Last seen: Village Voice, July 23rd edition (today's)
Known attributes: tendency to try and desrcibe expansive sound with constricting language
Alias: "illbient"
If you have any information on this perpetrator's backrground or origin please contact your local music journalist
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Well I suppose the above is a bit of a joke - for clarification, the Village Voice has just run a huge feature describing 'new sounds from the underground - illbient'.....in an article where they describe the music as defying language they also make sure to use the word illbient a thousand times. And I suppose by adding this transmission to the universe I've done my part to spread it far and wide. Whatever. I was just wondering if anyone else has seen this term in music journalism and what they think.
'illbient' is used in the article as a catch-all phrase for the sounds being produced in NYC and probably other places which draw on many influences including hip-hop and ambient music, in other words it's often beatless and sample-based stuff like the 'Necropolis' CD I reviewed for the list a few months back.
The article is a follow-up to the Soundlab party at the Brooklyn Anchorage which I imagine will bring a lot more publicity and exposure to the scene. It's good stuff - at the bridge they took 8 different caverns and created litte sub-environments replete with video games, video installations, large I don't even know what to call them things (like this big thing that made the walls look like they had running water in them and lit the room with bright white light), couches, you name it. At first I thought 'oh man, they're turning nightlife into a theme-park for short-attention span people' but I gained a much greater appreciation for it all after a few hours, because you could spend the whole night walking from one cavern to the next and back and you would never hear the same sound twice. Solid!
My exposure to this stuff first came from buying the Spooky disc & then attending Soundlab two or three weeks ago and the only thing I can conclusively say is that it does make me really happy and I'm definitely going back for more. Whatever they want to call it.
Does anyone have any information on whether people are engaging in this type of sonic experimentation experience in other cities?
Jay B