentation before things settled down. that Frantz album was so crazy, and almost bursting with ideas. breaking all the rules of dance music, and making it better... Mille Plateux in the early to mid 90s... and you are right early Oval discs so timeless and beautiful -- that's kind of what i'm thinking of, the period before this music became a little bit of a caricature of itself...
but what i was referring to with early Mego is the early 90s left field electronic spirit of experimentation before things settled down. that Frantz album was so crazy, and almost bursting with ideas. breaking all the rules of dance music, and making it better... Mille Plateux in the early to mid 90s... and you are right early Oval discs so timeless and beautiful -- that's kind of what i'm thinking of, the period before this music became a little bit of a caricature of itself...
Good point, well made. I guess I felt a little cheated at illbient.... The Wire made it much more exciting than I could ever hear.... they didn't really try with dubstep though had a little go at Grime before losing interest.....
absolutely agree with 1 in 50 in D n B but a slightly better ratio for Jungle?
As for techno....
would be great, except that my knees have gone ; the true legacy of rave - can't believe anyone worried about the psychological effect of raving...
still, i could probably still wave my arms around for Orbital...
jesus, it's like Right Said Fred mixed with Leeway...
I concur re: Mega/Oval. I also think the glitch case will be helped by Radiohead's enduring 'Kid A'...sometimes revivals need a fairly mainstream calling card. I can see Steve Albini/Aphex/Jeff Mills all getting the 'season at the Barbican' treatment by the end of the decade and someone from that time will get the Rick Rubin makeover and reappraisal - maybe Michael Stipe.
An outside tip is a godawful PWEI/Neds/Jesus Jones/Carter USM influenced indie rebirth
connect_icut
Well-known member
The glitch thing reminds me of something that's going to be a problem for revivalists in this decade and the next, which is that nothing seems to end completely any more - there's always a fairly substantial group of die-hards who will just keep ploughing away at any given furrow. Glitch is a perfect example and I have a personal stake in this, having been producing and releasing glitchy electronic since the early '00s. Meanwhile, first-wave glitchers like Alva Noto have just kept going - long enough to come back into critical favour, somewhat. And the enduring popularity of Fennesz has spawned a whole scene of bucolic electronica and post-rock acts trading in glitchy textures and chiming guitar melodies - Greg Davis, Tape, Mountains, Konntinent, Ian Epps, M Rosner, Belong, Mark Templeton and on and on.
connect_icut
Well-known member
Just to clarify, I didn't mean to suggest that any of those artists were mere Fennesz rip-offs, just that he opened the door that allowed them to come into existence. I like all of the artists listed a great deal, especially Tape as a matter of fact.
i think glitch reached too far into the last decade for it to be revived this early. alot of rnb and hip hop, and of course plenty of house and techno, adopted the micro-detail approach to production that labels like mille plateaux and mego had already blueprinted in the 90s
remember that there is still alot of music from the 80s that has yet to be reappraissed - skinny puppy/front 242 style ebm, new beat, big synclavier style mid-late 80s rock in the vein of inxs, tears for fears, sylvian/frippertronics style new age music, ON U MOTHERFUCKING SOUND, holger hiller and ryuichi sakamoto's sample based experiments etcetcetcetc
remember that there is still alot of music from the 80s that has yet to be reappraissed - skinny puppy/front 242 style ebm, new beat, big synclavier style mid-late 80s rock in the vein of inxs, tears for fears, sylvian/frippertronics style new age music, ON U MOTHERFUCKING SOUND, holger hiller and ryuichi sakamoto's sample based experiments etcetcetcetc
there's really actually very little glitch stuff around nowdays and there was never really that much genuinely, ie stuff that works with errors in software etc, cos the errors have been ironed out and the relationship to crackers and cracked software has changed, its always fucking annoying to hear bad reviewers use the word glitchy in describing totally glitchless music, rather than describing it properly in terms of how they hear it and rhythm etc.
mego stuff, been listening to hecker's sun pandemonium, probably the things you're not into in the mego catalogue zhao and also sheer hellish miasma recently, but fucking awesome sound. don't reckon heckers really topped that, the acid in the style of david tudor thing wasn't much cop.
mego stuff, been listening to hecker's sun pandemonium, probably the things you're not into in the mego catalogue zhao and also sheer hellish miasma recently, but fucking awesome sound. don't reckon heckers really topped that, the acid in the style of david tudor thing wasn't much cop.
yeah it's lush i go to sleep to it haha.
emeralds also new excepter double cd of 'long distance music'
connect_icut
Well-known member
Yes to Oneohtrix Point Never. More of an '80s revival thing though, surely? Here's my take:
http://bubblegumcage3.com/2010/02/22/oneohtrix-point-never-zones-without-people-arbor-lp/
Also yes to Florian Hecker and Kevin Drumm too. I love the bonkers side of Mego. Ever heard explorers_we by Farmers Manual?
http://bubblegumcage3.com/2010/02/22/oneohtrix-point-never-zones-without-people-arbor-lp/
Also yes to Florian Hecker and Kevin Drumm too. I love the bonkers side of Mego. Ever heard explorers_we by Farmers Manual?
i have it under good authority that oneohtrix point nevers new album is on mego.
connect_icut
Well-known member
I can't tell whether or not you're shitting me. In any case, there is a link - Peter Rehberg who runs Mego put an album out on No Fun, which seems to have become OPN's main label.
Which reminds me... The new Fenn O'Berg album is fantastic and really evokes the heyday of Mego at its most bonkers.