Salem - What kind of music genre is this ?

It seems to demand too much attention for that, a bit like the Flying Lotus album. Although Cosmogramma >>> King Night.

the point of this music is when it's late at night and you want some background music that's also a little ~discomfiting~ but that you don't need to pay much attention to

Bohren and der Club of Gore are the go-to for this surely. I agree with Matt, whether you love or loathe Salem I'd find it hard to use this as background music.

There's also the problem that Southern rap drum sounds sound like shit when divorced from actual rap music, especially music that aspires towards heaviness (both this and Lil Wayne's atrocious rock record spring to mind).

The whole sounding like shit thing works well for Salem imo

also, how does one get arrested by the Crunk Police?

Wait, I got it: "In 2007, the hottest name in crunk was in fact...Belle and Sebastian."

There's also the problem that Southern rap drum sounds sound like shit when divorced from actual rap music,

this is the kind of assertion about which I am really suspicious - any musical sound in any genre context could be just great depending on how it was used in my opinion - the notion that particular sounds/textures/tones can't sound good except in a given genre context strikes me as a claim that'd require more defense than could be mustered on its behalf

It seems to demand too much attention for that, a bit like the Flying Lotus album. Although Cosmogramma >>> King Night.

Okay can we please not compare one of the year's most brilliant albums to one of its most desperately boring and overhyped?

wait which one is which?

Anyone who's seen me in the Flying Lotus thread or gushing about his live set should know the answer to that.

yeah missed that thread

Yeah I thought Cosmogramma was an unlistenable rehash of some of the worst elements of noodly up-its-own-bottom IDM. I couldn't sit through hardly any of it.

What puzzles me on this thread isn't the people who don't like Salem, as this is an aesthetic decision, but the people who say it's "derivative" or "boring" or "not sure what it's for" etc... I mean, this is not really like a lot of music that's been out before, despite certain allusions to industrial, hip hop and house music. They def seem to be doing their own thing - it's an original sound and aesthetic, so I can't see how it could be classed as uninteresting.

really? something can't be both original and boring?

I agree that parts of the album do drag a bit, and maybe parts of it could have been done better. But the quintessence of Salem IS interesting and original, and it also seems obvious what this music is "for". I don't agree with those on this thread who are all "Oh it's Salem, oh YAWWWWN I've seen all this before..." because the only band I can really equate with them based on aesthetic value are Ministry, who don't really sound like Salem much at all and haven't done anything worthwhile in years.

i mean, they are definitely "original" but only because they're a watered-down, whitenized and hipster chic version of something I already like.

a watered-down, whitenized and hipster chic version of something I already like

Doesn't this eventually happen with every interesting type of music? :(

whiney - what exactly are you talking about? crunk? if yes, then I fear you are missing the point of Salem.

i think salem are doing something fairly unlike anything else right now, but it doesn't really come across as sounding impressive b/c it's pretty simple and uses a lot of basic elements from other genres. it's pretty effective here and there - i do remember being kind of blown away be "redlights" when i first heard it ages ago - much much less so across an album. i don't get breathlessly stanning for them though on the other side there are people absolutely loving how cynical/sceptical/dismissive salem allow them to be (it's kind of an open goal) and that's nagl.

found an article somewhere saying that white ring and creep are the two witch house acts who actually have the potential to transcend its silliness, from what i've heard i would agree with that. the two white ring tracks i've heard, "ixc999" and "roses", are the only songs from this scene that i've found myself compulsively listening to. iirc it's only creep, who are two girls, who've talked about "rape gaze", not any of the other acts, and, like, duhhh they've called themselves CREEP ffs, it's hardly out of character. their debut single proper has romy xx on vox and - going by the deadboy remix which is all i've heard - is really great and focused.

Lex, you're right - I think my only issue with Salem is that they work better on paper and on initial listen, than they do over the course of a whole album. I love the idea of this kind of haunted hillbilly rave music, but they need to throw a few more ideas into the mix. I don't find it "silly" though (well maybe the rapping is a bit daft), but I can totally see a generation of what might have once been goths and metalheads really digging this stuff, since most of the metalheads I have known were also into hiphop AND noisy dance music etc.. So going back to an industrial style is quite welcome from my viewpoint.

lex otm--it's "original" but also shallow and obvious.

whiney - what exactly are you talking about? crunk? if yes, then I fear you are missing the point of Salem.

― village idiot (dog latin), Monday, October 11, 2010 10:05 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I mean screw music. And the fact that you can't pick up on that speaks volumes about why these guys are successful

sorry, markers: """""""""""successful""""""""""

this thread: *SIGH*

i mean, and I LIKE white crunk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SyEwLREPs4

I mean screw music. And the fact that you can't pick up on that speaks volumes about why these guys are successful

― like the G6 summit (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, October 11, 2010 10:19 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

otmfm

xposts to Whiney
Not so familiar with screw music. From what I have heard (and pardon my ignorance here), this is a style of reworking hiphop tracks, pitching and chopping the vocals and beats, right? Because if so this is not the main element at work here. Salem have as much in common with Ultraviolence, Altern-8, Atari Teenage Riot, Boards Of Canada, Sisters Of Mercy and a host of goth, metal, house, electronica and industrial acts as they do with hiphop. So I think it's kind of unfair to say "well Salem's no good because they're not as good as [insert one loose aspect of their style here].

I could say that King Night sucks because it doesn't rock as hard as Psalm 69, but that wouldn't make sense.

no i think screw is the main element here

You just said Sleigh Bells were "white crunk".

yes, i said that facetiously, and you just wikipedia's "screw music," so eat me

ugh sleigh bells are so much worse than salem

I'm now never going to listen to Salem again in case it reminds me of this spectacularly inane "debate". (xpost)

and dogg latin, to respond to your question, i think Salem can stumble across Boards Of Canada stuff, but it's not because they're sitting down with a laptop and being sound alchemists; its because dumb idiots who accidentally found an ambient preset in between smoking their cigarettes and staring blindly at their gear [see attached video]

wouldn't 'white crunk' be like sevendust or something

i love that Boards Of Canada song where dude is like all

SHE SAY I DOW WIH HUH I SAY BITCH YOU ALLLOOOOONNNNEEEE

no never mind, i take that back, i'm not getting into this

xp

okay, (ftr, I didn't wiki "screw music", it's not something I'm heavily into, but I am familiar with it) - Salem are influenced by screw, this is apparent. They are not screw though. Hell, I don't even believe they're hiphop. I'm just saying, there are many more things going on in King Night than simply a bunch of white guys making bad screw music. And while your post about BoC is also being facetious, it's missing the point too.

"making screw", LOL!

there are many more things going on in King Night than simply a bunch of white guys making bad screw music

hahah, this is basically where we're gonna disagree, so we should probably let some other people have the floor

there is really nothing more going on in King Night than simply a bunch of white guys making bad screw music -- but it turned out kind of interesting!

"dumb idiots who accidentally found an ambient preset in between smoking their cigarettes and staring blindly at their gear" is the majority of punky/new-wave/industrial electronic music anyway. Is it not acceptable to say that comparing Salem to just Screw is the same as comparing them to Cabaret Voltaire or whoever?

xpost, haha, sure thing Whiney - I'm not going to defend this band anymore - it's an okay album, but just okay.

AFA screw is concerned though, Whiney what should I check out, as I'm interested?

i love that Boards Of Canada song where dude is like all

SHE SAY I DOW WIH HUH I SAY BITCH YOU ALLLOOOOONNNNEEEE

loooooooool A+

doglat,

My personal fave is David Banner's Mississippi: The Album screwed and chopped version, which had a commercial release. Obviously DJ Screw is the king of this stuff, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna pretend to be all Byron Coley about his 200+ releases, hahaha.

I like screwed and chopped music. I find the songs on the Salem album where the guy raps painful in almost every way.
I love many of the songs on the Salem album (the guy only raps on two of them, right?) - nobody would be talking about screw if the album was all like Redlights and Frost.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2nltpiu.gif

did you make that?

;-)

^TTG

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i'm guessing "thanks to god"?, but not ruling out "the tile guy" or "turkish trade guide."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT9C1GaBoDw

ah. ty.