iSearch

Growth and evolution of electronic music.

My first introduction to electronic music that I can remember is an album by Paul Oakenfold called “Bunkka” which was released in 2002. I first heard the song “Starry Eyed Surprise” in an old commercial for Diet Coke. I remember listening to this album over and over as a little kid. The next album I remember listening to is “Homework” by Daft Punk which was released in 1997, the same year I was born. Daft punk is a French duo whose music is characterized by old school dance rhythms and filled with samples and tons of distortion ¹, their sound is very similar to that of 70s disco music. Paul Oakenfold’s style however is more rock centered with lots of guitar and drums. These two albums were the extent of my electronic music knowledge for many years until I bought Daft Punk’s next album “Discovery”. Followed by many years of Coldplay and other alternative bands. My move back to electronic music has really taken place within the last four to five years. My next album was “Human After All” by Daft Punk. I was content with this until about three or four years ago when I became absorbed by electronic music after I discovered a relatively small electronic artist called Savant whose music is typically very complex and rhythmic. His common genres include drum n’ bass,² complextro³, breakstep⁴, and ragga jungle⁵. This led me to buy music from Deadmau5, whose music is defined by more a simplistic trance house sound. Now I have broadened my view to everything from Deadmau5, a relatively well known artist with a simplistic style, to Knife Party, a new up and coming group with a more complex sound which is heavily influenced by tribal rhythms, and everything in between like Calvin Harris, Duck Sauce, Birdy Nam Nam, Skrillex, Kaskade, and Aphex Twin. All the way down to newer artists like Knife Party, Hardwell, Martin Garrix, Zedd, and Pegboard Nerds. 

While growing a large collection of electronic music I have also grown to appreciate electronic music. Within the last three years I have begun to analyze music as I listen to it and almost every time I listen to a song I hear something that I didn't hear before. I have learned how much time and effort goes into making electronic music and that not everybody is able to do it. Over the past year or two I have played with several professional DJing programs and music making/editing software sweets and I have learned that it is infact much harder to make music electronically than one might believe. However, as technology has progressed it has become increasingly accessible for people to make music.

Even in my lifetime I have observed a big change in electronic music. From my first Daft Punk album “Homework” which is very reminiscent of 70s and 80s disco and dance music I have listened to music progress through more simplistic club sounds of early 2000s to the sometimes extraordinarily complex sounds that have become more popular recently. The entire electronic movement is heavily rooted in the “four on the floor” dance/house style that we hear today. This push to "four on the floor" began back in the 70s with disco music.⁶   Electronic music as we know it began with the invention of the Roland TR-808 and TB-303. These are electronic step composition machines. The next big leap for electronic music was the use of software based instruments. This gave anybody that wanted to make music a chance to do it, you could make music completely digitally. You don't even need a proper keyboard or recording equipment.
Alot of the growth that electronic music has seen can be attributed to the younger generations. The younger generations have tended to lean toward electronic based music, this is most likely due to their development in an increasingly electronic centered world. Electronic music also gave kids something new to listen to, something that their parents hadn’t heard. This is one reason why most of the prominent artists in electronic music are young (less than 30s). A few examples, Madeon is only 20, Deadmau5 is 34, Zedd is 25, and possibly one of the most recognizable names, Skrillex is 27.
 Despite the relatively recent growth of electronic music it has many connections to old musical styles. Many artists use relatively simple chord progressions but use more complex syncopated rhythms to keep the song interesting.⁷ This offers people a lot of information to intake and to process. Many of these complex patterns have been influenced by old tribal rhythms.

       Through my research of electronic music I spent a lot of time listening to music, both old and new. I developed my ears and found that nearly every song I analyzed revealed new subtle details  almost every time I listened to them.

Electronic music has a much wider reach than most people would think. Even though it is most often attributed to hard dance, like club music, raves, and festivals. Electronic music can also be a very beautiful and complex type of music. Despite often being quite simple on the surface many more complex sounds can be found after listing in depth. Its reach also extends beyond just its own genre. Electronic music can be found in a very wide variety of popular music, everything from rap and hip hop to rock and pop.

In the writing of my paper I have learned a lot about both electronic music and my work style and writing ethic. In a topic as recent as electronic music there aren’t many reputable sources. Many of the sources I found were newspaper articles about the growth in popularity of electronic based music as opposed to sources about the evolution of electronic music. The lack of decent sources was one of my largest obstacles. The other large obstacle that I faced was time, since I analyzed a lot of music I was pressed for time in this aspect. Many of the songs I analyzed I listened to quite a few times. This was the only way for me to find the aforementioned details hidden in the songs.

I also learned that I tend to procrastinate on my work and that I tend to be very concise with my writing. I often make my point in a simple yet effective way. This is a problem for me especially on assignments that are more length based. The length of assignments is one of my struggles, this combined with a lack of adequate sources and information made this paper challenging for me despite my own interest and prior knowledge of the subject.

Finally, I think that this paper offered a unique opportunity to study something that interests me personally. I also think that it posed an interesting challenge especially in finding sources and reaching a proper length paper. I also think that many people have preconceived ideas about electronic music as a style.