Is it time for a post-modern interpretation of nineties music?

[Dasheesh]

Today’s audience is too dumbed down for 90’s. Everything you do now is imitation of 90’s.

Same as movies. Everything has to be dumbed down for today’s audience. It’s the lowest common denominator world we live in.

#Quantityoverquality. It’s about dollar dollar bills ya’ll.

[shonky]

Today’s audience is too dumbed down for 90’s. Everything you do now is imitation of 90’s.

Personally, I do love a lot of 90s music as I was in my 20s at the time, but also it was a time when new genres seemed to be spawned monthly and there were no formulas in place which encouraged more experimentation. When scenes became stale, new ones formed and with it further innovation, often with people using new technology without regard as to what it's "correct" use might be. There was a big element of the "shock of the new", and dance music splintered in multiple directions before the genre police and, to an extent, less open-minded audiences settled what was acceptable within each. For example, I'm sure there's been good drum and bass made since but the blueprint for much of what's occurred since was already formed by the trailblazers between the mid-to-late 90s.

However, I still think there are people that can use 90s influences without sounding plagiaristic or backwards looking.

I'm sure there are elements of this tune which can be traced back to the 90s (Tricky's earlier material is probably the closest to me) but it's certainly not a pale imitation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OydK91JjFOw

And you could argue that this owes a lot to 90s IDM but again, it's taken in a completely different direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3mCDJ_iWc

Again, IDM influence, but also elements of rave, cinematic/classical arrangement, structurally as far removed from most 90s music as you can get.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcNG-zMlB8Q

[an-electric-heart]

My last album featured a song that was intended to be 90s dance, I still listen to Real McCoy, 2 Unlimited, Corona and stuff like that:
https://anelectricheart.bandcamp.com/tr ... s-sympathy

[Dasheesh]

That arca one isn't bad. There is just so much missing from the context generally. Even if it's well produced (most 90's was NOT), and they get good use of their instruments (willing to go off script)... there's no ROCK. It's all so f**king whiny and corny... bleach.

[shonky]

That arca one isn't bad. There is just so much missing from the context generally. Even if it's well produced (most 90's was NOT), and they get good use of their instruments (willing to go off script)... there's no ROCK. It's all so f**king whiny and corny... bleach.

I said they were influenced by but not directly derivative of 90s music as you said:

Everything you do now is imitation of 90’s.

And as you've pointed out, different context, different production values. They are only vaguely reminiscent of 90s tunes, a modern if not post-modern interpretation which is what the original thread was about. They appropriate aspects of that music and use them in more personal music whereas the original context was loud, sweaty raves, drugs and airhorns. They're not intended for the same purpose so why would they "rock"?

Just out of interest, what would be your opinion on someone like Burial be as I figure he also incorporated a lot of 90s elements (e.g. reese bass, dub sirens and chipmunk vocals) but in a way that felt far removed from the original environment that those sounds would have been heard.

[pilotredsun]

when's the microtonal nu metal album dropping?

[rod_zero]

The album is disappearing rapidly with Streaming becoming the dominant delivery medium, and the 90's were all about strong albums (it was the peak of the industry).
now
Videos were very well done, with some awesome directors and high production budgets. That is all gone.

MTV played music, it was cool to be "alternative", now the scenes are more fragmented because of social media. The mainstream has become more homogeneous.

[egbert101]

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[shonky]

The album is disappearing rapidly with Streaming becoming the dominant delivery medium, and the 90's were all about strong albums (it was the peak of the industry).

Within dance music, the 12" was arguably more important, and quite likely the main place tunes were initially heard would have been in clubs, raves and listening to mixtapes and cd's or pirate stations on car sound systems (compare now to the rather less visceral smartphone, laptop or tablet experience). I remember chatting to a guy who produced a jungle tune which I'd never heard who said that it sold 40,000 copies, and was one of the biggest selling tunes of that year. Although it's clearly quicker to release on mp3 nowadays, reliance on 12"s rather than albums allowed the music to evolve more rapidly.

I think the shift to mp3s meant a big change in that "record" shopping means that anyone across the world can have access to pretty much the same set list as well known artists, which I think also brings increased homogenisation to music. Scarcity ultimately led to people being unable to buy the tunes they wanted but also probably helped them check out other music that they would have missed if they'd had access to all the big tunes.

MTV played music, it was cool to be "alternative", now the scenes are more fragmented because of social media. The mainstream has become more homogeneous.

I think part of this is that music cultures used to be rather more tribal and music consumers now seem more eclectic in their tastes, if not particularly experimental. I think this has meant to me that even a lot of rock, rap and RnB acts now seem to incorporate many of the risers and other fx used in EDM, EDM uses more conventional pop hooks and structures and these now just seem to much into tunes that average out to a mush of indistinguishable tunes.

[noiseboyuk]

As a (just a slight) tangent - what technology since 2000 onwards has shaped music, beyond its general easier accessibility and ubiquity?

[shonky]

As a (just a slight) tangent - what technology since 2000 onwards has shaped music, beyond its general easier accessibility and ubiquity?

DAWs in general I would have thought, pretty sure that most 90s tunes were made on hardware, sequenced on Ataris and recorded to DAT. Most editing would have been done in MIDI rather than directly on the audio file.

While it could be argued that this simply makes it more accessible and ubiquitous, I think it does and has completely changed the way people approach music making, one example being the almost ADHD need for constant edits and modulations on otherwise unimaginative parts (e.g. one note basslines with endless wub variations), whereas previously it could be argued that stronger parts needed to be written in the first place and variations in melody, harmony and note placement gave variety, although even then you had acid and techno tunes that might just be one riff tweaked endlessly throughout the tune.

[sjm]

As a (just a slight) tangent - what technology since 2000 onwards has shaped music, beyond its general easier accessibility and ubiquity?

DAWs in general I would have thought.

I'd agree that computers have changed the paradigm. Nowadays you can do almost everything ITB and the computer is no longer just another tool in the chain, but quite often actually the "studio" itself.

On the one hand, anyone with a computer can make music now!
On the other hand anyone with a computer can make music now

But computers (or microchips) have shaped music in another way - through mobile technologies. This has changed the way people listen to and discover music.

Songs are getting shorter again to counteract the attention deficit that 24/7 stimulus brings with it, and to stop listeners skipping to the next song that is just one click away (grass is always greener syndrome). Singles are back, albums are out. Videos matter again, and often try to be viral. YT and its ilk are today's MTV, and mobile internet access means it reaches more people more of the time. You see a lot of people listening to YT music on the bus etc.

Furthermore, because it's so easy for 12 songwriters anywhere in the world to collab on a hit song, many of them sound incoherent, like 7 different songs stuck together in a short medley.

[egbert101]

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[wagtunes]

I'd agree that computers have changed the paradigm. Nowadays you can do almost everything ITB and the computer is no longer just another tool in the chain, but quite often actually the "studio" itself.

On the one hand, anyone with a computer can make music now!
On the other hand anyone with a computer can make music now

Basically agree with your point. More people, such as myself (a talentless git) have the tools and freedom to make the music we listened to when we were teenagers, doesn't mean we should!
/quote]

Sorry, can't resist. Why shouldn't we? Is there a law that says that only "talented" people should make music? And what is talent anyway? Who defines it. Some people think Deadmau5 is talented. Some people think he's a joke. Who's to say?

As long as we're not breaking some kind of law in this world, we have the freedom to make music, art or anything else that we want.

So just who determines who should and shouldn't do something?

[tapiodmitriyevich]

Same as movies. Everything has to be dumbed down for today’s audience. It’s the lowest common denominator world we live in.

No. Not more than in the 90s. There's still gems in all professions, you are just not finding or seeing them.
Ontopic example: Software. Germans are making jokes about being irrelevant at all. All great software is coming from outside our country. Is it? But just think about audio. Steinberg. Bitwig. Ableton. U-HE.

We're just not aware of the good things that exist.