Thanks for bringing this up, Peter.
I think this is going to be one of the most important problems that chip music will need to address in 2012 and beyond. I'm definitely all for the "de-ghettoization" of the medium, and have recently been pondering ways to make that work both for myself and fellow artists.
Coming from the New York scene's vibrant but sometimes over-saturated market for chip shows I can't agree more with Peter's point about the dangers of sipping too hard on your own kool-aid. Not to get too academic, but if you've ever read criticism of pretty much any kind of nuanced, digital age collectivism (creative commons, social networking, etc) there are actually a number of very lucid arguments about what happens when content starts being made for the sake of a larger organism, whether that's "chip music" or something else.
The "open mic," mentioned earlier, is one unfortunate example. Not to diss anyone who's an OM regular, but it's here that I think the stagnation is most apparent. If larger things like the end of isolationist China are any indication, the creative bi-product of these events starts to congeal into a kind of closed-door collectivist soup. We all have our own influences outside chip music, yes. But I can also say that, at least from my experience, i find it harder to approach a new project with ideas that seem fresh after repeated exposure to the "hive mind." At some point you need to take a risk outside of your self-appointed culture bubble, and perhaps fail miserably.
Of course (and this goes into matters of personal philosophy) I still don't think someone should be pressured into presenting their art in just any alternative context that becomes available. But that is by no means a choice that is unique to chip music, and ultimately I believe any kind of artist or musician should strive for the most rewarding (in terms of personal enrichment, not money) experiences.
Not to pick favorites, but I think the kind of thing that groups like Rochester Chip are doing gives the best of both worlds. MNT DST, the opening act from the show I played up there with Luke recently, had a really fantastic drone/ambient set that was not "chip" in the slightest but still meshed incredibly well with the rest of the evening.
I'm hoping that in the future we'll see similar infiltrations from both sides of chip threshold because otherwise I fear that any "scene" like this one can turn into one big, featureless culture-goop. The unusual, optimistic side of me would like to think it hasn't already.
Last edited by Zen Albatross (Dec 14, 2011 2:34 am)
