Examples of 'cutting edge' dance/electronic music?

[chaosWyrM]

you guys seem to have an odd definition of the term "cutting edge". to me most of the tracks in this list sound like theyre 10 years old.

now i guess my choice might make some people say i have an odd definition of the term "dance music", but i know a lot of people who dance to this kind of stuff:

[Davias]

This is not 2013, but it cuts edges in my eardrums



I can't seem to embed videos in my posts.

[an-electric-heart]

This is not 2013, but it cuts edges in my eardrums



I can't seem to embed videos in my posts.

I think that's to do with your account setting, maybe? I remember at one stage I couldn't do smileys because they were disabled by default in some KVR settings thingy... but anyway, yeah, that's a cool song!

[Liero]

While I'm not sure that most of the list would be my list, this is hot.




You can get it on beatport.

http://www.beatport.com/track/they-fron ... ix/4057000

Beatport charts are a great way to get familiar with what is current in dance music trends.

This is really from 2013 ?? Sounds like 89' house to me... And not one I would remember or would like to hear...

I don't want to be harsh but I'm really surprised that people could release that kind of music in 2013...

I have to side with the haters on this one. Incredibly boring and repetetive to my ears. I don't understand it, but my non-understanding has nothing to do with the musical texture or sounds being too complex, on the contrary, everything is way, way too simple.

[ghettosynth]

This is really from 2013 ?? Sounds like 89' house to me... And not one I would remember or would like to hear...

Yes, it's from 2013, or actually, I think 2012. To be clear, "I"'m not saying that it's "cutting edge", it was nominated for an award for best underground track. I am saying that I think that it's a hot record.

You're projecting sounds into 89 that weren't there. This is very much a modern house record and it's quite different from what was happening in 89.

This is what 1989 house sounded like, the second and third links are typical of sparse tracks from that era.

http://www.beatport.com/genre/house/5/t ... 4_0&page=7


http://www.beatport.com/track/dirty-bea ... mix/312769

http://www.beatport.com/track/french-ki ... ion/671079

Remember 89 was the era of M1 piano, James Brown samples, 808 sounds, and cheesy sampler abuse. That stuff was a LOT of fun, but current deep/tech house is quite different.

http://www.beatport.com/track/turn-up-t ... mix/803886

Deep house was very different in 89. It was driven by chill grooves, yes, but tended to overemphasize smooth vocals and jazzy/bluesy lead riffs. Sure, it was great, but it did not tend to have the great minimal vibe of current tech house and deep minimal house.

http://www.beatport.com/track/the-spiri ... -54/228491

By the mid to late 90s production quality improved a lot and you can find a lot of records that have a similar vibe. In fact, I still play a lot of 90s minimal and deep house along with current deep stuff. That said, I think that perhaps you are expecting bigger changes from a genre that, at it's core, is subtle to begin with.

I don't want to be harsh but I'm really surprised that people could release that kind of music in 2013...

You can be as harsh as you like, the record was nominated for an award and it's the kind of record that I hear in really groovy sets when I go out. Moreover, it's the kind of record that I still buy. No, you won't hear it in your local fist-pumping drunkatorium, but that doesn't mean that it's not cutting edge.

Here's something that is a little trendier currently, again, not in your local drunkatorium, but in the underground house scene. The groove in this track is fairly common as are the noise swooshes and risers. It's not the kind of stuff that I really like, but I hear it a lot and it's number two currently on the Beatport minimal charts. So to me, this is not cutting edge and it's one of the reasons that I like the track above in that it doesn't resort to quite so many "genre" cliches.

http://www.beatport.com/track/the-airpl ... ix/4278054

Same with number three, except, the vocal samples are nice enough and are enough to redeem the track for me.

http://www.beatport.com/track/deja-vu-o ... ix/4192128

This is topping the deep house chart, again, I don't like the risers and swooshes, but, the repetitive vocal sample is trendy.

http://www.beatport.com/track/brooklyn- ... ix/4139574

Stuff like this is also popular right now. This is number five on the deep house chart.

http://www.beatport.com/track/imprint-o ... ix/4056922

So, perhaps it's important to be clear what one means by cutting edge or trendy. None of this is as popular as skrillex, or avicci. But I don't think of either as cutting edge.

[ghettosynth]

This is not 2013, but it cuts edges in my eardrums



I can't seem to embed videos in my posts.

I think that's to do with your account setting, maybe? I remember at one stage I couldn't do smileys because they were disabled by default in some KVR settings thingy... but anyway, yeah, that's a cool song!

Just take the 's' off of https.


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[Loki Fuego]

This is really from 2013 ?? Sounds like 89' house to me... And not one I would remember or would like to hear...

Yes, it's from 2013. To be clear, "I"'m not saying that it's "cutting edge", it was nominated for an award for best underground track. I am saying that I think that it's a hot record.

Oh, that's exactly the reason I started making dance music. Because this track (like most of what I hear) is really booooring. And I wanted to do some music which would be less boring.

But for cutting edge you should always look for someone making weird noises. Sooner or later those noises would get to mainstream.

[ghettosynth]

This is really from 2013 ?? Sounds like 89' house to me... And not one I would remember or would like to hear...

Yes, it's from 2013. To be clear, "I"'m not saying that it's "cutting edge", it was nominated for an award for best underground track. I am saying that I think that it's a hot record.

Oh, that's exactly the reason I started making dance music. Because this track (like most of what I hear) is really booooring. And I wanted to do some music which would be less boring.

Good luck with that, it's the way it is for a reason. It's not boring at all, hardly, it's hot. If you can't hear it, ask yourself why. Do you really think that people who have been producing house music for thirty years don't know what makes a dance floor move?

Here's the list of RA's top 100 DJs. Notice, Tiesto, Skrillix et al. are nowhere to be found.

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1700

Established in 2001, RA publishes news, reviews, features and podcasts to an audience of more than a million monthly readers. Thousands of artist and label profiles—and even more user-generated event and club listings—have made RA an invaluable resource to both the clued-up music lover and the partygoer simply looking for a good night out. With offices in London, Berlin, Tokyo and Ibiza and contributors spanning the globe, RA covers anything and everything that is electronic music-related.

Catz-n-Dogs are rising stars, they're on that list. That means that DJs think that they're among the world's best DJs/producers.

The duo's refreshing take on dancefloor music has, in the last 12 months, propelled them into the limelight like never before. Perhaps it was getting the remix treatment from the incomparable Carl Craig and rising star Tanner Ross on their most recent Mothership release. Or the A&R home runs they scored with Pets Recordings, debuting Eats Everything's smash "Entrance Song" and curating remixes from Maceo Plex, Axel Boman and KiNK. Or maybe it was their first appearance in Resident Advisor's hallowed Top 100 DJ Poll.

[Davias]

Thanks for the explanation Gettosynth, really I didn't meant to be harsh, I was afraid my comment would be wrongly interpreted. But really, for me this track sounds empty and not at all groundbreaking. If someone came to me and to me to release this track I would think of a joke. Even if it was nominated for an award, but at same time justin bieber has lot of fans so I guess everybody's taste is different.

I stopped to clubbing because I was finding 90% of the tracks i heard outside utterly boring, or too repetitive only drugs can make it ok, or over-copied on something that I've heard already before. OK, I still listen to copied or inspired music because if not I would just stop to listen anything.

[zircon]

I created an album released last year of cyberpunk-inspired EDM. My goal was to make something truly special and cutting-edge, in the sense that it uses a lot of organic AND synthetic/futuristic elements, live elements (including choir, violin, acoustic guitar) and much deeper composition than you would normally hear in edm. I know it's self-promotion but give it a shot and see what you think.. not just 30 secs of skipping around but listening to a full track like UNITY or MILLION YEARS.

http://zirconstudios.bandcamp.com/album ... y-sequence

[chaosWyrM]

hmmm...well the op asked for state of the art, cutting edge...not popular or trendy.

i kind of think those are 2 mutually exclusive things anyway. if its popular...it not cutting edge. by the time it takes something cutting edge to become popular, theres something already newer happening.

sometimes being popular is the very indicator that the thing is no longer cutting edge at all. i mean really...can anyone take dubstep seriously now that its in car commercials and tv show themes?

[Frantz]

I believe this is the future of dance music:

[ghettosynth]

hmmm...well the op asked for state of the art, cutting edge...not popular or trendy.

Agreed, but, cutting edge of what? What's "popular" in the underground, is not "popular." But even there, I'm making a distinction. There are elements of underground house that are currently trendy, but have been so for a while, I even gave examples, e.g. noise swooshes, that's not cutting edge.

But, by the same token, just because something is different, doesn't mean that it's cutting edge.

[Loki Fuego]

Good luck with that, it's the way it is for a reason. It's not boring at all, hardly, it's hot. If you can't hear it, ask yourself why. Do you really think that people who have been producing house music for thirty years don't know what makes a dance floor move?

I wish they did something new in those 30 years.

[ghettosynth]

Good luck with that, it's the way it is for a reason. It's not boring at all, hardly, it's hot. If you can't hear it, ask yourself why. Do you really think that people who have been producing house music for thirty years don't know what makes a dance floor move?

I wish they did something new in those 30 years.

They have, you're just not paying attention. I have yet to hear this kind of attitude from anyone who then goes out and actually succeeds in making new dance music that is actually different. Most successful dance producers that I've talked to over the years respect the history of dance music. In general, when they come to dance music with an attitude that it's all the same and boring and they are going to shake things up, the results are quite often more comical than successful.

Honestly, I think KVR is a terrible place to try to understand EDM. There are much better forums for connecting to what's current in dance music. KVR comes across as stale and not a little bit nerdy.

For example, if you are into IDM and the more "intellectual" side of dance music try the idm forums.

http://www.idmforums.com/

The aforementioned Resident Advisor is also a good source.

http://www.residentadvisor.net/about.aspx

Future Producers has also been around for a while.

http://www.futureproducers.com/forums/