Why is electronic dance music typically very simple?

[Adambomb337]

I think it's mostly because the thought of the song being mixed by a DJ is in the mind of the producer while making it. This can be limiting especially if they have to stick to a 4/4 beat

[adj]

simple? Did you know it took BT 6,178 production edits to make ONE SINGLE SONG.

Have you ever listened to, or know, what IDM is?

Do you know that electronic music may often encompass MIDI tracks, audio tracks, and even automation tracks which can then modulate almost anything to an inumberable degree?

Please go here and you will definately find music that is not simple: http://www.bleep.com

Have fun on your new journey

But do you reckon the people there will know how to properly spell 'definitely'?

Have fun learning to spell!

Cheers,
Alex

[adj]

Now that's much better

[aallvor]

A rather 'leading question'?

Because the majority of computers can easily produce electronic sounds? Because just about anyone can buy a computer? Because such are easily groked by virtually anyone, without them needing even a shred of musical knowledge, and thus, by virtue of this, millions of 'electronic composers' are proliferating to the point that they have created their own genre? That perhaps this may not be a bad thing?

Is this where your headed Rob?

Lord no. More like I'm fishing for people to introduce me to some really kickass and complex electronic music that's not necessarily in the avant-garde experimental arena, or some kind of mellow synth pad drones.

Check out Mouse On Mars then.

[The Chase]

simple? Did you know it took BT 6,178 production edits to make ONE SINGLE SONG.

Have you ever listened to, or know, what IDM is?

Do you know that electronic music may often encompass MIDI tracks, audio tracks, and even automation tracks which can then modulate almost anything to an inumberable degree?

Please go here and you will definately find music that is not simple: http://www.bleep.com

Have fun on your new journey

But do you reckon the people there will know how to properly spell 'definitely'?

Have fun learning to spell!

Cheers,
Alex

relax dude it's one typo on an internet forum

[adj]

dribble dribble dribble...

*relax DUDE and get a sense of humour..

[Cryogenic]

dribble dribble dribble...

*relax DUDE and get a sense of humour..

Yeah you did that with so much originality, insight, depth and cleverness, it just went 'swooosh' over our heads, that it was 'humor'.

[deastman]

My friend Rick makes some rather complex electronic music, which fuses prog rock and techno into a genre-defying blend...

http://www.progtronic.com/

[FaX]

A rather 'leading question'?

Because the majority of computers can easily produce electronic sounds? Because just about anyone can buy a computer? Because such are easily groked by virtually anyone, without them needing even a shred of musical knowledge, and thus, by virtue of this, millions of 'electronic composers' are proliferating to the point that they have created their own genre? That perhaps this may not be a bad thing?

Is this where your headed Rob?

Lord no. More like I'm fishing for people to introduce me to some really kickass and complex electronic music that's not necessarily in the avant-garde experimental arena, or some kind of mellow synth pad drones.

Check out Mouse On Mars then.

Mouse on Mars "IDEOLOGY" - Still blows me away everytime I listen to it .

[Armadillo]

I'm still waiting for some names of complex electronic music. I'd love to hear something new (for me). Who's the John Williams et al of electronic music?

Aphex twin, BT and Shpongle all been mentioned but is that as good as it gets?
Yes, there's some complex IDM out there but it's rather chaotic for the most part, ie. more like throwing some samples through some FSU plugins and see what happens, rather than having a flowing continuity.

Burnt Friedman
Atom Heart
William Orbit
Flanger
Nine Horses
David Sylvian ( more electronic solo work) + tracks like Linoleum with Chris Vrenna (aka Tweaker).
BT
Aphex Twin
Certain Orbital tracks are IMHO quite Melodically dense and cleverly arranged.
808 State
Some great stuff done by Mark Bell (LFO).
Depeche Mode have had some great complex moments also and I think Martin Gore is a hugely underated song writer in general.
Riyuchi Sakamoto
Tomita
Wendy Carlos
Some of the Kraftwerk material is almost Baroque in melodic structure IMHO.
Graham Massey
Bjorks Material on Vespertine & Homogenic come to mind also.
Vangelis
Future Sound of London (Lifeforms & Dead Cities)
Oh and of course the glorius material by Murcof (Fernando Corona) is hard to beat also from where I stand particularly albums like Martes and Remembranza.
etc etc etc.....

Thanks a lot for that list. I know about 1/2 of those artists but will check the rest out.

[Topiness]

I think dance music needs to be simple due to the drug addled target audience.

also, a lot of dance music is written and produced to be mixed with other records, not to necessarily stand alone. I've seen more than one person suddenly 'get it' when listening to a really good DJ in full flow.

Having said that, It's always grated on me a bit that electronic music gets lumped in with dance. As many have said, the bit that interests me is the exploration of textures...

unfortunalely, musical 'genres' often have to get linked to some social scene, and end up having nothing to do with the music at all.

[Chuck E. Jesus]

A guy who has a (probably apocryphal) Hegel quote for a sig is in no position to talk about mentioning obscure cultural figures. Because Hegel is way more obscure than the sound of an Ondes Martinot or a Theremin.
And Varese rocks.
Period.

Are you have a bad day or somethin' buddy? PMS?

Come on man - I wasn't even talking to you -

you are talking to everybody, for better or worse...

[dsp music]

sometimes less is more

my original:
http://www.arsov.net/Net-temp/promise.mp3

and Goldlust remix:
http://www.arsov.net/Net-temp/Promise-GoldlustMix.mp3

Very nice track dude
as surprising as it can be i still prefer your original version

and the girl has a very nice voice
checking your site now

On topic again, besides that i think most of electronic composers try to put more energy into finding soundsthan melodies

I mean with instrumental music, if you're a guitarist, then you already have the guitar sound so you can focus on the melody alone ( you can't change the sound of the guitar can you )

moreover i think that sometimes, electronic sounds are so tweaked that they don't sound melodic at all when playing a melody ( assuming we can call a suite of notes on a piano roll on a seq a melody) i'm thinking here about some IDM stuff which can bring melodies out of glitches sound

i hope i'm being clear here

BTW do you consider tweaking a filter the same as changing notes on a piano?? ( i know tone is diferent than timbre but there are some plugs that allow you to filter the sound with notes, not frequencies, for ex Antares filter, and most of audio editors can give you the pitch af any sound thru audio/spectrum analysis )

i'm not taking any position here just asking questions

and thanks everyone for all these artists suggestion, some of them i knew some of them i didn't

[Jbravo]

I think when it comes to electronic music, a lot of the art is in the actual production and sound design. It doesn't even have to have any discernable chord or conventional compositional content - some people might consider it less accomplished as a result but it's a completely different aesthetic which you ignore at your loss. I would say the later Autechre stuff (and spokes by Plaid) is probably the most accomplished electronic music that's worth listening to at the moment (which are also pretty sophisticated from a composition point of view)

[Unkie Al]

...I've always wondered why most electronic music is very simple in terms of harmony, counterpoint.. are they are simply aspects of music theory that do not interest electronic musicians?

The same might be said about American folk music ("This Land is Your Land"), sea chanties ("Bound for the Rio Grande") and vaudeville ("I'm Henry VIII I Am"). Simplicity = hum-ability and familiarity.

A lot of electro-mechano-techno-dance truly is forgettable fluff, you are correct. But gimme Tomita's almost-all-analog "Bermuda Triangle" album with a pair of headphones, and the next time you see me will be when I come out for a sandwich and a trip to the pooper.