The thin line between Rock and Electronica

Madda · 10-28-2014, 08:32 PM

Have you ever noticed how many bands and artists with a Rock background have been employing more and more electronic sounds and vice versa? I realized this the other day, while posting in the review of Radiohead's OK Computer, here in Music Banter.
What do you think about this mixture of two completely different genres?
In your opinion, when does an artist stop being part of the Rock scene and start being part of the electronic scene and viceversa?
Use bands and musicians as examples, if you want.
I mean, with certain bands it's easy: even if Muse use synthesizers and made one or two pseudo-dubstep songs, they're clearly rooted in Rock culture. But it's not that easy with stuff such as MGMT, Chemical Brothers, Primal Scream, Stateless, Gorillaz and so on (or even with older stuff such as David Bowie.. or with my fellow italians Trabant and My Awesome Mixtape, but I think that nobody knows them outside Italy ahah). They are really far from both Jimi Hendrix and Burial, to name respectively a "pure" Rock guitarist and a Future Garage producer and DJ.
These questions are not related to the music itself. I don't wanna start a debate on whether they suck or not. It's more about the cultural side. Do you consider bands like these part of the Rock culture or part of the electronic culture?

P.S. I have the bad feeling that I made a lot of errors or that I haven't been clear. I'm not english... so, feel free to correct me or to ask for clarifications

Necromancer · 10-28-2014, 09:09 PM

I like the politically charged industrial/electronic side-project of James Fogarty.
The Bombs Of Enduring Freedom.
Stand Up If Your Brave is a favorite single.

I'm kinda new to this style of music myself, but I do like it a lot. Actually looking forward to what is yet to come in the future concerning this particular style and sound.

William_the_Bloody · 10-29-2014, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madda

Have you ever noticed how many bands and artists with a Rock background have been employing more and more electronic sounds and vice versa? I realized this the other day, while posting in the review of Radiohead's OK Computer, here in Music Banter.
What do you think about this mixture of two completely different genres?
In your opinion, when does an artist stop being part of the Rock scene and start being part of the electronic scene and viceversa?
Use bands and musicians as examples, if you want.
I mean, with certain bands it's easy: even if Muse use synthesizers and made one or two pseudo-dubstep songs, they're clearly rooted in Rock culture. But it's not that easy with stuff such as MGMT, Chemical Brothers, Primal Scream, Stateless, Gorillaz and so on (or even with older stuff such as David Bowie.. or with my fellow italians Trabant and My Awesome Mixtape, but I think that nobody knows them outside Italy ahah). They are really far from both Jimi Hendrix and Burial, to name respectively a "pure" Rock guitarist and a Future Garage producer and DJ.
These questions are not related to the music itself. I don't wanna start a debate on whether they suck or not. It's more about the cultural side. Do you consider bands like these part of the Rock culture or part of the electronic culture?

P.S. I have the bad feeling that I made a lot of errors or that I haven't been clear. I'm not english... so, feel free to correct me or to ask for clarifications

Yes and I don't mind, I just thinks its the natural evolution of music. The electric guitar isn't considered cutting edge technology anymore, but its still the preferred weapon of choice for many musicians, and its a lot cooler than the synth in my opinion.

The guitar is often run through a lot of pro tool effects or even midi based systems to give it more of an electronic sound, I think its great, because personally I don't think the kids of today have the patience to learn how to play intracrite guitar solos.... either that or the bar has really dropped.

As for more rock or electronic, guess it depends on the band. Editors rock, Vitalic definitely electronic

grindy · 10-31-2014, 10:25 AM

I wouldn't call "electronica" a genre. It's just a way of making music, one can make rock, classical, jazz etc. all with electronic equipment and sounds.

EPOCH6 · 10-31-2014, 10:57 AM

Bands can incorporate elements from both rock culture and electronic culture, no need to exclusively align with one or the other. I think the more you compare rock culture and electronic culture the more you realize the lines aren't really there at all, they never have been, all cultures feed off of each other, whether they're conscious of it or not. You can look at a band like Creedence Clearwater Revival next to Skrillex and say "yes, these are damn near polar opposites stylistically", but the longer you look the more you realize that Skrillex follows rock song structure as much as anyone else, and rock song structures evolved from blues song structures, and blues from something else. The lines are never there, music is just a massive sonic mess remixing itself over and over again. There are obviously attitudes and themes that are more prevalent in one genre than the other but you'll always be able to find commonality if you look hard enough, AC/DC and Deadmau5 aren't as different as we might think. There are no lines, it's everyone ripping off everyone else until you end up with two things that feel very different but grew from the same root.

Madda · 10-31-2014, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EPOCH6

Bands can incorporate elements from both rock culture and electronic culture, no need to exclusively align with one or the other. I think the more you compare rock culture and electronic culture the more you realize the lines aren't really there at all, they never have been, all cultures feed off of each other, whether they're conscious of it or not. You can look at a band like Creedence Clearwater Revival next to Skrillex and say "yes, these are damn near polar opposites stylistically", but the longer you look the more you realize that Skrillex follows rock song structure as much as anyone else, and rock song structures evolved from blues song structures, and blues from something else. The lines are never there, music is just a massive sonic mess remixing itself over and over again. There are obviously attitudes and themes that are more prevalent in one genre than the other but you'll always be able to find commonality if you look hard enough, AC/DC and Deadmau5 aren't as different as we might think. There are no lines, it's everyone ripping off everyone else until you end up with two things that feel very different but grew from the same root.

Exactly what I wanted to hear

Pet_Sounds · 10-31-2014, 11:35 AM

As usual, both EPOCH and grindy nail it.

Madda · 10-31-2014, 11:43 AM

Also, who cares about that when you can listen to this. Maybe I was drunk when I posted that.

Jokes. I was drunk for sure

10-28-2014, 08:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
Madda Groupie Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Italy Posts: 46	The thin line between Rock and Electronica Have you ever noticed how many bands and artists with a Rock background have been employing more and more electronic sounds and vice versa? I realized this the other day, while posting in the review of Radiohead's OK Computer, here in Music Banter. What do you think about this mixture of two completely different genres? In your opinion, when does an artist stop being part of the Rock scene and start being part of the electronic scene and viceversa? Use bands and musicians as examples, if you want. I mean, with certain bands it's easy: even if Muse use synthesizers and made one or two pseudo-dubstep songs, they're clearly rooted in Rock culture. But it's not that easy with stuff such as MGMT, Chemical Brothers, Primal Scream, Stateless, Gorillaz and so on (or even with older stuff such as David Bowie.. or with my fellow italians Trabant and My Awesome Mixtape, but I think that nobody knows them outside Italy ahah). They are really far from both Jimi Hendrix and Burial, to name respectively a "pure" Rock guitarist and a Future Garage producer and DJ. These questions are not related to the music itself. I don't wanna start a debate on whether they suck or not. It's more about the cultural side. Do you consider bands like these part of the Rock culture or part of the electronic culture? P.S. I have the bad feeling that I made a lot of errors or that I haven't been clear. I'm not english... so, feel free to correct me or to ask for clarifications Last edited by Madda; 10-28-2014 at 08:44 PM.

10-31-2014, 10:25 AM	#4 (permalink)
grindy . Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: . Posts: 7,201	I wouldn't call "electronica" a genre. It's just a way of making music, one can make rock, classical, jazz etc. all with electronic equipment and sounds. __________________ *A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.* Last edited by grindy; 10-31-2014 at 11:07 AM.

10-31-2014, 11:35 AM	#7 (permalink)
Pet_Sounds Remember the underscore Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: The other side Posts: 2,488	As usual, both EPOCH and grindy nail it. __________________ Everybody's dying just to get the disease

10-28-2014, 09:09 PM	#2 (permalink)
Necromancer Divination Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,655	I like the politically charged industrial/electronic side-project of James Fogarty. The Bombs Of Enduring Freedom. Stand Up If Your Brave is a favorite single. I'm kinda new to this style of music myself, but I do like it a lot. Actually looking forward to what is yet to come in the future concerning this particular style and sound.

10-31-2014, 11:43 AM	#8 (permalink)
Madda Groupie Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Italy Posts: 46	Also, who cares about that when you can listen to this. Maybe I was drunk when I posted that. Jokes. I was drunk for sure