Electroacoustic/ IDM malarky

The point about Electroacoustic (as opposed to Electronic) music is that is concerned with the manipulation and/or imitation of acoustic sounds by electronic means. In that sense, any music which uses a sampler can be said to be related to Electroacoustic music. I doubt any one is 'descended' from any other, however: Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel got their hands on a Fairlight about the same time as the serious composers first did.

The main thing that the latter can learn from IDM is to not worry about breaking the fuckin' rules - "all the tones in my piece are based on the fourth, seventh and twelfth partials of the clarinet's E flat in the middle register" - sod that; if it sounds good, chuck it in.

Do elements such as rhythm, melody, harmony etc have a place in ElectroAcoustic music, and would ElectoAcoustic be taking a musical step backwards if it incorporated these like in IDM in order to popularise itself?
All these things are already a part of every piece of composed music I can think of. But, if you meant to say should pop/dance rhythms etc. be incorporated, the answer is no. Some of the very worst tape pieces I have heard by electroacoustic composers attempt to do this very thing.

Jeff: Electroacoustic music is a general term that includes both musique concrete (electronic manipulation of acoustic sounds) and electronic music as well as syntheses. I think the term is sometimes used the same way as "musique concrete" now though. When I used it in the above thread I used it in the general sense.

Good comparison with Yves Klein... given me something to think about at least... :o)

I've generally found the problem to be not being unable to break the rules, but having a desire to constantly break the 'rules' (many of which don't really happen anymore) and make 'new' music, but very often ends up with the same cliches... You couldn't recommend any of these 'bad' electroacoustic pieces failing with melody and the like, could you? Any names as to who is on the side of electroacoustic music who's looking at more popular music? I've got some Ned Bouhalassa and he rules. And some Sonic Arts Network stuff thats ok... but not great.

I have largely expunged them from memory - too painful. All I remember was that supposedly hip and happening City/Surrey/UEA Postgrads were generally the guilty ones! This was back in the '80s of course. Things may have improved since.

Sundar, maybe my description was too proscriptive, and I don't wish to split hairs with you, but...no, it isn't! ;-) (Which is why I left you to it in last week's FITE thread). And this thread asks a different question.

Bob - agree with you that, at the root, there is no separate genre here. But the protagonists are different, in the sense that they approach the composition process from largely different perspectives. And as Mr Deft so rightly said at the outset, one set of protagonists attracts an audience, the other generally doesn't.

"Electronic music originally referred only to sounds synthesized electronically, as opposed to musique concrete, which designated music using normal musical and everyday sounds recorded via microphone; in most countries today the term electronic music covers the whole range of sound material, musical styles, and esthetics." (Vinton)

So I'm curious now. I guess my main basis for thinking what I thought was my 2nd-yr prof.

And I know this thread asks some new questions, or at least goes further than the questions in the previous thread. I just thought that a lot of it had already been discussed in the earlier thread and Mr Deft might find it useful.

Which 'genre' do you think attracts the big audience? I mean this seriously. Oval brought in maybe 20 people when he played Ottawa. There are certainly more electroacoustic records on major labels. Phill Niblock brought in more people than kid606 here. Are there some really huge IDM artists I'm unaware of?

And where do DHR come in?

And huge IDM artists? Aphex Twin?

(anyone else think ovalprocess sucks, tho?).

Yes.

stockhausen is a v.gifted & funny guy but i can't stand loads of his music. no reason to canonize any of these guys or their work.

Stockhausen Serves Imperialism.

Boards of Canada serves Feudalism.

Domino's serves Pizza.