ILM's 2010's blindspots

at least part of this is that, 20 years on, music continues to fracture into increasingly niche online microscenes so it's harder and harder to be a true "pop music" generalist

ya i agree w that last part. the eoy poll is kinda dying too though. last years was like 75% afro pop tracks

deej, what does "populist" mean to you in that formula? accessible?

― loose Orwellian mobs (rob), Tuesday, December 15, 2020 2:57 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

well it was tim's formulation not mine but iirc something like uk funky was both populist and good but not popular, ie it was dance music and had hooks and was like, popular in a sense of having a real devoted scene behind it where some songs could be "hits" but in a smaller scale and not actually chart internationally

streaming of course didn't exist then. The entire structure of the music industry has shifted. Also there's an international trend toward local music, of which I see the internationalization of drill as being a signal... like an obsession w/ the sound of the moment of the "break" toward local heroes, anti-industry music.

ooh that's interesting. there do seem to be a few emerging local dancehall scenes where prev people might have just settled for JA stuff, though I'm basing that on fairly thin evidence

making a professional sounding record at home really got a lot easier during the 10s as well, which i think would lead to localization

Jayda G bashing is making me sad :(

ooh that's interesting. there do seem to be a few emerging local dancehall scenes where prev people might have just settled for JA stuff, though I'm basing that on fairly thin evidence

― loose Orwellian mobs (rob), Tuesday, December 15, 2020 3:08 PM (twenty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think you could argue the entirety of trap dancehall is kind of working along parallel lines to drill: https://afropunk.com/2019/10/choppa-rising-a-history-of-jamaican-trap-dancehall/

making a professional sounding record at home really got a lot easier during the 10s as well, which i think would lead to localization

― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Tuesday, December 15, 2020 3:16 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

definitely. also that you can make music videos for a couple grand in your backyard and upload them to youtube instead of needing a $50,000 budget, and make them look cool with relatively cheap drone cameras

but also *consumption* of local artists is up across the board on streaming services, more people in brazil are listening to brazilian music in 2020 than were in 2017 and so on

Jayda G bashing is making me sad :(

― boxedjoy, Tuesday, December 15, 2020 9:36 PM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah come on "both of us" is incredible and one of the best things she's done and fuiud

but also *consumption* of local artists is up across the board on streaming services, more people in brazil are listening to brazilian music in 2020 than were in 2017 and so on

this is really interesting to me

same. didn't we have a thread about this streaming-driven possibility once?

And thanks for the Afropunk link. I knew bits of that story but hadn't seen it all laid out in detail like that, and while I've rinsed "Brik Pan Brik" I didn't realize how central scamming was

i don't care much for nu jayda but it's ok with me if you do, it's just as ok to dislike or ignore this or that music as it is to like or follow this or that music

deej, what does "populist" mean to you in that formula? accessible?

― loose Orwellian mobs (rob), Tuesday, December 15, 2020 2:57 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

well it was tim's formulation not mine but iirc something like uk funky was both populist and good but not popular, ie it was dance music and had hooks and was like, popular in a sense of having a real devoted scene behind it where some songs could be "hits" but in a smaller scale and not actually chart internationally

― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Tuesday, 15 December 2020 21:01 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is correct - "populist" as in: emphasis on 'hit singles' (however small the pond in which the ripples occur) and anthems, and direct engagement with the audience which is relatively less mediated by a professional critic class.

Something that makes this formulation not really work well now is that over the past decade almost all contemporary music experience has become mediated by some sort of online gatekeeping process, and the difference between some fantasy of some unmediated fan engagement with music as distinct from our own post-Eden filtering of everything through professional critical discourse is difficult to maintain when half the actually published music crit these days is along the lines of 'IDK who needs to hear this but some of you don't appreciate Maluma's secret gay energy and it shows', and when half the world is like a gatekeeper for five people via playlists and social media posts.

So I think it becomes a lot harder to categorise scenes by the divergent ways in which their fans engage.

xpost I do think my favourite "moment" in music this year was, after being encouraged to listen to her RA mix in the untrendy dance music thread, the part where she mixes in "Both Of Us" and it feels like clouds parting to reveal a wide beam of sunlight

idk who likes skrillex here but he seems to be getting a lot more actual respect these days

well he long ago pivoted to being a fairly anonymous pop producer and has been pretty fine at that

well respected as one of the top guitarists in the world iirc

there are some labels/artists I kind of wish had bustling dedicated threads... like a regenbau thread or a sotofett thread. Oh wait, is DJ Sottofett an ILM blind spot? Or am I overestimating his popularity/importance? I know, German shit

On Facebook there are Facebook groups of mostly over 40, usually Black people into the southern soul I post about on and off on the Chitlin circuit soul thread , but alas ILM barely has anyone into the likes of Theodis Ealey, the late Mel Waiters , Ms Jody and others. But there are a few folks here over the years who have posted on the thread.

sotofett is from norway!

lol duh

must’ve thought cuzza vague acido connection

ah yeah sued too

speaking of which, sex tags ufo just released another xi record (sven rieger aka svn of dreesvn and pg sounds alongside pe aka fett burger)

check it out!

Oh wait, is DJ Sottofett an ILM blind spot?

i would say he's.., sort of fêted

idk about y'all but i do not have the energy to post about all the music i liked this year

but if you did your vote counts more obv

however, ppl listening to old music alongside new music... smh get your priorities right

I'd hoped I'd put my point mildly, but I am sorry if it bothered you Brad -- your enthusiasm for all kinds of music and for talking about it are the polar opposite of what I was complaining about. There is plenty of music old and new that I love but don't talk about on ilm

You should imo.

Unless you don't feel like it 'cause that stuff does take effort, to echo Brad.

lol i feel like i got too annoyed sorry rob. i'm sort of with you that it sucks to have the SNA clogged with polls about 20-year-old records even though i often contribute to that situation

xp
Thanks pomenitul, that is genuinely nice to hear. And yes I can empathize with Brad, even in "normal" years personal enjoyment/enthusiasm isn't nec enough to generate something you want to say publicly, and ILM can of course be a source negative energy. Even after a decade here I still feel a somewhat embarrassing but undeniable sense of weight/anxiety when starting a new thread lol

No worries Brad! I should probably admit to myself that if I'd been on ilm in the '00s I would have almost exclusively posted about 20th c. music, so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with being unengaged by the present

my personal balance between new releases and archive-digging is about 75:25, works for me

This year it's been more like 85:15 but otherwise it's usually 65:35 or so.

think it's a little odd that people nom & vote for stuff in a message board's EOY poll that they have never really posted about on the board

I've tried starting threads for stuff I'm enthusiastic about but they never get much traction, and life is tiring and miserable enough without forcing yourself to sit through no answers for everything you love.

BradNelson is correct, we need more polls about 50-year-old records.

I hear you, emil.y – it's an embittering experience, to be sure. My ridiculously optimistic take is that if at least one lurker is into it, then perhaps they're one step closer to actually joining the discussion. I think it can be intimidating to realize the hive mind heavily skews towards particular genres/artists/topics at the expense of others (which, to be clear, is a natural and inevitable process in msg borad land!).

Yeah, I totally get that emil.y: I've started enough go-nowhere threads to second guess myself when thinking about starting a thread for something that hasn't already sparked interest elsewhere (say, in a rolling genre thread). Anyway, safe to say my post was v badly put if board regulars I have a ton of respect for think they were its targets!

Start your own rolling genre thread and just keep posting in it even if very few others do :)

I think it can be intimidating to realize the hive mind heavily skews towards particular genres/artists/topics at the expense of others (which, to be clear, is a natural and inevitable process in msg borad land!).

Yeah, this is a big factor for me, too. I think the boards these days might be more receptive to a lot of the DIY stuff I've been into over the years, but there were definitely times I couldn't imagine *any* ilx regular caring about it. Even now a lot of stuff I like I'm just... "argh, it's not punk enough for the punk thread and not jangly enough for the indiepop thread, and nobody's going to think it warrants its own". It's always a surprise to see names I've seen loads/played with/am mates with pop up here because I just never think people would be into those things. I'm much more likely to post about experimental/electronic/pop music here, and older stuff that has had time to prove its staying power.

Also some people on here can just write loads of insightful and enthusiastic stuff naturally, whereas my posts are much sparer and less interesting. And having been here so long I'm mindful of the fact that stupid things I have written over a decade ago are still there to be found, so maybe I should just shut up and not risk cringing myself to death later.

I started a moon b thread and I think only Spottie posted to it

my posts are much sparer and less interesting.

Not true at all! I def post too much given my current workload lol but I find that getting such essential contributions as 'PINK FLOYD RULES' and 'yeah, I really enjoyed that album' out of my system actually makes it easier to write longer, more considered posts when the topic calls for it and I feel like I have something to say, whether rightly or wrongly. So I think less self-policing and more solitary enthusiasm (when it comes to talking about how much one Loves Music, of course) is a net plus all around.

xp I've listened to Moon B before and enjoyed it but I don't think I've ever had much to say about it

(I also think it's a little odd that people nom & vote for stuff in a message board's EOY poll that they have never really posted about on the board, but w/e, I'm sure they have their reasons)

what can i say i'm a music consumer not a music critic

(I also think it's a little odd that people nom & vote for stuff in a message board's EOY poll that they have never really posted about on the board, but w/e, I'm sure they have their reasons)

― loose Orwellian mobs (rob), dinsdag 15 december 2020 21:39 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

So much to be enthusiastic about, so little time! That's my "alibi" to be honest. Would love to write more about what I love and why, but.. no time.

I feel like "Mood" by Iann Dior and 24kGolden is a good example of something that would have been a ILX bullseye in the 00s that at the end of the 10s is bypassed or even shitted on

this isn't even shots at forks, well not mainly, bc i kind of 'missed' it too even though i knew it existed and was a big hit and was vaguely good, i didn't really advocate for it or rally behind it like i 'should' have

More for the thread in general as well as acknowledging a personal gap: I think it's interesting that the two TikTok threads are on ILE. Maybe we never really talked about platforms on ILM in the past that weren't exclusively music-focused, but it's a big piece of pop music culture that feels pretty unexamined here (and by me to be clear)