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

[wagtunes]

EVERY record, mind. Every single one, void of any context and rationality. Link 'em all!

I get that the context is too subtle for most people. And I really don't care enough to explain it.

It's a sad commentary on how the majority who attend this forum view the 90s. I mean I love techno, trance, dnb, hip hop and even Italo Disco as much as the next guy, but really, there was a lot more to the 90s than just that stuff.

I worked in a record shop in the mid-90s in one of the less musically aware parts of the UK and can vouch that the vast majority of people were still buying Celine Dion, Robson and jerome, Top 40 compilations and Blur and Oasis. For a lot of people, the 90s was just rehashes of the 60s, 70s and 80s again, although I did rather like Blur's take on Chas'n'Dave at the time.

My point to posting all those videos, for those who missed it and need a diagram, is that the conversation here which, I thought, was supposed to be about recreating 90s style music, ended up a discussion about dnb. I mean there was more going on in the 90s than just dnb. And that's what I subtly tried to remind people.

I didn't think any additional context was needed.

But by all means, if the members here just want to talk that small a subset of the 90s, I'll bow out of the rest of the conversation.

Because honestly, I have very little to contribute under those parameters.

[fluffy_little_something]

To me 90's music means mostly New Jack Swing
And artists such as SWV, Brownstone, Portrait, Loose Ends etc.

[aMUSEd]

Best 90's band was The Rolling Stones

[mgw38]

Is that 1890s?

[shonky]

My point to posting all those videos, for those who missed it and need a diagram, is that the conversation here which, I thought, was supposed to be about recreating 90s style music, ended up a discussion about dnb. I mean there was more going on in the 90s than just dnb. And that's what I subtly tried to remind people.

I didn't think any additional context was needed.

But by all means, if the members here just want to talk that small a subset of the 90s, I'll bow out of the rest of the conversation.

Because honestly, I have very little to contribute under those parameters.

Fair point, but I was just adding that much of 90s music, especially regarding much of what you posted, wouldn't be out of place in other decades (e.g. Roxette could easily be 80s power pop soundwise, Bryan Adams and Celine Dion 80s power ballads, etc.). If the OP was asking about 90s sounds on an electronic music forum, I'm guessing he's not talking about Hootie and the Blowfish or Shania Twain.

Anyway, just to switch it up a bit, here's the Advent with some electro influenced techno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Foj5QI1QTM

And a bit more from the Hawtin lad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWWBH9qzVKI

[egbert101]

<delete>

[Dasheesh]

Don’t challenge me on techno. I was there. We will all wind up bouncing off our couches and into the chandelier together before it’s over. You actually chose one of the good examples of both... which surprises me.

[shonky]

You can talk about whatever you want on this thread. Basically I'm more interested in reinventing the essence of 90s music rather than recreating, hence I used the term post-modern, but if others want to talk about recreating, that's fine by me. There was definitely more to the 90s than just D&B, and I think there's plenty more examples that we've yet to explore.

Can we hone it down a bit in terms of what 90s music you're actually referring to, as it does cover a lot of ground. There's a slight continuation of the 80s where most of the interesting stuff was happening in the underground, and I think much of the essence then was small scenes of likeminded people working towards similar musical goals, keeping an ear out for new ideas and a lot of experimentation, but always with an eye out for making sure that it stayed true to what they and their crowds wanted, possibly a bit more tribal compared to now, but not necessarily in a negative way where it limited a scene through policing "acceptable" ideas - the fans wanted to see where it would go and seemed to enjoy the ride while the music stayed fresh.

I think much of what I like about it is that it sounded so wrong musically, for reasons that I've stated earlier, and compared to modern day music, where they actually seem to pay attention to playing parts in the right key, observe conventions for how many bars there should be before the obligatory risers and bass drops kick in, you did get some utter oddities.

I mean this to my mind is genius, but I can totally see why others might disagree

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhGQACm1ssA

[shonky]

Exhibit 2:

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

Lo-fi house from back in the day

[wagtunes]

You can talk about whatever you want on this thread. Basically I'm more interested in reinventing the essence of 90s music rather than recreating, hence I used the term post-modern, but if others want to talk about recreating, that's fine by me. There was definitely more to the 90s than just D&B, and I think there's plenty more examples that we've yet to explore.

Can we hone it down a bit in terms of what 90s music you're actually referring to, as it does cover a lot of ground. There's a slight continuation of the 80s where most of the interesting stuff was happening in the underground, and I think much of the essence then was small scenes of likeminded people working towards similar musical goals, keeping an ear out for new ideas and a lot of experimentation, but always with an eye out for making sure that it stayed true to what they and their crowds wanted, possibly a bit more tribal compared to now, but not necessarily in a negative way where it limited a scene through policing "acceptable" ideas - the fans wanted to see where it would go and seemed to enjoy the ride while the music stayed fresh.

I think much of what I like about it is that it sounded so wrong musically, for reasons that I've stated earlier, and compared to modern day music, where they actually seem to pay attention to playing parts in the right key, observe conventions for how many bars there should be before the obligatory risers and bass drops kick in, you did get some utter oddities.

I mean this to my mind is genius, but I can totally see why others might disagree

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhGQACm1ssA

Now believe it or not, I was doing stuff like this back in the late 70s because I knew absolutely nothing about making a melody and musical convention. I'd start with a beat and just keep building on it with all this strange stuff because it's all I knew how to do. My friends flat out told me to my face that it was horrible and my own mother told me, and I quote, "Steven, it's time to get off the merry-go-round" because it was just the most monotonous stuff you could imagine, even with all the layers, which was tough to do with a 4 track Teac A3440. I had to do so many bounces that by the time I was done, the tape degradation was awful.

I should dig out some of my "old" stuff some day. Trust me, nobody would call it genius. At least nobody I know. But I loved it. And I continued with that style until about 1984 when I finally sold out and started writing "pop" songs.

As far as "Destination Unknown" goes, I prefer this one.

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

** EDIT ** I just remembered. I threw out everything I did before 1984. It's history. It got tossed when I sold my Teac. I threw out all the reel to reel tapes. Eh, what a waste.

[Dasheesh]

welp... here we go. I really can take this techno thing as far as you want... all the way up to the end when Warehouse caught on and they just started pumping it out for the $. Just let me know when to stop.

You started with Green Velvet.

Saw this show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAgTS64axEE

[Dasheesh]

^^^ if any of you are new to the techno thing or new to green velvet... you too late. They all got left behind with ableton so just enjoy the originals.

[Dasheesh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfwxz-SSmBM

[Dasheesh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... gMgvDMyKvA

[Dasheesh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUgQjL0-C5A