-The Sad Old Seven-

Great article! Well written and very honest.

However, there are still many of us making very good electronic music to this day. Yes the record label budgets and advertising has vaporized but the integrity and passion is alive.

You see Artermi never brings up the last 20 years of electronic music here in America. You see EM is NOT a European only genre of music. We in the United States have produced plenty of very good electronic music that still deserves a greater recognition beyond our shores. Its very evident in articles such as Artemi's there exsist this passive agressive negligence to bring forth the creative efforts of American Em artists.

Here's a list of a few great EM artists from the US: Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Micheal Stearns, Patrick O'Hearn, John Serrie, Kevin Braheny, Thom Brennan etc.Im almost certain everyone reading this will agree with me that they have contributed to the entire scene and not one specific section of it.

All of these fine musicians make electronic music not necessarily in the carbon copy "berlin-school" or krawftwerk vein but in a style of electronica they have made very deep, personal and accessible. All or many of the artists continue to contribute fine music to the EM scene to this day.

In the future lets not pigeonhole EM to only a European based history as there is plenty of EM history still happening on both sides of the planet and it is NOT dead......yet!

My $.02 worth.

Well done Artemi for your excellent article i think some of the other 10 Klaus refered to must have been people like keith Emerson and Rick wakeman who certanly explored different areas of EM and probably the live performance of synths.
I have greatly enjoyed reading all 3 of the opinion articles so far and admire those with the guts to stick there necks out and express themselves so well.
one of the best things about these articles is they have promoted new debate and congratulations to Soundwave your post on Artemi's article is one of the best i have ever had the pleasure to read.

A nicely written and well thought out column by Artemi. However, I believe there is a plethora of pioneers out there, and they are stretching the envelope at this very moment. The chances are you won't hear them unless you really put a tremendous effort in to find them.

I'm not sure what EM is. Sometimes I think it depends on where you are from. I would like to think that EM embraces not only Berlin-ie music but ambient Rich and Roach-ish genres as well. I like to think of EM as electronic music which is meant to be listened to and not danced to.

One reason that the new pioneers are hard to find is that there are no record companies investing in these kind of artists. It takes time and money to produce, distribute, and market an artist. The few labels out now that specialize in this kind of music are so small and are usually home-based. Many of the owners of these labels are also interested in getting their own releases out to the public and just don't have the resources to push other artists. The big labels like Sony and their sub labels are putting their efforts into commerical music. Their main objective is to make money. Until EM is proven to be a profitable product, the monied labels won't bother.

Money. It's all about the money. Gone are the days where there were labels like Impulse, a label that took a chance in producing and developing artists. Impulse believed that the artist's efforts would generate enough interest to make the label profitable.

Back in the sixties and seventies record labels sought out performers who had a different marketable sound. Electronic music was fairly new, and the audiences were unaccustomed to the new sounds. I'm certain growing interest in psychedelic drugs and experiences also aided to promote the new EM sound.

Sometimes I wonder if there are too many good artists that are giving their music away for free on the internet. I've done it in hopes of promoting our act. One of our performances is offered in a stream. I now think that practice devalues the genre in the general public's eye.

I was interested in the Madonna comment. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but I do admire her abilities to keep evolving. One the chief ways in which artists like Madonna keep evolving is that they are not afraid to seek out new, upcoming, and innovative producers. I doubt that happens in EM. The results are often the same old same-old. A good producer can inspire.

How many on this forum actually purchase CDs from obscure, independant artists that you have never met? I'm surpised how few fellow artists invest in others' music. To keep this genre alive and growing people need to purchase music from new artists and/or artists that keep exploring and pushing. Quit lamenting about the good old days, and invest in the new artists. They're out there.

But therein lies the problem. Madge has jumped from one genre to another. Any progression from what may or may not be considered as "Real EM" (and as many others have said) will end up with the EM cogniscenti jumping up and down and complaining that it's not "real EM".

This is, of course, bollocks. TD, the band we all love to hate, because they don't make "real EM", are making some great records at the moment (The 5 Atomic Seasons looks set to be a cracking set of disks). I would suggest that whether their artistic integrity is intact or not (and that is also a matter of opinion) they sell a lot of CDs because their music makes a lot of people happy and happy enough to want to own the music. And they sell more than say Syn or (burn me for being a heretic) RMI or FSP or whoever you'd care to hold up as the standard bearer for "Real EM" which would suggest their music means more to more people and must be just as valid etc.......

To use Madonna as way of example, if you looked at say her album "Music", it's dance music as was her first album. But if the same principles were applied to her as they seem do to EM, people would denounce it as not being dance music because it is a million miles away from the "4 to the floor" played on 80s digital keyboards.

Basically. Stop navel gazing. Accept that music made electronically or with electronic elements is now going to cover a wide variety of styles. Evolution means going places we don't all like, Vangelis has gone somewhere else, as has Carlos, Edgar, Tomita et al.

Get over it, it's not 1974 any more and Moogs are not the only way to make electronic music.


Nice thought provoking article by the way Artemi. Got any more on the way?