'concept albums'

[The Teknoist.]

....there's something about that term that really gets to me (i was going to say hate but i use that word about ****ing everything haha).

So an album has a concept? You mean and idea behind it, an inspiration, a main theme? The term concept i think is far too over used in a pretentious manner to make something that should be obvious sound like the artist is a true professional and well, an 'artist'.

For example, this periods Core mag had Robert Hood interviewed about his 'concept' album. The concept of the end of the world, or the coming of it atleast... or was the concept actually derived from watching (the hilariously over-acted Charlton Heston movie?! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evdQL5RFLec hahahahahaha) too many times?

He seemed to over talk the album and make it sound like something rather epic. When listening i found, well, a Robert Hood album... same style pretty much as always (which btw i do really like) some tracks are great but nothing that seemed to link to the concept to me. (Now this is just my personal view and by no way discrediting the album in general, although it had some dull and lazy sounding moments imo but again that can be his or his close peers' style... minimal in content lets say... again though, some tracks i really dug).

Shouldnt all albums have a concept so to speak?

Im sorry if this sounds like an over worded critique on artists trying to sound more serious than they actually are (so much that some are like parody's and if you look at them and listen to what they say in the right way, theyre actually comedy ****ing genious'... Kanye West springs to mind, now he's a ****ing fruit cake!)...

but yeah i woke up at 5am being sick and iv been bored before i can kick the monitors on so i thought id write some bollocks... if i actually spoke to you face to face id sum up my point in 3 sentences probably ;)

I hope my (vague-ish) point has got across :)

have a nice day

[morbid]

Know what youre saying

For me its more about putting across a producers sound and maintaining the focus across a range of tracks despite not being explicitly based around a concept (like the Rob Hood you mentioned). The artists "concept" is often lost in translation and comes across as a bit phoney

Albums like Plastikman - Sheet One, Advent - New Beginnings, Hellfish - Meat Machine Broadcast, Broken Note - Terminal Static, Liebing - Evolution , those are concept albums to me - All have a distinct sound and keep the same vibe across the album but have no real concept in the pretentious sense

I agree about the pretentiousness of some EPIC albums, like Jeff Mills - Metropolis and the like. Thats where people like Hawtin went wrong for me trying to push ideas rather than the music. I know artists need to tread new ground and innovate but all that art college Cube nonsense etc makes my stomach churn

Keep art out of Techno. Let the music do the talking

[The Teknoist.]

totally agree.

The idea of a concept/theme etc im all for and in fact relate to it with certain projects (my next core album's concept is collaborations and remixes for example).... but when some artists talk about things as concepts it usually comes off as you said, sounding phoney.... and often hilarious :)

[DannyBlack]

I have to agree with your opinion, mate. Doesn't all music start with a concept? It's just an arty farty tag really isn't it. Someone screams "CONCEPT" and people check it out.

[djshiva]

I'm gonna have to disagree on this one.

We are engaged in a music scene where there is tons of soulless, thoughtless crap for every one tune that engages us in any kind of thought process. Don't get me wrong, I love my DJ tools and tracky bits as much as the next person, but every once in a while, it's nice to know what someone was attempting to do with their music, especially if they took the time to do a longform album.

I tend to have an overarching concept when I do studio mixes. Whether I tell anyone what that is or not, there is a beginning and an end, all based on the idea and/or feeling I am attempting to get across. With two of my favorite mixes, I didn't necessarily tell anyone what those concepts were, rather I wanted to use the titles and the art and the musical choices to impart the idea. Whether I was successful or not, I will never know, because I left it up to the listener.

I think the issue that people seem to be taking, is that artists like Rob Hood, or Richie Hawtin, have attempted to explain the concept. I took a lot of flak a while back when I actually DID explain a concept behind a mix, because the person perceived the very act of explaining as "pretentious". I don't think there's a right or wrong to this. I think people explaining it want to know that the idea will get across, perhaps because they feel it has been lost on people before. Maybe people are somehow put off by the idea that they should perceive this music in a specific way. Maybe they just want to pretend that they "get it" and feel like that specialness is lost when there is actually a concept behind it. Maybe in explaining the concept, some of the most visceral reaction is lost?

I don't know. I don't have an answer. But I would rather discuss it than dismiss it outright.

I personally would rather see more people at least TRYING to bring ideas and intent to their music, rather than churning out track after track after track with no substance.

And this weird perception of "art" as something separate from music and life is, well...weird. I don't get it. I mean I get it from the angle of perception of the mainstream art: the pretention and the money stuff...but that's just a bastardization of something that is personal and important, in my opinion.

[The Teknoist.]

like i said, dont get me wrong man... my last album was called '...like a hurricane made of zombies' and that WAS the concept, ludicrous huh!?

but i believe it kinda show's.... it's just some explanations go too far is what i was saying :)

[djshiva]

like i said, dont get me wrong man... my last album was called '...like a hurricane made of zombies' and that WAS the concept, ludicrous huh!?

but i believe it kinda show's.... it's just some explanations go too far is what i was saying :)

Do you think maybe people feel like too much of an explanation takes away from figuring it out for themselves? Or takes away from the subjective interpretation of wordless techno music?

Also...zombies. Win. That is all.

[The Teknoist.]

thats quite possible man, it's a good subject to discuss though. Im certain of this, i think i have problem with the image of a lot of the big ol' techno dons and how they carry and take themselves far too seriously.

Thus the big head scratcher which was Robert Hoods explanation. I dont think the album justified his epic explanation of the inspo at all... like most of those guys.

I also do believe that if they sat down and thought 'right lets have fun and make a ****ing beast of an album', theyd come away with a better result... i could be wrong though.

[qUE]

thats quite possible man, it's a good subject to discuss though. Im certain of this, i think i have problem with the image of a lot of the big ol' techno dons and how they carry and take themselves far too seriously.

Thus the big head scratcher which was Robert Hoods explanation. I dont think the album justified his epic explanation of the inspo at all... like most of those guys.

I also do believe that if they sat down and thought 'right lets have fun and make a ****ing beast of an album', theyd come away with a better result... i could be wrong though.

I don't think the "making a beast of an album" wouldn't really be a unique concept would it :)

From what I've seen artists like Mills and Hood are treating their music like art, writing thesises so they're like a display you'd see in a modern art museum.

I always thought concept could go one of two ways, you have the concept of being influenced by something that exists naturally or the concept of how and what technologies were used to create the music. But then I suspect it can go many other ways and ways being intertwined.

Personally, I'm illiterate scum, so I don't write flowery art-speak thesises and couldn't care less if the music made any money or if people actually like it. It's something to keep me entertained and hopefully give me a few things to look back on nostalgically, like photos.

[The Teknoist.]

i wasnt calling or wanting it to be a unique concept.. but its a ****ing good one, no? ;)

I think most artists worth their salt look at their music as art at least in a way and want to write 'pieces'... its just that the majority when i hear the concept and hear the end product its abismal and often a lot of the time just seems ****ing lazy.

Please dont think im taking anything away from the artists or their music/art but this is an observation iv come to realise :)

[djshiva]

I will say this: I remember getting a Jeff Mills record back in like '96 that had a paragraph on the label.

Now, I was an English/journalism major in college, I write poetry and short stories, and consider myself fairly literate and able to understand complex language.

That said, whatever was written on the label made absolutely NO ****ING SENSE. It read like someone wanting to use big words to sound smart, without actually knowing what they mean. Don't even get me started on the improper grammar and word mixups (dominate instead of dominant).

http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-3224-1101583241.jpg

In case that's too small for ya, here's the actual text:

Filtered within beyond the eyesight of man, the thin circular rings surround us.
It is where individual systems interacts sometimes creating persuasive, more dominate
systems resulting in the make-up of our active schematic pallets. At this level, it becauses
a microscopic observation with multiple conclusions that becomes random in
the interior thought patterns.

Until the merging of realities become one, Axis presents The Other Day.

That bugged me then and still bugs me now. I can't even read it without laughing. If you're going to be a pretentious bastard, at least get it right.

So, yeah. I get what you're saying, Teknoist. ;)

[qUE]

I will say this: I remember getting a Jeff Mills record back in like '96 that had a paragraph on the label.

Now, I was an English/journalism major in college, I write poetry and short stories, and consider myself fairly literate and able to understand complex language.

That said, whatever was written on the label made absolutely NO ****ING SENSE. It read like someone wanting to use big words to sound smart, without actually knowing what they mean. Don't even get me started on the improper grammar and word mixups (dominate instead of dominant).

http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-3224-1101583241.jpg

In case that's too small for ya, here's the actual text:

Filtered within beyond the eyesight of man, the thin circular rings surround us.
It is where individual systems interacts sometimes creating persuasive, more dominate
systems resulting in the make-up of our active schematic pallets. At this level, it becauses
a microscopic observation with multiple conclusions that becomes random in
the interior thought patterns.

Until the merging of realities become one, Axis presents The Other Day.

That bugged me then and still bugs me now. I can't even read it without laughing. If you're going to be a pretentious bastard, at least get it right.

So, yeah. I get what you're saying, Teknoist. ;)

That's exactly the sort of stuff I've seen. Pity, that record has some good tracks on it to.

Actually thinking about it, I definitely didn't buy that one for the poetry :)

[djshiva]

Oh yeah. GREAT ****ing record, without a doubt. Stupid as **** pseudo-intellectual bullshit ramblings.