Evolutions in Electronic Music

 

    While I don't listen to it as much anymore, there was a point in life where I listened to a lot of EDM. The Monstercat music label was the one I enjoyed most, but there were certainly others. One thing that I enjoyed most about EDM was listening to it change gradually, from a sort of nerdy hype music to the more alternative pop music that shows up on the radio every once in a while these days. 

    One of my favorite artists, the Pegboard Nerds, had a bit of a transition over the time that I listened to them. Pegboard Nerds is a Norwegian duo that has been releasing music since 2011. The first song that I listened to and really enjoyed by them was the song Swamp Thing, which was released in 2015 from Norway. Swamp Thing was, and still is, such a goofy and hype song, the kind of song that is something you jam out to with your friends, but definitely don't play around a group of people you don't know very well. Compare this to the more recent song by them, titled Together, released in 2020 from Norway, which has a much more modern sound appeal. Still a great, hype, electronic piece, but can relatively easily be played on the radio without freaking too many people out. 

    What do I mean when I say these things? Well, if you listen to the songs you should have a general idea, but in-depth I would say it has to do with rhythm and dynamics. In Swamp Thing, the beat is very very 1-2-1-2-1-2 in a kind of hype way that makes you want to bob your head and spazz out, very common in older electronic rave songs. In addition to this regimented rhythm, the pace is allegro and very excited. In comparison, Together has a bit of a slower pace near the beginning, more adagio, and even within the drop, there is a very steady 1-2-3-4 beat to the piece. Additionally, the dynamics in the two songs are very different, Swamp Thing has very short, sharp, staccato notes that go nicely with the sharp whacks of the beat, combined with a maintained forte of the piece, the vibe is yet again quite exciting. Together on the other hand is a lot softer. The sound is more piano, and all of the notes flow along smoothly with each other, and while the drop is hype, the song as a whole is more laid back and mellow due to the softened dynamics. 

    I personally feel like Swamp Thing is more of a turn-up and be goofy song, where Together is more of a chill-out kick back and vibe song.

    What do other people have to say about the evolution of EDM? The websites OneEDM, and We Rave You went into detail about how electronic music began even as late as the 1800's when electricity itself was a new thing. Back in the day, people would mess around with audiotapes, distorting the sound to make it sound "electronic". This style started mainly in Europe among a very small subculture, but it eventually grew to be relatively popular, even among music critics, in the late 1900s. As EDM began to get more and more complex, some forms of it got to be popular in the mainstream, even being combined with other more popular forms of music such as rap, or alternative. To me, this is pretty cool because the two songs I analyzed today kind of demonstrate that transition, even though they were made only 5 years apart. From being quirky and weird for a smaller audience of nerdy highschoolers to more laid-back and melodious for the general audience of music listeners today.

    In conclusion, I will say that I really like both pieces. But the transition in style is very interesting, and the mood you get from either song is notably different. For those who have never listened to EDM before, I hope you enjoyed the two pieces I shared, and for those of you who have, I wonder if you've heard these ones before. Either way, EDM is pretty cool, and it is gradually influencing modern pop music every day.

"The Evolution of Electronic Dance Music." oneedm.com. 12 September 2020. https://oneedm.com/columns/automated/the-evolution-of-electronic-dance-music/.

Dov, Yotam. "How did electronic music evolve through the years?" weraveyou.com. 5 July 2020. https://weraveyou.com/2020/07/the-evolution-of-electronic-music-2/.