A Minor Note
Has anyone traced just how indebted chillout music is to Steve Reich? An admittedly slipshod Google search doesn't turn up much, and much of what turns up are reviews of the Reich Remixed album.
Maybe it's because the connection is too obvious to draw. Beat-driven electronica is usually repetitive, which can be a good thing when you're on drugs and floating in the Everlasting Now. When you're not on drugs it all too often comes across as a Sad Lack of Ideas.
To take an example, Rupeski's "Dreaming About Tomorrow (G-Dubs 'Guided By Angels' Reprise)" from the new Buzzin' Fly compilation has got a plinky keyboard and percussion loop that could have come straight out of "Octet."
What saves the song is that the keyboard loop, though short, is fairly complicated, and by the time you've sorted out just how the loop works, a burbling bass line has carried you to the next song.
Chillout's other obvious progenitor is James Brown's "Cold Sweat," which rejected melody in favor of groove as the song's propulsive force. But you already knew that, didn't you?
Maybe it's because the connection is too obvious to draw. Beat-driven electronica is usually repetitive, which can be a good thing when you're on drugs and floating in the Everlasting Now. When you're not on drugs it all too often comes across as a Sad Lack of Ideas.
To take an example, Rupeski's "Dreaming About Tomorrow (G-Dubs 'Guided By Angels' Reprise)" from the new Buzzin' Fly compilation has got a plinky keyboard and percussion loop that could have come straight out of "Octet."
What saves the song is that the keyboard loop, though short, is fairly complicated, and by the time you've sorted out just how the loop works, a burbling bass line has carried you to the next song.
Chillout's other obvious progenitor is James Brown's "Cold Sweat," which rejected melody in favor of groove as the song's propulsive force. But you already knew that, didn't you?
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