electronica as a commodity & zedd & kerli

As the technology has developed in music it has became possible for individuals or smaller groups Well. While I do love the fact electronica <dance beat, club tempo, whatever you want to call it> has finally made the prime time playlists … I fear it is becoming almost commodity-like. Because of technological advancements almost anyone can produce electronic songs and recordings in small studios or even their basements. At the same time, computers facilitated the use of music “samples” and “loops” as construction kits for creating songs. This is the basis of this thing on today’s radio called electronica <which includes a variety of styles including ambient, downtempo, house and trip-hop>.

I really do like this kind of music. I always have … European dance clubs have been playing this stuff for years.

But … in doses.

But I will also admit that the advancement of all this technology makes it difficult to figure out who can really sing.  And the issue gets compounded by the popular dance-techno (what I call euro dance hip hop) sound. In this genre there are a bunch of really good songs where singers don’t sing songs … they provide well planned song bites. Listen to them … very very rarely does someone sing all the way through … they are given sections to sing somewhere between some amazingly danceable music bridges. Here is a thought.

Maybe we should think this generation is creating a contemporary version of the torch singer. And while it is a different time and place I tend to believe the rules are the same – singing in doses and complimentary.

Therefore. Someone like David Guetta <or any traditional dj/mixmaster> doing a cd and inviting Sia and Nicki Minaj or even a Pitbull to sing is perfect.

Now. Nicki or Pit doing their own cd? Crazy <meaning … “they shouldn’t”>. They’re not full singers who can carry an entire album <at least to my mind … and ears>.

Here is some further musical heresy. Here is today’s ultimate contemporary torch singer. Rihanna. Huh? Well, I am not really sure she can sing a song. But I am sure she can sing <I love her voice resonance>, and exceptionally deliver … the song-bite. That’s the way they produce her songs. That is the way she sings her parts. Now. She may be a very good singer but for now she is an electronica torch singer.

And this means we should look backwards for some awesome singers … Nadia Ali. Vanessa van Hemert <4 Strings>. Sophie Barker <Zero 7>. Thievery Corporation, Chicane, Wax Poetic and Delirium have been doing this for years … quite well I may suggest.

Now here comes the commodity thought.

All the dj/mix masters are putting out songs. But it just has officially become ludicrous. Let me give you examples (using songs I happen to like and have on my running mp3 player>.

This song is awesome techno. By a dj guy named Zedd < Anton Zaslavski known primarily by his stage name Zedd is a German electronic dance music producer and DJ from Kaiserslautern, Germany> and the song is called Spectrum.

Spectrum: http://thissongissick.com/blog/2012/zedd-spectrum-ft-matthew-koma-music-video/

And then there is Kerli <from Estonia> who sings something she calls “bubblegoth”  <I don’t remember where I heard it but she gave a delightful interview explaining it>. She is also a songwriter … she wrote Demi Lavato’s “skyscraper.”  Her song Zero Gravity is another very good electronic song but it sounds an awful like Spectrum:

Kerli singing Zero Gravity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEkS_mQ0GlI&feature=related

Here is the crazy part.

It is a guy singing the Spectrum song <Kerli is definitely a girl though>.

Yikes.

Supposedly he is dating Carly Rae Jepson <of “ call me maybe “ fame>.

Oh. And then there is Eva Simons “I don’t like you” which also kind of sounds like Spectrum and parts of Zero Gravity <but Eva is a dutch gal>.

I Don’t Like You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ngzOj2zATM

Look. I actually like this music … but this has become slightly absurd. It is all almost exactly the same song with different singers singing different bridges and soundbites. The only thing that may save the genre is i-tunes/amazon ability to buy one song at a time. As long as these musicians can afford to produce people will buy one song at a time <but never really be sure who is singing what>.

Good songs though.

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Written by Bruce