ISO50

RSS

Mathew Jonson+Dundov+Steffi+Carl Craig

Posted by Jakub



The common misconception about 4/4 material mainly house and techno is that its waaaaay too repetitive, my reply to that is usually “oh really? i’m sorry, sooo you just listen to John Cage and experimental chamber music that doesn’t repeat one same note?”. If I share a 7 minute to 12 minute song to someone that doesn’t DJ there will be blank stares, that won’t change probably if you only listen to the radio.

Most of the long songs are made that long are that way because you’ll have time to mix them together, mostly a DJ tool for good DJs. Usually these producers are also DJs and have been for a long time so during song writing they prepare tracks that way. The actual meat and potatoes of these kind of songs usually last shorter than a pop song on the radio, its that opportunity to play it with another song together is why these tracks are that way….or there is just a great journey/sequence within the building up to something hypnotic to dance too.

18 Comments Leave A Comment

1

ben urwin says:

January 5, 2012 at 9:25 am

I have never ever commented on a blog, but this just triggered something i was thinking whilst listening to alot of 70’s music that I’ve gotten into after becoming non-reactive to alot of new music.

I love long tracks that give time to the music to do what it needs to, I have no problem with the length but no matter how much i listen to minimal music it really lacks the depth of track played my traditional musicians.

Led zeppelin’s, when the levee breaks is 7:08 and pretty repetitive.

4

André Santos says:

January 5, 2012 at 11:32 am

Nice post!! I’m a bedroom DJ (though better than many so called “professional” DJs) and I find it difficult to make people who are not familiar with this kind of music listen to songs I like, usually because of the misconception you talked about, but also because of the lack of vocals!!

5

DIY says:

January 5, 2012 at 1:47 pm

Coincidentally, I was just watching the brilliant Universal Techno documentary (it’s on YouTube), and it got me thinking about the whole “it’s the same thing over and over again” misconception. I always experienced repetition as some sort of journey. Maybe that’s related to the fact that when we walk or run somewhere we’re practically making rhythmic patterns with our bodies, clothes, shoes, breathing, etc. So whenever I’m listening to repetitive music I subconsciously feel like I’m going somewhere. Also trains make brilliant techno patterns, so repetitive sound is definitely deeply connected to travel and movement in our subconscious. And I guess some people just fail to appreciate that.

6

DIY says:

January 5, 2012 at 1:51 pm

And yeah, great choice of tracks. Mathew Jonson is a brilliant producer, his track Marionette is one of my favorites ever, check it out if you haven’t already. :D

10

JACH says:

January 6, 2012 at 1:20 pm

Awesome music, Im not DJ, but I find this kind of music very stimulating. Looking forward your next heathered pearls mix.

14

Stan says:

January 6, 2012 at 4:50 pm

I have always found it amusing that people only notice the “repetitive” nature of a track’s basic foundation – yet completely miss all the secondary shifts and sonic bits that are introduced throughout its entirety.

Thanks for the tracks – getting me through the last couple hours at the studio.

16

Pavel says:

January 13, 2012 at 2:55 pm

Fucking thank you for posting this. I love all of these tracks. Learning to fly is a classic! Couldn’t agree more about the genre dispute over electronic music — aka preference dispute. Love the blog! Amazing selection as always.
Steffi’s “Sadness” is amazing too :)
Cheers!

17

Andrew says:

January 15, 2012 at 5:33 pm

Great sounds and great photo. I’m from Utah and wish we could get a few more artists to tour through here. I also am a bedroom DJ and when people tell me something is repetitive i have learned to not take it personally :) I love what DIY said about this where the rhythmic nature of this repetitiveness mimics that of going somewhere.