From: shaun@octel.com (Attacking Deep Structure)
Subject: Re: ok i repent - NOT!
Organization: Octel Communications Inc., Milpitas Ca.
Distribution: rec
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 17:46:16 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.024341.1322@cs.com> larry@cs.com (Larry Spence) writes:
>[Nm-list] definitely has an unspoken code of what's cool and what's not.   
>Political, noisy, angry, ominous, chaotic, masculine == cool, while cheerful, 
>happy, feminine, confessional, funny, playful == uncool.   There are 
>exceptions, but to a large extent nm-list == Serious Angry Noisy (or Ominously
>Ambient) Young Men.

Ah!  You have the new 7" "Rave, Rave, Rave" single by Nuns On X?  I'm all
ears.  Look!  My hand is an ear!  My face is an ear!  My backbone has turned
into a hammer, and my pelvis has turned into a stirrup.  In fact, I'm just
so EAGER to hear ave marias and hail marys and about coveting and forgivness
and lusting and absolution that I've turned into one great big seven foot
tall ear, oozing a playful happy feminine substance to entice you to blast
it right into my center at 250 dB.  Come to me, come to me, let the nuns
bring the shiny happy noise!  

Oh god, someone get me a swab.

>Great minds think alike, huh?  How old does the "good" stuff have to be
>before it's no longer "new," and therefore not "good" anymore?   

Dudester!  Have you not heard of 0 Day Warez?  Unless you're sick of your
prerelease copy before the units hit the shelves, you're toast, butterside
down.  Guy!  

Actually, "new music" does not necessarily map to "recently released."  
From what I've read, it tends to mean "music with new ideas" or 
"experimental music" or "oddball composition."  I'm sure someone else
with a stronger background in music theory who has personally met, and
more importantly, had lunch with John Cage, can provide a more precise
definition.  I picked this up reading Ear Magazine and a coupla other 
things.  From this perspective, a recently released Front Line Assembly
album, while "new," and possibly enjoyable, really contains no new ideas,
and breaks no new ground.  Similarly, there aren't many bands around 
making true industrial music, and those that are (and shall remain 
nameless) tend to be producing marginal work that is derivative of past
work, either their own, or someone else's.  Something like Intermix,
which is at least a new direction for the FLA dudes might get mentioned
in passing.

As far as Merzbow and the other Japanese(-style) noise bands go, there 
is so little material (compared to other genres) and it's so hard to 
get and so expensive that I guess it can remain "new" for quite a while.
I like a couple of favorable reviews from people whose taste I know 
before I shell out $22 for a single CD.

I agree with your "== cool" statement, but not with parts of the 
"== uncool" equation.  A fair amount of playful and funny music gets 
discussed, including children's music, the "Red's Bar" thing (which I
haven't heard,) John Cage's work, and some non-NA/Euro ethnic recordings.
Some of the music produced by the artists on the list is also very funny,
although it usually also falls into one of the categories in your "cool"
list.  It is true that some elements of nm-list have absolutely no sense
of humor.  However, we at nm-list central do have compassion.  Instead of
disgracing them net-wide, we simply have them fired.

If you're looking for reviews or info on some of the more popular bands
(bands that sell more than 2500 copies of an album,) rec.music.reviews
or rec.music.industrial are probably your best bet.  If have a serious
music habit and don't mind going to a bit of effort to aquire CDs that
you may very well not like (and nor may any of your friends) and can
sift through the huge number of obscure bands and musical styles you
don't care for, then maybe nm-list is more appropriate.  Or would be,
more accurately, since it's been down for a while.  I hear it's due to
OS upgrade problems, but I suspect that a "cleansing" similar to that
posted by Uncle Al Crawford may be in effect.  Yes, for people like you,
Larry, who quake in their Doc Martens and big Hairdos and embossed leather
jackets at the idea of a few eardrums busted listening to an overabundance
of screeching and puppy heads crunching, and not enough Enya or Cure or
Najma or Monsoon or Nuns On X.  Pretty soon it'll just be Ken and both
of his functional-clothes wearing friends (GIF available,) so this whole 
post was an immense waste of time.

@Man

-- 
shaun@octel.com  ||  "Now is the time on Sprockets when we Lambada!"
              
Days of Our Lives: It softens heads while you do dishes!