Music of the
Underground: Electronic Music
There I was,
sitting in my room, eyes glued to the computer screen with my headphones on;
music blasting. Unbeknownst to me, my mother is standing in the doorway
shouting at me. After I noticed her presence, I took my headphones off and she
said, “You should really listen to your music on a lower volume. You can cause
permanent hearing damage.” I then explained to her that, “I like to be able to
hear every element of the song.” She looked at me funny as if I had just told
her that water is flammable. “Electronic music is so simple. Don’t try and tell
me that it’s a complicated piece of work. It’s practically all the same,” she
reasoned. Noticing how wrong she was, I sat her down, and went into great
detail as to why she was so wrong. Allow me to rewind a bit.
When I was about
16 years old my family moved to Paris, France. Before this point, I was still
listening to what I like to call “middle school music.” By that I refer to
certain bands including but not limited to My Chemical Romance, Blink 182,
Green Day, and so on and so forth. It took going to an event about a year after
we moved to finally realize what music I would enjoy and participate in for the
next 10 years.
In Paris, there
is a celebration of music called Techno Parade. As I’m sure you can figure out,
this celebration in particular was exclusively for electronic music. Up until
this moment, I had never realized how deep the electronic music roots go in
Europe. It was after this delightful and adrenaline filled day that I decided
to look further into this so called “techno music.”
The deeper I
looked, the more genres and sub-genres and sub-sub-genres I found. There are
hundreds, it’s incredible. I have found that the top 5 genres in terms of
popularity and accessibility are as follows:
House:
It has become apparent to me that this genre is definitely at the top of the
list when it comes to popularity. It originated in Chicago in the early 1980’s,
getting some footing towards the end of the Disco Era. Typically, House is
identified by repetitive 4/4 beats. This rhythm is also known as “4 on the
floor.” Like I said, House is the most popular in the public eye by far.
Because of that, the largest names in the electronic music industry largely
practice House music. You may not have listened to them, but I am sure you have
heard of at least one or two; David Guetta, Deadmau5, Daft Punk, Benny Benassi,
Avicii, and Swedish House Mafia.
Dubstep:
This
has to be one of the more recent genres. Its first releases were around the
late 1990’s in South London, England. Dubstep is typically characterized by a
snare hit or bass kick every half measure. Most people recognize it by the
“wub” that most artists incorporate in their music. The “wub” is created by
oscillating a bass note, giving it the “wubwubwub” sound. Dubstep has a very
close relationship with Reggae, because they share the same pattern, but Dubstep
is much darker and heavier. Very recently, Dubstep came to the United States
and created a sub-sub-genre called Brostep which focuses on absurdity and
breaking speakers. The artist that kind of brought this genre to light was
Benga and Coki. Others that followed them include Skrillex, Datsik, Excision
and Diplo.
Drum
& Bass: This genre pretty much goes hand in
hand with Dubstep. They both often get combined at times. This genre however, came
first in the early 1990’s. Reggae also strongly influenced Drum & Bass but
incorporated break beats and a much faster tempo around 160-180 beats per
minute. The name of this genre pretty much speaks for itself; there just isn’t
a whole lot to say about it. Notable artists for Drum & Bass include CarlCraig, Netsky, and Feint.
Trance:
This
genre originated in Germany mid-1990. Trance is exactly what it says it is.
This type of electronic music puts you into a trance by repeating melodic
phrases and uses a form that builds up and down throughout the song.
Personally, this genre is the most uninteresting simply because not much
happens. Often, throughout the song there will be a vocal track that is usually
rambling on about pseudo philosophical nonsense. The most commemorated artists
for this genre would have to be Armin Van Burren, Tiesto, and Paul Oakenfold.
Hardcore: This genre is what got me into electronic music. I first listened to a sub-sub-genre called Happy Hardcore. As I’m sure you can guess, is very uplifting and fast paced. Hardcore however, originated in Belgium in the late 1980’s so it’s kind of the grandpa of the group. Hardcore is widely considered hard to dance to because there is a bass kick every beat making a “bow” sound each time. It is also just a very fast paced tempo at around 150-200 beats per minute. This genre is a combination of “Techno” and “EBM” (electronic body music). Notable artists for the Hardcore genre are Headhunterz, Blutonium Boy and DJ Gollum.
