The History Book Club discussion

This will be the thread dedicated to Electronic Dance
Music.

Electronic dance music, often abbreviated to EDM, is electronic music that is produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment.

The music is largely created for use by disc jockeys and is produced with the intention of it being heard in the context of a continuous DJ set[citation needed]; wherein the DJ progresses from one record to the next via a synchronized segue or 'mix'.

Electronic dance music is a broad set of percussive music genres that largely inherit from the Electronic music of Kraftwerk and 1970s disco music.

Such music was originally born of and popularized via regional nightclub scenes in the 1980s. By the early 1990s, the presence of electronic dance music in contemporary culture was noted widely and its role in society began to be explored in published historical, cultural and social science academic studies.

It is constructed by means of electronic instruments such as synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers, and generally emphasizes the unique sounds of those instruments, even when mimicking traditional acoustic instrumentation. It sometimes encompasses music not primarily meant for dancing, but derived from the dance-oriented styles.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron...

Does anyone have any fovorites?

I have to admit I do not know a lot about this genre; but I found this you tube video which features three pretty catchy tunes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckoIQm...

They are:

Better Off Alone - Alice Deejay
Burn For You - Kreo'
I See Right Through To You - DJ Encore

Makes me want to get on my treadmill and get going. Who needs a cup of coffee?

I certainley do Garret, among them are Faithless, Basement Jax, Friendly, Dizee Rascal, Proppeller heads and Daft Punk just to name a few.

Michael wrote: "I certainley do Garret, among them are Faithless, Basement Jax, Friendly, Dizee Rascal, Proppeller heads and Daft Punk just to name a few."

You sound like the man to help out Garret in this interest area. Do you have some videos or some audios of the above. They would be great to hear.

Bentley

I'll have a dig around when I get home form Nightshift for some link's Bentley, unfortunatley our work web washer is very restrictive :(. Ill endevour to ass some links to some of music Genres as well a I do love my tunes.

That would be great; are you a hip hop person too or metal?

I am a hip hop, metal, folk, pop, rock, alternative, electronic, jazz, classical, blues, soul and funk freak. I love all kinds of music and as such have a huge music collection, which forunatley since most of it is now in mp3 format does not take up much room, so I have more room for my books.

I love your enthusiasm Michael, keep the posts coming.

Heres some Electronic beats to get you up and moving

Basement Jaxx Where's you head at: Viewer Warning do not Watch this clip if you are on Medication http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8md51J...

Daft Punk Harder Better Faster Stronger http://www.youtube.com/results?search...

Faithless Insomnia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtEftT...

Propellerheads Bang On http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBwCKb...

Prodigy Firestarter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmin5W...

And the father of Electronic Music Kraftwerk Autobahn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c81X6...

Well, the first one was strange: Where's your head at - then I learned it was an electronic dance music type called House. I am learning so much.

So what is House:

House is a style of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, USA in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, communities; first in Chicago, then in Detroit, New York City, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Miami. It then reached Europe before becoming infused in mainstream pop and dance music worldwide since the early to mid-1990s.

House is strongly influenced by elements of soul- and funk-infused varieties of disco.

House generally mimics disco's percussion, especially the use of a prominent bass drum on every beat, but may feature a prominent synthesizer bassline, electronic drums, electronic effects, funk and pop samples, and reverb- or delay-enhanced vocals.

And a little about the video - Where's your head at -

Source:Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where...

And what is most interesting is the following:

The clip went on to win two awards at the 11th Annual Music Video Production Awards for Best Electronica Video and Best Directorial Debut. All I can say is that I must be out of touch.

Thank you Mchael..I am learning a lot here (smile)

I will look at the next one after a brief break (smile).

Faithless Insomnia does not seem to be available in the United States so I tried to look for it:

Here is a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuqEbR...

Some folks may be as confused as I am so here is a write-up on the song (catchy beat):

"Insomnia" is a song recorded by British dance group Faithless.

Released as the band's second single, it became one of their most successful. It was released in 1995 and became a hit in Dance Charts while peaking at #27 in the UK in 1995 and #3 in 1996 .

The song also reached #48 in the UK chart as a re-entry in 2005 showing the song's longevity. The album version is nearly nine minutes long and contains some lyrics not able to be broadcast on the radio edit due to their explicit content.

It also contained some Bells chiming at the start of the song not generally known by the club going public as many people know the Monster Mix or the Monster Mix Radio Edit. The Monster Mix was the mix featured on Faithless' greatest hits album Forever Faithless. The song topped the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart. The Moody Mix featured on some of the singles was also on the Reverence / Irreverence release.

The song features Maxi Jazz singing as an insomniac while he struggles to sleep ("I toss and I turn without cease, like a curse, open my eyes and rise like yeast/At least a couple of weeks since I last slept, kept takin' sleepers, but now I keep myself pepped").

The subject is resonant with fans of dance music, since stimulant use is common in club/rave culture, and insomnia a normal side effect. The insomniac is also rather destitute ("Make my way to the refrigerator/One dry potato inside, no lie, not even bread, jam...").
Faithless have expressed their displeasure with the fact that elements of this song were reused by Sash! for his single "Encore Une Fois".

Ironically, Norwegian electronica artist Biosphere has claimed that Faithless sampled the bassline from his single "Novelty Waves", although the fact that they had changed one note meant that he never received royalties.

Source: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia...

The genre for the song is considered Dance, Trance and dream House.

Daft Punk Harder Better Faster Stronger: Michael, this one had an incorrect link.

I looked for it and came up with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGECJP...

This one seems pretty good.

Here is a little bit about this song and group. This is considered House and Dance.

"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" is a song by French duo Daft Punk. The single was first released on 13 October 2001. A live version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was released as a single from the album Alive 2007 on 15 October 2007.

This version won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2009.

Source: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harder,_...

i am not sure what i am enjoying the most: the music, or watching others who are not familiar with the genre (Bentley) explore and learn about it. either way - fun fun fun!

Who are the Propeller Heads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBwCKb...

Propellerheads were a British big beat musical ensemble, formed in 1995 and made up of electronic producers Will White and Alex Gifford.

The term propellerhead is slang for a nerd, and when Gifford and White heard a friend from California use this in a conversation, they thought it the perfect name for their band.

Michael, this did not have the right link so I added the one above.

Genre of song is considered Electronic, Big Beat, Breakbeat and
Trip-hop. The track is called Bang On.

My take: I did not like this one that much.

However, according to the write-up, "A track from the album, "Spybreak!", became widely known after its use in the lobby scene in the 1999 feature film The Matrix."

Who is Prodigy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prodigy

The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group established by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex.

Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers and The Crystal Method, as well as other acts, members of the Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s.

They have sold over 25 million records worldwide.

The group's brand of big beat music makes use of various styles ranging from rave, hardcore techno, industrial and breakbeat in the early 1990s to electronic rock with punk vocal elements in later times.

The current band members include Liam Howlett (composer/keyboards), Keith Flint (dancer/vocalist) and Maxim (MC/vocalist). Leeroy Thornhill (dancer/very occasional live keyboards) was a member of the band from 1990 to 2000, as was a female dancer/vocalist called Sharky who left the band during their early period.

The Prodigy first emerged on the underground rave scene in the early 1990s, and have since then achieved immense popularity and worldwide renown. Some of their most popular songs include "Charly", "Out of Space", "No Good (Start the Dance)", "Voodoo People", "Poison", "Firestarter", "Breathe", "Smack My xxxxx Up", "Omen", and "Warrior's Dance."

The name displayed on album covers changed from "The Prodigy" to "Prodigy" between Music for the Jilted Generation and The Fat of the Land in 1997 and back again with the release of Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned in 2004.

However, Howlett has stated that the title has always been "The Prodigy." The change was made only to fit within the displayed logo, according to Howlett.

Their genres are: Oldskool jungle, oldskool rave, nuskool breaks, alternative dance punk, breaks, big beat, industrial, electronica, synthpunk.

About the Song Firestarter:

Firestarter" is a song by the English band The Prodigy, released on 18 March 1996. It was the first single from their third album The Fat of the Land, and their tenth single. It was also the group's first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, staying on top for three weeks.

It was The Prodigy's first big national and international hit, also reaching number one in Finland and Norway. It featured Flint's punky vocals which showcased him as the group's frontman. The title and lyrics were subject of controversy in the UK because of their violent nature. The music video further boosted these controversies.

The songwriting credits—among Liam Howlett and Keith Flint—include Kim Deal of alt-rock group The Breeders. The looped wah-wah guitar riff in "Firestarter" was sampled from The Breeders' track "S.O.S." from the album Last Splash. Because of the use of a sample from a 1984 single "Close (to the Edit)" songwriting credits also list Art of Noise's then-members: Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J.J. Jeczalik, Gary Langan and Paul Morley.

The "Empirion Mix," which does not include these samples, is credited solely to Howlett and Flint. Howlett has also revealed that a version with additional "oomph" will feature in their set at the Warriors' Dance festival organised by The Prodigy.

Michael, supposedly this video scared children; well it certainly was scary (smile). I guess this genre is considered to be Dance, Oldskool jungle, big beat.

And the father of Electronic Music Kraftwerk Autobahn

This was pretty interesting. It made me smile a lot.

Who is the group Kraftwerk?

Kraftwerk (German pronunciation: [ˈkʀaftvɛʁk]) is an electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany.

The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies, mainly following a Western classical style of harmony, with a minimalistic and strictly electronic instrumentation.

The group's simplified lyrics are at times sung through a vocoder or generated by computer-speech software. Kraftwerk were one of the first groups to popularize electronic music.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Kraftwerk's distinctive sound was revolutionary, and has had a lasting effect across many genres of modern music.

The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008.

Source: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraftwerk

Their genres were Electronic Dance Music, Electronic music, synthpop, Krautrock, experimental music.

About the song Autobahn:

Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in November 1974.

The 22-minute title track "Autobahn" was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached number 25 on the US Billboard 200 chart, and performed even higher around Europe, including number 11 in the UK.

This commercial success came after the band had released three experimental and purely instrumental albums. Autobahn is also the first of Kraftwerk’s concept albums of sorts, which they have done up to 2003.

Source: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn...

The genre of the song is considered Electronic and Krautrock (which is considered experimental music).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn...

This one was different but not bad. You could see how this was the precursor of other electronic music, etc.

Thank you Michael, I got an education tonight.

Once again sorry for the bad links I will make sure I am fully awake next time

No problem..I certainly got an education tonight. Thanks for the adds and I am sure that it will go more smoothly next time. Sometimes your copy and paste does not take the subsequent time you do it; so you have to verify. It has happened to all of us - so don't worry about it. I appreciate all of your hard work.

I was also once a fan of Kraftwerk, my favourite song back then was 'The Model', a classic:


KRAFTWERK - THE MODEL

If you don't know much about electronic dance music, you will after reading this book.

Unlocking the Groove

by Mark J. Butler (no photo)

Synopsis:

Unlocking the Groove is a groundbreaking, award-winning, music-driven analysis of electronic dance music (EDM). Author Mark Butler interweaves traditional and non-traditional musical analysis with consideration of the genre's history and social significance, deconstructing several typical examples of electronic dance music and focusing on the interaction of beat and rhythmic structure in creating an overall musical design. Interviews with DJs, listeners, and producers flesh out the book, providing insight into the perceptions and performance world of EDM, and making a vivid case for the musical artistry of EDM disc jockeys. The CD included with the book illustrates the analysis with multiple musical examples, both in excerpts and full songs. Butler's work propels the study of popular music in exciting new directions, and will impact the range from popular music studies, music theory, ethnomusicology, and musicology.

The Underground Is Massive: How Electronic Dance Music Conquered America

by Michaelangelo Matos (no photo)

Synopsis:

Joining the ranks of Please Kill Me and Can’t Stop Won’t Stop comes this definitive chronicle of one of the hottest trends in popular culture—electronic dance music—from the noted authority covering the scene.

It is the sound of the millennial generation, the music “defining youth culture of the 2010s” (Rolling Stone). Rooted in American techno/house and ’90s rave culture, electronic dance music has evolved into the biggest moneymaker on the concert circuit. Music journalist Michaelangelo Matos has been covering this beat since its genesis, and in The Underground Is Massive, charts for the first time the birth and rise of this last great outlaw musical subculture.

Drawing on a vast array of resources, including hundreds of interviews and a library of rare artifacts, from rave fanzines to online mailing-list archives, Matos reveals how EDM blossomed in tandem with the nascent Internet—message boards and chat lines connected partiers from town to town. In turn, these ravers, many early technology adopters, helped spearhead the information revolution. As tech was the tool, Ecstasy—(Molly, as it’s know today) an empathic drug that heightens sensory pleasure—was the narcotic fueling this alternative movement.

Full of unique insights, lively details, entertaining stories, dozens of photos, and unforgettable misfits and stars—from early break-in parties to Skrillex and Daft Punk—The Underground Is Massive captures this fascinating trend in American pop culture history, a grassroots movement that would help define the future of music and the modern tech world we live in.

EDM Music Mix 2018 - Best Songs Of Electronic Dance Music

https://youtu.be/1rSHcDM7AZo

Source: Youtube

Our Favorite Electronic & Dance Music of 2018

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/31/677571...

Source: NPR and Youtube

The First Electronic Dance Song Ever Made

With 'I Feel Love' from 1977 Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder changed the entire dance music world. Giorgio Moroder's fully synthesized Electronic Dance Song and upbeated bassline inspired DJs and modern dance music (Techno and House).

'I Feel Love' from 1977 is indeed the first electronic dance song ever made.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL0h2...

More:
Moroder is 74 - Donna Summer passed away in 2012. Mixmag, Casablanca Records and Smirnoff Sound Collective celebrated the 40th anniversary of Giorgio Moroder, Donna Summer and Pete Bellotte's seminal disco anthem 'I Feel Love'. - in Brooklyn. He is going on a European tour in 2019.

https://youtu.be/cQ9pXX1BqMQ

Source: Youtube