I stumbled upon the Audio Culture blog thanks to my recent taking up of Google Alerts (which by the way is totally dope and heavily recommended for keeping track of just about anything online). Turns out I’d heard of the guys behind it as they’re also involved in some excellent dubstep and hip hop/beat parties in Amsterdam. Goth Trad played with them last year, and Jay Scarlett and Cinnaman are responsible for the excellent Beat Dimension compilation, among other things.
Anyways, went back on there today and Juha had posted this, asking if recent movements in hip hop and electronic music and the producers behind them are making the music of the future. His short post refers to a bunch of the same guys I’ve mentioned in my recent Return of the Boom Bap feature and who I’ve been banging on about for a while.
His question gave me a fair bit to think about so I decided to put this up as a reply of sorts. My first reaction would be to say that these guys aren’t so much making the music of the future as that they are making music that for me is a logical progression of the last 10 or so years. It’s cheesy but the future is now, and the music we’re hearing makes that case I reckon.
As I wrote in the boom bap feature, if I look at the guys operating around the whole new hip hop/electronic/beat movement, or whatever you wanna call it, their stuff is a totally logical move from the stuff we grew up on in the 80s and 90s, hip hop and electronic music wise. The main thing for me is the amalgamation of influences, styles and ideas from across the board. A simpler way to put it is that a lot of these producers are making electronic, futuristic music but with a hip hop grounding and a hip hop mindset. In the 80s and 90s, hip hop producers dug into their influences growing up, which for a lot of them involved the soul, funk, reggae and other music of their parents and direct surroundings. Today the same thing is happening but its music from the last 20 or 30 years being dug into, and so the sounds are, in a way, drastically different. There’s video games, TV, movies, synths, early electronic music, rave, jungle etc… The common point between both is the hip hop mentality and approach to the productions, the whole originality element. To me the majority of the producers I mentioned in my article, and those in the mix I put together, have that originality in their music. They do what they do not because it’s how it should be done or what’s expected of a certain genre, but because it’s what they want and it finds an audience in a totally organic way because it’s not forced.
Kode 9 and his label are a good example. I might be a little biased, as I’ve known him for a while, but regardless I do feel that he is one of those people who are genuinely striving to be original. And while he has said before in interviews that he wants to keep doing what’s not expected of him within the scene in operates in, I do also believe he does what he does because it’s something that’s trying to get out of him. Every movement, every ‘scene’, needs people who keeps said movement or scene in check. Kode 9 is that person for ‘dubstep’. And Flying Lotus is emerging as a similar figure in ‘hip hop’ today. And they’re just two people, there are a lot more in a lot of music ‘scenes’ and they’re all serving that purpose of keeping it in check, of showing the next possible evolution.
Another thing for me is the whole ‘scene’ thing, the whole idea behind music ‘genre’. The way I’m hearing a lot of the music coming out today, I’m seeing a convergence of styles, of scenes and of genres. It’s definitely a personal thing, but I do believe that ultimately the only real separator for music is bpm, speed. That’s something Kode 9 originally put me onto, the idea of speed tribes, and it got me thinking over the years about how people operating in certain music scenes do so based on speed, whether as a listener or, to a lesser extent, a producer, and so really speed can be seen as a defining separator. And today we’re seeing a blur between those speeds, partly driven by technology. A lot more producers and a lot more artists in general are starting to move across bpm a lot more freely than before, and that’s only going to drive forward more interesting evolutions I think.
Juha also mentions a bunch of sound artists in his post, a few of which I know and others I don’t. I’ve gone hunting for some of their music to find out some more. If any of this lights up any interest in you then I suggest you do the same and hunt for music from all these people mentioned in his post and in my recent articles. I’m tired and so this might not make as much sense as I thought it did in my head but it’s definitely given me food for thought so for now it’s to be continued….
Good response, will have to take up the challenge to reply soon. I am reading Boris Groys at the moment, about the ‘new’ in art. Am hoping to come up with an answer where the new in music lies. Your analogy of ’80s hiphop and ’00s beats is an interesting one. And Kode9 simply has good ears and selfcriticism, he has single-handedly introduced a generation to Flying Lotus, Rustie, Hudson Mohawke and Zomby in that one show on Rinse FM. The effect of autonomous networks is huge for scattered niches like dubstep and beats, somewhat proven by the fact you know of our nights in Amsterdam, that are hardly known outside of its circle (despite its relative success). Last one: speed. I like the concept, but I wonder if rhythm is a necessary ingredient here. Or would you compare Morton Feldman with Kode9 when the BPMs are matched? The speed tribes theory of Dr. Goodman works well for dance floors, but I am not sure if it is designed for all music.
Have a good night.
No way I copped that ‘excellent Beat Dimensions’ compilation just two days ago!
Very, very dope. Definitely interested to see what else these guys get up to.
Interesting article Lo, once again you’ve succeeded in distracting me while I should be hard at work!
P.S. I miss Ttr, give me the new shit!
The next Beat Dimensions night is during the Amsterdam Dance Event on 24 October at the Bimhuis. With Mike Slott (Heralds of Change), Dimlite, Take, Cinnaman and Aardvarck. See http://www.beatdimensions.net
@Juha – yeah i have a bad habit of spreading my ideas out, agreed that the speed tribe idea is definitely a lot more tuned to dancefloors and associated musics. Saying that though, it brings up interesting ideas if you look at how this new ‘beat’ music is proving popular in clubs and on dancefloors, and how that compares with the speeds of other ‘dance’ music genres, which are generally 120 and above, while the beat stuff can be as low as 80bpm and still create energy on the dancefloor. but im getting sidetracked again!
You’re bang on about the autonomous networks, one thing that for me is still a major drawback though is the fact that languages are still a barrier, so for example even tho we’re all more connected than ever at a much more niche level, we’re still unable to connect as well with people in Japan as we are with people in countries were english is more predominant. This is something thats become less of an issue, definitely, but its still there. Having lived in Japan, i realised that ultimately while I was in Europe trying to connect with the people out there, language and distance were too much of a barrier, being there solved a lot of these problems. Of course if you’re fluent etc… its much less of an issue, but im interested to see how this side of things develops, because the way in which we share is evolving in interesting ways, fast, but parts of the this new social world are still definitely cut off from each other, ie facebook for the west and mixi for the east.
Will definitely have another go at this whole argument at some point, and looking fwd to see what you can come up with
@rum’n – productivity is a bitch! sorry for that, but you know
New TTR podcast is coming soon promise, im busy getting back into the reality of being employed again after 3 months off. The old shows are going out on the reg and there’ll be a new show soon as well as vids from Dstyles and if i can make it happen a TTR Italy sesh while Im here.