Electronic music and you.

[MalevolentJim]

Good evening.

I like to consider myself one with a rather diverse taste in music. After years of listening to blues, alternative, heavy metal and some hip hop for some good measure, I felt I needed to branch out to a genre I'm not as familiar wit : Electro music.

Now, I'm not 100% certain what types of electronic music there are. Is Techno different from Electronica? Is Dubstep a derivative of Dance music? So many questions, so little knowledge.
See, I listen to heavy metal. Not as much as I used to, but in that time I learned to catagorize each subgenre within it. While it has the most subgenres, is Electronic music similar in this sense? Do people categorize it as such? I know they're not the same, but I, as a newcomer, am just trying to grasp the differences and relations between genres like say trip-hop, electronica or whatever. And I could look it up on Wikipedia, but if there is one thing I'm sure of, is that they aren't always accurate or simple. I'd prefer simplicity.

Musicians as such I already listen to include : Pendulum, Daft Punk, Massive Attack, Portishead, The Qemists, Deadmau5, The Prodigy, 65daysofstatic, Unter Null , Innerpartysystem, DJ Shadow..By all means correct me if any of those don't fit the genre.

Also what I am asking, apart from pointers from any massive electro music fans/experts, are either recommendations for bands or musicians for me or anyone unfamiliar to this type of music. As well, discuss your (preferably positive)opinions on this music? Do you like it? If so or not, why?

Also, here's a neat video :

 

[Chased]

DJ Shadow is a DJ that performs instrumental hip hop.
Pendulum is a drum and bass rock band.
65daysofstatic is a post rock band.
Massive Attack is trip hop.
Innerpartysystem is a rock band that has some electronic influence.

If you want to get into the genre listen to Aphex Twin one of the biggest pioneers of electronic music.

Spoiler

Some more electronic artists.

Justice

Spoiler

MSTRKRFT

Spoiler

Ladytron

Spoiler

Crystal Castles

Spoiler

Side rant: Saw Deadmau5 live last summer and I was kinda pissed since the concert started at 8 pm but he refused to come out till like 2 in the morning even though he his tour bus arrived at 7. No explanation was given. It was a cool show but I CANT STAND the people that go to his concerts, just a bunch of ravers high on e.

 

[Jonluw]

I don't normally like electronic music that much, though I figure Prodigy can be good.
However, I listen to Vocaloid music, which I guess will have to go under electronic music?

Spoiler: Vocaloid

Those two are the only things I can really recommend.

 

[BonsaiK]

Massively broad questions.

Different genres of electronic music are mainly for marketing purposes, but yes just like metal there are subgenres all over the place. Just like metal most of these subgenres have a high level of subjectivity and a lot of them don't actually mean jack shit except as marketing terms.

Dubstep is a form of dance music where the beats are generally fairly languid and there's lots of syncopation. Analog synths (or sampled version thereof) usually feature prominently.

Electronica really just means "music that is electronic" whereas "techno" refers to a specific style of electonic dance music. All techno is electronica but not all electronica is techno. "Electronica" is usually used to describe more ambient or experimental forms of electronic music rather than dance. "Electro" is something different again, it's basically pop music with heavier emphasis on electronic sounds than is usual for the style.

Any more questions, fire away, I'll probably know the answers. Ultimately though, I think the ultimate answer to all your questions is that there are only two types of music - stuff you like and stuff you don't.

 

[Sarynroth]

I would say that I have only really got into electronic music since I have been at uni and I now like it a lot more than I used to.

here's a pretty cool and trippy video by Noisia which you might like



Edit: finally managed to work out how to post videos

 

[purf]

This genre stuff: it's worthless. get over it.

 

[MalevolentJim]

DJ Shadow is a DJ that performs instrumental hip hop.
Pendulum is a drum and bass rock band.
65daysofstatic is a post rock band.
Massive Attack is trip hop.
Innerpartysystem is a rock band that has some electronic influence.

Noted. Thanks. Pendulum and DJ Shadow felt kinda obvious but I hope you got where I was coming from with he rest of the groups mentioned.

If you want to get into the genre listen to Aphex Twin one of the biggest pioneers of electronic music.

Also noted. I have The EP "Windolicker" and I'll be honest, it's not easy to listen to. Are there any other bands/albums you can recommend?

Side rant: Saw Deadmau5 live last summer and I was kinda pissed since the concert started at 8 pm but he refused to come out till like 2 in the morning even though he his tour bus arrived at 7. No explanation was given. It was a cool show but I CANT STAND the people that go to his concerts, just a bunch of ravers high on e.

Wow. That's actually pathetic. His music or success don't really warrant that kind of shitty behavior. The tragic thing about Deadmau5 is for every great song I listen to, there are plenty of others that simply comprise of the same repetitive beat (kick-snare,kick-snare) etc. It gets tedious, despite the great songs he has made already.

 

[DVS Storm]

At first I only listened to metal and rock music but when I started to like Muse, Rammstein and Nine Inch Nails I gradually started to go towards electronic music. Today I mostly listen to rock and metal but also Pendulum, The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk. Those are my favorites from the overall genre. Of course there are others as well but those three are the best.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

This guy's a bit of pretentious wanker but if you ignore his opinions and just stick to the factual information this should answer most of your questions, although it doesn't cover everything.

http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/

 

[Chased]

Also noted. I have The EP "Windolicker" and I'll be honest, it's not easy to listen to. Are there any other bands/albums you can recommend?


Wow. That's actually pathetic. His music or success don't really warrant that kind of shitty behavior. The tragic thing about Deadmau5 is for every great song I listen to, there are plenty of others that simply comprise of the same repetitive beat (kick-snare,kick-snare) etc. It gets tedious, despite the great songs he has made already.

Selected Ambient Works 85-92 by Aphex is an album you'd probably like. It's much easier listening, Aphex does (as you probably know) a lot of really weird glitchy music that isn't easy on the ears sometimes. Drukqs is also good, but I'd recommend Ambient Works first.

deadmau5 does some great stuff and not all of his concerts are like that (I think), but some electronic musicians that have a strong dance beat tend to draw that sort of crowd at concerts.

Here's another electronic artist (trance).

Comsic Gate

Spoiler

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

I listen to quite a lot of electronic music so here's some recommendations of mine:

Crystal Castles: Sort of video game-y sounding electronic music (techno/female vocal techno)

Spoiler: youtube

Sub Focus: played a lot in clubs is heralded as the "new Pendulum" (d'n'b)

Spoiler: youtube

Mad Capsule Markets: 90's fast vocal/electronic

Spoiler: youtube

Nero Remixes: okay so not strictly a band this guy remixes songs in an amazing way, they often sound better than the originals (techno)

Spoiler: youtube

Infected Mushrooms: Old Psy-trance/drugs music

Spoiler: youtube

Armin van Burren and Above and Beyond also do hour long pod casts of amazing trance weekly(?) I think it's called "state of trance".

Oceanlabs: slow female vocal trance

Spoiler: youtube

If you go to youtube you can just type in top 10 (*something*) to get a feel for the music. Possibles genres are: Techno, Trance, Psy trance, Vocal trance, House, Dubstep (eww) etc

 

[Wolfram23]

Electronic music has a plethora of sub genres. I generally don't like it, they get so convoluted. Every new sound needs a sub genre. I tend to stick with more broad categories.

If you go to http://di.fm and then "Listen Now" you can see there's a plethora of genres.

My favorite type is House/Electro House and some DnB/dubstep but I also like songs that cross genres.

Here's some fun stuff.

Spoiler: Swedish House Mafia

Spoiler: Deadmau5

Spoiler: Wolfgang Gartner

Spoiler: Fatboy Slim

Spoiler: Noisia

 

[MalevolentJim]

Massively broad questions.

Different genres of electronic music are mainly for marketing purposes, but yes just like metal there are subgenres all over the place. Just like metal most of these subgenres have a high level of subjectivity and a lot of them don't actually mean jack shit except as marketing terms.

Dubstep is a form of dance music where the beats are generally fairly languid and there's lots of syncopation. Analog synths (or sampled version thereof) usually feature prominently.

Electronica really just means "music that is electronic" whereas "techno" refers to a specific style of electonic dance music. All techno is electronica but not all electronica is techno. "Electronica" is usually used to describe more ambient or experimental forms of electronic music rather than dance. "Electro" is something different again, it's basically pop music with heavier emphasis on electronic sounds than is usual for the style.

Any more questions, fire away, I'll probably know the answers. Ultimately though, I think the ultimate answer to all your questions is that there are only two types of music - stuff you like and stuff you don't.

Yeah, they are very broad. But your reply was very very helpful. The reason why I had questions about the genres was like you explained to me, to tell the difference (if any) and to find more musicians/bands of that type of electronic music. Thanks for the help though

Any recommendations you can give though? Obscure or not?

 

[orangebandguy]

I love Electronic music.

I'm a huge Daft Punk fan, and their Alive tour is well worth watching.

A compilation of all the various pyramid effects, concerts and whatnot.

 

[Chased]

also since you said you like metal and electronic music check out Machinae Supremacy, I heard about 'em from these forums.

Spoiler

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

I'm going to chuck Example and Hadouken! into the thread.

Example are fairly popular and you've probably heard them on the radio, they are sort of pop-techno
-bit of a lengthy movie intro on that one but I like it better than the other one

Hadouken are...well Itunes reckon they are techno but they are...okay I don't know their genre

 

[MalevolentJim]

I am familiar with Hadouken! actually. Some pretty cool songs, but their vocalist tends to grate on me after a while. I'm slowly checking out all these videos, and some of them (like Justice ) are excellent so far!

Here's some good Dubstep :
What I like about electronia is how diverse it can be. I love how relaxing it can be, as well as the bands that can make genuinely haunting or adrenaline rush-inducing music. It's just awesome!

 

[purf]

Spoiler: Autechre - Gantz Graf

Spoiler: Autechre - Basscadet

Spoiler: Squarepusher - Do You Know Squarepusher

Spoiler: Squarepusher - Iambic 9 Poetry

Spoiler: Nathan Fake (James Holden Remix) - The Sky Was Pink

Spoiler: Funkstörung - Grammy Winners

..., Boards Of Canada, Aphex Twin, everything Ninja Tune (label), Four Tet, late Ulver, Metamatics, Chris Clark, ...