As of right now, January 2019, I am 53 years old.  So in terms of society, I’m an older guy at work, and in terms of the music biz, I’m an ancient artifact.  But unlike my dad’s generation, I can kick ass at tech.  I can code.  I make websites and run servers for a living.  I’m not alone.  Lots of people from 40-60 out there making YouTube videos and blog posts.

So for the benefit of the old farts who think that today’s electronic music artists are just pushing buttons to make music come out without much thought to old school skills like “harmony” and “melody,” I’m here to explain things.  But let me back up…

Electronic Music used to mean someone playing Bach on a synth.  Or making atonal noise.  But today, Electronic Music means making music using electronic and other instruments.  Some is atonal, some sounds like dance music, some has melody, some doesn’t.  One thing you’ll commonly see is the use of loops – little snippets of sound made with MIDI or sampling that can be triggered and manipulated via a console with lots of different buttons and knobs.  An electronic music artist might sometimes play an instrument, but usually what they’re really doing is a remix of a whole ton of different loops and tracks, on the fly.  Traditional musicians call these people “button pushers” because that’s literally what they’re doing.

Is that actually a bad thing?  I don’t think so.  I think the ends justify the means.  Do people like the sound of the music?  Does it make them feel something?  Well, then, it’s done a better job that Joe Nobody’s acoustic guitar song made in GarageBand that rhymes “love” with “above” and “girl” with “world.”

That said, here are some points to consider, highly biased by my own personal opinion of course:

  1.  Not all electronic artists are non-musicians.  Actually, most do play an instrument and understand melody.  If you want to hear some beautiful melody and harmonies, listen to “Gravity” by DOT.  It’s on Apple Music/Spotify.
  2. Most live performances by electronic artists are like watching a DJ with some extra buttons.  The premixed track is playing and they sweeten it up by adding or removing elements, aka remixing, based on an observation of the crowd and what’s working and what isn’t.  When they do these things, are they musicians?  Well, yes, because they recorded the music.  I’m a musician all the time, even if I play a song from my iTunes library.  They are musicians who are performing live music in the most basic sense, because they’re pressing buttons that make sounds that make music.  Should we compare them to a rock band?  No.  Why bother?
  3. A lot of electronic music uses the same common beats, sounds, and loops, in unimaginative ways.  Just like every other genre of music out there.
  4. Some kids get into making electronic music because it’s so easy to get started and you don’t need a lot of musical talent to make something people like.  That’s not a putdown.  The same thing can be said for the Ramones and most of the punk bands.  But the good punk bands (like the Ramones) and the good electronic artists (like DOT) understand the power of melodies.

I like electronic music.  I like that it takes my lifelong rules of bass/drums/guitar/vocals and verse/bridge/chorus and just throws everything away.  At its best, you get wonderful pieces of music like Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek,” which is amazing.  At its worst, you get… I won’t disrespect anyone by name here because I want to support everyone trying to make music.  You get some kid with GarageBand slapping together loops and rapping nonsense over them.  Badly.  That’s OK.  I don’t have to listen to it.  Live and let live.

Popular YouTube Artist “POGO” has almost a million followers and does crazy cool remixes of film and TV snippets in a really fun and interesting way that combines video and audio.  POGO is a controversial artist because some claim he’s one of those hate speech guys who advocates violence against the LGBT community.  I don’t know the guy.  I don’t know what to believe.  But no one can deny his remixing abilities.

For the record, if you’re the type of person who advocates violence against the LGBT community, please seek psychiatric help in dealing with your anger issues immediately.

Ahem.  Anyway, NAMM 2019 is happening, and I’m binge watching YouTube like some of you to see all the new interesting things.  I see a lot of love for Gibson’s lineup this year – bah humbug!  How about better guitars for less money?  But speakers, headphones, and microphones are all getting better and in some cases cheaper, which is awesome.  More in my NAMM 2019 entry.  Next weekend is the world famous Orlando International Guitar Convention which I shall be attending.  I can’t WAIT.