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The "what should it be called" thread
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Melancholyman
IsraTrance Junior Member
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233
Posted : Apr 3, 2011 17:14:24
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Ok, so I'm annoyed. It seems so hard to find an umbrella term to label downtempo music. Downtempo is a long word, and it doesn't give any hint of what the music could sound like as with other labels for different genres. What term should be used? If I were to put my vote on one term it woul be "psybient". What's your take on this? Bottom line is imo, "downtempo" needs to go...
 
http://thenoseisperpendicular.blogspot.com/ |
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Misha_
IsraTrance Junior Member
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527
Posted : Apr 3, 2011 19:23
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I don`t see any need to find some other term.But i am always open for good discussion.
Psybient is not a good solution.Only because prefix PSY.First of all,that prefix makes that term too narrow for further use.What is psybient?For me just a subgenre of downtempo.
The problem lies in the fact that downtempo is much more neutral word then psybient is.Every artist of ambient on planet will probably tell you that he makes downtempo music but many of them will never say that their music is psybient.
www.soundmute-recordings.com |
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mattman
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168
Posted : Apr 3, 2011 19:34
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Dovla
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Apr 3, 2011 19:42
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downtempo is the only word I can use that most accurately tries to sum up all the different sub genres I play...not a huge fan of the word either but it's the best I have
actually I also prefer to use the word freestyle...but that doesn't really cut it for everyone DJ Dovla | Interchill Records, Flow Records
www.dovla.info |
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Beat Agency
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Apr 3, 2011 19:44
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Want it a bit shorter? Call it Downbeat 
Actually I never understood why people in the psytrance scene does not call it Chill-out? It's a wide used term outside the psytrance scene including many sub genres.
www.beatagency.dk |
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Dovla
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Apr 3, 2011 20:37
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Actually I never understood why people in the psytrance scene does not call it Chill-out? It's a wide used term outside the psytrance scene including many sub genres. |
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well I for one play a lot of trip hop, glitch hop and some jazzy stuff...so that term doesn't really cut it for me...
btw I really don't care what people chose to label it...to me it's just good music...although I do run into the problem when I have to describe it to people who aren't into it at all
DJ Dovla | Interchill Records, Flow Records
www.dovla.info |
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TranceVisuals
TranceVisuals
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Posted : Apr 3, 2011 20:53
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"We" call it chill-out in the north UK, although with the smoking ban it killed off a lot of the chill-out scene, and is now replaced with alternative music of whatever variety the promoters think will get people into the night, be it breaks, dubstep, electro, techno, etc. as a second dance room.
www.youtube.com/trancevisuals
2,000,000+ views and counting. |
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Gunter
IsraTrance Full Member
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1465
Posted : Apr 3, 2011 21:23
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Everybody will understand the umbrella words like chill out or downtempo or downbeat. Some might just use a huger umbrella and others a tiny one. I like it to be huge. For me chill out is a very wide genre, a lot of genres fall into it, for me maybe around 10 subgenres. |
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vector_0
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Apr 4, 2011 00:06
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DjSchofield
IsraTrance Junior Member
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1050
Posted : Apr 4, 2011 00:58
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On 2011-04-03 20:53, TranceVisuals wrote:
"We" call it chill-out in the north UK, although with the smoking ban it killed off a lot of the chill-out scene, and is now replaced with alternative music of whatever variety the promoters think will get people into the night, be it breaks, dubstep, electro, techno, etc. as a second dance room.
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That's a shame, about the smoking ban (assuming ban on indoor smoking in venues) being bad for chill rooms. Though i can understand it isn't as enticing if you can't go in there and light up a scoob and chillax. Perhaps chill rooms need to move to the beer gardens. Sound couldn't be as loud, given proximity to neighbours, but ambience woyld be lovely outside on a nice night.
Back on topic: I use ambient and downtempo as my words to describe the music i play. As said above already, people from most walks tend to understand them.
Psybient to me aslo just describes a sub-genre - and perhaps a hazy one at that. |
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mattman
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168
Posted : Apr 4, 2011 08:19
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Vlip Psyde
Started Topics :
6
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87
Posted : Apr 4, 2011 11:10
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To find an umbrella term to label downtempo music is impossible. Umbrella terms are bulls*** IMO. Every artist has their own style, except in the commercial scene, and most of that sucks anyway. But even there, bands are labeled in the same genre while their music is completely different. I like some indie rock, but I really don't like some other indie rock.
Downtempo already is a large umbrella term, and I suppose it works for me. Chill-out also. Depends on what you find chill though. I find some progressive trance to be chill-out mucis, but it's not really downtempo.
And yea.... if people do not know the kind of music, they will better understand with a lengthy explanation than with a short word. Depending upon the artist I'm talking about, I'd explain it as 'kind of progressive/experimental/psychedelic/dubby/ electronic/new-age/hippy/chill-out/downtempo/ambient/with influences of world music/rock/real instruments/...'. And ask them if they know Pink Floyd, Brain Eno, and say that it's something like that but more trancey or something.
Or just call it 'music'. |
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Beat Agency
IsraTrance Full Member
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1752
Posted : Apr 4, 2011 12:26
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Anyway who cares what it's called. Music is music.
@ Vlip Psyde
Just because music is commercial does not instantly mean that most of it is bad. There's tons of good and amazing commercial music out there.
www.beatagency.dk |
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Melancholyman
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
14
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233
Posted : Apr 4, 2011 13:53
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On 2011-04-03 19:23, Misha_ wrote:
I don`t see any need to find some other term.But i am always open for good discussion.
Psybient is not a good solution.Only because prefix PSY.First of all,that prefix makes that term too narrow for further use.What is psybient?For me just a subgenre of downtempo.
The problem lies in the fact that downtempo is much more neutral word then psybient is.Every artist of ambient on planet will probably tell you that he makes downtempo music but many of them will never say that their music is psybient.
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Yeah I hope there at least can be alternatives that have a big enough consensus.It's the community that defines the terms, just this discussion is a proof of that, I mean who coined the term "downtempo", to me it just feels as a word that came up because somebody lacked good imagination.
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On 2011-04-03 19:44, Beat Agency wrote:
Want it a bit shorter? Call it Downbeat
Actually I never understood why people in the psytrance scene does not call it Chill-out? It's a wide used term outside the psytrance scene including many sub genres.
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The problem is taht both downbeat and downtempo seems to be such impersonal locutions. It's so mechanical in some way. Just look at the term "Neo-Classical" doesn't that sound good to your ears?
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On 2011-04-04 00:06, vector_0 wrote:
ambient fusion?
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I like that more than downtempo for sure..
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On 2011-04-03 19:34, mattman wrote:
But ambient music - such as Solar Fields - Extended isn't psychedelic. It's ambient.
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What is psychedelic then? To me Solar Fields can be more psychedelic than any other music. I don't know how you define psychedelic. To me I use the term psychedelic when the music puts me in a certain state. The music needs to convey a certain kind of emotion or conception, one of mystery. Psychedelic to me is the "unspeakable" and there is a lot of music in downtempo (I guess that's the word for it then) that is considered psychedelic that to me utterly fails to convey any kind of psychedelic mental state.
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On 2011-04-04 11:10, Vlip Psyde wrote:
To find an umbrella term to label downtempo music is impossible. Umbrella terms are bulls*** IMO. Every artist has their own style, except in the commercial scene, and most of that sucks anyway. But even there, bands are labeled in the same genre while their music is completely different. I like some indie rock, but I really don't like some other indie rock.
Downtempo already is a large umbrella term, and I suppose it works for me. Chill-out also. Depends on what you find chill though. I find some progressive trance to be chill-out mucis, but it's not really downtempo.
And yea.... if people do not know the kind of music, they will better understand with a lengthy explanation than with a short word. Depending upon the artist I'm talking about, I'd explain it as 'kind of progressive/experimental/psychedelic/dubby/ electronic/new-age/hippy/chill-out/downtempo/ambient/with influences of world music/rock/real instruments/...'. And ask them if they know Pink Floyd, Brain Eno, and say that it's something like that but more trancey or something.
Or just call it 'music'.
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What's the difference between Chill-out and Downtempo (just curious I have no definition)?
I guess music is the word then, lol altough some people listening to downtempo would say,
"you call this music?". And by music they mean Usher, Britney Spears, so forth and so on..
What I think is strange is that everyone seems to be certain of what can be called this, that or the other, everyone seems to be able to have drawn straight lines in their head. The reality is undeniable though, nobody can give a clear and fixed account of what music should be placed in a particular category. There is no consensus in the matter, and this would be easily seen if we were to start discussing a particular genre, some would say that this artist is not that genre and some wold say that it is, then eventually it might boil down to release dates or some other argument for or against. But it needs to be called something. I dunno, Mattman, I can udnerstand you think Psybient is pretentious and I am not defending that term. But I do think that downtempo is the opposite of that, I doesn't make justice to the wonderful works of arts out there.
http://thenoseisperpendicular.blogspot.com/ |
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Vlip Psyde
Started Topics :
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87
Posted : Apr 4, 2011 20:22
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Just because music is commercial does not instantly mean that most of it is bad. There's tons of good and amazing commercial music out there.
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True, but unfortunately most if it does not reach my ears... The radio stations in the Netherlands are quite bad. Mostly R&B, cheap dance/trance, rap... There's this 80s station I like cause I like that music, and one station that actually cares about playing new stuff, which is sometimes quite good as well. But it remains a matter of taste. Also it depends upon what you'd call 'commercial'. For me, it's commercial if it has had a chart rating in my country. When I mention artists I like to other people, 97 out of 100 go 'eh?' so I dont regard those as commercial.
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What's the difference between Chill-out and Downtempo (just curious I have no definition)?
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It completely depends upon who you ask. For me, downtempo is quite chilled. So.. No difference for me. But yea, even Britney Spears and Usher have downtempo / chillout songs  It's all about how a person experiences the music. And that's different for everyone.
so, I have tried to erase all the lines in my head.. "it needs to be called something" because of those same lines in your head!
Just let go |
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