An evening of electronica
One Friday afternoon, a bunch of us went for a post-work beer, and a friend said her and her husband were going on to another pub later to an electronica gig.

Fancying ourselves as open-minded types, and having enjoyed boshing pills and dancing at various clubs to various electronic-type music during the late 90s and early 2000s, and since we were getting steadily inebriated, my friend and I decided to join them.

Dear Jesus Christ.

It was a geek at the front with a bloody Apple Mac. Making noise.

Now - don't get me wrong - I remember the days when bands didn't play a tune you could whistle, and you couldn't hear the words.

I've been to drum n' bass nights where there's been mass throwing up because the frequency was so low.

I experimented with LSD, with friends that wrote lyrics about pixies living among the stars.

This was simply just fucking noise. Quite literally. There wasn't even a vague semblance of rhythm, or of beat. VERY ocassionally the operative would bring down a frequency that quickly swooshed through a sound that was vaguely frenetic drum n' bass on speed-sounding. But really - it was just electronic noises.

It was art, I presume.

What interested me was that the populus of bespectacled, bearded geeks wearing t-shirts bearing witty fucking HTML slogans on them* would regularly:

A: try to dance - I don't have a problem with that, but I honestly have no idea what they were dancing to

B: Would nod and clap enthusiastically in unison at certain points

C: Would tell each other that this one coming or that one he just played was absolutely superb.

Afterwards, trying to investigate, someone told me I should investigate Squarepusher.

Dear Christ. I mean - really - what?

*Actually true - I honestly saw a geek walk past another wearing such, and laugh and compliment him on it.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 2 Feb 2010, 10:46, 8 replies)

a lot of it is very emperor's new clothes...
but lend your ears to this:

Beep Street by the aforementioned Squarepusher...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7U9jVvbvBU
(Alphabet Soap boshboshboshbosh, Tue 2 Feb 2010, 11:05, closed)

Also by Squarepusher
Version of Love Will Tear Us Apart - I frequently think I prefer the Squarepusher version to the original... hmmm.
(Cheets, Tue 2 Feb 2010, 11:38, closed)

now that's taking it too far. electronica artists thinking they can sing = FAIL
(Alphabet Soap boshboshboshbosh, Tue 2 Feb 2010, 15:10, closed)

Oh come now - what about Everything But The Girl?
Or Massive Attack?

Or Leftfield?

Or Afro Celt Sound System?

Or Asian Dub Foundation?

Or DF118?

That's a rather broad generalisation, I'd say.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 2 Feb 2010, 16:07, closed)

that's not what i mean
having a vocalist is fine, but being a blippy bloppy instrumental performer type person and then after moderate success in a achingly cool sub genre deciding that the world needs to hear your autotuned nonsense from your own flacid vocal chords is a very very bad idea.

massive attack, adf, leftfield et al either use other people or have always been vocal performers.

and everything but the girl were utter gash :)
(Alphabet Soap boshboshboshbosh, Tue 2 Feb 2010, 17:07, closed)

Ah.
You mean like Hot Chip et al.

And I like EBTG.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 2 Feb 2010, 17:11, closed)

Yeah - that's alright.
That's the sort of chill-out stuff we'd listen to on the comedown through the morning.

But the stuff on this night I described - in all honesty - had no apprent cohesion about any part of it whatsoever.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 2 Feb 2010, 11:42, closed)

maybe
something a bit more like this?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbo0wjAjzXQ

the inimitable Aaron Funk
(Alphabet Soap boshboshboshbosh, Tue 2 Feb 2010, 15:13, closed)