Interview at Secret Thirteen:
To what genre would you attribute the music you make? In general, what do you think about putting music into genres? Is it useful?
Actually it’s the diametric opposite of useful. I don’t know if they have ever been ‘useful’ per se, but I think genres at least made sense at one point, because it was all so new, and they weren’t a source of snobbery or derision, but were more of a way to describe the kind of place that particular music was coming from in general, but to be fair, back in the day there were pretty much only a few genres, and they were all pretty cut-and-dry. Nowadays, however, not only are they blurred and unclear (which to me is a good thing), but it seems the only purpose they seem to serve are to fuel arrogance and ignorance amongst people who claim to champion them, which really just equates to them hating on everything else. But really, this is unfortunately so much of where we find ourselves nowadays in electronic music. People only know how to attack what they hate, rather than just embrace what they love.
In the past, genres were just a general way of explaining what kind of music you were talking about, but they were not so exclusionary. A single genre could encompass many things, and you did not see people getting all worked up about it. In the past, they were a kind of celebration, a sense of pride of the kind of music you were a part of, and it was often something really embraced by artists themselves, as it was a proud part of their identity. But nowadays, personally I do not know any artists who give a shit about genres anymore. And for good reason.
Now, genres seem to serve more as a way to suffocate artists and their music, and they have just become a tool of everyone but artists, for everyone else to use for whatever completely non-musical end they seek to reach. Even more importantly, people seem to spend more time nitpicking over what genre something should be shoved into than actually listening to what the song has to say. Worry about actually listening to it first. who cares what genre it is, as long as you feel it? I think one of the most absurdly stupid things about all this genre madness of late is that it’s all decided by people who did not even make the music, who somehow deem themselves a greater expert on what the music is supposed to be classified as than the person who made it. I have had people on Discogs actually argue with me when I asked that a genre tag be changed – yes, you read right – argue with me about MY own music, and how apparently I don’t know how to classify it as well as they do. I don’t even know how to talk about that, it’s so beyond the pale of absurdity.
Back in the day, genres were not exclusionary, as a party had tons of different genres in a night, and people could enjoy all of them. Nowadays, they have been twisted into a way to exclude others from what you think is your secret club, or to lock artists in arbitrarily defined boxes, so people can either easily digest (or market) what they make. I just see no point. I think music is just way beyond that at this point, and the people who keep shoving genres down people’s throats are usually only doing so for their own benefit, whatever that may be.
Not to be a dick (which, like when anyone says that, means I’m going to be), but it seems that nowadays, genres are really the lifeboat of the ignorant. The massive majority of those I encounter in recent years who actually give a shit about genres are generally the absolutely least qualified to be talking about anything having to do with anything, much less deciding what something should be called. I think those who have either been around long enough to really know what’s important, or actually are in this whole thing (no matter their role, from artist to listener and anything in-between) for the right reasons are just so past caring about what something’s “called” that it’s not even funny. Personally, absolutely none of my personal friends in music, from other artists, to fans, or anyone else, ever mention genres. We just talk about music, and what moves us. Genres never come into the conversation. Either it connects with you or it does not. Who cares what arbitrary classification some random person you do not even know says it has to be stuck in? Especially when most of the people who spend all day trying to lock this song or that into some “genre” are so painfully ignorant of what that genre even means that it boggles the mind?
I understand that stores need to have some kind of genre classification, otherwise how would you even find music anywhere close to what you want to hear? It would take a week to find anything. I get it. But genres should just be used as a very broad, general guideline just to help someone have some idea what you are talking about, should the need arise – all this insanity with a hundred sub-genres, and spending all day figuring out which track gets stuck into which one is just, well, insanity. Enough already.
If anyone ever asks me what kind of music I make, I simply say ‘electronic music.’ But if I had to go further into a pre-defined genre(s), I guess I would say ambient and ambient techno, which to me really just means with or without beats. I think the latter encompasses a lot of things. I make anything from beatless ambient to 180bpm breaks, and everything in-between, but ambient is always the base.
Really though, at the end of the day, I do not think I fall into any genre. I just sound like me. I think you can hear one of my tracks from a thousand miles away and no matter what form it takes, the second you hear it, you know it’s me. So why should it be in a genre? It’s just me.
Are you classically trained? What kind of priority it is in electronic music?
Yes I’m classically trained, very much so, actually. I began playing violin at around 6, and piano around 7, and played each for close to 10 years. In the later years of my violin career, as it were, I also played in several orchestras, and was the youngest member of the city’s symphony, for which I played 2nd chair. By that time I had also composed a decent amount of my own music, both for solo violin, and also for trios with violin, viola, and cello.
By the time I reached high school, however, I decided that classical music did not fit in with my idiotic definition of what was ‘cool,’ and I ditched it all. Nowadays I cannot even read a note of music anymore, and play solely by ear, but the influence from those years still shines extremely heavily, which is ironic, considering I found it so unimportant at one point.
I do not think you need to be classically trained to make electronic music (obviously, people who are not do so every day), but it sure helps. Having classical training, especially in playing in symphonies, or other such combined efforts, really helps you to understand how music is constructed from the ground up, and the principles of so much of what has also carried over into all music, especially electronic, whether most people know it or not. Put it this way – I do not think classical training is necessary, but you can definitely tell the difference if someone’s had it… or has not.
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