This just in

Was I unfashionably late again? Guess so. The Studio album ("West Coast") is breaking my little heart into diminutive pieces. OH MY FREAKISH GOD-- I don't think I listened to music this way since I was like 11 years old.

In other news: I am really enjoying Ricardo Villalobos' "Sei Es Drum". I think I'm finally in the right mood to properly listen to Villalobos.

I think these two releases are similar in numerous ways. Studio isn't really "balearic" as Villalobos isn't really "minimal". Yes, both of them easily and perfectly fit those genre definitions. Although - and this is important - both transcend the definitions, while utilizing them as a musical playground. Both of them are totally new, as in fresh, as in creatively independent works, but at the same time - both aren't afraid of being old, aren't afraid of being devoid of an aesthetic statement. I think this sort of confidence, call it cultural confidence perhaps, is what makes these two so unique (this might apply to Luciano as well, though he's less imaginative or "experimental" at times). This isn't cosmetic - hollow - confidence. Or the type of confidence coachers try to shove into you, but a confidence which is an essential part of the creation process, type of confidence which might as well define it along the way.

Studio could be - music-wise - DFA, techno (90s), Carly Simon, Prins Thomas, Morgan Geist, Happy Mondays, Aphex Twin, Beatles, Beyond The Wizards Sleeve witchcraft, and many more. But they aren't, and don't really have to be in order to exist.

Villalobos could be Richie Hawtin (and is!), cumbia (hi Samim), Studio, uhh techno, Autechre, DFA (Black Dice-esque), Beatles und Depeche Mode, Prins Thomas, Erol Alkan, latin mumbling, talent, non-talent, Sonar '06, ketamine (et al), Philip Sherburne, etc. But he isn't, and don't really have to be to exist.

This sort of indepedence is what makes me love and appreciate them so much.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where are the links???

Philip Sherburne said...

Wait, Ricardo isn't me? Christ, I've been deluding myself all this time... ;)

Anonymous said...

damn! i thought i was philip sherburne?