Kelley Polar - Love Songs of The Hanging Gardens (Environ CD05)

haha!!!! i'm still right though. listen to the lyrics.

but is that idea completely underground and unpop? I'm not so sure.

My point about IDM is that while it initially was all about the references to past club musics and dancefloor sounds, it quickly moved away from that. I'd think most IDM fans wouldn't even recognize something like Autechre's Low Ride as IDM. While those early Autechre or Black Dog or B12 tracks were an extension and experimentation with detroit techno, electro, bass etc, pretty quickly IDM became something else.

As far as pop/experimentalism being on a axis, I don't believe they are all mutually exclusive, and in all the music I most enjoy, I enjoy the mixing of pop with experimentalism. But I do think at some point you can tell the difference and I do think some music, at it's heart, is "pop" or not. I think there is a difference between a dance song that is pop and a pop song that you can dance to.

*uncontrollable diarrhea*

Which mix and can I have a copy?

but "inspired by synth-pop" is very different from "accomplishes what synth-pop accomplished" or "functions as synth-pop functioned" or even "appeals across the board to people who like synth-pop for the same reason"

in the same way that bunker records or creme are aimed at people who dig italo but who come to it from a techno/electro/IDM background, these environ records (or saint etienne) are aimed at people who appreciate disco/boogie/italo/synthpop (or in SE's case, different aspects of british pop) but who come at it from a very specific (and somewhat marginal) position.

The coordinates (for me, at least, after a few listens) include Yukihiro Takahashi's Neuromantic, the good parts of Jan Hammer's Melodies, Free Design as produced by Klein & MBO and imaginary Beach Boys re-writes of "O Superman." (Junior Boys are bound to come up as well.)
-- Andy_K (doubtbea...), August 30th, 2005 4:29 AM. (Andy_K)

ok here are some questions

laurie anderson = pop or IDM?
late brian wilson = pop or indie rock?
jan hammer = jazz or IDM?
YMO = dance-pop or IDM?

This makes sense to me, I was just confused by calling Environ and Creme IDM, which I discussed above. My point is, like many genres, IDM is mostly a sound now, and it has a large set of qualities attributed to it. I think when people talk about IDM these days, they're talking about more "experimental" electronica, music that more often then not, tries to distant itself from pop or the dancefloor in a way the first wave of artists didn't.

it's probably not the best idea to use film as a metaphor for music anyway. one thing i will say is that i don't find this album to be nostalgic at all. if it was, i wouldn't like it nearly as much. i think this uses elements that may appear nostalgic to come up with something new.

...and keeping it in the family, my little brother Mike, aka Kelley Polar, has a new album coming out on Environ....!

http://www.environrecords.com/

KELLEY POLAR
"Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens," Kelley Polar debut CD album, is out 15 November and is preceded by a limited 12" sampler in October!

the fuck? no place for hermeneutics in thinking about music?

i guess i am looking for answers about broken beat? in that kelley polar reminds me of broken beat? ie, as jerry the nipper (sort of) puts it, "with the addition of bongos, rhodes keyboards and afro-positive divas, this drum + bass track is now a JAZZ FUSION MASTERPIECE"

No Vahid I wasn't saying that you can't make these sorts of comments, i was just honestly curious about whether you thought anything flowed from whether we think of Kelley Polar as IDM or pop or dance or [x] - it's precisely because I think there is a place for hermeneutics in thinking about music that I ask these questions, because I think these sorts of decisions can have effects on what we think of a piece of music, whether it is "good" or "bad" etc.

I don't have an opinion yet because I haven't heard the album.

the genre confusion is one of the things that makes it interesting to me. (just like our mammoth "what is deep house" thread)

actually that's not entirely true. when i listen to this, i do not think of genre for a second (well now i probably will). it is in the context of this thread and our discourse here that i find the genre confusion interesting.

speaking of splitting hairs, morgan geist is from new jersey not detroit, but point taken.

xpost, completely agree dan - "idm" is now largely shit and a completely moronic genre name.

no dummy, because my mom knows what disco is and if i played her kelley polar she'd just say "oh, more electronic noise?" she can tell the difference between disco and other music but to the 99% of the populace that don't listen to minimal electronica this simply isn't disco, or nu romantic or pop or whatever.