If the name Darude makes your heart skip faster, you need no introduction to the world of electronic music. For the rest of you, we present a crisp guide to electronic music. Hold tight! You are about to dive into the world of a very soulful music genre!
Electronica is one of the modern forms of music, originating in late 1970s. However, electronic as we know it today, did not become popular till the 1990s. If you have been to a disco and felt your feet obey the beats of computer-like sound, you have already experienced Elctronica. Its scope doesn’t end here; electronic is also a great genre for listening for leisure. Today it is a recognised genre of its own accord. Several artists of other genres like Britney Spears (Hold it against me) like to flavour their songs with a dash of electronic, especially when remixing.
Electronic dance music and Electronica are usually confused with each other with the only demarcation being their application areas. Electronic dance music embodies music made using electronic devices for dance alone. On the flipside, electronic has wider implications including dance music, background music and foreground listening.
This particular genre was born out of the advancements in science. The previously popular genres of electronic dance music and rave music employed heavy equipment and sound engineers to produce a song. As technology advanced, instruments, sequencers, synthesisers and amplifiers among a host of other machines became very easy to use. Now, anyone with a passion for electronic music could create a tune without asking the computer geeks to move in! Suddenly Electronica was everywhere from discos to raves to MTV.
The music of the advanced, Electronica embraced changes in the original genre, giving birth to a subset of subgenres like ambient, house, downtempo and many others. It is a very humane genre; it has been tolerant to different culture, incorporating something of each one into it. Listening to an electronic track, you may get a whiff of beach parties in Goa or acid house parties in Ibiza.
When you are new to the world of Electronica all tracks, with their beats and beeps, may sound the same. As your ears learn to discern various components, you will gradually begin to know the difference in each song along with establishing a perception of what is good and what not.
There are several artists dedicated entirely to Electronica and several others in fusion and crossover scenes. Scooter, Brooklyn bounce, Robert Miles and Darude are good ones to begin with. However, be warned that just like a perfume smells different on different people, a song too will have a different degree of appeal to each one. Experiment and you will arrive at your Electronica nirvana!