What do you consider electro? There are two distinct sounds that go by the same name.
Here's one form, popular in the late 90s (think rave culture), a kind of very synth-oriented outgrowth of techno, lacking the drums, but less melodic and faster than trance:
Here's the other, more recent and less hardcore, typified by artists like Felix da House Cat, Miss Kittin and The Hacker, and Cashmere, known for a long time as "electro house" before we all started saying it 357 times per day and had to shorten the term:
When people say "electro," I think they mean "electrohouse." I'm trying to start an argument here so please be very opinionated.
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Played out.
How's that for an opinion? You guys are doing pretty well today to get me to comment so much.
You notice our lack of musical knowledge when larger than life djs from EU or NE come to Miami and can barely fill the venue because all the "house" heads are on SoBe listening to tired residents. Let's not even start with Bloghouse (which isnt bad but lacking in uniqueness).
i think it's not so much as the synth toppings or whatever crap is on top so much as the underlying drum patterns. you know that house is going to be on the 4/4 for instance. if you play those two video clips the actual drum patterns aren't THAT different. i guess electro-house is more on the 4/4 with more typically electro bassline styles... or something.
a lot of what gets called 'electro' isn't; it's just so people don't feel bad for dancing to what is pretty much house music. which shouldn't be a dirty word, imo.
also, there's almost zero electro per se on the new felix album, and the man himself proclaims to be really really sick of it, as during the whole lame 'electroclash' thing it really got whitewashed and lost its swing.
that's my $0.02, but i don't really care either way. :)
But to answer the question, what is electro? Electro is whatever you want it to be. Dance music genres have blended so much they are virtually unrecognizable to the average listener. Electro-house, house-techno, hardcore techno, trance-house... BLAH! who gives a fuck? is it good? do you like it? great!
kraftwerk? newcleus? arthur baker? bambaataa? mantronix?
when i think of electro these are the first names that come to mind. the 1980s people!
all that other shit is just house and dance music. some of it really good, by the way.
and, all this new "electro" is just assholes trying to sound like daft punk and failing miserably, mostly because they never listened to aforementioned artists and they're all at home bumping "mstrkrft" instead of edwin birdsong.
old man rant over.
i don't even want to type anymore towards ths subject. i cried the first day i heard the word "electro" on radio.
if you want some old school quality shit ... peep these record labels ..... Direct Beat, Underground Resistance, Over-X-Posure, Elektrolux, Microlux, Bunker, Creme Organization, International Deejay Gigalo's, Intermedial Transmissions, Touchin' Bass, SCSI-AV, Warp, Clone, DJAX-UP-Bitch ....... blah blah blah blah blah theres millions more but who cares
daze
p.s. thanks tom for jackin the rother video
fucking electro bullshit. now i cant sleep fuck. electro .... shhmelectro.
enjoy ......
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LFQY9Nz063o
Oh wait, that was acid house.
It's all good in small doses. But it's party music in the end... and disposable, most of it... (granted there are tracks persist through time).
I wish my post sounded more important. Maybe if I drop some obscure discohead names or record labels that don't exist anymore, my opinion would be heard louder?
(I was just listening to a Moroder track....)
Also if you want to make that generalization about the eclectroclash, you forget that most of the nuvo electro folks used laptops and rebirth...rather than a real 808...which are quite pricey....and not all were from the midwest or college students...you have a boat load of euro acts that were on that bandwagon.
A majority come from detroit and chicago, because that is the home of electro. Just ask Juan Atkins...he'll tell you all about it.
They twisted the knobs, held the mouse button, tap the space bar, downloaded the Acid plug-in, plugged in the patch cable, fired up the vacuum tubes. It is all essentially the same type of music created across decades. Tweaked slightly to make it sounded newer.
808, 303, the point is they programmed it and the computer spit it out. If you are honestly trying to tell me that controlling an 808 is harder than playing drums or picking up a bass is easier than a 303, I'll just stop now b/c it's pointless.
NOW, I fucking LOVE electronic music, but you have to be kidding yourself if 99 out of 100 tracks don't sound the same. But it's that one track that sticks out that I love. I'll still dance to Higher State of Consciousness.
Not gonna comment too much, but for the jist of it dj ross and others are absolutely correct. Straight up ELECTRO is to the likes of Man Parrish, Art Of Noise, File 13, World Class Wreckin' Cru, and Cybotron. Now in the current times that word right up there is used to manipulate other areas of music itself, electronic music being the obvious main contender. As electro "samples" give a nod to what "the future" would sound like, this sound is being tweaked in just about every production these days. Alot of people are hitting the vintage ways of producing music, and bringing somewhat of an electro sound to modern day stuff.
Electroclash, Electro house, Nu Electro, Electro pop (not to be confused with synth pop....), and Electro Breaks are all new forms that the electro sound appear in. It's good to know electro has become a mile stone in the advance of music. Miami is one of the places where this music is dear to most residents, as it also was a birth place for the sound itself. This is why no matter what the majority will encompass these new formats of the sound as it's effects do the same that the original electro sound has and still does.
I'm a die hard fan of the original sound, I'm a lover of the new sound, and I'm more than ready to embrace any future paths the electro sound takes....
Minimal anyone???
I didn't need to look it up on the wiki, but thank you for confirming the info. Wiki is an excellent reference tool.
Oh, and Happy Gabber.
:)
speaking of space invaders danny...my cd got crunched ;( please replace!