Artists listing laptops as members of their group; bands inducing genre-tags such as “nintendocore” – what could have possibly led to this? You may not believe it, but today’s electronica started back in the day. Here’s an extremely brief history of these events leading up to the current state of the genre:
- Rock bands with questionable color palettes decide to start to using electric organs (yes you, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple).
- The glorious keytar of the 80’s (bi-product of the hair metal plague) and delightful 80’s synth-pop becomes huge hits with the kids.
- Scratching records and intricate sampling, as well as industrial music (Static-X, Nine Inch Nails) becomes the new “in” thing to do.
This leads up to the turn of the new millenium, when HORSE the Band released their first full length album, Secret Rhythm of the Universe. HORSE the band is straight up Hardcore + Synths (8-Bit sounds; think old school Mario Bros. games) for the most part. Previously, this combination of music was largely unexplored but as HORSE the band’s following grew, and bands like Sky Eats Airplane and Enter Shikari formed, the musical boundaries stretched even further. Sky Eats Airplane recorded their first album with not much more than a Mac, Reason 3, Adobe Audition and a guitar (which undeniably influenced the band’s sound), and Enter Shikari are heavy on trance synthesizers (their song “Mothership” being a prime example).
Where does that leave us? Who knows. It all depends on what the kids latch onto next. It sure seems like things similar to scrunk and modern synth-rock could continue to gather steam and make it in the mainstream (check Bethany Leavey’s post to learn more about “scrunk”). Heck, OurStage band 3OH!3 is making waves in the mainstream with their new breed of pop-rock-electronica-hip-hop (assuming being in the Top 5 on the Billboard charts means you made it in the mainstream).
Check out some OurStage artist that have been pushing the genre boundaries in their own ways:
If I were to ask you what type of music a band called Abigail Williams would play, what would you say? Was your guess symphonic blackened death metal? If you guessed otherwise, you’re incorrect. What about Skinless? They’re a brutal death metal band. Regardless of whether or not you guessed correctly, there is still an assumption made about a band based on their name, logo and accompanying image.
