Please explain Electronic music

[Daystar Clarion]

Wow, that was actually... Pretty cool.

I remember listening to them way back in the day and thinking they were terrible. They seem to have changed quite a bit.

Yeah, they've definately come a long way since their first album.

They've really nailed down their own sound.

 

[bobmus]

The most common argument about genres comes when discussing popular artists like deadmau5 or Skrillex, who use a lot of different styles of EDM on their tracks. They tend to get defined by their prominent impression (House for deadmau5, Dubstep for Skrillex), but there will always be a pedant pointing out the trance sections of deadmau5 and the progressive house aspect of Skrillex's work. Broad definitions at best, and many artists will fit more than one genre.

 

[bobmus]

I see IDM thrown around a lot in relation to some electronic music, it means "intelligent dance music", which is kinda fucking arrogant but it at least covers a large amount of musicians like Flying Lotus, Aphex Twin, 65daysofstatic etc. I'd rather have a few subgenres that cover a large amount of musicians than have a shitload of subgenres that differ very little from one another.

I really wish IDM was called something other than 'IDM'. I always feel like a right twat when I try to explain what kind of music I like.

I don't know the other artists but Aphex Twin is classed as experimental or occasionally avant-garde.

Avant-garde isn't a class of music, it's an adjective. Aphex Twin could be described as being avant-garde, but it's certainly not their genre

 

[AnarchistFish]

They've really nailed down their own sound.

I disagree, I think they've regressed, but whatevs.

I really wish IDM was called something other than 'IDM'. I always feel like a right twat when I try to explain what kind of music I like.

Haha everytime I hear someone talk about IDM I hear this.

OT: As far as electronic music goes, I listen mostly to chilled out and ambient stuff, mostly tagged under dubstep. Although I do listen to other stuff like The Prodigy, Pendulum, M83 etc.

Spoiler

(love Midnight City so much)

The first 5 of those are dubstep. M83 is a bit harder to categorise, maybe shoegaze or indie mixed with electronic music. Pendulum is drum and bass mixed with elements of rock. The Prodigy, fuck knows. Portishead is trip hop.

 

[Beffudled Sheep]

My knowledge is pretty limited but I mostly listen to trance and its subgenres when it comes to electronic music.
I'm a rather big fan of dark psy-trance (which is what my more trance savvy friends clled it). My favorite artist would have to be Xenomorph.

 

[Raven's Nest]

Avant-garde isn't a class of music, it's an adjective. Aphex Twin could be described as being avant-garde, but it's certainly not their genre

True, but there also some who use it to describe particular brands of experimental music, metal and jazz. You know what muso's are like, they split things as much as possible in order to make themselves (or the artists they love) stand out.

I personally only refer to Aphex Twin as experimental (or noisy pointless shit, 85% of the time).

 

[daveman247]

Unlike what the uninitiated think, its not all wub wub.

Spoiler: Deadmau5 :D

And

Spoiler: Extra special super hyper treat :D

 

[zephyron]

Instead of plugging specific songs, if you want to get quickly educated, I recommend Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music [http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/]. It's a bit dated (it doesn't even include the now-omnipresent dubstep) but it's a good way to see what genres are out there and how they relate to each other, in terms of time, derivativeness, and subgenres. For each specific genre it has a brief description and history, as well as a few examples for you to listen to.

 

[z121231211]

I enjoy the genre, but I must admit that my knowledge is limited on the subject of music in general. Moreso with this. I know there are several subgenres to Electronic (dubstep and such). Honestly, I don't even know if Electronic is the broad term.

So please, Escapists, enlighten me to the various shades of Electronic music available to enjoy.
What are some examples of Electronic music?
What are the subgenres, and what are some examples of those?
Who are your favorites?

If you provide samples, please use spoiler tags. Thanks all. Let's have some fun with this.

If you're new to EDM, just please learn the difference between Eurotrance and Techno. A large amount of people get them mixed up to the point that searching for "Techno" is useless unless you have a subgenre in mind.

Electronic is a very broad term, Electonic Dance Music is slightly less broad, but still way to broad.

At the moment I like French Touch (or Disco House) and Hardgroove which are sub-genres of House and Techno respectively.

Spoiler

Example of Hardgroove I can't tell you much on why Hardgroove is different from other Techno, other than it's usually faster. Techno IMO is meant to put the listener in a trance by changing subtly throughout the tracks.

Example of French TouchFrench Touch is pretty much defined by House music with Disco samples and low-pass filters used everywhere.

I love EDM, I've been listening it my whole life and there's just so much out there. Really you'll only get the most out of it by listening to mix tapes of your favorite genres. Listening to tracks standalone is pretty good, but really most EDM tracks aren't meant for that.

 

[daveman247]

I personally only refer to Aphex Twin as experimental (or noisy pointless shit, 85% of the time).

Correct. Every now and then though....

Spoiler: we get this

 

[daveman247]

snip

Ahhh, good man. French touch is the shit. The late DJ Mehdi and the obvious duo are some of my favourites.

 

[Raven's Nest]

Correct. Every now and then though....

Spoiler: we get this

Indeed, I wish he was more consistent. It's either a hit or a complete and utter miss for me.

 

[repeating integers]

I'm not a fan of the Daft Punk style of electronic - all beats and generic synths aimed at making your feet move (except their Tron Legacy soundtrack, which was great). No, IMO electronic music should be more like Vangelis' work.

<youtube=-Hi26f-NQe0>

 

[z121231211]

snip

Ahhh, good man. French touch is the shit. The late DJ Mehdi and the obvious duo are some of my favourites.

Always good to know more people know about French Touch. I'm a huge fan of The Phantom's Revenge and while he's an amazing DJ, his originals and remixes aren't exactly the first thing you'd show to someone.

Spoiler: More Filters and Samples

I like 3:25 a little too much (though Youtube audio encoding kinda ruins it)

Ok I'm done now.

 

[ChaoticKraus]

[Edit] Half this post got eaten, this is the first part.

All the different genres and subgenres of electronic really is a mire of stuff that i still don't fully grasp to this day. The fact that many people get angry when you mislabel their tastes doesn't help.

I mainly deal with EDM (Electronic Dance Music) and in the DJ circles i socialize in we usually divide the genres by their BPM rate (beats per minute).

120-132 House. The most popular genre right now i might add. My favourite as well.


132-150ish Trance.


150-170 Techno.

Spoiler

 

[ChaoticKraus]

[Edit] Somehow half this post got eaten, this is the second part


170-Anything above Hardcore.

Spoiler: Hardcore

Spoiler: Hardstyle

As for my personal taste it's house most of the way, and even then i prefer the heavier nightclub/arena kind. The whole poppy Flo Rida/David Guetta style of house is okay but kinda bland when you're used to the more potent stuff. My favourite DJ's would be Tiesto, Avicii, Swedish House Mafia, Dimitri Vegas/Like Mike, Alesso and Nicky Romero.

Also, if any of you ever get the chance to visit one of the gigantic house live concerts/festivals you should try it out. The whole crowd tends to lose their damn minds in one huge endorphine-filled dancing mass. Here's some of the coolest experiences i've ever had as a concert-goer.

Spoiler: Swedes gone wild

[yotube=-0kt2SHfRHs]

 

[Aris Khandr]

Is this electronic music? Because this is pretty freaking amazing.

Or maybe this?

 

[deathninja]

I could never got my head around the names, and I've about had it with getting chewed out by people for using the wrong ones.

I've grown up listening to a mix of electronic stuff (Vangelis/Origa/Pendulum/Juno Ractor/DJ Krush...) so I find it's irrelevant to categorise it; I'll either like a track or I won't.

 

[Raven's Nest]

This Intelligent Drum and Bass mixes is one of the best I've ever heard... Really tasty from 11:12 onwards, check it out.

 

[daveman247]

Ok I'm done now.

Niiice. Thanks man Will have to give them a proper listen later.