R.I.P. Electro

So… I just listened to the new MSTRKRFT album (I’d provide a link, but I think it’s easier to just torrent it).  In short, it’s good and worth the free download, HA!

The first thing and most obvious thing is that it has a ton of rap cameos from the likes of E-40 and Nore. The music itself has gotten a zillion times grittier and intricate over the course of its faster than light evolution– listen to 2006′s “The Looks” and you’ll definitely hear the difference.

The electro/house explosion came at an interesting time. Indie music as a genre had plateaued and was beginning to sound extremely limited (everyone sounded like a Death Cab/Arcade Fire/Saddle Creek spinoff), and perhaps this stagnancy is what allowed the Daft Punk Coachella performance to isolate itself as much as it did. Whereas indie music is more on the introspective end of the spectrum, the Daft Punk Coachella performance was dinstinctly sensory (bass thumps and flashing lights). It was unencumbered viserca violently cutting its way through the intellectual homogeny of ’06 indie.  In many ways, the electro-DJ was a Hegelian response to the organic folksiness of the Conor Obersts and Rilo Kileys– it was a complete and drastic 180, and for whatever reason its reception was scalding.  Technology was embraced again, and music was a bit less serious and a lot more fun. 

After Daft Punk’s rennaissance, Justice blew up (that’s an understatement) and electro became “pop”, and all of a sudden it was cool to dance again.  The shift was dynamic in every sense of the word– bands that once had a devoted following (like Snow Patrol) were suddenly shitty or boring (not that they always weren’t).  It was a huge blow to the Pitchfork-indie economy, and indie bands either faded into obscurity or retreated back underneath the detection of the mainstream.  Other than the occassional blip (like Animal Collective), indie bands went back to being just that– indie.

I guess this same pattern is starting to manifest itself with the electro scene. It’s much more endemic as a culture, and any movement that sustains as a high a level of popularity as it has will eventually plateau– in this case it’s sooner rather than later. The music itself has gotten ridiculously layered and now more than ever sounds like a rusty buzzsaw making love to your eardrums, however, we’re clearly at the tail end of the movement.  Of course, this leaves alot of questions to be answered, the most important of which being, “Where do we go from here?”

90s alternative?  It’d make sense following the brief 80s resurgence.  Nu-metal was such an awkward period I’d doubt it’d ever show face again (or we could do it all for the nookie *Yah!* the nookie *come on!*). Emo just happened… early 2000′s punk?  Grunge??? (shivers).  Britney’s Circus live album???

I guess we’ll find out soon enough.  The only real popular genre that’s had any sort of staying power over the last 2 decades is mainstream rap and R&B (it hasn’t changed much sinces the 90′s… KC & JoJo = NeYo), but those genres haven’t really ever held enough weight to carry the entire pop music spectrum.  We need options here!

Regardless, the sun is setting on electro, and I think the collective conciousness of the blogosphere can agree that it’s getting kind of stale.  The current inception of artists are trying to keep things fresh and take the genre in a million different directions (like with the rap+electronica thing… I saw a Brooklyn rap/electro pairing called Ninja Sonic recently. Fail).  But still, none of its current incarnations seem to have any real sort of staying power or marketability (which is what pop music really boils down to). 

I kind of hope the next wave includes the resurgence of the boy band.  SERIOUSLY, it’s time NSYNC gets back together.  Come on JT, throw the guys a bone. Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone have been sucking at the teets of mediocrity for TOO long. It’d be super sick, and there’s 180% no sarcasm in this statement whatsoever.  It’s gonna be me.

 

GOSU.

Anyway, almost fittingly, Daft Punk is making one last showing by scoring the new Tron movie, which should be rad.  They brought electro to the masses, and I’m prediciting the Tron album will be more of an epitaph than anything. It’ll be a really nice way for electro to fade out until it appears again in a couple of years (music is kind of transparently cyclical like that).

But for the short term, R.I.P electro.  You were fun while you lasted.

//Caspian De La Sanchez