innovation in aberdeen

[framheim]

yea that's more what i meant as well, they don't sound straight like another band but you can get bits of other bands in their sound, i'd certainly add the flaming lips to that list as well. i think they're great though, and they have got their own sound but the point i was trying to make is that it's nigh on impossible to be totally original these days. EVERYTHING has already been done. one thing i've been really impressed with recently was when someone told me that groups like matmos take things like insect noises and manipulate them into music. i'd heard it being done by people like tribes of neurot(in a very disturbing way) but not the way they do it, where it ends up sounding like a glitchy electro track. that's cool. maybe more people need to experiment with found sounds.

[Alan Cynic]

(disclaimer - I certainly don't claim to be innovative atall' date=' i'm not *that* arrogant.)

.[/quote']

Apologies for my assumption. I agree with the "being creative" thing.......talent moving from Aberdeen to "make it" is fine if all you want to do is"make it", as opposed to being creative, which you can do anywhere, from Tarves to Ulan Bator, but we've been up this street before, so I'll bite my lip.

I agree with Dave about "Found sounds", and sound manipulation.

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Kitchen Cynics.....................................................lost sounds................................

[Guest Stripey]

<cue brian blessed voice> Arrrr! Heathen! What be this evil witchcraft ye call "sam-pler"? Behold, the device emits music yet hath not string nor mouthpiece nor keys!!!@# What demonic evil spirit posses this monstrous artefact, which sings like nothing of this world!

KILL THE WITCH, KILL THE WITCH!!!@@!#@ the crowd chanted!

...and so, after the lynching, the simple peasant folk returned home and clutched their banjos to their chest, taking comfort in the physical nature of their musical instruments. The horror of the evil, intangible "soft-ware studio" and the alien sounds it spawned, quickly faded from their memories.

But secretly, in their private thoughts late at night, some of villagers wondered if the device could be harnessed for a useful purpose. Fear of witchcraft, and fear of persecution as heretics, however, prevented them from attempting to retrieve it, and they continued to live in the warm and reassuring glow of ignorance, UNTIL THE END OF THEIR MISERABLE LIVES.

The End.

[Alan Cynic]

Very amusing, Stripey (he mumbled, removing the straw from his mouth, and knocking over his pile of Janet and John books).

I am tempted to mention the Emperor's new clothes, however!

We peasants are VERY aware of what samplers can do (I used one on an album more than a decade ago), but some of us just aren't bothered about them, in the same way that I still use an old dial-phone, whilst all around me all those much more intelligent non-peasants are espousing the use of the latest mobile.

Must we keep going over the same ground again and again.....it sounds like a broken sampler!!!!

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Kitchen Cynics......................................bring back "Bothy Nichts"..........................

[soundian]

<cue brian blessed voice> Arrrr! Heathen! What be this evil witchcraft ye call "sam-pler"? Behold' date=' the device emits music yet hath not string nor mouthpiece nor keys!!!@# What demonic evil spirit posses this monstrous artefact, which sings like nothing of this world!

KILL THE WITCH, KILL THE WITCH!!!@@!#@ the crowd chanted!

...and so, after the lynching, the simple peasant folk returned home and clutched their banjos to their chest, taking comfort in the physical nature of their musical instruments. The horror of the evil, intangible "soft-ware studio" and the alien sounds it spawned, quickly faded from their memories.

But secretly, in their private thoughts late at night, some of villagers wondered if the device could be harnessed for a useful purpose. Fear of witchcraft, and fear of persecution as heretics, however, prevented them from attempting to retrieve it, and they continued to live in the warm and reassuring glow of ignorance, UNTIL THE END OF THEIR MISERABLE LIVES.

The End.[/quote']

What brought that on?

Was someone dissing samplers or was it because someone mentioned the G word, we all know how you hate such archaic, pseudo-musical instruments.

[Alan Cynic]

For the umpteenth time.........

a sampler is a tool

a guitar is a tool

a screwdriver is a tool

a lawnmower is a tool

a thing for taking stones out of horses hooves is a tool

Peter O'Toole!!!!!!!!! (for fuck's sake!!!)

They can ALL be used to make music.......be innovative (creative?), not narrow-minded.

Repeated message ends.........but will no doubt be repeated again in a few weeks.

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Kitchen Cynics...........................my great granny made a great sampler in the 1880s...

[Alan Cynic]

I am a tool!!!

(before anyone else says it!)

[Frosty Jack]

Ha! And you are a...dammit...

Good point though. It's a bit like saying an artist should only be allowed to use photoshop, and we should laugh at all those fools using sable brushes. Criticise the End, not the Means.

In fact I think I may have said that the last three or four times Stripey has kicked this one off...

[soundian]

What set him off though?

I think he's got a persecution complex, anyone who owns/plays acoustic instruments obviously hates him and his slimy sampler. Personally I wouldn't have one in the house.

[Guest Stripey]

Very amusing' date=' Stripey (he mumbled, removing the straw from his mouth, and knocking over his pile of Janet and John books).

I am tempted to mention the Emperor's new clothes, however!

We peasants are VERY aware of what samplers can do (I used one on an album more than a decade ago), but some of us just aren't bothered about them, in the same way that I still use an old dial-phone, whilst all around me all those much more intelligent non-peasants are espousing the use of the latest mobile.

Must we keep going over the same ground again and again.....it sounds like a broken sampler!!!!

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Kitchen Cynics......................................bring back "Bothy Nichts"..........................[/quote']

I'm not saying that new technology makes older things obselete, simply that it opens up new creative opportunities at little or no cost.

My gripe is that not many people round here seem to be educated about what a decent PC with a sequencer and a nice stash of good VST's can do for them, hardly anyone seems to be taking advantage of the technology. Having gotten little glimpes of some people's attitudes and understanding of how the gear works, and their entrenched opinions of electronic music in general, I don't think I would be extreme in saying that ignorance is rife.

I'm not saying everyone should bin their instruments and their ideas and start writing techno, I'm just surprised that so few people in aberdeen are making use of perfectly valid creative tools, to experiment with and augment what they are doing already, which could lead to some genuinely interesting material.

Yes, you can say all you like that aberdeen has a thriving music scene, but in my opinion it's dull, insular, dated and naive. (with a few exceptions of course) .

[Alan Cynic]

Yes' date=' you can say all you like that aberdeen has a thriving music scene, but in my opinion it's dull, insular, dated and naive. (with a few exceptions of course) .[/quote']

But isn't it still better than somewhere like Bristol where everyone and their grandad is using samplers/computers to produce music which is even more derivative than that produced by Aberdeen's "Rock" bands?

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Kitchen Cynics.........cow sample - "Moooooooooooooooog"........................................

[Guest Stripey]

But isn't it still better than somewhere like Bristol where everyone and their grandad is using samplers/computers to produce music which is even more derivative than that produced by Aberdeen's "Rock" bands?

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Kitchen Cynics.........cow sample - "Moooooooooooooooog"........................................

No, frankly. I haven't heard a single band in Aberdeen which I actually like. Bristol has a real music scene, and produced the likes of Portishead, Tricky, and Roni Size, genuinely creative and serious artists who made use of modern gear, none of which u can compare to a bunch of middle class aberdeen kids aping what they see on MTV.

[Alan Cynic]

But in Bristol it's all upper-class kids apeing Portishead, Tricky etc......they're just as bad. We want less aping and more creating.......ANYWHERE......yes, even Aberdeen....it's a state of mind, not an accident of geography.

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Kitchen Cynics...........................................aping King Kong, and proud of it!!!...........

[Guest Stripey]

But in Bristol it's all upper-class kids apeing Portishead' date=' Tricky etc......

[/quote']

Bullshit.

We want less aping and more creating.......ANYWHERE......yes' date=' even Aberdeen....it's a state of mind, not an accident of geography.

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Kitchen Cynics...........................................aping King Kong, and proud of it!!!...........[/quote']

Yeah, being an artist of any sort is a state of mind, but unfortunately aberdeen is mostly populated with dim-witted intellectually crippled scottish people who don't have the mental capacity to think for themselves, letalone genuinely create. It's a shithole, and the majority of people are too far up their own arses and too busy patting themselves on the back to realise that their cliquey little scene, replete with a troope of the same old sychophantic schoolkids cheering them on, is a fucking joke in the context of the wider world.

[Graeme]

For the umpteenth time.........

a sampler is a tool

a guitar is a tool

a screwdriver is a tool

a lawnmower is a tool

a thing for taking stones out of horses hooves is a tool

Peter O'Toole!!!!!!!!! (for fuck's sake!!!)

They can ALL be used to make music.......be innovative (creative?)' date=' not narrow-minded.

Repeated message ends.........but will no doubt be repeated again in a few weeks.

[/quote']

Is this your aggresive side coming out? Not seen that before!

[Alan Cynic]

Why do you tar everyone with the same brush, Stripey? Aberdonians are no less intelligent than anyone else.

Tricky/Portishead etc were always pretty bland......aiming at sounding palatable, rather than doing anything truly exciting (in the same way as you criticise Aberdeen bands).

Sorry, Graeme....I wasn't being aggressive, just exasperated at the cyclical boring nature of this argument!!!!!!!!!! I think I'll head off to the Casio Vl-Tone thread just for a change !!!!!

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Kitchen Cynics...................too retarded to sample, too young (but not by much!) to die....

[Guest RockMonkey]

if Peter O Toole was 30 years younger I wouldn't mind getting innovative with him!

jo "I'm not innovative, I just give out free cake" mccafferty

[Guest Stripey]

Why do you tar everyone with the same brush' date=' Stripey? Aberdonians are no less intelligent than anyone else.

Tricky/Portishead etc were always pretty bland......aiming at sounding palatable, rather than doing anything truly exciting (in the same way as you criticise Aberdeen bands).

Sorry, Graeme....I wasn't being aggressive , just exasperated at the cyclical boring nature of this argument!!!!!!!!!! I think I'll head off to the Casio Vl-Tone thread just for a change !!!!!

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Kitchen Cynics...................too retarded to sample, too young (but not by much!) to die....[/quote']

Aberdonians make me sick and always have done, I can count on one hand the number of people here worth talking to. I've been all over the world and I've never met people quite as pathetic and boring as the uncultured and uneducated troglodytes which inhabit aberdeen. This is reflected in the dross that passes for music which comes out of aberdeen.

If you think tricky and portishead were simply trying to write something palatable and weren't genuine artists, then you are off your rocker. Roni Size was a true innovator.

I would like nothing more than to be proven wrong, and actually hear some decent music from an aberdeen band, but so far nothing I've heard has interested me in the slightest.

[Alan Cynic]

Those were damned fine cakes, too! (I "sampled" four, but only after you told us they needed to be eaten up, honest!).

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Kitchen Cynics...........................................................yum!!!.....................................

[Alan Cynic]

Stripey.....you must just be bitter because you're not a TRUE Aberdonian (you weren't born within the sound of St Nicholas' carillion!). Tricky/Portishead/Roni Size are all bland....have you actually heard any REAL electronic music....the experimental stuff.??You're coming across as all arrogance and no substance.......the kind of person you accuse Aberdonians of being.

Chill out, man......have some stovies!!!!!!!!!

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Kitchen Cynics...................Fit,fit, fit fit fit fit like? (Aberdonian sample).....................

[Plato the Greek]

Yeah' date=' being an artist of any sort is a state of mind, but unfortunately aberdeen is mostly populated with dim-witted intellectually crippled scottish people who don't have the mental capacity to think for themselves, letalone genuinely create. It's a shithole, and the majority of people are too far up their own arses and too busy patting themselves on the back to realise that their cliquey little scene, replete with a troope of the same old sychophantic schoolkids cheering them on, is a fucking joke in the context of the wider world.[/quote']

Christ Stripey, it must be great being an ubermensch.

I'm so glad that someone like you has labelled me, an Aberdonian, in the above way because I don't have the capacity to think for myself and was searching for an identity before I read your wonderfully unbiased verdict on this city and its inhabitants. Thank you sir.

Being an artist is a state of mind, but geography is hugely important and 'intellectually crippled Scottish people' need not and should not apply? Apparently. The music scene in Aberdeen is of course slightly insular, as most scenes are, but the generalising tone of your post just comes across as being composed of the kind of dim-witted yet arrogant ignorance that you claim to despise.

[Guest valley69]

stovies and oatcakes- now theres something worth shouting about.

[Alan Cynic]

.........also, as a regular visitor to Tonic in New York (considered a venue for "creative" music, Stripey!), I can attest that there are a good few local bands who could play there and get a decent reception.

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Kitchen Cynics.........................Mastrick is where it's at!!.....................................

[Guest valley69]

which bands from up here do u reckon could play well over in new york alan?

[Guest Stripey]

have you actually heard any REAL electronic music....the experimental stuff.??

Of course I have. I hope you realise things have progressed a bit since the days of Isao Tomita.

I only mentioned portishead and tricky and roni size because we were talking about the bristol scene.