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I’m pretty sure Nomic is intuitively aware of what I’m talking about, and this is, I suspect, the reason he has officially released so few tracks.
With this in mind, though, I fully support Nomic. The reason for this is that tragedy is awesome. And, in theory, if Nomic was able to create a proper aural tragedy (in the nomic-style, of course, because there have been already plenty of those in the classical style) he would almost by definition be ranked above Száhala. This is because we as human beings have evolved to absolutely adore tragedy, and have indeed practically raised all the artists who successfully managed to create it to demi-gods, immortalizing their names for centuries. A great tragedy is valued more by us, as human beings, than a great comedy, or a great epic, or a great parable, or whatever. There are psychological reasons for this, but we shouldn’t stray too much off-topic here, so I’m ending this train of thought here. The point anyway is that Nomic can potentially (meaning: in theory) create music that is MUCH MORE powerful than Száhala as ever created. And I think if he actually put his mind to it, he could. He’s a competent producer and clearly knows what to do with his DAW. He’s also already created a characteristic sound design, one of the things that I value so much in Száhala. And his little tragic sketches sound powerful indeed (when judged as sketches, not proper tragedies). So if he made a track that got into his ultimate, super tragic climaxes in, say, 15 or 20 minutes, instead of in 5 puny minutes which is what he is basically doing now, I think we’d all be in for a treat. A track that progressed as tightly as a Száhala track, but which instead of bliss gives you tragedy? Wouldn’t that be awesome!
“But oh bern you must be crazy, a TWENTY minute track? Isn’t that TOO long?”
But isn’t this genre of music supposed to be called “freeform”? Why do all the tracks have to last less than 8 minutes? Are there any unspoken rules out there that I’m not aware of? Perhaps in some theoretical book about EDM that I have never read about? Then show this theory to me and tell me about it. And even then, if you are so keen on sticking with these random rules, then why are you calling your music “freeform” lol? To impress your hipster friends perhaps?
The only logical explanation I find for 20 minute tracks not being common in the EDM scene is: it would put DJs out of business–or, perhaps more realistically, have the artists who made these huge tracks not being played on clubs. But it’s not like Száhala and DJ RX are regularly playing at Tomorrowland, anyway, so this is in the end a weak explanation.
So, yeah, that’d be my solution to Nomic’s problem: have his tragic climax temporally delayed, and increase the length of his tracks.
Think of it this way. If I reduce all of the Greek tragedies to one sentence, instead of tragedy we get… comedy.
“Dude accidentally bangs his mother.”
“Two hundred forty men die in battle because a cuckold wanted his cheating wife back.”
“Man is willingly granted the power to turn everything to gold with his touch, but soon died of starvation after all his food transformed into inedible glittering sculpture.”
“Guy builds working wings, but dies after inattentively flying into the sun.”
COMING THIS FALL TO COMEDY CENTRAL
Reposting this, because it seems to have disappeared:
I know what you guys are thinking btw. “This dude sure loves Száhala lol”. And you can bet your ass I do. As I said elsewhere after all, his best music is orders of magnitude above his competition. I will however make an alternative top 10 with no Száhala. I have too many gigabites of this kind of music on my hard-drive, and I’ve listened to many other artists in the genre throughout the years so I think can make this with relative ease. I’d say this alternative list would be mostly composed of DJ RX, Pain on Creation, Epyx & Cyrez and Nomic, but I’ll have to give it some thought before I type it down. Not sure if Grimsoul would qualify. Carbon Based’s Cyclone would make it, I think.
You know, I’m not even sure Nomic would get that far in the list. His style of music is even harder to make than Száhala’s. I mean the 180 BPM four-to-the-floor tragic style. The sweetspot for the nomic-style is even narrower than the one for the száhala-style. This is inherent in ALL tragedy. And this is something that I will for now quickly try to make you realize with three rhetorical questions: You can’t exactly make a mature man cry in 5 minutes can you? And what do you think of a mature man who flips from seriousness to crying in the spawn of 5 minutes? Wouldn’t that make you laugh? Herein lies the problem with pretty much all of Nomic’s music: he gives us these HUGE tragic climaxes almost out of nowhere! But that’s a subject for another day. I’m going now lol.
I should add that Száhala’s sound design is very characteristic and that’s obviously a good thing. Some of the timbres you hear in his music seem to come from some alien civilization! I mean, why do you think I rank Freezing Clouds so high, even though it’s pretty much an unfinished sketch?
Placed Aurinko above Starfall. Like I said, it’s tough ranking these tracks. I have no doubt about the first two spots, but after that it’s difficult. Anmitzcuaca is powerful, but how can I seriously compare it with Aurinko? The former is pure rage, nonstop energy building on itself, while the latter is pure bliss, with a simple yet powerful melody. Saying Anmitzcuaca is better than Aurinko is ultimately saying pure rage is better than pure bliss, since both these tracks are near perfect representations of these feelings.
So take my ranking from the 3rd place onward with a grain of salt. I just placed Starfall below Aurinko, because I prefer Aurinko‘s main melody. Aurinko might be simpler, but it does not get boring, whereas Starfall‘s 2:50 melody verges on the annoying after a not-so-distant point. The 4:27 transition is a terrific touch, a little bit of fresh air, some distraction from the main melody that leads to another powerful melody at 5:15. But then at 5:45 we’re back to that first melody that was already verging on the annoying when it left and… it takes a special kind of person to want to endure this kind of discomfort. This, however, is practically what defines Száhala’s music. These persistent feelings and this painful pursuit of delayed gratification (the gratification we feel when a melody finally advances to a different stage, or a new note appears, or some gimmick messes around with the tempo, etc.) can be found pretty much in ALL of his tracks if you bother to take a closer look. Even Aurinko‘s final exploding melody persists far longer than your random MTV teenage pop song. And that’s a good thing. There’s already enough girly music today I say!
Another thing is that Starfall clearly gives a much more contemplative vibe than Aurinko. Aurinko is happiness full stop. But Starfall has a clear dreamy vibe, so ranking one above the other would once more be equivalent to ranking feelings and emotions, and saying happiness > contemplation. But since I feel Aurinko is a more perfect representation of happiness than Starfall is a representation of contemplation, I decided to change their relative positions. Starfall is more complex, in a way, just as Sunray is more “complex” and at the same time is still not good enough for me to consider placing it on a top 20.
And by the way, some of my posts on that forum are worth reading in case you want to understand where I am coming from with my writing.
This whole thread is a nice read and will help you understand my views on reviewing in general:
http://infected-mushroom.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=383628#p383628
Also, Jambato:
1) I understand your point about Hydra being useful to DJs. It makes sense. That said, I’m not a DJ so the only thing I care about is the track that is right in front of me, and I will review it and judge it based on its effect on me while exclusively listening to it. If I was reviewing a DJ set I would comment on the transition, its selection, etc. But when I review the track, the track (and other similar tracks to which I can compare it) are all I care about. And if an amazing track is hard to mix but is a 5/5, I will still defend against a 1/5 easy-to-mix piece of trash track.
2) I have nothing against imitators. I am just calling them by their names. There’s nothing wrong with imitation as long as what you are imitating is good…
Lol, is the girl being raped by her brother in that sample from Entfernung? Well. With or without the sample, I don’t like the track. I mean, I guess the first 30 seconds, in which I hear a baby being raped by her brother, probably had an effect on this opinion… though. So maybe, after all, if you took the sample out I might’ve liked it. — I don’t know, because I couldn’t bear listening to it for more than 4 second intervals, meaning that I had to scroll through it as fast I could before turning off the volume for good. Incidentally, I’m always reminded of cartoons and anime when I hear Japanese voice samples, and I don’t watch cartoons, so I’d rather my music kept those samples out. J-core, as whole, is pretty bad. It unfortunately seems the cool Finnish Freeform must be sandwiched right between the base UK Hardcore and the ridiculous Japanese Hardcore. There’s no way around it, because of all the similarities they share. The public that enjoys this kind of music is not discerning enough to differentiate between the three styles, so they lump them all together. Meanwhile, those who can discern and appreciate, however so slightly, the difference in the quality of the music produced by these different scenes and traditions, has to face the problem of the lack of new quality music being made. So the music coming from Finland is not plentiful, and even DJs who can appreciate the superior Finnish music want to, well, DJ, so they have to use whatever other music is coming out — and where they are coming out is from base UK and weird Japan. This is, then, how we get to a DJ wanting to put a little anime lolita being raped by her brother next to such towering masterpieces as Iron Squid.
And, by the way, it’s not like the Japanese aren’t able to make good art. They are. They have produced videogame gold, for example. And the world would be a lot poorer without Japan and its weirdness. That said, I still don’t like shooting spaceships with 12-year old anime girls, nor do I like listening to silly Touhou music made by hermit-like hikikomori whose only life experiences include watching anime and drinking an absurd amount of energy drinks. I think the energy drinks would explain their taste for high BPM. The rest would explain their lack of subtlety and eye for nuance. (And once more explain why cartoon music appearing next to Man Eaten or Invitation doesn’t seem out of place to them.)
Betwixt & Between – Hydra
Hydra is boring until its climax, with some funny vocals on the breakbeat part, a pretty good rise which culminates with a completely out-of-place female vocal, and then there’s a huge melodic climax that comes out of nowhere, with no previous warning, no previous sign whatever pointing to its appearance, and then it’s over. It’s also too short. If Betwixt made it longer and built it up properly it might have been pretty good, as the melodic climax is nice.
2/5
You’re right Plasma, I overdid it above and I apologize for that. I am indeed interested in making constructive criticism, and I promise to make that extra effort to write my ideas less aggressively.
If we are going to have an showdown on the best dark freeform artist (or feel good about our superior tastes while belittling others’, whichever suits you best), shouldn’t that be moved into its own topic, rather than polluting the Introductions thread?
Yes, we should create a specific topic for that. I was already planning on doing it, but I had to reply to Sherkel after his post (my blood boiled after that post lol). I’m okay with the posts being moved to some other thread, to keep things fairly organized here. Suggestion for the topic title: “Horsers Imposing Their Tastes: Hyper Turbo HD Freeform Remix”.
Anyway, let’s leave the pretentious kid playing with his “essences”, “genuine creativities”, etc. and let’s see what I have to say about Betwixt & Between.
I might eventually write more about him, but for now I’ll just say that he was among the best imitators of Száhala so far. He still ranks orders of magnitude bellow him, though. This style of music is unforgiving. As I stated previously, the risk of producing comedy is very high when attempting to make music in the Száhala-style. So for example, with Liberation we get a track that nearly reaches this unfathomably high standard, but which still sounds too sentimental and amateurish. Another track that I like from him is 7701. But in order to enjoy it I have to pretend that ridiculous “come on!” or whatever sample is not there. It sounds silly and nearly ruins the great atmosphere he managed to create in those 7 or so minutes. It’s little mistakes like this “come one!” sample that can lower the value of a track abysmally, and which artists ought to avoid if we want to take them seriously. It’s not only what one does that ennobles, it’s also to a great extent that which one omits! Then you have stuff like Nothing Compares 2 U which is super fun lol, but mostly because it is funny, comical, super exaggerated and sentimental. I cannot imagine a human being who can listen to it seriously (the track itself doesn’t take itself seriously). Even Infected Mushroom’s recent Milosh can make me cringe (Erez himself called it “so funny” in an interview), let alone this track which doesn’t even attempt seriousness. Then you have Hydra which is boring until its climax, with some funny vocals on the breakbeat part, a pretty good rise, another completely out-of-place female vocal at the end of the build-up, and finally a huge climax that comes out of nowhere, with no previous warning, no previous sign whatever pointing to its appearance, and then it’s over. I mean, and you want me to seriously compare Betwixt & Between with Alek Száhala? The artist who produced some of the most logical pieces of music ever?
I dare anyone to give me the best of Betwixt and put it up against Enuma Elish — Száhala’s best so far — and then to realize the vast distance that separates them. Even Reincarnation does not come even close (what with it’s weaker second half). So, yeah. Take care, guys.
I apologize in advance if my tone offends you, but this is theory we are talking about here, so I will not sugarcoat my writing in order to make truth sound pleasing. I will write exactly what’s on my mind, and my mind is brutal. After all, as Schopenhauer put it: “Politeness, which has its source in social relations, is in literature an alien and often injurious element; because it exacts that bad work shall be called good. In this way the very aim of science and art is directly frustrated”.
So first off: how old are you? That post looks like it was written by an attention-seeking 12 year old trying to impress his parents with meaningless verbiage. Writing about music is extremely difficult. If you are not sure about what you want to say, it’s best you don’t say anything at all. It’s already difficult to write clearly and meaningfully about every other subject under the sun, and it is even more so in the case of the highly subjective artform of music. Just scrap your “essences”, “unapolageticallies”, “mercies” and downgrade your writing. Then you might manage to get something coherent and meaningful for us to read.
the obligatory presence of beats/bass/breakdowns/etc. leaves very little room for content
And yet artists have been doing it since the beginning of art. You need structure in art. “Abstract art” is a stupid concept. Consider also that the most primitive forms of music are nothing other than “beats/bass/breakdowns/etc.” as you put it (see all tribal communities ever, who spend all their time pot- and pan-banging), and you are telling us that even that is too restrictive and “leaves very little room for content”, lol. Hello, are we living in the 21st century?
thus to use that cramped remaining space for genuine creativity
As opposed to what? Fake creativity? Or perhaps to counterfeit creativity, lol? Please explain that to us child, we are eager to learn about this wonderful concept of authenticity in creativity!
why the amount of producers that successfully do this instead of rewriting existing tracks has always been next to none.
Oh I get it. You were on drugs when you wrote that post and were hallucinating most music is just a remix from existent music. Or maybe you meant that all the artists releasing original music on https://www.beatport.com/ everyday are not however “genuinely” creative, as you put it (all the while conveniently forgetting to define this wonderful concept of genuine creativity to all of us…).
The success of the producers celebrated here in combining one-of-a-kind timbres with an aptitude for catchy yet powerful melodies to turn uptempo dance music into an art form can’t possibly be overstated.
Lol.
I find Betwixt’s ability to unapologetically inject his essence into his creations and allow structures and obligatory elements to only form within them at his mercy to be all the more impressive.
So pretentious. Substitute the word “Betwixt” with the name of any other artist, and nothing will be lost. This is how you know the phrase has no content whatsoever besides “I like Betwixt better”. But then why not just write “I like Betwixt better? That’s where the pretentiousness comes in.
That’s just my opinion, of course.
And the sky is blue, of course. And birds fly, of course. And trees are made of wood, of course. That was possibly the only true and meaningful statement in the entirety of your post, but we all know the stuff we write is our opinion!
For some reason my post is not showing up, so I’ll repost it:
After following this music so fanatically and enthusiastically for years, I had to take a break from it. That was the only way to properly understand the meaning of compositions like Afternoon Owl. I can in fact say I indulged this music to the point of disgust. That said, I still consider Alek Száhala nothing less than a musical genius. His music is incredibly logical and streamlined, and consequently incredibly powerful (and therefore also quite dangerous…). Of course he also made bad tracks, but when adhering to such an extreme style of music, the risk of producing comedy is very high. It is not easy to make adult and tasteful 180 BPM four-to-the-floor music, is what I’m saying, and this is why most tracks in this music style (the so-called “freeform”, which is in reality very well structured and not freeform at all…) are actually pretty bad. But by the same token, when they hit this style’s very narrow sweetspot, they can reach outright brilliance. I rank Száhala very high in the hierarchy of modern music (right at the top, along with Infected Mushroom). But I’ll stop typing at this point lest I run out of things to post on the forum.
