Would new age be considered world music?

I used to work in a music store and the new age section was with the world section, the store assistant manager said this is because of the Asian elements in new age music, I was thinking in my head "you so don't know what you're talking about".

Whenever I go to the new age section at my local music store it’s usually when I'm looking for some Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Popol Vuh .

Anyways… back to my question.

I definitely wouldn't consider them the same thing. However, they aren't mutually exclusive either. I also work at a record store. I keep moving some things out of the New Age section because it's embarassing to have some awesome stuff like early Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh next to fucking Yanni and Enya.

It is disappointing that Florian Fricke wholesomely accepted the new age moniker in the late 70's. He made some great records that influenced a majority of the newer folk outfits. Six Organs of Admittance is great and all but a total ripoff of mid-70's Popol Vuh. Along with the members of Tangerine dream from say 1968-1975 (krautrock's golden years), Fricke made some great early electronic music and those guys in Tangerine Dream did as well. Klaus Schulze has two really great records, Irrlicht and Moondawn that sort of foretold the repetitive nature of early techno before he drifted off into snooze land. Conrad Schnitzler, who left Tangerine Dream early on made some great early electronic records that are very dissonant. I played one at work one day and some woman was shocked when I told her that the "horrible noise" record we were playing was Tangerine Dream.

I guess you're not a Klaus Schulze fan to consider him having only two great records.

Well what section would bands/artists like TD, KS, PV and even CLUSTER, who I've seen in the new age section, go? Electronica, rock? Kraftwerk is in the rock section at my music store. Categorization for some music is just messed up.

quote:

Originally posted by Sebtron:
I guess you're not a Klaus Schulze fan to consider him having only two great records.

Well what section would bands/artists like TD, KS, PV and even CLUSTER, who I've seen in the new age section, go? Electronica, rock? Kraftwerk is in the rock section at my music store. Categorization for some music is just messed up.

erm, I'm not sure exactly what to say about the first bit. Although I have his album X (1980 or so), and it does give me that nasty new age aftertaste a bit. Although including the score with the record was a brilliant move. Why would you want to kick some people out of calling themselves fans? just curious

I really just wanted to say that if I had a record store it would probably be chaos. My organization might be simply by date of release, or I might not organize them at all. yeah, I don't think my record store would be a big hit.

quote:

I guess you're not a Klaus Schulze fan to consider him having only two great records.

I don't think being a fan means having to say that everything the guy touched was gold. Lots of great artists make bad records or reach a point in their career where their creative flow just isn't what it used to be. I like Klaus' work in Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and those two solo records, but I'm not into the overproduced and slick sounding work he did in the 80's. I would say the same thing for a good number of bands/artists from the late 60's and early 70's that kept making music past the point where it would have been wise for them to stop or at least change the name of the project so as not to tarnish a good name. Take Hawkwind for example, I don't know what being a shitty cock rock group in the 80's has to do with how incredible their psyche records were in the late 60's and early 70's. See my point?

And personally I would file most of the stuff you were asking about in the electronic section.

Hey JB, now don't be messing with '80's Hawkwind, ha ha.
Levitation (1980) and Sonic Attack (1984?) are both pretty strange.
And Schulze's album Mirage(1977) I find quite excellent.

But seriously, I completely agree with your point about not having to love everything in an artists canon to be a fan.

More importantly...do we have a Krautrock thread here in the forums? If we don't, we damn well need one!!

oooh jesus. Why hasn't that lack occurred to me before?!

OK guys. I've opened up a Krautrock thread over on the Rock pages.

Hi. I'm new here.

To take the thread back to it's original question...

I don't think they are the same thing, but I can see where they are crossing borders. Well, maybe the music itself is WAY different, but the audience who listens to each is similar.

New Earth Records is an example. They have world music AND new age/meditation/yoga/reiki music. I love their world music, just got Jim Wilson's 'Tulku: Doors to Paradise' - and it's beautiful.

But I also ordered Deuter: Reiki Sound Healing in the same shipment.

So, the music itself is different and should be labeled that way I think, but I also think the reason people put them together is because most people who like World Music enjoy New Age Music, and vice versa.



My 0.02, for what it's worth.

i guess it depends on who's making the new age and what influences he is using....