The Evolution of Electronica.

Ears have been bleeding ever since the new polished shine sound of 21st electronic music intoxicated music for what seemed like forever, however by no means is the definition of dance music simply a 'Banger'. With new electronica inspiration pouring out of the atlas, I discover why certain sounds are destined for a mainstream takeover.

Remember way back when a trip to Ibiza would involve secret sets and snuggling up  next to under the radar DJ's, whilst you sipped gently on margaritas and gazed at the infinite

The Stereotypical Scene associated to Electronica.

orange sunset at Cafe Del Mar. It would seem like a myth when you back to visit the place which is now full of beery, lad cultured teenagers and the only thing you could possibly snuggle up close to is a mankini whilst David Guetta is blowing bubbles and confetti into every nook and cranny. 

This is only speaking on a live front. Each week as I tune in to Radio 1 and am struck with the unfortunate daytime playlist, ANOTHER Avicii and Hardwell remix sounds like crazy fog on repeat combined with the results of indigestion. What draws the line for my teenage self, is watching the next generation around me thinking this is what electronic music has and always will be like. What I seem to think is dance music results in being completely different to everyone else's mainstream manipulation.  A sound which originated from the starkest areas from behind the Berlin Wall to London towerblocks and American garages, is now seen as a neon blitzed ballon fight. In Steve Aoki's case; pie-ing a crowd to pulverisation. The dollar-doubling aspect of dance music is also shameful, which is exactly why supporting the electronica innovators (who don't gel their hair back) who are thinking utterly out of the box where they produce a whole new genre of their own.

So if you find yourself falling into the 'bangers' state of EDM mentality, alike the music fans with true taste- read and learn.

When I say electronica I mean electronica. 

Arca

Venezuelan Alejandro Ghersi has been causing up a stir since 2012 across all underground dance reportings, but you'd find over soicial netwrok and press he's on the verge of

overground. This of course doesn't mean you'll be hearing him in the Top 40- he's way too classy for that stuff. A mass appreciation of his track 'Thievery' has been doing its circuits on the Internet for the past 2 months, so when I took a dip into his 2.33 creation it was a hypnotic trip into the complete unknown. The exaggerated reverb on each high synth resembles a sort of urban pitch, matched with the scrambled chantings looks like London has payed off on him. His older work is slightly more twisted. '" blunted' is deeper into his heavier, more metallic side. It's intriguing to hear the evolution over the past few years. Possessing the 25 minute mix of '&&&&&' is not a bad start if this is the first you know of Arca. It's hard  to pin down a consistency when dissecting it, each baffling voice merging into phases of industrial RN'B, garage,wonky piano funk, electro-futurism-the list is endless. Arca has come out of nowhere, perhaps the most exciting uprising this year to emerge late 2014. Old and new elements of work lay between the deepest depths of soundcloud I assure you,sure enough his hallucinogenic experiments are an essential to draw out of London, if not music as a whole. Keep your eyes peeled.

Caribou

A guy with wire glasses and a bald head is the stereotypical genius. Well this is exactly what Dan Snaith is. Of course he has been everywhere with newly released album 'Our Love' , a layered glistening shine of perfected synthesisers over his rather layed back melodic vocals. #keepcalmitsCaribou is now a trend. But don't take this as the ultimate cheese on top to push him into 'banger' territory because he couldn't be any further away. Diving straight in, 8th track 'Mars' is a melting pot of sounds involving an oriental pipe backing dubbed with

fruitful bass lows.'Can't Do Without You' and 'Our Love' of course are his radio friendly ones, however you'd only find this on a 10pm slot on a semi-cool DJ's show. It's not just the fact that Snaith's sound is 'different' but rather that he incorporates each tingling segment of electronica from full-on-funk to deep house in as many 6 minute sprawling tracks as possible. Whilst each song has a very strong stamp of identity on it, especially in his older work from 2010; 'Sun' for example is one of those lengthy, trippy tracks that achieves its purpose. He can't seem to keep his ear journies to himself, which makes him a bit more exciting to say the least. The likes of Fuck Buttons, Nite Jewel and  Gold Panda latched onto 'Swim; to provide another compilation to just attempt to dissect his creations, Caribou's style is timeless. With a minimal amount of UK tour dates could he be saving it all for summer? You can imagine can't you? The light gleaming bliss of Caribou's immaculate tunes ringing out over Glastonbury, through the forests of Latitude and urm well, past the rubbish bins of Reading! You get where this particular artist is headed with a few more Annie Mac shoutouts on air and some extra raving it should all be like clockwork.




B Traits

Joining the 'In New Dj's We Trust' foundation at Radio 1 back in 2012 it looks like B Traits has since slided into the driving seat of Dance music coverage very swiftly, every Saturday morning from 1-4 am its always a pleasure to be able to find some source of great radio promoting underground, on edge dance music. An underground DJ who made the Top 40 (all hail). Ever since she covered for Annie Mac's maternity leave last year it has all sky rocketed

for B as an evolution in uprising female DJ's. And although many may take B Traits ( a.ka. Brianna Price) as a 'same-old-story' Radio 1 late night DJ busting out any commercial gain possible, I'd have to say that you are badly mistaken. By the time the marathon of Pete Tongs mix finally reaches B Traits, my blurry, fatigued mind takes in the airwaves as some wakening antidote to actually realise how impressive her show is. Every week dozens of artists are given wide recognition on mixfluence features, futuresonic mixes, essential tracks, mass shout outs-it goes on and on to the extent where it is obvious that she squeezes every drop out of her 3 hourly slot. These Dj's aren't often renowned either and just like any other genre; punk, shoegaze, indie, its not a matter of switching on your laptop to be at the top of your game. Alland Byallo, Heamatoma and Patrick Topping are just a selection of intriguing artists I found on her show two nights ago. However, tuning into B Trait's homegrown mixes are quint-essential; At this years Warehouse Project the fusion of earthy ambiance, heavy and light tempo fadings on top of echoed repetitive voices come across completely organic. Of course there's always the more  thump indulgent side but it still transfixes creatively on her own expressions. Finding a world wide scale supporting artists who also dreams up unearthly mixes is something increasingly hopeful for the underground industry and really quite visionary, especially if you're a radio DJ like myself. Under the radar electronica will brim right over its tipping point at this rate.

EYEDRESS

Obviously my blog is renowned for the attention I give to this guy, but amongst the smog and fiasco of Manila, he never stops. On the odd occasion I hear a DJ drop his name on air but only at 11pm, but when the ear melt of Eyedress's tracks innocently creep into my ear, it is a very big question of how Idris Vacuna isn't higher. The main reason I can find is the comfort zone that so may music industries, radio stations and websites retreat too. The Sci-fi lux of ' When I'm Gone' (feat.Georgia) is a trembling tumble of oriental- choir girl/ boy -gone into- space quality. The under-stated hype that surrounds him allows listeners such as

myself and you to truly savour the intensity of his work, for example 'My Hologram' is a back street Indonesian paradise which pleasurably featured on Annie Mac Presents ( Yay go Annie!!) as a bubbling to the brim experiment. You could say Eyedress's way of thinking sounds scientific. It conjures up on his graceful remixes such as All We Are's 'Feel Safe', somehow lead vocalist Richard Flynn echoes the contrasting bleepy tempo that merges ingeniously with the under-laying blubs. Yes we saw Eyedress pop up suddenly on the NME tour awards show in London but irritatingly his access to other countries often is held up by Visa problems, if only entrance could be based on new wave talent than paperwork. The fact of the matter is that Eyedress comes out on top as the next electronica innovator, his oldies like 'No Competition' 'Everything we touch turns into Gold' and duh! 'Nature Trips' combined with the gradual emergence of new work is inevitable to be a fiery take off when he eventually grabs the worlds experimental scene by the cuffs.



POLICY

Immediately I must start my description of POLICY by introducing his tracks, 'One Last Time.' As music goes, imagine if the Northern Lights had some sort of twinkling,cosmic acoustic about them and the backing for this song is spot on exact. I recently featured it on my radio show electronica which no doubt sounded heavenly on the decks. But what intrigues the listener about POLICY is that when listening to his other work he can smoothly swing

between old-skool and futuristic sounds like there were never any years between. His mix on 'Thick Nostalagia' screams of the genre 'gaslight house' as though as it has been chucked straight from a downtown NY basement. It pours over funky almost jazzed keys against a subdued hi hat percussion, various fading synths gleam in and out all to produce a thrillingly innovative masterpiece. It's not just all heavy blunt beats though, 'Underpass' squeezes out every juice Policy can sound like. New York electronica looks as though its facing a whole new life progression under the watch of sticky, indulging house.


Four Tet

At the mention of his name, I briefly have a memory from this years Glastonbury Festival; on a sun struck evening walking up past the West Hotls Stage, I could groove to the Putney born Keiran Hebden as I was in an eager speed walk to see James Blake. Certainly one of the biggest regrets was not staying for longer than just a quick walk by to hear his melodic work. Bearing in mind he has been going for 15 years it bewilders me that he only now is starting to draw worthy attention from festivals. Never the matter, the gospel wisps found

inside of 'Angel Echoes' calls out as a mesmerising opening to 'There Is Love In You' album, released back in the early gold age of modern electronica regeneration (2010) . The one item to look for within an electronic album is, does it flow? this seems rhetorical on listening. The fusions and delicate measures that can be heard to make this album seep through like some intoxicating infection. Take the house party friendly, 'Love Cry' to the instrumentation of 'Circling'. Four Tet takes unpredicted, somewhat surreal moves also into ambiance and although it may incorporate so many areas of dance, you couldn't really apply it to any other artist or dimension. It would be very easy to see Four Tet on the headlining bill of many boutique festivals any time soon. Although I enjoy listening to any Radio 1 attention he gets, it would be a music journalists satisfaction to see him propel into this genres next phase.