Techno so stale and generic that originator don't know his own work

The Lounge General Discussion
#85

Or if your mind has a very strict band-gap filter applied to it.

#86

Look up Underground Resistance.

It’s [not that] complicated perhaps.

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#87

Touche! Not my particular or favorite style, but…

My nod in acknowledgment.

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#88

He’s an alien who invented the 909.

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#89

Or perhaps it’s the other way around. I still haven’t caught him live, but would actually quite like to at some point, generic or not.

#90

same but im not an old techno head still learning

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#91

I spoke to me mate Jeff about this thread he will drop in shortly.

#92

If you know a thing or two about Mills you know that he’s never been the type to be “fucked up on drugs”.

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#93

I’ll just leave this here…

IMO, man’s a fuckin wizard!

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#94

He’s a 909 who invented an alien? :crazy_face:

On topic: I thought his Liquid Room liveset CD was pretty good!

#96

Rumour has it he’s allergic to faces. Which is why all his friends wear balaclavas.

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#97

What a facist… :thinking:

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#98

It’s always a possibility. Or maybe two 909s.

#99

Ah I don’t know if we’re able to gauge the state of ‘Techno’ in any indisputable way. lol. So Jeff Mills jumped the shark and exposed the fact in embarrassing fashion. Doesn’t say much, it’s hard to stay on top of your game …forever.

I say it’s all those ‘How to make killer trance basslines in Ableton’ videos on youtube enforcing stereotypes and peddling easy recipes for churning out tracks who are responsible, Generations of aspiring (bedroom-) producers, who train themselves to reproduce that stuff, to in turn spoil the taste of their audience. (; (;

But jokes aside: yah, there’s more generic garbage than ever, it’s a function of the democratisation of production tools. But among the talentless masses (myself included) there is that small percentage of outstanding artists, and some of 'em make exciting EDM. There are arguably more numerous than ever. It’s just harder to come to a consensus where and who they are what with all the frantic shouting going on in the social media era.

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#100

I really like Jeff Mills and respect his legacy. And though “Waveform Transmission Vol. 1” was one of the first records I bought, he wasn’t that important for my personal techno education and it seems some techno folks worship the guy whatever he does.

I mean, his constant alien, planets, future talk is getting tiresome. (Talking about future while repeating the same old patterns on a 40 year old drum machine is strange imo). I get that it is his thing but I decided to find this rather amusing than taking it serious (not that I ever did).

I absolutely believe that this release incident was an accident and it won’t and shouldn’t touch Mr. Mills legacy.

Reason for this thread was not Jeff or the release in particular, more the copycat side of things.

Look it that way. Steve Bicknell is an artist I really admire. And one could say his works are similar to Mills style. Minimal, loopy, sparse, bleepy, 909 drums etc. But I could instantly recognize a Bicknell track, whereas I can’t see much differences in Mills or his copys tracks. Why is that?

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#102

Might be. I think it’s just easier to copy Mills than Steve Bicknell.

#104

he’s a 909 that invented aliens?

that sounds about right.

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#105

I will call your one track, and raise you an entire album:

“Another alleged case of theft was highlighted recently when German electro-scientist Dr Atmo released a new cd called Man Made Motion on Mille Plateaux. According to Ambient world watchers, the record is an illegitimate reissue of Tetsu Inoue’s Slow and Low cd which was released on Pete Namlooks label in 1995. Its still not clear if this was an error, a prank, or an act of pure evil.”

“As it turned out, the music on this release was lifted directly from Tetsu Inoue’s Slow & Low album on the Fax label (where Dr. Atmo had previously released several records), albeit with a slightly lower pitch and poorer sound quality. Eventually, Ritornell (who were unaware of the illegitimate nature of the record) had to withdraw the release.”

.

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#106

Clearly - how did he appear out of thin air like that?!

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#107

I feel the same argument can be said about every genre. Whether it’s jazz, classical, pop, or lofi hiphop.

I enjoy techno a lot, but I was listening to Amelie Lens, which I greatly respect and used to enjoy her sets, newer sets and I was surprised by how generic or same-y ever record she played sounded. Like I could skip, a bunch, hit play, and I couldn’t tell if I missed anything.

That said, I would say the same thing about Avalon Emerson. I feel Avalon has really interested and varied sets. She, I think, still produces ‘techno’, but I wouldn’t call it generic or same-y.

What I’m trying to say I guess is that in every genre there is a stream of tracks/songs/releases that follow a very clear formula. Great artists create their own path. Mills was definitely one of the greats and still is. But I don’t consider him to be, in this day, an innovator. That is normal. Radio head are not as innovative as they used to be when OK Computer came out.

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