I do get the feeling (and I hope I'm right) that Hawtin is actually taking the piss on this one, in an "it's funny to be ironic about the un-ironic image of Minus" kind of way. I really hope I'm right because some of those costumes and pouts come across like a poor man's Star Wars and Zoolander rolled into one.
He defo taking the piss but it doesn't take much to upset the techno apple-cart, same shit over and over. People more about Richie than Boris, ID cards, CCTV, 10p tax - wake up.
You can't look at that without a smile on your face and nor can he I reckon and of course the comp has rules - have you ever dealt with some of the nit-pickers on the net - not for the weak hearted :)
I like a lot of the stuff Richie does and I know he has a sense of humour, so I wouldn't get bent over this. In fact I think it's time for the techno community to move on from the constant and very boring bashing of Hawtin/Clarke/Vath etc - it been the same shit for 8yrs now - anyone would think it's e-groove damage, where you just repeat yourself over and over and over and over.
Maybe if we ignore them they might go away? It's not even funny; ten weeks of silence, then this "joke"! Let's not forget the incredibly boring music thats come out on minus lately...
personally, I ignore Richie and Minus most of the time these days as I'm just not interested in what they're doing. but this?
this is just fucking hilarious, if it's self parody tongue-in-cheek then fair play to them, but somehow I doubt it as it seems to fit right in with their current direction
"People talk more about Richie than Boris, ID cards, CCTV, 10p tax - wake up."
I know what you're getting at, but people talk about them on techno-related forums or blogs. That doesn't mean they don't pay attention to other more important stuff in the world. Do you expect a techno blog to talk about politics all the time? No, you go to a political blog for that.
Politics are big part of our lifes and they get talked about a lot in our studio and there is a place for it in Techno forums.
I'm mainly taking about context, people seem to care more about what Richie is wearing than being completely fucked over - strange don't you think?
Also, the bashing is boring - on and on it goes, some people have been banging on about the same things on forums for 6+ years, get over it, move on, christ get layed or something :)
Most peoples visit forums to take it easy during work, to talk some crap about music, if anything for the most part it's a distraction from the shit in the "real world", so complaining about people talkin bout richie on techno sites is a bit much, martin.
I think there may also be some suspicion or cynicsm towards hawtin and minus due to their tendency to market and brand themselves heavily... there is a shedload of great techno at the monent that deserves the attention more, but the people making it dont have the power or pr skills to get it the recognition it deserves. possibly the reason people are so pissed with richie is because he used to be one of those people who made great techno and know he seems to be more interested in making great investments and great marketing schemes...
"so complaining about people talkin bout richie on techno sites is a bit much, martin."
Bit much :) Come on Kenny that wasn't my point, the point is that it's the same old boring shit - over and over. It bores the fuck out of me, Richie this, Dave Clarke that - it wouldn't be so bad if it was funny but it's like some endless re-run (forever on UK Gold).
As Richard points out there's loads of good stuff out there so why not talk about that instead and start to give credit to those people, which as soon as I get off this beach I'll be doing.
I'm not losing any sleep over it, but this topic ain't 'boring shit' to me either.
I just think it's all so... strangly inappropriate. Horribly pretentious or firmly tongue-in-cheek (probably a bit of both ); M_Nus just doesn't seem to get it right anymore. That's a bit fascinating, to be honest.
If you already deteste this label, how can you not hate on this? And if you admire them, how can you defend this not-so-great-but-potentially-oh-so-profitable joke?
To me, techno is about moving forward - not exclusively with the latest technological gadgets, but with experimenting in a creative way that may draw upon just about anything.
You know, for the love of music.
For all their digital aspirations, ''M_nus 2.0'' doesn't do one bit.
@ Martin. Yeah, I know what you're saying, but in this incident the talk/joking/abuse is pretty justifiable, the state of that site! Even if it is a joke, it's a crap one, as everyone is laughing at them, not with them.
Plenty of us support other artists, simply by going about our weekly or whatever record shopping.
I think the crux of it is that there is a load of great electronic music out there that doesn't get as much love as Minus, which releases imo substandard music and is splashed in every mag website etc. This has an awful lot to do with Minus and Hawtin being very good at marketing themselves and other techno producers, labels etc not being very good at it - or just not caring to do it.
Two words: Visual Lighting. What sorta other fuckin lighting is there, richie?
Posted by:kenny | May 08, 2008 at 03:36 AM
DO NOT TAUNT THE CUBE
Posted by:mkb | May 08, 2008 at 03:46 AM
GABBO IS COMING!
Posted by:clom | May 08, 2008 at 05:25 AM
I do get the feeling (and I hope I'm right) that Hawtin is actually taking the piss on this one, in an "it's funny to be ironic about the un-ironic image of Minus" kind of way. I really hope I'm right because some of those costumes and pouts come across like a poor man's Star Wars and Zoolander rolled into one.
Posted by:Brophy | May 08, 2008 at 10:07 AM
He defo taking the piss but it doesn't take much to upset the techno apple-cart, same shit over and over. People more about Richie than Boris, ID cards, CCTV, 10p tax - wake up.
Posted by:Martin Dust | May 08, 2008 at 01:15 PM
Shit, typo's - He's and People talk more about...D'oh!
Posted by:Martin Dust | May 08, 2008 at 01:17 PM
I'm not so sure. I think they are deadly serious. So serious it hurts to look at them. For god sake the contest even has rules and legal disclaimers.
The clandestine excavation site was where they found the alien intelligence "CUBE" was actually an old episode of Terrahawks
Posted by:sasutan | May 09, 2008 at 12:07 AM
Martin I hope we're right - otherwise Hawtin will turn into a minimal version of Ben Stiller - blue steel!
Posted by:Brophy | May 09, 2008 at 02:22 AM
You can't look at that without a smile on your face and nor can he I reckon and of course the comp has rules - have you ever dealt with some of the nit-pickers on the net - not for the weak hearted :)
I like a lot of the stuff Richie does and I know he has a sense of humour, so I wouldn't get bent over this. In fact I think it's time for the techno community to move on from the constant and very boring bashing of Hawtin/Clarke/Vath etc - it been the same shit for 8yrs now - anyone would think it's e-groove damage, where you just repeat yourself over and over and over and over.
Posted by:Martin Dust | May 09, 2008 at 03:04 AM
Maybe if we ignore them they might go away? It's not even funny; ten weeks of silence, then this "joke"! Let's not forget the incredibly boring music thats come out on minus lately...
Posted by:D | May 09, 2008 at 11:01 AM
personally, I ignore Richie and Minus most of the time these days as I'm just not interested in what they're doing. but this?
this is just fucking hilarious, if it's self parody tongue-in-cheek then fair play to them, but somehow I doubt it as it seems to fit right in with their current direction
Posted by:gmos | May 10, 2008 at 05:11 AM
"People talk more about Richie than Boris, ID cards, CCTV, 10p tax - wake up."
I know what you're getting at, but people talk about them on techno-related forums or blogs. That doesn't mean they don't pay attention to other more important stuff in the world. Do you expect a techno blog to talk about politics all the time? No, you go to a political blog for that.
Posted by:gmos | May 10, 2008 at 05:17 AM
Politics are big part of our lifes and they get talked about a lot in our studio and there is a place for it in Techno forums.
I'm mainly taking about context, people seem to care more about what Richie is wearing than being completely fucked over - strange don't you think?
Also, the bashing is boring - on and on it goes, some people have been banging on about the same things on forums for 6+ years, get over it, move on, christ get layed or something :)
Posted by:Martin Dust | May 10, 2008 at 01:07 PM
Most peoples visit forums to take it easy during work, to talk some crap about music, if anything for the most part it's a distraction from the shit in the "real world", so complaining about people talkin bout richie on techno sites is a bit much, martin.
Posted by:kenny | May 12, 2008 at 01:50 PM
I think there may also be some suspicion or cynicsm towards hawtin and minus due to their tendency to market and brand themselves heavily... there is a shedload of great techno at the monent that deserves the attention more, but the people making it dont have the power or pr skills to get it the recognition it deserves. possibly the reason people are so pissed with richie is because he used to be one of those people who made great techno and know he seems to be more interested in making great investments and great marketing schemes...
Posted by:Brophy | May 12, 2008 at 04:09 PM
"so complaining about people talkin bout richie on techno sites is a bit much, martin."
Bit much :) Come on Kenny that wasn't my point, the point is that it's the same old boring shit - over and over. It bores the fuck out of me, Richie this, Dave Clarke that - it wouldn't be so bad if it was funny but it's like some endless re-run (forever on UK Gold).
As Richard points out there's loads of good stuff out there so why not talk about that instead and start to give credit to those people, which as soon as I get off this beach I'll be doing.
Posted by:Martin Dust | May 13, 2008 at 06:38 AM
I'm not losing any sleep over it, but this topic ain't 'boring shit' to me either.
I just think it's all so... strangly inappropriate. Horribly pretentious or firmly tongue-in-cheek (probably a bit of both ); M_Nus just doesn't seem to get it right anymore. That's a bit fascinating, to be honest.
If you already deteste this label, how can you not hate on this? And if you admire them, how can you defend this not-so-great-but-potentially-oh-so-profitable joke?
To me, techno is about moving forward - not exclusively with the latest technological gadgets, but with experimenting in a creative way that may draw upon just about anything.
You know, for the love of music.
For all their digital aspirations, ''M_nus 2.0'' doesn't do one bit.
Posted by:hum3 | May 13, 2008 at 12:19 PM
@ Martin. Yeah, I know what you're saying, but in this incident the talk/joking/abuse is pretty justifiable, the state of that site! Even if it is a joke, it's a crap one, as everyone is laughing at them, not with them.
Plenty of us support other artists, simply by going about our weekly or whatever record shopping.
Posted by:kenny | May 13, 2008 at 03:58 PM
Don't know why i said that last bit, thats blatantly obvious ha. but many of us do talk about them as well! :)
Posted by:kenny | May 13, 2008 at 04:04 PM
I think the crux of it is that there is a load of great electronic music out there that doesn't get as much love as Minus, which releases imo substandard music and is splashed in every mag website etc. This has an awful lot to do with Minus and Hawtin being very good at marketing themselves and other techno producers, labels etc not being very good at it - or just not caring to do it.
Posted by:Brophy | May 14, 2008 at 03:26 AM
We do hear that a lot Richard, Richie is good at marketing but it's all 101 stuff, it's not really rocket science is it?
Posted by:Martin Dust | June 02, 2008 at 12:28 PM
Saw Hawtin in Detroit last weekend and cube or no cube he was rocking and I wouldn't be the biggest Minus fan.
Posted by:lynam | June 02, 2008 at 05:40 PM