Yes, although the simplicity involved in making some of that stuff shouldn't necessarily be a fault - The Ramones were hardly complex and yet they managed to create some great music. Virtuosity and complexity is no short-cut to quality (not that I believe you think it is, but some do).
Autechre are an interesting case of two musicians that came out of the UK club scene but wanted to move beyond the limits imposed by the dancefloor requirement of the 4/4 beat. Chill out rooms in clubs in the late 80s and early 90s provided a valuable forum for such experiments and are largely responsible for the emergence of 'electronica' or, the horribly named 'idm' scene. Refering to music made by the likes of Autechre as 'dance' (regardless of whether its 'intelligent') is daft. I can't imagine how anyone could dance to any of their tracks without appearing rather odd. Certainly it's far less danceable than something like Buddy Holly's 'Rave On' (choice of song title for purposes of argument are purely intentional) and yet how often is Buddy Holly thought of as a maker of dance music? The media is as much to blame as anyone, with artists like Autechre continually dumped in the 'dance' section while, say, The Cramps (who are great fun to dance to) are inrvitably thrown into the 'Rock' section. If all that dance means is music made by people with synths instead of strats, we're in a really sad state.
|