Wednesday, January 13, 2010

A Decade In Music: The Singles (Part Two)

For the final part of our decade review, we look at the pick of the singles from 2005-2009:

Although Electroclash died almost as quickly as it had arrived, Electro itself would go on to mix with House to give the genre exactly what it needed to see it into the 21st century. Around the middle of the Noughties, Electro House became the epitome of underground dancefloor cool and Germany was the breeding ground for a new set of labels to push forward, once again simply by looking back and combining sounds and patterns that had previously been largely isolated from one another. As with every good thing though it couldn’t last, but far from dying, Electro House transcended underground cool to become the dominant sound of commercial dance music in the latter part of the Noughties and with it, lost much of the innovation that made it special before it became the next soundtrack to sell cars to.

Dub became the next retro sound to be brought back into the mix and this time it was youth once again making it's presence felt on the electronic scene. Grime sensibilities and 2-step rhythms mashed together in bedroom studios across south London by producers barely out of school kickstarted the mighty force that has become Dubstep. Initially characterised by lashings of bowel-shattering bass underpinning sparse percussion and vocal accompaniment, the scene evolved over the years (and continues to do so) but for us, it's been the splintering of Dubstep that has provided perhaps the most interesting developments as it takes onboard sounds from genres as wide ranging as Electronica, House, Hip Hop and R & B.

Dubstep has also had an undeniable impact on techno, initially felt when the likes of Skull Disco combined their particular Dubstep brand with the metallic sounds of Basic Channel, resulting in crossover hits championed by the likes of Villalobos and later the Hardwax / Berghain camps. Dubby sounds now inundate techno releases right from the laid back 'listening' end of the scale through to the reverb-drenched sounds used to fill out tougher dancefloor cuts. As techno approaches its 25th birthday, it celebrates by taking on board the best bits of the past, and while the bpms have dropped considerably from their 90s peak, any loss in dancefloor energy has been replaced by cerebral music motivating heads and hearts as well as just limbs.

Top 100 Tracks of the Decade (Part 2: 2005-2009)

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// posted by RAW @ 1/13/2010 06:13:00 pm 4 comments

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