Electronic Music on the Top 40

At first it was some Daft Punk samples innocuously borrowed to create Top 40 hits for Kanye. Then classic house riffs and Booka Shade samples were expended. (Pitbull, Will.I.Am.) David Guetta rubbed shoulders with Akon. And Tiesto went on a collaboration rampage.

I should be pleased about the explosive exposure that house and other electronic genres are getting on the charts but at the same time I feel that electronic music should remain separate from these ventures.

It is not the musical differences that I feel need to be respected. I am all for the mix-breeding of genres. However, the ethos behind electronic and other 'popular' music just clash. Most hip-hop, pop, r&b, rock, country, etc. are about the individual artist (or single band). The often autobiographical lyrics and the immense effort put in to building the image of the artist all focus on creating a relation between a sound and the name. The oft vulgar and heated lyrics revealing the innermost thoughts and private occurrences of the artists, the elaborate costumes and stage antics, the sweaty music videos and scandals, all work for the chart-climber.

In contrast, electronic music is about the crowd and providing an experience of sound for them.

The core of electronic music is the fact that the electronic producer tinkers and edits every single sound and sample. (Using an infinite number of LFOs, filters, resonators, saturators, etc.) This allows for distinctions that cannot possibly be accomplished with physical instruments and voice, and allows for the acute manipulation of mood and atmosphere. Most electronic music is not radio-play friendly: tracks are usually much longer in length and there is no obvious chorus and verse structure. The reason for this is that the efforts of the electronic producer are best experienced in sets – a confluence of tracks and sounds that usually last about two hours. Whether at a club or at a large festival, those dancing and feeling the music are not there to be moved by the actions and personality of the artist but by the emotions and the paces that the set puts them through.

Only in electronic music will you find so many anonymous artists, many taking the effort to wear masks in live performances to conceal their identity. Those that you do meet may look like the average computer geek, complete with glasses and shy demeanour. The accomplished electronic artist is not the one with the flashiest most memorable image or the most heart-wrenching lyrics, but the artist who has created his own unique sound, can recreate it in sets and parties for every crowd, and has established a label to expand and evolve his sound.

Producers of major labels have realised that the infectious and generated sounds of electronic music go for catchy, energetic, dance tunes so we will be seeing the influence of electronic music in many more songs to come. However, I think that the hybrid should not be confused or merged with the essence of true electronic music.