Comment by tea_cult_1
1 day ago
A different opinion about their music is that it all seems rather ostentatious in an aural sense, and leaves a doubt if some of the praise being heaped on it is 'perfomative'.
1 day ago
A different opinion about their music is that it all seems rather ostentatious in an aural sense, and leaves a doubt if some of the praise being heaped on it is 'perfomative'.
People would say the same thing about Glass or Reich. People would say the same thing about Messiaen or Ligeti. People would say the same thing about Schoenberg or Webern.
If your expectation of good food is In-N-Out Burger, you might think praise of a three star Michelin restaurant is performative too.
I am not even much a fan of Richard but he is absolutely one of the greatest musical geniuses of the past 50 years bar none.
Avril 14th is my favorite. Clearly Satie influenced but maybe even a little sweeter than Satie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxTdTaNIUxo
Also consider Satie himself is exactly the type of musician people would have said praising is performative at the time. He wasn't taken seriously as a real musician much at all in his life.
I love 'Avril 14th', I had not connected it before to Satie (who I've only just heard of, my poor musical background knowledge). I see the similarities in the balance of sweetness and dissonance (I suppose).
A friend told me a story about Satie, that they found two pianos in his appartement, one stacked on the other, with unpaid bills tossed on the top. Seems very RDJ-like (or v.v.).
Uhm. If I understand correctly, you are saying that some people are pretending to like his music because it is over the top and showy rather than actually good or enjoyable?
While it is possible these fake enjoyers exist, I'm fairly certain a lot of fans of Mr Twin's work like it in a straightforward sense of most music appreciation.
Personally, 'Vordhosbn', 'Windowlicker', 'Rhubarb'... etc are all great tracks. Are there some that I don't get on with? Sure, of course. However I can speak for myself when saying I'm not listening to the music performatively. At least, not much!
Even some AFX fans have the opinion that the stuff on Drukqs is "style over substance".
To be fair, he was kinda forced to release it following a leak, wasn't he?
About as powerful a quote as "Even some Beatles fans think X album is 'style over substance'."
Who cares? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to crank up Vordhobsn and write some code.
I'm an example, in fact I've loved his music since the 90s and never played it for friends because I always assumed they wouldn't like it. And I'm definitely not being performative for myself. It was a bit surprising to me that his music became kind of legendary recently.
We need to put his music in the right historical context. In the time his early works were released he was truly different. I don't like his music, but I appreciate it, artistically. I like his art, I guess.
I believe you, but is that not a strange position to take on music? Appreciating it artistically, but not liking listening to it?
Am I right in saying you like the _idea_ behind the music rather than the music itself? That's almost as strange to me as people who do not listen to music at all - it's fine, of course! They are your ears, and you can do what you like with them :)
shrug Different people are different, I suppose.
2 replies →
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> their music
Richard and James Aphex; the Aphex twins. :P
> leaves a doubt if some of the praise being heaped on it is 'perfomative'.
This sounds rather like someone that doesn't like art in general complaining about those that do. I've heard many people complain about "modern art" in the same way.
I think it's a valid enough opinion but I still like Aphex Twin's music for the same reasons I like Eno's.
"I don't like it, therefore everyone else who likes it must be only pretending"
Agreed, been this way for 30 years, and significant amount of effort by him and warp have been adding to cult of his mystique(actually many electronic music artists in the 90s/early 2000s). He is one of the last popular electronic musicians younger generations of "#DAWLESS" guys like now because he kept up that mystique which is basically impossible to have now in the current social media era.
I remember buying some of his tapes and cd's from Amoeba music in 1999 and the feeling they gave me. I often wonder what its like to been born in 2010 and never experiencing this.
> I often wonder what its like to been born in 2010 and never experiencing this.
It’s always amusing to see these cycles continue. If his music is indeed as good as you claim it will still be listened to - just as so much of the best music of the last 75 years is. People have been lamenting the loss of the thing they felt was their transformative experince, and each generation keeps finding a new generation defining experience
Thats actually not what I meant. I meant the experience of owning music on cd's/records/tapes. This cant really be experienced anymore since every song ever released can be immediately streamed. Sure you can buy vinyl or cd's at shows but it isnt the same because back then it was radio or buy/own the stuff
And my other point was how lots of electronic musicians seemed so distant and mysterious because they weren't livestreaming and and social media that made them/their personality/tweets etc available.
as for AFX, I think like one in 15 of his songs are amazing, the rest is just noise/filler
1 reply →
Eh, Aphex fans and IDM more broadly has always been pretentious AF. I think there's a kayfabe effect going on where both the artists and the fans lean so far into the earnestness of it all that it surely has to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I suspect that's part of the appeal for some folks, the delight in being obtuse.
It doesn't bother me too much. Many indie scenes have this sort of self-consciously avant garde sub-movement - theater, dance, fashion, games...
While I find 99% of braindance to be aggressively unlistenable and/or thoroughly tedious, the 1% that isn't tends to be truly great. Imo the best thing that ever happened to this genre was digital record stores, because casual fans can skip over all the limited edition vinyls and albums full of abstract noodling and just pick up the bangers.