commendation for outstanding service to human race: resident advisor

wait weren't those dudes in a band together?? what a tramp!

Derek Plaslaiko mix is really good.

It sure is...

RA started out strong, but they've become a little too proggy for my taste.

Not quite sure how recent podcasts (Freund, Maclean, Optimo, Claro Intelecto, Kalabrese, Pole, etc.) can be considered "proggy"...

i agree with that, especially given the list that is parenthesized there, but there's definitely an argument for minimal techno as the new (and newly mutated) progressive house.

"i agree with that, especially given the list that is parenthesized there, but there's definitely an argument for minimal techno as the new (and newly mutated) progressive house.

-- tricky"

i agree with that idea, mnml is definitely the new prog house.

though i will say that i think RA started out more proggy and has since moved into better territory, covering much more different kinds of stuff.

I thought the Mara Trax one was a snoozer. It was cut from an eight hour set, so there's more than a chance that we got them at their most spare and percussive (seriously, though, 30 odd minutes of drum tracks without much else is hard to get excited about, especially in a non-club setting) from an otherwise lively set.

That being said, I saw Miss Fitz DJ recently and I ended up feeling more or less the same about her set.

"i agree with that, especially given the list that is parenthesized there, but there's definitely an argument for minimal techno as the new (and newly mutated) progressive house.

-- tricky"

i agree with that idea, mnml is definitely the new prog house.

-- pipecock, Thursday, 13 March 2008

about when it (mnml-whatever) began to lose me really, perhaps getting on for a couple of years now?

but honestly pipecock has doubtless been saying that since 1999 to begin with! not sure there's really 'agreement' going on here....

the Mara Trax has bored me so far. maybe i need to give it a deeper listen.

playing the jd twitch one right now and man is it awesome!

yeah fandango i wouldn't necessarily consider progressive to be pejorative.

me either, really!

I didn't mean to mention that (my own disappointment & creeping sense of deja-vu post-Get Physical) as if there was a direct link. It's probably as much that 'minimal techno' is pretty much just mainstream 'techno' (or whatever classier house isn't electro or big room boshbosh) out there these days.

yup, that's kind of what i mean, too.

x-post - taking into account fandango's disclaimer...

The problem with the whole "minimal is the new progressive" argument (as I've said several times so forgive me for boring some of you) is that the aspects of the two styles are similar are not usually the ones which would make a useful stick with which to be beat either style.

When we look at what people who disliked prog house used to say, their complaints were:

1) Its general apparent lack of any relationship to "warm" house proper (with some exceptions) and a general overreliance on a more subtle version of trance synth melodies.
2) Its rhythmic unadventurousness.
3) The way DJs seemed to focus excessively on merging between tracks indistinguishably rather than setting up contrasts between tracks.
3) The extreme polarisation of identity-factor w/r/t DJs and producers (i.e. superstar status for Sasha, Warren etc. but relative anonymity for even big producers like Tilt or Quivver).

Certainly we can identify individual minimal tracks that have some of these qualities but rarely if ever all of them; and the scene as a whole doesn't fit any of the above characteristics consistently.

agree upthread about the mara being for the most part kinda eh. the letter end of the mix is nice. the twitch mix is one of the best i've heard in a while.

3) The way DJs seemed to focus excessively on merging between tracks indistinguishably rather than setting up contrasts between tracks.

this happens a lot in minimal

but i can't think of any logical explanation for this bizarre minimal=prog belief. there have been a fair amount of successful proggish minimal tracks in the past couple of years, but that seems to have kind of petered out (correct me if i'm wrong). are you people talking about some "meta" connection that i'm not seeing?

Mary Anne Hobbs does a great job championing some of the murkier echelons of electronic music but boy, i could really really do without her hyperbolic chatter. her introduction to that villalobos mix he did a few months back made me want to hurl my mp3 player into the river. "this mix is the stuff of legend..." my ass.

Funny thing is, back when I first listened to teh Breezeblock in about 1998, i actually found her breathless 'enthusiasm' genuinely exciting... maybe i just didn't have enough confidence in my own tastes? – anyway nowadays i find it grates...

"are you people talking about some "meta" connection that i'm not seeing?"

it's not the sound so much as the popular aspect that i am talking about. it's just the big thing and now it seems to be in the process of being superceded by a more traditional house or techno (take your pick) sound.

"but honestly pipecock has doubtless been saying that since 1999 to begin with! not sure there's really 'agreement' going on here....

-- fandango"

nah, there was kind of a movement from "glitch" or whatever you wanna call it style techno in the early 00's (when it was wildly popular) into the more mnml sounding stuff, even though some of the players (hawtin obviously a big one in that transition, taking it from closer to the edit into mnml) stayed the same. it was somewhere in that transition that the attitude associated with the music changed, and the kind of people who listened to it changed as well. that mix comp with richie and sven vath editing in bits of conversation from their ibiza trip or whatever was pretty much in stark contrast to the kind of air that "techno" had before then and signalled the change into nu-prog attitude. it was only a matter of time after that before the sound fell more into place and you started seeing "prog" deejays playing Kompakt records and the like.

the kind of people who listened to it changed as well.

always important

"x-post - taking into account fandango's disclaimer...

The problem with the whole "minimal is the new progressive" argument (as I've said several times so forgive me for boring some of you) is that the aspects of the two styles are similar are not usually the ones which would make a useful stick with which to be beat either style.

When we look at what people who disliked prog house used to say, their complaints were:

1) Its general apparent lack of any relationship to "warm" house proper (with some exceptions) and a general overreliance on a more subtle version of trance synth melodies.
2) Its rhythmic unadventurousness.
3) The way DJs seemed to focus excessively on merging between tracks indistinguishably rather than setting up contrasts between tracks.
3) The extreme polarisation of identity-factor w/r/t DJs and producers (i.e. superstar status for Sasha, Warren etc. but relative anonymity for even big producers like Tilt or Quivver).

Certainly we can identify individual minimal tracks that have some of these qualities but rarely if ever all of them; and the scene as a whole doesn't fit any of the above characteristics consistently.

-- Tim F"

i'm not sure those are the entire set of criticisms against prog house. here is my comparison: both prog and mnml are both white washed versions of their respective black dance musics. most of the main players in each are white guys from europe and england. each seems more interested in taking influence from within their own genre (though now that mnml is stealing from "deep house" that could change) than looking outside of it. both attained popularity with a relatively new to dance music crowd. each style was focused on the "new" music, and heavily on particular superstar type deejays.

aside from those, the first 3 of your points are present in mnml as well. im not sure your 4th point really makes any real difference, does it matter how popular a producer is vs. a deejay?

"the kind of people who listened to it changed as well.

always important

-- deej"

i'm not sure i would say that it is important, but it definitely signals an overall change in style.

so did bambaataa blackwash kraftwerk?

snarkiness aside, i am all for giving credit where it's due, but i think the issue of race and musical heritage is much more complex than white or black wash.

also, some of the very best minimal records of the past few years are those that use ideas and sounds from outside of minimal, but the difficulty here is that minimal/mnml is too broad a term.

that brings it back to what i think is your and fandango's point about minimal being assimilated into/becoming the mainstream of dance music..

ok i am feeling this argument now but one big difference (and this sort of ties into tim's popularity of djs vs. producers thing) is that minimal seems to have sort of intellectual/high art connotations for a lot of people (villalobos on cover of the wire, the still-lingering echoes of the glitch era, uhhhh more examples plz) that never existed with prog.

and yeah we whities put the white wash on and it always comes out trancey

each style was focused on the "new" music, and heavily on particular superstar type deejays.

just like everything else, right???

Anders Ilar! I love you RA!

Plus, the pole mix is sounding very nice right now.

I think I might buy a huge pack of CDR's and try and get all of these in physical form, well, maybe just 50-70 or so.

I'm hoping they're going to get someone big for #100, my bet is Luciano or something.

yeah the Ilar's great, very minimal rainy morning, which is perfect for me right now

where can i get a copy of henrik schwarz?

both prog and mnml are both white washed versions of their respective black dance musics. most of the main players in each are white guys from europe and england

proved

moonship i put that henrik schwarz up on leonardo

thx bro

listening to the ilar now, sounds terrific

A cursory skim through Kevin Saunderson's mix is really making it sounds very promising.

yeah...saunderson is playing a lot of whitewashed music though...shame on him.

OMG he's wearing a bluetooth headset in the promo picture

I once saw Anders Ilar and there were about ten people there. He uses Fruity Loops. Music was great.

i like that track at 55:00. what is that?

taht was an xpost. 55:00 in the KS mix

anders ilar mildly boring / uncreative i thought.

I haven't listened to any of his records. I remember that night a really fat girl came up to me and asked me if I had a girlfriend and I lied and said yes and she said "oh it's just that my pal thought you were cute" and her friend was hot. Who the hell gets their friends to approach people after the age of 12 or so?!

Sorry for the blog post.

never lie to fat people

hell, never lie to anyone

kevin saunderson is possibly my all time favourite techno producer. i've always thought he should stick to producing and looking at that tracklisting, i don't think i'm going to change my mind about that anytime soon.

anders ilarthe last month and a half or so mildly boring / uncreative i thought

mostly the boring part; i don't follow releases like, at all so it's not like djs have to cratedig to impress me. make me move or something.

"kevin saunderson is possibly my all time favourite techno producer. i've always thought he should stick to producing and looking at that tracklisting, i don't think i'm going to change my mind about that anytime soon.

-- stirmonster"

saunderson is horrible at deejaying. he plays a ton of absolute garbage. it makes me really irritated, given how good his releases and label has been. i guess getting paid is the bomb.

i like this sequence a lot

16. Kevin Saunderson - World Of Deep (Jesse Rose Remix)
17. Hatiras - Rock Da House
18. Haruki Matsuo - Side Step Test
19. Kevin Saunderson - Pump Da Move (Samuel L Session Remix)
20. ? - Da Umba (?)
21. Korioto & Ivan Gomez - Work My Beats
22. Kevin Saunderson - Bassline (Joris Voorn Remix)

22. Kevin Saunderson - Bassline (Joris Voorn Remix)

this remix is mega - it never leaves my box. i never thought the original could be beaten but i think i actually prefer this version.

yeah...saunderson is playing a lot of whitewashed music though...shame on him.

-- Ronan, Monday, 24 March 2008 21:38 (1 hour ago) Link

if this was a joke it was a good one!

what's funny to me is that the "credible" stuff strikes me as the worst-sounding part of his mix. the vincenzo / italoboyz / nazca nonsense. ok, it sounds a little bit like basic channel because the synths billow and echo. but you know what? it's also really, really boring. does it do anything? no, it just sits there. it's not that there's anything wrong with filtering the same few notes up and down. carl craig is a genius at doing exactly that. but these guys aren't - it's like they're convinced that if they just follow the maurizio & carl craig cookbook (throwing a few elements from each) they'll end up master chefs. NOPE, sorry, it doesn't work like that. not actively bad, just sort of uninspired and completely useless at getting my pulse up.

at least guetta and fedde le grand get your pulse up.

i'm talking about the long middle stretch from around 30:00 to 50:00, if anybody cares