PFM review of Total 6
Vive le difference. I call them future coasters, my blogger music friend actually hears music. Its not exactly record industry jello wrestling but the below is a genuine email thumb war between two insiders with two very different opinions.
Tuningfork: I am listening to this 2x Kompakt cd and wonder how this appeals to anybody no less got a 10 paragraph review and an 8.7.
"By 2002, you could safely call Kompakt one of the most exciting labels in the world" PFM
I totally live on a different planet. Its just a genre that sounds as interesting as a washing machine to me. Its nice, sort of hypnotic but lacks the feeling that a human is behind it all. I find it cold and sterile, others find it pulsing and hot. Go figure.
Anonymous Music Blogger: I don't mind cold and sterile. I like it.
I don't find it cold and sterile because even the most electronic of music has the producer's fingerprints all over it, has an identity and personality behind the blips and beeps. Usually when I listen to stuff like this I picture the work that went into the programming, the creativity, the technical knowledge, the skill, and of course I listen to the music as well. I think the technical skill replaces the lack of emotional depth that is associated with "human" music.
Doesn't sound like a human voice and the strumming of a guitar, but I don't expect that from electronic music.
Tuningfork: How does this music feel inside your body? I am trying to imagine how this resonates and somehow pleases you. I can't decide if my ears deflect this genre completely or if it just passes right through me like a ghost or a spirit of something that in a previous life once held a body with weight and guts.
Anonymous Music Blogger: You know, it's no big shock that most people who go to these shows look to be serious gearheads and technology inclined people.
How does it make me feel? I don't know how to answer that...but I couldn't answer that for any type of music. It would take a lot of rambling paragraphs to try to explain my emotional response to music.
Tuningfork:I will further stereotype myself by including that the tracks I actually don't despise are the ones with vocals and or other instruments involved. Disc 1) #8 Tototronic and #9 The MFA ( vocoder type lead melody) Disc 2) went by without one track grabbing me enough to even look at the track listing. The last track reminds me of a static glitch version of a motown song but I'll be damned if I can recall the exact song I am thinking of.
I don't agree that this music mostly appeals to gearhead / tech people. It seems like the people I know who love this stuff are not rabid record collectors nor do they make music, they just like the idea of this kind of music playing the roll of a soundtrack to a night out in a club. I also know a few record stores who love playing this kind of music all day because its mellow yet upbeat and more importantly, won't scare away customers. It's forward thinking background music.
What can I say other than I guess you can't like everything. I don't milk chocolate or birds either....ha!
Anonymous Music Blogger: I didn't say the fans are all gearheads. I said the people at the shows are gearheads. And they are to a great extent. Totally. Kompakt-type stuff especially. It's not the usual background music. I think that's more typical club music. In this country, Kompact isn't "night on the town" music. At least here. It's music for small, dingy clubs and underground loft parties.
Tuningfork: You wouldn't call a person at that kind of a show a fan? Isn't going to a club, no matter how dingy or small still a night out?
What the hell do I know? This kind of music doesn't hold my attention on cd nor do I live in a culturally diverse metropolis that will ever offer an experience with it outside of my living room. Sad but true.
Your final thoughts on the collection?
Anonymous Music Blogger:
Person at show = gearhead
Fan may not necessarily = gearhead
Person at show, naturally, = fan
Tuningfork: That's your final word?
Anonymous Music Blogger: I'm outta words
