Electronic music in the USA: popular but tasteless?

[padi_04]

It's a global thing.

[rgtb]

you can't make an ignorant statement like that if you don't party and live in the area...

i did live in the US for over 10 years of my life.

[3heads]

the USA has plenty of underground edm artists who make tasteful music, just as europe or any other country has plenty of popular edm artists who make shitty music.

what a stupid generalization to make.

I don't think artists were the point of the statement quoted in the OP but rather the party culture
(which I cannot say anything about, so I won't - but I think your post is missing the point of this thread)

[rgtb]

Detroit has a banging techno scene btw. DEMF is a fantastic showcase of that.

that's a singular event. and i hear that many of the organizers of DEMF are actually from the suburbs, from out of town. but is there a big, organized scene? yeah, transmat is still there. i'm sure you could mention other efforts. but it seems to me, compared to Europe, those efforts are pretty much an entrepreneurial activity. the (non-mainstream) club scene is tiny compared to Europe. many good DJs have most of their gigs in Europe. what is commercially viable? only this mainstream stuff that's so ahistorically called "electro" or "electro house." or not?

and i could dribble on about other US cities. for example, i think many genres of electronic music are unrepresented (or severey under-represented) in Miami. yeah, there's WMC. but what's going on for the rest of the year?

sure, there are a few examples where people have got their thing going (Marcy Hotel/Wolf+Lamb come to mind). but for many genres and in many places, the scene is small and parties are scarce. of course, the US has a vivid music party, and clubbing culture. i'm just saying that, over the last 15 years or so, electronic dance music didn't play a very significant role in it.

i'm not trying to pass judgement. the last time i lived in the US was almost two years ago. now i'm hearing from various sources that EDM is strongly on the rise in the US this year. and Groove magazine claims this boom is fueled by a narrow segment of EDM. i wanted to hear opinions and thoughts on their statement as well as on my statement that many genres of electronic music don't have a "home base," a firm infrastructure in the US.

EDIT: maybe I shouldn't have put the word "tasteless" in the thread title (although I did use a question mark!). what is more interesting to me is whether it's true or not that the boom is driven by "electro."

[Arbite]

I think that the fuel behind certain genres such as dubstep and drumstep is because much of the structure of the music is very similar to rock and metal. Listen to artists like Skrillex, Klaypex or Modestep and the discortant, distorted nature of the music is pretty similar when you think about it. When I listen to it, I don't want to dance to it the same way I would dance to house. I headbang, as opposed to jumping up and down. It's the weirdest sensation when a DJ drops a hard dubstep track and the entire crowd suddenly looks like they're at a metal concert. This isn't a bad thing, as I quite like these genres, I'm just not limited to them.

For many kids who have had most of their exposure to rock and metal, this is a natural transition, and is helping to boost the popularity of certain genres. Give it some time as the continue to make the transition to more various forms of EDM. Just a pity no one I know listens to hardstyle in Adelaide...

I do always find it funny when I let a mate listen to some earlier dupstep such as Depone, and they think it's shit.

[rgtb]

I don't think artists were the point of the statement quoted in the OP but rather the party culture

exactly.

EDM seems to be on the upswing in the US. the question is: is growth mostly confined to the "electro" area, or is the music and party culture in other subgenres of electronic music benefiting as well? and why is it "electro" that is growing?

@arbite: thanks for your thoughts

[Calum]

call me a fan-boy if you want, but i think this quote from james blake is good

"The things that drew me to dubstep in the first place weren't necessarily the kind of testosterone-driven environments that you got from say, late jungle or some of the drum 'n' bass stuff that was happening after that. I think the dubstep that has come over to the US, and certain producers — who I can't even be bothered naming — have definitely hit upon a sort of frat-boy market where there's this macho-ism being reflected in the sounds and the way the music makes you feel. And to me, that is a million miles away from where dubstep started. It's a million miles away from the ethos of it. It's been influenced so much by electro and rave, into who can make the dirtiest, filthiest bass sound, almost like a pissing competition, and that's not really necessary. And I just think that largely that is not going to appeal to women. I find that whole side of things to be pretty frustrating, because that is a direct misrepresentation of the sound as far as I'm concerned."

[wrong chris]

exactly.

EDM seems to be on the upswing in the US. the question is: is growth mostly confined to the "electro" area, or is the music and party culture in other subgenres of electronic music benefiting as well? and why is it "electro" that is growing?

@arbite: thanks for your thoughts

electro is growing because it's already mainstream.

have you heard any of the american pop musicians lately, they've all been making bad electro music for the last 5 years. it's all over tv, movies, radio you name it. it's not like electro is this newly discovered gem of the underground.

all the little kids who were listening to the Black Eyed Peas & Britney Spears a couple years ago have upgraded from mainstream pop music to mainstream electronic music because it's not a very far distance to jump.

same shit happened 10 years ago, except the music was actually cool.

[lethal_pizzle]

@Calum - good quote. I saw it happen with D&B in the UK.

[keithace]

Los Angeles: Low End Theory, Monday Night Social, Basic's Nights, The Weekly Parade of Globetrotting DJs that come thru the Avalon and Vanguard, Electric Daisy (that was a california thing), Monster Massive, Doc Martin's Sublevel nights, Moontribe's Full Moon Parties,...

The West Coast has nothing to prove...i am out of this thread before i get too wound up...good day to you sir...