RE: [microsound] glitch musicians need to party more!

[Kenric McDowell <kenric@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have to speak up and say that Mr. Maremont is quite correct in his
assessment of San Francisco's electronic music scene. The closest I ever got
to the proposed DIY utopia was 25 people shaking it at 111 Minna St. to what
I felt was a compromised mix of an already too "dancey" live electronic set
by myself and friends of mine. It was a memorable night but not because of
how much money we made or how easy it was to promote.

Part of this has to do with the local music press and their slowness to
recognize electronic music talent in the Bay Area. When an SF Weekly column
plugged a show I had set up with the band Sweet Trip we actually packed 111
Minna st.  Unfortunately, that was the peak of our publicity and crowd
turnout. Local papers are finally covering e-music more but there is a
definite slant towards d'n'b and house as one would expect.

-km

-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Maremont [mailto:thermal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2000 3:51 PM
To: microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [microsound] glitch musicians need to party more!


At 05:14 PM 9/12/00 -0400, Mike Taylor wrote:
>The only questions I have are:
>1. isn't Static taking up some of the slack in this territory in SF.

Very nicely, until the weekly event ended.  Even there, however, the
minimalist sets were strictly for the geeks (hand is raised here), and the
floor filled for jungle and techno and to a lesser extent for electro
mixes.  And I saw more than one experimental set clear not only the
dancefloor but the entire club.  Meanwhile where are most of the records -
and quite good ones too I will add - by the residents of this party being
released?  Germany - rather far from SF according to my map.

>2. why aren't you doing anything about it?
>DIY, it isn't just for punks anymore.

Well my musical cooperative has been presenting salons for electronic music
listening, about which you can learn more on my website.  As for more
public clubs, I have been involved in the past, and in the present, mea
culpa.  There are several reasons or excuses, which may be tagged as more
or less lame or lazy depending upon how charitable you are feeling this
afternoon.  (1) Most events in SF are presented by DJ crews, and I am not
part of one.  (2) Barely any spaces are left here for any music - thanks to
gentrification and the cooperation of local authorities - and clubs know
that electronic music fans are few (and here seem to stay at home) and
spend very little money at the bar when compared to the more popular styles
of music.  (3) Promoting a party is a lot of work, and without some other
participants it is hard to add this to a schedule including recording as
well as a full-time job.  (4) The sort of event I would put on would
probably alienate all but about 10 people in SF, as I like many styles of
music, in opposition to the increasingly ghettoized target marketing of the
successful clubs here - the last thing I want is to add a
micro-ghetto/clique to the little boxes already imprisoning other realms of
electronic music in the clubs.  (5) No venues have displayed any interest;
but maybe some space in SF will be naive enough to allow some weirdos in
once a month to mix up Lithops and Scorpions and Theresa Teng and Arthur
Lyman and Tamaru and Kudsi Erguner and Bill Nelson and Senking and
Cranioclast and Lotus Eaters and Terje Rypdal and Hosokawa Toshio with some
of our own noises and put up with the fact that our tiny audience is
secretively sipping its own bottled water.  Maybe...

joshua maremont / thermal - mailto:thermal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
boxman studies label - http://www.boxmanstudies.com/


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