I spent half of 2000 wandering the globe with
a bag of dusty techno, and the other half ensconced in the London music industry.
The year felt like a finalmeltdown of the genres which fixed the parameters
for music of the 90s. A neat summary of the ideas which came out of rave/dance.
2000 was the year to regroup and reflect on the past in order to move forward.
Perhaps Radiohead's Kid A summarizes this best: post-rock meeting post-dance
for a long hard soul searching for reasons to carry on creating when the boundaries
have melted.
Other faves came from New Zealand's Involve
who continually impressed with their simulcast of isolation and elation. The
latest project, Signer was a collection of synth washes and 4/4 sub-dance
tronics. Again the title 'giving it up to feel affected' hinted at loss, repentance
and reflexivity. Likewise Stefan Betke's ~scape imprint released with warm
dubwise experimentation's from the likes of Kit Clayton, Gramm and the consistently
innovative Bernd Friedmann. Forcetrax and mother imprint Mille Plateux continued
to plough new pastures highlights included Vladislav Delay's Luomo and the
kitsch 'clicks and cuts' compilation. Also, London label DeFocus reminded
me of the more playful side of electronica with releases from CiM, Plus One
and Finland's 21 year old Lackluster.
Geographically Iceland was back. Forget the Sugar cubes and Bjork or Gus Gus,
2000 saw the rise of Sigur Ros and Mum (pronounced moom). The former were
responsibly for spine live tingling performances bringing the sound of liquefying
magma, hot bubbling mud and clear open skies to a decaying dead London. The
final piece of the jigsaw was Thomas Newmann's American Beauty Soundtrack.
A score which supplemented the movies narrative of loss, rejuvenation and
eventually acceptance. The marimba's have haunted my thoughts since.
Looking forwards to 2000, my hot tip is a revival
of electronica. There are a number of strong connections between independent
labels across the globe all viral routing their sonic message via the web
and the new ecology of small grass roots festivals taking place across Europe,
America and Australasia. However, away from my bubble here are my predictions:
Chill out music has and will continue
to be the Sunday morning aural vallium to the late 20-30 something's. Drum
and Bass, 2-Step and break beat will continue to thrive on the underbelly
of the dance industry. House will continue its schism as deep house disappears
through the floor and the other types of house (hard, trance, cheese, garage
etc) will, well you know. Techno will continue to push the fold (but none
will pay any attention). 70s jazz-rock fusion will be the hottest property
around, live bands will infiltrate clubs and suddenly everyone will start
playing in a band again. Being a DJ will become seriously wack for the first
time in a long, long time. Some music will be good some will be not so good.
The production techniques of electronica and the instrumentalism and performance
of post-rock will enmesh to form a series of non-linear combinatronics leading
to a new emergent property which is bigger than both the individual genres,
this will be the soundtrack for true folk devils.
andy@folkdevil.com