Know Your Enemy
"It seems like people like Timbaland and Crystal Castles think that just because the chip music scene is mostly based on altruism and non-profit sharing of one’s music, it means that the chip music is in the public domain, being free for anyone to use as they see fit".
Judging by this post and the subsequent comments thread (and the fact that the story's been picked up by Drowned In Sound and Pitchfork amongst others), there are a lot of people in the world of "chiptune music" (a new one on me, too) who have a chip on their shoulder about flavour-of-the-month sample-happy electro-fiends Crystal Castles.
Also on a music tip: The Line Of Best Fit is a very good music site recently recommended to me by a friend (cheers Russell). Recent highlights have included a review of Lions, the second album from Oxford favourites Jonquil, and a photo set from ATP vs Pitchfork which just underlines how many good acts you missed seeing if (like me) you didn't go - Sebadoh, No Age, Fuck Buttons, Pissed Jeans, The Hold Steady, Shit And Shine - but is still well worth a look just to get a glimpse of Les Savy Fav's professional nutter of a frontman Tim Harrington dressed in a Pink Panther suit...
Friday, May 30, 2008
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1 comment:
I find this whole thing fascinating. I think it's partly a case of Crystal Castles just being a bit obnoxious, and generally not naming their sources. Which is a bit cheeky. But there also seems to be a monumental case of sour grapes from the Chiptune community.
The simple fact is that the reason Crystal Castles have succeeded is because they've created great music and played the game. The Chiptune stuff just isn't really pop music. It's just too avant garde. Crystal Castles may have borrowed (ok, nicked) the sound, but they've created something better with it.
It reminds me of the first acid house record, Acid Trax by Phuture. It was literally just a 4/4 beat with 303 squiggles over the top. It took other producers to take that primitive sound and adapt it and refine it. Same with scratching. Grand Wizard Theodore "invented" it, but it was Grandmaster Flash who truly pioneered the sound. It's not about who's first, it's about who's best.
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