Where do you guys see electronic music heading?
 

I've been wondering this for a while now. I see people experimenting with a lot of new sounds, and I'm wondering what sort of things you think we may expect to see over the coming years.

One thing I've been seeing repeatedly, though its definitely not my preference, is a lot of electronic musicians using these extremely off key kind of unpleasant sounds, like with that Jack U and Justin Bieber song, where are u now? It's not just that one either, I keep hearing these really off sounding noises coming up in music. I'm not hating on it, I get where they're at it can give a really wonky driving sound. I am admittedly hoping we won't see more of that as time goes on though.

What about you though? What's going to be the next Build, Drop, and Bass?

(I may have worded this question badly, but I don't really know how to give better examples)

I would say Electric Daisy Carnival, Beyond Wonderland, and the like.

Down the toilet. The more popular it gets with everyone and their grandma trying to incorporate electronic sounds into their songs it's just going to decline. Leave it to the electronic artists who know what they are doing.

To the heavens!

I believe that electronic music will make more of a move toward hybridization - so much influence is coming from sampling and the sampling community that you can find pre-recorded sounds - most from a natural setting - in almost every newly produced EDM track (though house and electronic still remain primarily electronic). I believe this is a VERY good thing, adding natural tones or components to electronic music is simply a beautiful aspect that current artists trend with, such as Cashmere Cat, Mura Masa, Medasin, Diplo, and a ton more.

Cashmere Cat? The name alone makes me wanna hear 'em.

Edit: here they be:

Cashmere Cat - Mirror Maru



I'm sure I've heard that before. Somewhere.

Yes! Mirror Maru is a perfect example where Cashmere Cat uses some sort of pre-recorded sound as his percussion. The effect is something quite amazing!

As already mentioned, you're seeing the peak of the popularity of modern electronic music, which to most people is EDM. But electronic music itself, like most "genres," is so overarching that I don't really know how to answer your question in a general sense.

Since you mentioned Jack U and the new Bieber song, we've essentially seen the appropriation of electronic music and EDM into the contemporary pop format for the past few years. It's probably been a slower build than it may seem at this point in time, so who knows how long it will remain at the top. I think it's important to be aware that it's ultimately very subjective. Yes, you can use charts and radio play/music streams to gauge the overall popularity along with festivals, shows, etc., but music consumption is so fragmented today that I don't know how reliable that really is anymore. If it is still reliable, it certainly won't be for many more years.

I personally think electronic music is going to be adapted and injected into many different types of music. Whether this will be a good or bad thing, I have no idea. But, someone is prone to come up with something interesting. Pop music is definitely not the accurate measure of where electronic music is going.

I'd argue that's the way music is heading in general. I don't think we're going to see eras or waves of underground or new styles becoming popular in the same way we did in the 50s-90s. A lot of that was the result of independent underground musical communities forming because information and music was not globally accessible. You could go to different places in the U.S. and around the world and experience vastly different musical styles. That's a lot less common now that everyone can theoretically access everything. I'm not saying that people will not be more creative and create interesting blends of music and styles - people are doing that - but I think the days of genres or "musical movements," if you can even call them that, taking over the mainstream and reshaping the culture overnight are long gone.

I don't really understand how integration of electronic sounds would cause it to "decline" in general, or the assumption that just because someone plays traditional instruments means they can't learn to use digital or analog electronics as well.

if you're talking about the mainstream, wonky hip-hop and electronica inspired by acts like The Knife are going to be the next backdrop to popular artists. mark my words