differnt styles under one name bad?

maksk · Post by **maksk** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:38 pm

i'm looking to come outside with some new material. now, i'll do house, disco, electro, electronics, techno, bits of drum 'n bass... very different styles...
i'm doubting if i should use differnt names, to make it more clear, or present it under one name. what would be wise?

yourmom · Post by **yourmom** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:17 pm

up to the artist. i like artists who do both. i, personally, kind of prefer artists who stick to one style for an album. although you always sound like YOU no matter what 'genre'...

maksk · Post by **maksk** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:20 pm

ok, thanks!
more opinions? very interesting....

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:36 pm

I find artists using different names to be annoying...sometimes I want everything an artist has done, and different names just confuse me and make me do more work, which is a pain in the ass.

Agreed that an album ought to have a cohesive sound, but there are no rules that say that one album can't be drastically different from another.

When I was with another person in the band "nebulae", our goal was nebulous music, such that each album sounded like a compilation of different artists. While we found a cult fanbase, most people couldn't figure out how what to make of our lack of sound. Now that I'm a solo artist, my albums take more shape into cohesive sounds on a per-album or per-project basis.

maksk · Post by **maksk** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:50 pm

yes, i want to make a demo now for my more club-orientated tracks (i also have a pop/soul/jazzfunk project and produce for others), so i maybe have to make several and look at them as tiny albums, with each three tracks or so. like one vocal funkhouse demo, one minimal sounding demo, ...

could turn out funny and confusing (all under the same name, and 'released' at the same time, but maybe that's the only way to go...:s)

currently i'm jealous on people that are doing only one thing

radib · Post by **radib** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:58 pm

I hate old genres on new days. It´s coward and boring.

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:08 pm

mustaches for everyone

maksk · Post by **maksk** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:10 pm

radib wrote:I hate old genres on new days. It´s coward and boring.

ok then

next!

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:22 pm

I think it's very hard for people to track down music these days, there's a hell of a lot of music out there and the problem is filtering it.

However you tackle this I think it's important to signal to potential listeners what the content is.

Brian Eno's "music for films" is quite an informative title, as is "Best of 1990's Gabba volume 3"
but, "Houses of the Holy" is not an indicative title. You need to make an assumption based on what you know of the artist. If that artist makes a range of music then the assumption is most likely wrong.

Historically you could call a project whatever you wanted, but I think now you stand a better chance of catching passing trade if you name 'collections' appropriately.

"15 ambient works"
"boo hoo , no-one understands me or my haircut"
"bogle & ass stutterer's fuck party"
"music for use in commercials"

name and tag appropriately, it will all work out ok I reckon

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:09 pm

I've decided to do all of my production work under one name because I feel electronic music is too genre-focused. I appreciate the anonymity aspect of the culture, but I miss being able to follow the human experience of a particular artist's evolution because of all the different aliases one person might produce under. All of my music is me, regardless of the genre, so why wouldn't I put it out all under one name?

I've been getting into early KRS-One lately, and it is incredible to listen to the 20 year span of a current artist. It's hard for me to do the same with most electronic artists, especially DJ-oriented artists, because of the name hopping. I see it as an artist's lifetime output, which encompasses all the various genres they produce in, rather than a genre focus which shouldn't be violated by an artist producing across multiple genres under the same name.

Same goes for my output of internet writing. I stand behind everything I write, so I'm comfortable with everything all being linked like that.

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:19 pm

Angstrom wrote: name and tag appropriately, it will all work out ok I reckon

and if you use Angstrom's naming tool, you'll successfully be seen as straddling the line between genius and batshit crazy.

maksk · Post by **maksk** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:04 pm

ethios4 wrote:I've decided to do all of my production work under one name because I feel electronic music is too genre-focused. I appreciate the anonymity aspect of the culture, but I miss being able to follow the human experience of a particular artist's evolution because of all the different aliases one person might produce under. All of my music is me, regardless of the genre, so why wouldn't I put it out all under one name?

I've been getting into early KRS-One lately, and it is incredible to listen to the 20 year span of a current artist. It's hard for me to do the same with most electronic artists, especially DJ-oriented artists, because of the name hopping. I see it as an artist's lifetime output, which encompasses all the various genres they produce in, rather than a genre focus which shouldn't be violated by an artist producing across multiple genres under the same name.

Same goes for my output of internet writing. I stand behind everything I write, so I'm comfortable with everything all being linked like that.

thanks for the post!