[NewMusic] Yes, Streifenjunko

[Matt Davignon]

Strangely, right now is about the least-factionalized time that I can
remember in our local weird-music scene. We have improvisers doing
noise pancakes and a rotating cast of guest curators at the Luggage
Store, and 21 Grand has done a good job of mixing things up and being
inclusive. Even Aquarius Records is finally getting around to
acknowledging that such a our exists and has quality! (They've
recently given good reviews to Darwinsbitch and Lindsay/Heule/Dryer
cds.)

I'm also seeing a lot of musical diversity these days, whereas in the
late 90s/early 2000s it seemed to me like an overwhelming number of
people were coming from an avant-jazz direction. (Enough that I
thought people were going to hate me for having no chops.) Then a
couple years ago it seemed like everyone was doing max-msp. Now I'm
seeing avant-jazz, max-msp, drones, psychedelic guitar stuff, noise
pedals, lowercase, etc.

The only thing I think is significantly missing is that in the last 2
years or so I haven't seen many new Mills students joining us.

Matt

On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 3:06 PM, weasel walter <weaselw at juno.com> wrote:
> the rise and fall of united states musical scenes is very patternistic
> and somewhat predictable in nature. in this case, it's just like all the
> others - the arc is the same. someday i'll probably have to write down my
> whole thesis about it, but right now, i don't have the time, so i'll just
> point out something particularly pertinent.
>
> what i'm seeing here is rampant factionalization and a resulting lack of
> unity in relation to the bigger picture of the scene. it's not that there
> was any particular unity before, but now any notion of that possibility
> is studiously avoided. when a scene reaches this amount of musical
> saturation, it's natural for most people to choose tightly focused camps
> and stay exclusively within them for reasons of support. of course, the
> viewpoint within these camps is generally that of "we're the only/main
> thing happening". if the isolated camp is not well received by the
> public, the camp assumes nothing is happening at all.
>
> there's plenty always happening. it's just a matter of whether or not one
> can relate to it.
>
> ww