more techno music/transhuman art

J de Lyser (gd33463@glo.be)
Thu, 12 Dec 1996 00:27:28 +0100


someone wrote:
>> Um, the first Kraftwerk album was 1970 or 71, as was the first Cluster
>> album (why Cluster is always forgotten in these dicussions, I'll never
>> know).

Like so many other bands... Attention has always focussed on Kraftwerk,
because it's the band that got known. You rarely hear about Cluster, Can,
Ashra Temple, Logic system etc, etc ...

MAX M Rasmussen wrote:
>Yeah and Wendy Carlos did hooked on Bach in the sixties. I were talking
>broadly.

trivial detail:
Wasn't she still called Walter Carlos when he/she made this ?

James Rogers <jamesr@best.com> wrote:

>I don't know if you could do the same with a $1500 budget, but I suppose you
>could come close if you really worked your equipment. I've seen people do
>amazing stuff on a very minimalist setup. I don't generally consider Ace of
>Base to be quality music anyway (from a musical standpoint).

In what way is it not 'quality' music ? It's produced well, it feels good,
it works on a dancefloor and ...it sells well!. I have none of their
records, as they are not 'my cup of tea', but i try to remain as open minded
toward music as i try to be to things in general. What is musical ? I assume
you are not refering to the purely technical musical when you define
'quality' as your choice of other (techno) bands are not on a higher level
(bands which by the way i find more pleasing than ace of base). So you view
quality in experimentalism, much like me, many others have different ways of
looking at it. In its style/genre, Ace of Base IS quality music, i'd like to
hear anyone can deny that without involving their personal taste in music.

>Eon
another trivial detail:
J saul Kane is back as Octagon Man these days, making 'new electro', (the
music industry hasn't involved itself in the new style yet, so there's no
'real' name for it yet), basically it's the latest split-off of techno
combining new sounds with 'retro eighties' (disco, electro, ebm, industrial)
rhythms and structures. Those of you who don't follow the music closely,
will hear more about it in say ...four years or so. :-( ,As the music
industries first attempts to 'launch' it, failed last year, and they seem to
have lost interest for now. (wrong choice of name: 'electro' was not 'new'
and hype enough)

max m wrote:
>It's amazing how many people spend a lot of money on gear and then never do
>anything with it.

It's also amazing how many people make hits with only an amiga... Ofcourse
they won't tell the press, they'll just say they build their own synths or
something...

i wrote:

>Well i guess you agree that if not anti-technology, they were at least not
>promoting it wholeheartedly either, whereas some of todays producers are far
>more positive about promoting technology, viewing it as a tool to solve
>problems for the future, rather than create problems.

"Kathryn Aegis" <aegis@igc.apc.org> wrote:

>No, this is not what I am saying. Kraftwerk's music, taken as a
>whole, has a sort of childlike wonder about the new developing
>technologies. But expecting them or any artist to be completly messianic
>about technology in order to be considered transhumanist imposes
>unreasonable constraints upon the exploration of these topics. I
>would resist that sort of criteria in my own work.

maybe i just experienced kraftwerks lyrics as 'negative' (i love their
music), or maybe it's due to the fact that the first tiem i heared them, i
heared it in german (there are slight differences in the lyrics). Anyway try
these two (i've forwarded them to max m rasmussen as a preview of the list
i'm working on) and note the difference:

1) Quark - the attraction of technology, the black hole of the thumbscrewed
exoskeleton. (hpf records 15, belgium) by Matthew Buggins, UK 1993?

2) Autonation - cyborg society
(cue records uk) by chris beeton and dave campbell 1991 Uk

jake costello wrote:
(rush)
>I must sheepishly admit their music had a significant impact on me; it
>certainly helped me discover extropic values. I was trapped in a passive
>Xtian mentality. I was even getting to the point of being good at rationlizing
>it.
>Then I discover this cool band that sings about the most "outrageous" things:
>personal responsibility, rationality, etc. In mindless suburbia, it was like a
>revelation, however mild it might seem now.

I was inspired by Anne clark a lot, even though what she implied in her
lyrics as negative, i felt attracted to in a positive way. maybe that's how
it worked with kraftwerk as well, maybe there just wasn't anything (even)
more transhuman around... so this was what we had to do with...

to conlcude:
I am still sure that there are many more examples of music out there that
connect to our memes on a much more specific or positive level. I'm also
quite sure that most of those won't reach a wide audience unless ofcourse we
make an effort to help them...

If any of you extropians/transhumans in the music business have given some
thought to the idea of releasing a compilation of some sorts that deals with
these memes, i'm sure that this newsgroup can provide you with lists of
artists and maybe tapes to choose from. I think we've seen an example of
that already. Maybe i'll do it myself in a few years, who knows...

J de Lyser
Surreal@glo.be