Boards o. C./Warped vs. Psy

[Guest aje]

I've lots of friends who are into IDM and warped records and stuff like that, and that stuff seems to be very popular, a lot more popular than psy at least.

For example that Boards of Canada CD sells like crazy, and their fans talk about what geniuses they are etc.... (same goes for squarepusher, aphex twin, mouse on mars...)

So ive been listening to that stuff to see why its so popular, and I've come to the conclusion that its not that great at all, and that these people are definitely not geniuses. If you compare the OOze CD (or many others) to Boards of Canada, OOze sounds soooo much better. I know its a kind of a different genre, but im wondering why all these Warped people get so much recognition for being electronic geniuses, also from the mainstream press, while Psy producers live in complete obscurity.

 

Im using OOze as an example, because my BoC fan friend admitted that OOze sounds a lot betterthan BoC, and also the composition on many IDM releases isnt very interesting either(for my taste at least).

 

So please enlighten me, why do these producers get so much recognition. And its not because its commercial, because its definitely not.

[Hels]

maybe the old "4 on the floor" or whatever its called turns them off to trance music? with most of the people i knwo that dont like it, thats all they hear "boom boom boom".

idm has interesting rhythms everywhere...

i like both styles very much...couldnt compare them to eachother really both genres have their geniuses in one way or another

[Otto Matta]

Yeah, Hels got it right. I listen to both. I listen to psy when I want a straightforward and energetic release. I listen to IDM when I want something more unpredictable, creative and moody. Popular IDM like Boards of Canada is good, but there's a whole world of the great stuff out there that doesn't get as much attention, and there's a lot more room in the genre for musicians to create unique art. It's the same reason why Posford prefers to work as Shpongle than Hallucinogen - it frees his creativity.

[Guest aje]

I was talking about psy-ambient, chillout, thats why i used the example of OOze. I also know lots of people are turned off by "four to the floor".

 

I was just wondering why BoC got so much attention and OOze or Ishq or Shulman, Stress Assasin dont. I think BOC even sell more than Shpongle, and it definitely gets more attention.

[Guest wouter]

I like some IDM stuff. I liked Music has the right for children album by BOC but I think their latest album sucks. It has some beautiful moments but mostly those get ruined by annoying samples, strange noises or whatever.

Me neither can't see what's so damn genius about it.

 

Why Ooze or Shpongle don't get press-coverage? Beats me...I guess it has something to do with the record companies and marketing.

Ooze is on Spirit Zone. SZ is a "Goa trance" label - the music press hates and simply ignores "Goa trance"....always have, always will (?)

That also explains why alot of psylabels/artists are turning over to the more accessable/progressive side of things I think.

 

Fuck the music press anyway! 8)

[Guest Soulhunter]

Yep, Wouter

That's the main reason. Altough Shpongle doesn't fit on a label like Warp,it would grab more attention and recognition. Goatrance is still "trash" in the eyes of the music press. 50% of the goatrance is trash anyway so I think the genre will never get a "status"

 

Fxxk Shpongle anyway ;-)

[Otto Matta]

Oh, I see the other question - why not psy-ambient? Well, my opinion is that the sound is much more of an acquired and exclusive taste. To me the sound is based on dub which appears to be at least loosely based on reggae, and as we all know, reggae is not the most popular of styles out there. Orb, however, is a good example of one of these types of bands that has broken through into the mainstream. FSOL is another, although they've managed to have very broad and catchy stylings over the years which has probably kept them in the game.

 

Ooze, for example, is not the most accessible music in the world and will probably never be mainstream. Ishq, maybe, but not Ooze. Boards of Canada, on the other hand, has a very accessible sound (and stylishness) and with it they've created a niche in the market.

 

If there's another reason, it's because the ambient scene in general is so diverse and disparate that it's difficult for one act in particular to break through. In this context, I think Shpongle has probably done very well, especially compared to many of the *other* Warp Records acts you never hear about but have a leg up by just being on the label.

[Guest Soulhunter]

Shpongle has a more accessible and "mainstream" sound than Boards of Canada. FSOL was very renewing several years ago but if they would release accelerator today, it wouldn't be even mentioned. Same goes for Shpongle, the first time I heard it, I found it rather passé while the old Boards of Canada still sound fresh. Their music is timeless.

I still don't get the fuzz about Shpongle. I always caught myself switching the CD after the 3rd track. At least I tried ;-)

[Guest Le Lotus Bleu]

I agree at 100% with Wouter.

 

All is a matter of marketing-business.

For example in France, I can tell you that is very difficult for a trance label to be distributed in the big music shop (Fnac or Virgin).

It's a matter of 3 things.

 

First one, most of french people involved in music selling dislike Trance-Goa. They can even tell you this style is dead and was fashion up to 1998 and that's why they propose in their shop anymore Trance-Goa artists or Compils(This happened to me in my town).

 

Second thing, in order to be referenced in french or any countries music shop the labels need a big distributor. And as majort part of trance labels and even the biggest ones aren't financially big enough , they just have medium or small distributors. And medium,small distributors are penalized coz to be referenced in France (i think it's the same in europe & worldwide),

the distributor must pay each 'services' as be listed in catalog (obligatory), have a good place in the music shop, cd listenable in a listen point etc...

 

last thing, music press which could help Trance-goa artists but don't do it.

Why? Coz , these people considers around 1998 (for the France) that trance-goa was making easy music at kilometers. Since then, they don't even try to re-consider this state of mind. The french musical journalists are 'scotched' on fashion style. It's also a matter of business for them to speak about the actual most popular style in order to sell more .

During 2-3 years they were speaking a lot of french touch daft punk (with their shitty false restricted promo strategy but real enormous one everybody was receiving promo ,cassius, bob sinclar now they considered them like commercial soap.

Then, they were speaking of lounge,downtempo ,sometimes after they piss on it. Actually, in France,techno & hardcore have the honor of music press, wait a bit more you'll see that it would be Trance-goa tour.

 

In fact music press is very much versatil and vulnerable to big major (universal,Sony..)which paid them lots of advertising pages.

 

Music is an always come back of different styles evoluting.

 

All these aspects explain a bit why Boards of canada is fashion and selling.

 

I must add that warp is a quite old techno label which accumulate big notoriety on his underground-experimental directions (Aphex Twin).But all this is largely overated nevertheless till too much present in music journalist head and easily influence them which always wants music to sounding new or sharp and without big kicks. So if cd comes from an old techno label it goes,and if it's spirit zone,spiral trax,twisted or another trance label ;the cds go directly in the trash can whithout being opened.

[Guest Inu]

Psy is perceived as a stoned guy turning knobs on an analogue synth -- and that's the way it should stay!

[Guest aje]

Haha, thats funny INU, maybe it should staythat way.

 

It makes sense what you guys are saying, Goa or TRance is perceived as shit, they dont even listen, and the pretentious name (inteligent dance music) already says a lot why people like it. They think theyre more inteligent when they listen to it, or something.

 

I just think OOze is extremely brilliant, the production clean and crisp, and it is accesible and melodic, in my view at least. I feel Seb deserves at least the same reconition those Warp weirdos.

[Guest Mike D]

Goatrance isn't great music, it is emotional music. It is about feelings and about about pleasure. There may not be a huge amount of skill in the creation of many goa tracks, as stated above, but the feeling created by that music at the right time is what is important. Why do you tink I won so many cd's? Because I hear a track at a party or in a mix and I'm like, that sounds wicked, it makes me feel awesome, so I go find out who it is by,and I listen to the cd at the store, and maybe 95% of the time I buy it/=. I am lucky in that I am probably THE most regular customer at the only real go ashop in Melbourne, and therefore he is happy that I order in say 5 albums/compilation and even if I only buy 1 of them, he does not mind to muchj.

[Guest Ubik]

Several interesting points have been made already, but I just wanted to add that Boards of Canada and a few other warp acts are an exception and most idm sells as bad as psy (around 1000 copies or less for an album).

However even the almost unknown idm artists do get recognition from journalists.