You know how people like to say "I like all music" even when it isn't vaguely true? I don't much care for swing. I mixed it for a living for three years so I can say this authoritatively. And I don't much care for R&B, although rap I do fine with (as in, I had a guest subscription to Stone's Throw for six months and deleted it all with no compunction whatsoever yet I own more than a little Public Enemy). And try as I might, the Aphex Twin/Autechre school of electronic music strikes me as "trying too hard/learn to play" music. But I own everything Air Liquide has ever done, so there you go. I keep trying to get into Dubstep. Seeing as it's basically a raga riff on anthem trance and I dig ragas and I dig anthem trance, it's a natural combo. But I think it's the lack of musicality that bugs me. But beyond that, I will entertain anything.
Eh... thing is, I grew up with techno. Polyrhythms and melody are kind of important. This stuff is to dub what Squarepusher was to D'n'B. This is in my DNA: This is in my DNA: This is in my DNA: ("i do not own this song. i have no right to it. the rights are held by the producers and artists of this song. and possibly kate bush" God bless Youtube) That's Golden Oldies for you, and I fully recognize that. But for us oldsters, Goa Trance kinda took the "musicality" of techno and the "energy" of techno and pushed it as far as it could go, then said "job well done" and vanished from the face of the earth. So the whole "lounge" fork is kinda, well, eh. And when the lounge fork meets the dubstep fork... This is also in my DNA. (I doubt even Kurzweil thought anyone would actually use that thunder/lightning patch - this entire album is a K2000S) So the "chillout" fork kinda went in the direction that those of us who got old liked. Not to shit on your music. It's interesting and I appreciate listening to it. But I guess I still like... musicality in my music. (yes, I know - the old folks home is that way --------->>>>>)
Fair play. I'm all for Techno and used to be big into Trance too. I've also been to a fair few 'old school' nights, so I somewhat get where you're coming from (without trying to sound patronising!). Of course, I'll unfortunately never truly get to experience what those days were like though. I'll sign off with my favourite Techno track:
First rave I ever went to was in '90. Portland, ME. There was so little music available that they were playing anything electronic, including a bunch of KMFDM and Skinny Puppy (yes, I was at a rave where they played Harsh Stone White). Chick walked up to me and said "you need a pick-me-up." then she shoved a tube of Vick's Vapo-Rub in my left nostril and instructed me to breathe deeply. When I started coughing she said "Oh, you're not on E. It's no good if you're not on E." Then she walked away. Now Skrillex is making six figures a concert.
Well, I'm willing to wager your ears are even bigger than mine, so I'll throw in a few things that aren't necessarily my cup of tea, but you might find interesting. Shostakovich: Complete String Quartets - Emerson String Quartet Starts out as tonal as Shostakovich ever gets (with Number 1), and end up going to some pretty crazy and dark places. Nothing like Stalinist Russia to bring out the sarcasm in someone. No. 8 is the most Famous - here's the second movement. Honorable mention goes to Sonata for Contrabass Solo by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Op. 108 . A student and colleague of Shostakovich. I'm playing this piece for my master's recital, and there's a great recording on Spotify by Joel Quarrington (also probably available on itunes). Charles Ives - Piano Sonata no.2 "Concord, Mass. 1840-60" I have no idea why I like Ives' music. It is WAY out of my wheelhouse in a lot of respects. However, his chamber music is amazing, and the Concord Sonata is no exception. Honorable mention goes to His Violin Sonatas, which Hilary Hahn recorded a while back. Fantastic recording, available on itunes etc. Gyorgi Ligeti - Artikulation One of many electronic pieces by this composer. Tried to find an album, but this stuff in't often sold in stores: Honorable mention: Schoenberg: Five Pieces for Orchestra - London Symphony Orchestra with Fred Sherry Most of the music you're listening to on this list probably wouldn't have been made until much later if not for this guy. He solidified Serial atonal music from a theoretical standpoint, and was one of the first people to use it as a technique to write music. Honorable mention: Webern - Six orchestral pieces Student of Schoenberg, well respected in his own right. His opera, Wozzek, is probably one of the most commonly performed modern operas. Pierre Boulez: Le Marteau Sans Maître I hate this man. He is, however, well known for his advancement of multiple serialism, in which not just he notes, but rhythms, dynamics, etc. are all set up in serial patterns, derivatives of which are used to compose. Honorable Mention: Stravinsky: Rite of Spring (with the ballet if you can for the first listen) I'm gonna be straight with you, while i love this piece, I legit can't listen to it after dark - it scares the shit out of me. This ballet's production (which is using the original choreography, i think)... doesn't help me with that. Karlheinz Stockhausen: Elektronische Musik 1952-1960 My friend, you are going to dig the shit out of this. Honorable mention: Well, hopefully that will give you some stuff you like, and some composers to look more into.
Well, I've spent the entire morning listening to other people's music choices and I gotta say - Thanks. For the record: Shostakovich, Stravinsky, all things Russian: My mother is a classical violist. I grew up with wall-to-wall Russian composers. I love me some Mussorgsky (much better when it isn't Emerson, Lake and Palmer), love me some Stravinsky (Firebird is a fave), love me nearly everything Russian. I oughtta pick up some Shostakovich 'cuz I don't own any; my wife isn't fond of the Russians 'cuz they're a little too "mathy" but I think they're great. Charles Ives: Pleasant enough, but not particularly memorable. I shall marinate in it further. iTunes is great for this. Ligeti: Pioneer or no, he's got that "I'm just fucking around with synthesizers" vibe which was pretty cool back when nobody had ever seen a synth before but I kinda feel those guys were assed out the minute Walter Carlos got on the scene. Hell, the Barrons kinda shut the Ligeti school down as far as I'm concerned: The Ligeti school is also well-represented amongst Kyma users. It's just too easy to do things that aren't musical when your stuff doesn't lend itself to music. Shoenberg: Awesome. Have heard before, will hear again. Boulez: Everything I hate about Philip Glass, I hate about Boulez. Stockhausen: The rivetheads have been worshipping Stockhausen for 30 years. I've never gotten into it, but I probably should. Ensturzende Neubauten owes a lot to the guy; I have a hard time listening to a lot of Neubauten, though. Wanna see something awesome? Know why it's awesome? 'cuz it's 4 solid minutes of '70s era Laurie Spiegel in a tween summer blockbuster.
This might or might not be up your alley, but I totally forgot to include some Musique Concrète: Pierre Schaeffer: And speaking of schaeffers, there's also R. Murray Schaeffer, who sometimes writes not just for instrumentalists, but also the environment - allowing nature to interact with the musicians, or placing the musicians around a lake to take advantage of the natural reverb and echoes Steve Reich is another composer you might dig, if you've never heard. I wasn't sure if you were looking for earlier stuff, so I kept to the last 100 years-ish.
The Musique Concrete guys are a little amusical for my tastes, but I appreciate what they do. So I typed "steve Reich" into my iTunes to see what comes up - I have a bunch of ambient weirdness from backintheday that I bought in bulk and I don't always know what it is. One song came up: By damn.The song also uses a harmonica sample from Ennio Morricone's The Man With The Harmonica (from the film Once Upon a Time in the West) and parts of Electric Counterpoint, a piece for multitracked guitars composed by Steve Reich and recorded by Pat Metheny. Reich was "genuinely flattered"[8] by The Orb's use of his work and instructed his record company not to sue.