"Post-Club/Deconstructed-Club" thread


#42

Yes to all this.

What really bummed me out about the whole ‘post-club’ bullshit is that none of the artists really ever delivered, at least for me. I know Arca, Lotic, et al have their fans but I never heard the degree of proficiency in terms of production or DJ’ing to warrant such an esoteric tag. But then again, this is what professional music journalism does now: installs convenient narratives where none exist, panders to PR and ad agencies, and reduces a complex array of artists to a pretentious catchall. The boom-and-bust cycle of new subgenres and scens in the post-dubstep period was fucking INSANE as every six months there’d be a new genre or fad and by the time they got to the “purple sound” which was just three or four producers clearly uncomfortable about having their music reduced to that descriptor whose careers were basically aborted by hype. It’s a tricky fucking game, that’s for sure.


#43

Haven’t you just replaced one genre name with another here? Deconstructed club to Avant garde?
Avant garde is forward-looking; arguably every genre of music has an avant garde section of it, where people are pushing the limits of the genre.

Post/deconstructed club music, even if you dislike the name, does have common threads and sounds, as evidenced across all those posted above. Surely there has to be some level of classification and grouping to enable people to follow and contribute to this style?

Other genres encompass what you say entirely; with artists producing for club, home, live whatever. People are able to differentiate between artists and their end intentions within other genres or areas of music, it’s the same here…


#44

I think like any genre, deconstructed club is a new thing and is experiencing growing pains. There is a lot of derivative shit in any genre, but right now the derivative stuff in deconstructed club is prominent because the genre is small, and there is a fair amount of attention on it at the moment. Also because the genre is young and hot, there are a lot of people trying to jump on it who don’t really have any new ideas.

In terms of “the artists in this thread not sounding alike”, genres are broad. Ancient Methods and Jon Hopkins sound nothing alike, but both get called techno. It’s quite common that the biggest bands in a genre sound a bit different to the rest. For example, The Cure are one of the biggest post-punk/goth bands, but there are atypical elements to their sound. Converge are one of the biggest hardcore bands but they bring in a lot of outside influences. So I don’t think it’s necessarily a surprise that the most prominent “deconstructed club” artists like Arca sound a bit different to what we think of when we think about the sounds that unite these artists. And then just like you think “progressive rock” should be well… progressive, there are a ton of bands in the genre aping the 70s sound, who are anything but progressive.

In terms of “deconstructed club” being a wank name, I agree, but it is what it is. It’s how people identify the scene or sound now. “Experimental” or “avant-garde” would do just as well as @Alicks said.


#45

Right now ‘Post/Deconstruced-Club’ is in it’s Youtube Dubstep Remix era where no one is really doing anything good and everyone thinks they can make a Remix that fits within the style and post it online. I guess what we need now is it’s Post-Dubstep era, Post-Post-Club? Loooooool

Also on another note Sd Laika > Arca


#46

I think this is a good point. Now, of course, there are issues with using that descriptor as well as there is a healthy debate whether the avant-garde even exists anymore. As @parrishcouncil council observes, the avant-garde’s ‘shock of the new’–to borrow a phrase from Mark Fisher–was definitely a distinctly modernist characteristic. Though I’ve never really liked that vague notion of ‘newness’ that Reynolds and Fisher so often invoke…personally I think “fringe” or “on-the-margins” is more descriptive while also remaining open and flexible.

Genres have always served a distinctively linguistic purpose and often evoke either a quality, attitude, or geographical origin of the music that allows listeners to talk about a wide range of artists under the same umbrella. I think everyone is expressing a similar frustration in that we are lacking a critical language that is growing and responding with today’s musical developments, which are also more nuanced and less obviously ‘new’ than, say, jungle’s mutation from hardcore.

And this is a more general observation, but I’ve noticed that American dance music fans tend to put much less of an emphasis on genre than Europeans I’ve met…though both groups seem to ultimately find either approach lacking as the endless proliferation of genre names makes the music arguably more inaccessible or intimidating to a newbie. I realize I’m just pointing to the existing questions here, and that’s because I’ve been trying to work through this issue myself. I read a GREAT essay from 99 on genre mutation within electronic music that identifies some really illuminating structural dynamics. Its reading of the neo-industrial impulse is eerily prescient.

Monroe, Alexei. ‘Thinking About Mutation: Genres in 1990s Electronica.’ Living Through Pop. Ed. Andrew Blake. London: Routledge, 1999. 146–158.

And reading this currently…not sure if I love it, but it definitely helps fill in some blanks on avant-garde theory.


#47

Anyone know what happened to Sd Laika? One amazing album and then??? I don’t think it’s really a fair comparison to Arca, who we have seen much more artistic evolution from. Maybe That’s Harakiri is better than any single Arca project, but even that is debatable IMO.


#48

Was reminded to post in this interesting thread regarding a new thing, Sense Fracture. Like a lot of the post-Arca stuff, it’s pretty much half an hour of non-step anything, and while it’s certainly slamming, it’s kind of like the sensation of being slammed in a car door.

I find this kind of thing hard to form a critical relationship with as a listener, not because it’s not good, but because you’re kind of subjected to the moment-to-moment whims of the person in the studio. Like Fis, Lotic, MESH and the last Visionist record, there’s a lack of tension, or the sense of something being worked on and resolved.

Plus there’s something unsettling relating to the idea of control – the producer has total control, the listener or dancer has no sense of what’s coming next. That’s an uneasy relationship sometimes.


#49

@stray_dog apologies if this is a lame question but, is anyone actually dancing to this stuff IRL? I don’t know where most of you all live and I’m certainly not doubting anyone’s authority here but I’ve been to parties in NY and LA where this type of stuff is getting played and, in my personal experience, everyone is either in a stall doing lines, huddled outside smoking, or just kind of staring at the DJ as Americans are wont to do…


#50

Yeah the music can barely be considered Dance music, producers really dont take dancing into account, they’re just trying to show off most of the time


#51

I apologize for the shameless self promo, but i feel that my new work fits into this category…

upcoming EP Totem


#52

Or I’ve found that their DJ sets are quite different to their studio output. Not strictly part of this scene, but Demdike Stare really sticks out for me. Saw them DJ rm2 at Fabric and it was absolutely slamming. Even the stuff where it was less obvious how to dance to it, there was such a physicality to it that it definitely held my attention and I couldn’t help but move. They were good at mixing that sort of thing in with more accessible stuff, a really brilliant set.

In the UK at least I think a lot of the deconstructed club stuff happens during gig hours rather than club hours, and is usually complimented with an A/V set up or something. Roly Porter did a great set like that a couple of years ago at Corsica. I’m not particularly deep in the scene though, so maybe club nights centred round this stuff are more common than I’m making out.


#53

I’ve seen Arca twice and I’ve danced harder at those two events than anything else. It’s so intense, you get swept up in it.


#54

Does Actress count in this? Fuck, RIP and Splaszh are just … they keep blowing my mind. It’s just silly how good those records are.


#55

S/M relationship maybe?

Personally I find it hard to really get into this stuff, it tries too hard, are too intense or emotionally void to me. I guess I don’t like intense music.


#56

ive seen footage of him asking people to stop staring at him and dance though lol


#57

he absolutely did that and if I ever start DJing I will absolutely do the same


#58

i am so excited to finally get my hands on sinkhole


#59

Seconded. I find him way above the rest.


#60

Not to mention:


#61

Splaszh is top five material for me but I wouldn’t put that in this category of music though I couldn’t really explain why and maybe that’s the biggest damnation for the “genre”.