i have to admit that i kind of don't get it. gaming is such a dude thing. i don't see it as comparable to women picking up guitars or going to work or any of these sorts of things. it's more like women showing up outside the boys club and demanding to be let in.

i don't really claim to have a grasp of what's going on. i don't know who any of these people are or any of the forums or anything beyond the broad idea of misogyny in gaming. i just don't understand why women want into this world that doesn't offer them anything except wasted hours and doesn't seem to want them in it.

maybe it's a guy thing. i'm certainly revolted by the androcentric nature of the gaming industry, so i don't play the games. why can't there be guy things? why can't you just let the boys play their stupid games and leave it at that....?

i understand a lot of youngish women were raised with the idea that gaming is gender neutral. but, maybe that perception - wherever it came from - is wrong and, maybe, instead of trying to force yourself into something that doesn't want you in it, you should just get the message and voluntarily walk away from it...

there's no end goal of social advancement or hierarchical positioning inherent within taking part in the gaming industry. there's no victory for equality, here. i don't see any feminist gains to be made from fighting for the "right" to engage in mind-numbing stupidity as equals...

conversely, i think this kind of ultra-authoritarianism and interference in the sovereign lives of others is likely to harm general perceptions of feminism. there's really nothing worthwhile and nothing positive that can come out of fighting this battle.

again: it's well produced, but it's the sum total of ideas that artists like squarepusher and tortoise (and del, i guess - i'm not good with the hip-hop, don't ask me about that) brought to their logical conclusion 15 years ago, without ever coming close to reaching the same level of cohesive thought. stuff often seems like it's just randomly thrown together on a whim. this generation is full of totally frustrating artists that seem unable to get over that adhd fruit fly attention span thing. it fits in that context. it's perfect for it's audience. but i need more than this. way more than this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ5x_khRyM4

it's fairly well understood at this point that a desire to be a police officer implies a certain level of mental illness. the idea of a "good cop" is a contradiction in terms - these are people that want to walk around with guns and tell people what to do, and there can never be anything "good" about that kind of a tendency.

i've seen the argument made that politicians should not be allowed to announce their own candidacies, for similar reasons. the argument is that nobody that chooses to run could be anything better than corrupt, so the only way to get a clean system is for the masses to nominate people - and possibly against their will.

i think a similar mindset needs to be adopted with teachers. i've spent a good deal of my life preparing to become one, but in the end decided it would be a horrible job. i'd be the kind of teacher that would make no effort to reach out to struggling students and would happily fail 75% of the class if it didn't hold up to my expectations. then, they'd pull this circular argument on me that i'm not meeting expectations. so, i wouldn't last very long. the core of my disinterest would be a complete inability to discipline the children of strangers. that's a totally foreign - and somewhat frightening - concept to me.

what kind of mental illness does it require to want to stand in the front of a room and enforce this neurotic, hierarchical structure down on kids? so, how can we speak of "good teachers", in the context of the mentality that the profession requires?

deathtokoalas
this demonstrates the same basic flaw that everything i've heard from flying lotus demonstrates - the production is interesting, but there's no craft or songwriting underlying it. i'd be very interested in hearing him work in a strictly production capacity, but there's just nothing to actually listen to in his original recordings.

this particular track is like a really, really, really stripped down tortoise demo.

deadmau5FAN54675435
I feel u kinda

deathtokoalas
it's overlapping into the region that standards went into, but it's just totally subpar and amateur in comparison.

George McNab
I agree with you, but only really to the extent of this album. He has certainly written some great songs in the past. Check out Getting There and Zodiac Shit. Also Camel. All are catchy and bangin. Or maybe he just ain't yo thang :B

Daniel Howe
Does this not demonstrate the musical experimentation he's been so greatly praised for? You could apply your argument to the likes of Aphex Twin also but it would be ignorant to say that he is fundamentally flawed. Without musical experimentation there would be no progress- being tied to a 'strictly production capacity' allows no freedom and therefore growth in music.

deathtokoalas
this particular track is not very experimental, but i wouldn't criticize his work for a lack of experimentation so much as i'd criticize it for a lack of vision. i know a lot of people think these things are in some way opposed to each other, but in truth they must complement each other to get anywhere in an experimental style.

but i don't think the record is very experimental, anyways.

the aphex twin is actually the perfect counter-example, because his work is highly written.

i mean, i guess, in some way, "experimental" is a relative term - it's relative to what you're familiar with. you can throw something objective down in theory, but nobody is omniscient so that theoretically objective idea of "experimental" is virtually impossible to construct in reality. saying "this isn't experimental relative to a broad overview of idm" doesn't mean much if you don't have that overview. i suppose it could be interpreted as experimental if you're used to listening to mainstream hip-hop. or maybe radiohead. but most people that listen to experimental music won't find much experimental about the disc.

i don't think the artist would debate the point. i don't get the impression he was pushing an experimental record, so much as i get the impression he was trying to do a genre-mash. and as i've pointed out, the really interesting part of the disc is the production, which is where his talents actually are.

Joseph Kiesel
The instrumental can wholly and completely be a song or atleast a music piece that is good.

deathtokoalas
it's not a question of if it has vocals or not...