Saturday, August 3, 2024


 

3 comments:

Miguel said...

I'm surprised I haven't heard you talk about the Dungeon Synth genre! It is perhaps the greatest exponent of the rejection of AI and perhaps the first symptom of what Ted Gioia calls "new romanticism". You should listen to some Rusty Pilgrim records! ;).

SIMON REYNOLDS said...

I have heard some Dungeon Synth - I love the origin story of it starting with the black metal guy in prison only being allowed a synth in his cell, but I haven't really that taken with what I heard. But I'll try out Rusty Pilgrim.

How does the rejection of AI figure into it, given that the genre existed long before AI was a thing?

Miguel said...

voldsomtapes.bandcamp.com is also one of my favorites, particularly this album: https://voldsomtapes.bandcamp.com/album/til-det-bergens-skyggene. Regarding AI, I’m referring more to what's happening today. I don't know of any other musical genre that so categorically rejects AI-generated art as Dungeon Synth does. In the largest Facebook group, it's banned, and in the other, if anything you create involves AI, you must disclose it, or it will be removed. This makes sense when you realize that the genre has valued human craftsmanship since its inception.