One synth to rule them all?

[TweakHead]

But there's always underground and mainstream. It's just that some producers get tired of being "in the shadows", putting to much work into their music for a small niche of people who appreciate it and probably download the music from the web for free. The way I see it, it's just some musicians that get seduced by the lights of fame, success, the chance to make real money from their work. There's some very bad examples of that. I think there's a band with a name similar to this forum that rings a bell.

But while there's a whole pack of artists in psytrance that started good and then turned to more cheesy commercial music, there's still a very diversified underground scene and music going. What we sometimes feel is that it has changed and we can never get that element of surprise back. But that's mostly us that have changed. It used to be new for us, now it isn't. But there's always new people coming in and their amazement is very similar to what we've felt back then. It's only different.

And while we can go on talking about the specifics of a given genre, I feel trance is like a state of mind that can be achieved through music and sharing the experience with other people. That's just as good a possibility as it was when it all started, the rest of it is just trends, labels, organizers and their greed levels - sometimes it goes of the charts, sometimes you find good stuff. Take a look at this events, for example: boom festival and ozora festival. The atmosphere in there is just amazing. Just an example.

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by TweakHead

But there's always underground and mainstream. It's just that some producers get tired of being "in the shadows", putting to much work into their music for a small niche of people who appreciate it and probably download the music from the web for free. The way I see it, it's just some musicians that get seduced by the lights of fame, success, the chance to make real money from their work.

I also think there is a tendancy to like or appreciate something just because it is "underground" or off the beaten path. We see it as rare (and I guess it is)... it's sort of like when an artist (musical or otherwise) dies and the value of their work skyrockets simply because they're dead, even if nobody cared for their work when they were alive.

I've found myself somewhat of a "victim" of this syndrome too during certain periods of my life. I remember being a fan of The Cure way before most people knew who they were. When they gained mainstream popularity, yes their sound got a little more approachable but it was still good and still worthy of The Cure label. Many folks complained about how they sold out, but the truth is success came to them because they earned it, they never really changed. It was just the perception by those who liked the "elite" feeling of being part of some underground fan base -- they didn't like feeling encroached on by the public. Their private garden had been invaded, their feeling of superiority over society compromised!

What I mean is that we don't have to stop enjoying a band or genre just because other people are onto it. But we have a tendancy to do just that.

It used to be that there were very real consequences of a band going mainstream and getting a hit in the Top 40. In North America, in the 80s and 90s, that meant you were going to hear the same some played over and over on the radio, to the point where you would be sick of anything that came from that band going forward.

But these days, most folks I think listen to Pandora, iPods, SiriusXM and the like, which has made that much less of an issue.

But on the flipside of that, sometimes bands or artists do change. Sometimes they do their best or at least most creative work in their younger years, when they are fueled by alcohol and drug abuse .... then when they get older and have families to support or are suffering health problems from all the booze, their creative edge dissipates and they mostly just live off the name they established early on. Then again there are some old dudes that really come up with some nice surprises. Did you ever hear Johnny Cash cover the song "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails?

[Berni]

I actually don't think there is much of an underground anymore with the advent of digital media & the internet. You can go from obscurity to viral in a very short space of time, which means new trends tend to come & go like fashion which is a bit sad, the ideas & artists never get chance to mature & get snapped up by labels wanting to cash in on the next musical fad of the month before they have time to & are replaced by (insert next dumb music genre here).
@the man behind the curtain - I hate the bastard that gave The Cure anti depressants!

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by Berni

I actually don't think there is much of an underground anymore with the advent of digital media & the internet. You can go from obscurity to viral in a very short space of time, which means new trends tend to come & go like fashion which is a bit sad, the ideas & artists never get chance to mature & get snapped up by labels wanting to cash in on the next musical fad of the month before they have time to & are replaced by (insert next dumb music genre here).
@the man behind the curtain - I hate the bastard that gave The Cure anti depressants!

But at the same time, digital media, the Internet, music sharing, the ease of home studios et al has made it harder for bands to turn a profit than in the old days, so they will have to keep doing something right if they want to survive.

LOL about The Cure!