loved this, esp the exploration of the idea of internet fractalization & how artifacts from brief fads & moments linger with a playcount boost. on the topic of dance music as a hyperspecific thing, it gets a mention on Midtown 120 Blues’ into track too, establishing New York Deep House in particular as the product of a series of specific moments in specific places that yielded sounds with particular associations. interesting to see that same thing play out now, just over weeks or months instead of years (& usually without most of the political context that drives so much of terre thaemlitz’s work, but i will leave that to more capable minds to hash out).
to defend lo-fi house just a BIT i think the ‘nostalgia’ present in it is feeding off the same 90s/00s revivalism we’ve seen ebbing & flowing for years now. it’s not from the generation that grew up with serial experiments lain but rather the generation after that experienced it via 3 hour analysis video on youtube deconstructing the PS1 game. it’s a nostalgia for something imagined rather than directly experienced, almost always filtered through the internet as either a touchstone within the work or the medium to experience it (usually both), & while the building blocks (anime ps1 game footage, or 303 samples with a faux-vinyl hiss-pop FX layer underneath) may differ i think the overall effect is about the same. maybe this is the final version of Culture (Fukuyama heads RISE!) but on the other hand we seem to be in a lot of holding patterns waiting for something to happen. so who knows! thanks for the good think about it tho :)
thanks so much for the nice comment! yeah, i cite sprinkles on specificity all the time, forgot to bring it up here though, haha! and i would agree that lofi house isn't really any more nostalgic than the rest of dance music, I just thought it was interesting that it presents a less specific, more abstract version of it. but then again, I was actively following and buying this stuff on vinyl at its peak ca. 2012-2013 so in the end, it does take on a very specific time & place in my life!
loved this, esp the exploration of the idea of internet fractalization & how artifacts from brief fads & moments linger with a playcount boost. on the topic of dance music as a hyperspecific thing, it gets a mention on Midtown 120 Blues’ into track too, establishing New York Deep House in particular as the product of a series of specific moments in specific places that yielded sounds with particular associations. interesting to see that same thing play out now, just over weeks or months instead of years (& usually without most of the political context that drives so much of terre thaemlitz’s work, but i will leave that to more capable minds to hash out).
to defend lo-fi house just a BIT i think the ‘nostalgia’ present in it is feeding off the same 90s/00s revivalism we’ve seen ebbing & flowing for years now. it’s not from the generation that grew up with serial experiments lain but rather the generation after that experienced it via 3 hour analysis video on youtube deconstructing the PS1 game. it’s a nostalgia for something imagined rather than directly experienced, almost always filtered through the internet as either a touchstone within the work or the medium to experience it (usually both), & while the building blocks (anime ps1 game footage, or 303 samples with a faux-vinyl hiss-pop FX layer underneath) may differ i think the overall effect is about the same. maybe this is the final version of Culture (Fukuyama heads RISE!) but on the other hand we seem to be in a lot of holding patterns waiting for something to happen. so who knows! thanks for the good think about it tho :)
thanks so much for the nice comment! yeah, i cite sprinkles on specificity all the time, forgot to bring it up here though, haha! and i would agree that lofi house isn't really any more nostalgic than the rest of dance music, I just thought it was interesting that it presents a less specific, more abstract version of it. but then again, I was actively following and buying this stuff on vinyl at its peak ca. 2012-2013 so in the end, it does take on a very specific time & place in my life!