The Null Device Blog

http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=25895

Emily Mills, who herself is involved in a dizzying array of projects, tackles the oft-overlooked electronic music scene here in our little burg.  It’s nice to see that sort of thing, because while electronic players aren’t as prevalent in town as, say, folk-rockers, there’s still a lot of us. 

My only quibble with the article is the continued pairing of “industrial” with “electronic.”  While a lot of the movement in the scene is affiliated with the industrial and goth scenes, a lot of it isn’t, really.  I think in some cases that’s simply because we don’t have a ton of venues and bills available, and there’s likely to be a bit of fanbase crossover, so most bands will take what’s available to them.  In short, everybody’s gotta play the Inferno at least once.

Of course, it’s entirely out of scope of a 2-page article, but the history of the electronic scene in Madison is pretty interesting.   There used to be a fair number of raves in town (and nearby rural areas), Mr. Nick Nice was an internationally recognized techno and house DJ through much of the 90’s, the UW Union sponsored the fondly-remembered “Diversions” and “dmf” dance clubs from which many of the city’s bands and DJs sprung - there was a lot going on, and a nascent community buidling.  There was even a time, during that brief period when MTV was pushing “electronica” and NIN had radio hits,  when it looked like things could really blow up, so to speak – you could go to an industrial, house, or techno night at a club any night of the week, and often you had a few to choose from (while that may not seem like much, for a city of less than 200,000 that was fairly impressive).  Local electronic-music-centric websites cropped up and enclaves formed around those.  Some even had their own comic strips.

Lest I wax too rhapsodic, those days weren’t all halcyon and salad.  There was  of course scene politics, infighting, personality clashes, genre-purism, angry exes, etc etc.   Some clubs came and went, there were a lot of club nights that didn’t quite make it, or got subsumed by some other more well-established night.  For a while, the press was, if not unkind, largely ignorant.  But that’s just how it goes.

These days, things are considerably more chilled-out.   Some of our flagship bands have moved to other places, others have quietly moved on to other genres, the rave scene has dwindled since laws have come down opposing them.  Still, we’ve got that jovial bear of a man, Matt Fanale, working his jovial bearlike ass off.   Other veterans are throwing their experience behind up-and-comers with production and recording assitance (which is a bigger deal than it sounds – electronic bands tend to be bedroom-studio types, not rent-Smart-Studios-for-the-weekend kinds, meaning few have the benefit of a pro engineer on hand).  New bands are cropping up and doing different and interesting things.   I hope the scene remains as fertile in all genres and subgenres as it has been.