1.
Electronic music
–
In general, a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound producing devices include the telharmonium, Hammond organ, purely electronic sound production can be achieved using devices such as the theremin, sound synthesizer, and computer. During the 1920s and 1930s, electronic instruments were introduced and the first compositions for instruments were composed. Musique concrète, created in Paris in 1948, was based on editing together recorded fragments of natural and industrial sounds, Music produced solely from electronic generators was first produced in Germany in 1953. Electronic music was created in Japan and the United States beginning in the 1950s. An important new development was the advent of computers for the purpose of composing music, algorithmic composition was first demonstrated in Australia in 1951. In America and Europe, live electronics were pioneered in the early 1960s, during the 1970s to early 1980s, the monophonic Minimoog became once the most widely used synthesizer at that time in both popular and electronic art music. In the 1980s, electronic music became dominant in popular music, with a greater reliance on synthesizers, and the adoption of programmable drum machines. Electronically produced music became prevalent in the domain by the 1990s. Contemporary electronic music includes many varieties and ranges from art music to popular forms such as electronic dance music. Today, pop music is most recognizable in its 4/4 form. At the turn of the 20th century, experimentation with emerging electronics led to the first electronic musical instruments and these initial inventions were not sold, but were instead used in demonstrations and public performances. The audiences were presented with reproductions of existing music instead of new compositions for the instruments, while some were considered novelties and produced simple tones, the Telharmonium accurately synthesized the sound of orchestral instruments. It achieved viable public interest and made progress into streaming music through telephone networks. Critics of musical conventions at the time saw promise in these developments, ferruccio Busoni encouraged the composition of microtonal music allowed for by electronic instruments. He predicted the use of machines in future music, writing the influential Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music, futurists such as Francesco Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo began composing music with acoustic noise to evoke the sound of machinery. They predicted expansions in timbre allowed for by electronics in the influential manifesto The Art of Noises, developments of the vacuum tube led to electronic instruments that were smaller, amplified, and more practical for performance. In particular, the theremin, ondes Martenot and trautonium were commercially produced by the early 1930s, from the late 1920s, the increased practicality of electronic instruments influenced composers such as Joseph Schillinger to adopt them
2.
Synth-pop
–
Synth-pop is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic, art rock, disco, and particularly the Krautrock of bands like Kraftwerk. It arose as a genre in Japan and the United Kingdom in the post-punk era as part of the new wave movement of the late-1970s to the mid-1980s. In Japan, Yellow Magic Orchestras success opened the way for bands such as P-Model, Plastics. The development of polyphonic synthesizers, the definition of MIDI. This, its adoption by the acts from the New Romantic movement, together with the rise of MTV. Synth-pop is sometimes deployed interchangeably with electropop, but electropop may also denote a variant of synth-pop that places emphasis on a harder. In the late 1980s duos such as Erasure and Pet Shop Boys adopted a style that was successful on the US dance-charts. Some artists and bands were criticised for gender bending, Synth-pop was defined by its primary use of synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers, sometimes using them to replace all other instruments. Borthwick and Moy have described the genre as diverse but, many synth-pop musicians had limited musical skills, relying on the technology to produce or reproduce the music. The result was often minimalist, with grooves that were woven together from simple repeated riffs often with no harmonic progression to speak of. Early synth-pop has been described as eerie, sterile, and vaguely menacing, using droning electronics with little change in inflection, common lyrical themes of synth-pop songs were isolation, urban anomie, and feelings of being emotionally cold and hollow. Synthesizers were increasingly used to imitate the conventional and clichéd sound of orchestras, thin, treble-dominant, synthesized melodies and simple drum programmes gave way to thick, and compressed production, and a more conventional drum sound. Lyrics were generally optimistic, dealing with more traditional subject matter for pop music such as romance, escapism. According to music writer Simon Reynolds, the hallmark of 1980s synth-pop was its emotional, at times operatic singers such as Marc Almond, Alison Moyet and Annie Lennox. Because synthesizers removed the need for groups of musicians, these singers were often part of a duo where their partner played all the instrumentation. Later synth-pop saw a shift to a style influenced by other genres. Electronic musical synthesizers that could be used practically in a recording studio became available in the mid-1960s, the portable Minimoog, which allowed much easier use, particularly in live performance was widely adopted by progressive rock musicians such as Richard Wright of Pink Floyd and Rick Wakeman of Yes
3.
Electronic musical instrument
–
An electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronics. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical signal that ultimately drives a loudspeaker. An electronic instrument might include a user interface for controlling its sound, often by adjusting the pitch, frequency, all electronic musical instruments can be viewed as a subset of audio signal processing applications. Simple electronic musical instruments are called sound effects, the border between sound effects and actual musical instruments is often hazy. Electronic musical instruments are now used in most styles of music. Development of new musical instruments, controllers, and synthesizers continues to be a highly active. In the 18th-century, musicians and composers adapted a number of instruments to exploit the novelty of electricity. The former instrument consisted of an instrument of over 700 strings. The latter was an instrument with plectra activated electrically. However, neither instrument used electricity as a sound-source, the first electric synthesizer was invented in 1876 by Elisha Gray. The Musical Telegraph used steel reeds oscillated by electromagnets and transmitted over a telephone line, Gray also built a simple loudspeaker device into later models, which consisted of a diaphragm vibrating in a magnetic field. A significant invention, which later had an effect on electronic music, was the audion in 1906. This was the first thermionic valve, or vacuum tube and which led to the generation and amplification of signals, radio broadcasting. Other early synthesizers included the Telharmonium, the Theremin, Jörg Magers Spharophon and Partiturophone, Taubmanns similar Electronde, Maurice Martenots ondes Martenot, only two models of this latter were built and the only surviving example is currently stored at the Lomonosov University in Moscow. It has been used in many Russian movies—like Solaris—to produce unusual, Hugh Le Caine, John Hanert, Raymond Scott, composer Percy Grainger, and others built a variety of automated electronic-music controllers during the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1959 Daphne Oram produced a method of synthesis, her Oramics technique, driven by drawings on a 35 mm film strip. In 1897 Thaddeus Cahill patented an instrument called the Telharmonium, using tonewheels to generate musical sounds as electrical signals by additive synthesis, it was capable of producing any combination of notes and overtones, at any dynamic level. This technology was used to design the Hammond organ
4.
Post-rock
–
As such, the term has been the subject of backlash from listeners and artists alike. Although firmly rooted in the indie or underground scene of the 1980s and early 1990s, the term post-rock is believed to have been coined by critic Simon Reynolds in his review of Bark Psychosis album Hex, published in the March 1994 issue of Mojo magazine. Reynolds expanded upon the later in the May 1994 issue of The Wire. He used the term to music using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs. He further expounded on the term, Perhaps the really provocative area for development lies. In cyborg rock, not the embrace of Technos methodology. Reynolds, in a July 2005 entry in his blog, claimed he had used the term post-rock before using it in Mojo, the term was used by American journalist James Wolcott in a 1975 article about musician Todd Rundgren, although with a different meaning. It was also used in the Rolling Stone Album Guide to name a style corresponding to avant-rock or out-rock. It also bears similarities to drone music, early post-rock groups also often exhibited strong influence from the krautrock of the 1970s, particularly borrowing elements of motorik, the characteristic krautrock rhythm. Post-rock compositions often use of repetition of musical motifs and subtle changes with an extremely wide range of dynamics. In some respects, this is similar to the music of Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Brian Eno, typically, post-rock pieces are lengthy and instrumental, containing repetitive build-ups of timbre, dynamics and texture. Vocals are often omitted from post-rock, however, this not necessarily mean they are absent entirely. When present, post-rock vocals are often soft or droning and are typically infrequent or present in irregular intervals, in lieu of typical rock structures like the verse-chorus form, post-rock groups generally make greater use of soundscapes. Reynolds conclusion defines the sporadic progression from rock, with its field of sound and lyrics to post-rock, wider experimentation and blending of other genres have recently taken hold in the post-rock scene. Cult of Luna, Isis, Russian Circles, Palms, Deftones, the resulting sound has been termed post-metal. More recently, sludge metal has grown and evolved to some elements of post-rock. This second wave of metal has been pioneered by bands such as Giant Squid. This new sound is seen on the label of Neurot Recordings
5.
Trip hop
–
Trip hop is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. Trip hop can be highly experimental and it was pioneered by acts like Massive Attack, Tricky, and Portishead. Trip hop achieved commercial success in the 1990s, and has described as Europes alternative choice in the second half of the 90s. DJs, MCs, b-boys and graffiti artists grouped together into informal soundsystems, Bristols soundsystem DJs, drawing heavily on Jamaican dub music, typically used a laid-back, slow and heavy drum beat. Bristols Wild Bunch crew became one of the soundsystems to put a spin on the international phenomenon, helping to birth Bristols signature sound of trip hop. As the hip hop scene matured in Bristol and musical trends evolved further toward acid jazz and house in the late 1980s, another influence came from Gary Clails Tackhead soundsystem. Clail often worked with former The Pop Group singer Mark Stewart, produced by Adrian Sherwood, the music combined hiphop with experimental rock and dub and sounded like a premature version of what later became trip hop. In 1993, Kirsty MacColl released Angel, one of the first examples of the crossing over to pop. In the 1990s, Janet Jackson brought trip hop into the American charts with the song If, several songs on her Janet. and The Velvet Rope used this genre of music, Songs like Got Til Its Gone and You. Massive Attacks first album Blue Lines was released in 1991 to huge success in the UK, Massive Attack released their second album entitled Protection in 1994. The term trip hop was coined that year, but not in reference to anything on the Massive Attack albums, in 1993, Icelandic musician Björk released Debut, produced by Wild Bunch member Nellee Hooper. The album, although rooted in four-on-the-floor house music, contained elements of trip hop and is credited as one of the first albums to introduce electronic music into mainstream pop. She had been in contact with Londons underground electronic music scene and was involved with trip hop musician Tricky. Björk embraced trip hop even more with her 1995 album Post by collaborating with Tricky, homogenic, her 1997 album, has been described as a pinnacle of trip hop music. 1994 and 1995 saw trip hop near the peak of its popularity, with such as Howie B, Naked Funk. The period also marked the debut of two acts who, along with Massive Attack, would define the Bristol scene for years to come, in 1994 Portishead, a trio comprising singer Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrow, and Adrian Utley, released their debut album Dummy. Their background differed from Massive Attack in many ways, one of Portisheads primary influences was 1960s and 1970s film soundtrack LPs, nevertheless, Portishead shared the scratchy, jazz-sample-based aesthetic of early Massive Attack, and the sullen, fragile vocals of Gibbons also brought them wide acclaim. In 1995, Dummy was awarded the Mercury Music Prize as the best British album of the year, Tricky also released his debut solo album Maxinquaye in 1995, to great critical acclaim
6.
House music
–
House music is a genre of electronic music created by club DJs and music producers in Chicago in the early 1980s. Early house music was characterized by repetitive 4/4 beats, rhythms mainly provided by drum machines, off-beat hi-hat cymbals. While house displayed several characteristics similar to music, it was more electronic and minimalistic. House music became popular in Chicago clubs in 1984 and it was pioneered by figures such as Frankie Knuckles, Phuture, Kym Mazelle, and Mr. Fingers, and was associated with African-American and gay subcultures. House music quickly spread to other American cities such as Detroit, New York City, Baltimore, in the mid-to-late 1980s, house music became popular in Europe as well as major cities in South America, and Australia. Since the early to mid-1990s, house music has been infused in mainstream pop, in the late 1980s, many local Chicago house music artists suddenly found themselves presented with major label deals. House music proved to be a successful genre and a more mainstream pop-based variation grew increasingly popular. House music has also fused with other genres creating fusion subgenres, such as euro house, tech house, electro house. After enjoying significant success in the early to mid-90s, house music grew even larger during the wave of progressive house. The genre has remained popular and fused into other subgenres, for example, ghetto house, deep house. As of 2016, house music popular in both clubs and in the mainstream pop scene while retaining a foothold on underground scenes across the globe. The song structure of music songs typically involves an intro, a chorus, various verse sections, a midsection. Some songs do not have a verse, taking a part from the chorus. The drum beat is one of the important elements within the genre and is almost always provided by an electronic drum machine rather than by a human drummer playing drumkit. The drum beats of house are four on the floor, with bass drums played on every beat, House music is often based on bass-heavy loops or basslines produced by a synthesizer and/or from samples of disco or funk songs. The tempo of most house songs is between 118 and 135 beats per minute, soul music and disco influenced house music. These artists produced longer, more repetitive, and percussive arrangements of existing disco recordings, early house producers such as Frankie Knuckles created similar compositions from scratch, using samplers, synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines. Rachel Cain, co-founder of an influential Trax Records, was involved in the burgeoning punk scene and cites industrial
7.
Downtempo
–
Downtempo is a genre of electronic music similar to ambient, but with a greater emphasis on rhythm, and is not as earthy as trip hop. The 1990s brought on a wave of slower paced music which was played throughout chillout rooms—the relaxation sections of the clubs or dedicated sections at electronic music events. Downtempo music started to surface around Ibiza, when DJs and promoters would bring down the vibe with slower rhythm and gentler electronic music upon approaching sunrise. In the late 1980s, trip hop emerged from Bristol, which combined elements of hip hop beats, drum and bass breaks, at the end of the 1990s a more melodic instrumental electronica incorporating acoustic sounds with electronic styles emerged under its own umbrella name of downtempo. In the late 1990s, the Austrian duo Kruder & Dorfmeister popularized the style with their downtempo remixes of pop, hip-hop, and drum and bass tracks with influences of the 70s soul jazz. Britons Steve Cobby and Dave McSherry, producing under the name Fila Brazillia, released a handful of downtempo, electronica and ambient techno albums that propelled the style further. In 2010, downtempo pop was described by The Atlantic as a variety of styles from the 2000s characterized by mellow beats, vintage synthesizers. In other words, a term that includes chillwave, glo-fi
8.
Rave music
–
Rave music is usually presented in a DJ mix set, although live performances are not uncommon. The rave scene was associated with illegal club drugs, Rave music is created to accompany recreational drug use, specifically to heighten the effects of ecstasy, the common name for MDMA. In the mid-to-late 1980s, the first raves were born, being the name for House and Techno music parties in Chicago and Detroit, hundreds of smaller promotional groups sprung up across the East Coast, causing a true scene to develop. As the rave scene expanded promoters marketed their events with specialized music aiming to attract adherents of a particular subgenre, in Australia, a trend towards outdoor dance parties or doofs developed. Fusions of house and trance also exist but the drum n bass still remains the most popular form of breakbeat played at rave parties. Hardcore techno refers to any hard dance genre that was influenced by the genre, usually these genres have a distorted kick drum. Happy hardcore blended the Dutch hardcore sound with Eurodance and bubblegum pop, the genre featured pitched-up vocals and a less distorted 4/4 beat. Trancecore also exists and is a less vocal fusion of hardcore with trance music. Industrial is a related genre. While the genre is not usually considered rave music in itself, industrial is the origin of many sounds found in rave music, it is one of the first genres that took the sounds that are now popular in rave music such as acid as its musical backdrop. Industrial music fans are usually considered rivetheads and do not tend to call themselves ravers, Rave has been described as the defining sound of rave music. The style has developed into a series of subgenres including Breakbeat Rave, Techno-Rave, Hard Techno, Acid Rave, Gabber, Speedcore, Happy Rave, Hardcore, the following list of genres are closely associated with raves and can be described as rave music. Breakbeat hardcore — Acen, Altern-8, Keoki, Brainstorm Crew, Bobs and Sounds, The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Shades Of Rhythm, Shut Up and Dance, Crystal Method & uberzone. ETC. Valentino Khan, Sazon Booya Liquid funk — Netsky, High Contrast, Fred V & Grafix, Fox Stevenson, MaxNRG, 2DB, Brookes Brothers, Rudimental & Mediks New rave — Klaxons, Music Scenes, Local, Translocal and Virtual. Nashville, Vanderbilt University Press,2004 Reynolds, Simon, Generation Ecstasy, into the world of techno and rave culture Routledge, lang, Morgan, Futuresound, Techno Music and Mediation University of Washington, Seattle,1996. Dominic Buttitta, electro_DUB-scratch= champaign IL,2010 Media related to Rave at Wikimedia Commons
9.
Techno
–
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan, in the United States during the mid-to-late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno in reference to a genre of music was in 1988. Many styles of techno now exist, but Detroit techno is seen as the foundation upon which a number of subgenres have been built. Added to this is the influence of futuristic and fictional themes relevant to life in American late capitalist society, pioneering producer Juan Atkins cites Tofflers phrase techno rebels as inspiring him to use the word techno to describe the musical style he helped to create. This unique blend of influences aligns techno with the referred to as afrofuturism. To producers such as Derrick May, the transference of spirit from the body to the machine is often a central preoccupation, in this manner, techno dance music defeats what Adorno saw as the alienating effect of mechanisation on the modern consciousness. Stylistically, techno is generally repetitive instrumental music, oftentimes produced for use in a continuous DJ set, the tempo tends to vary between approximately 120 to 150 beats per minute, depending on the style of techno. The creative use of production technology, such as drum machines, synthesizers. Many producers use retro electronic musical devices to create what they consider to be an authentic techno sound, drum machines from the 1980s such as Rolands TR-808 and TR-909 are highly prized, and software emulations of such retro technology are popular among techno producers. The Electrifying Mojo was the first radio DJ to play music by the Detroit techno producers Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Mojo refused to follow pre-established radio formats or playlists, and he promoted social and cultural awareness of the African American community. In exploring technos origins writer Kodwo Eshun maintains that Kraftwerk are to Techno what Muddy Waters is to the Rolling Stones, the authentic, the origin, the real. Juan Atkins has acknowledged that he had an enthusiasm for Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, particularly Moroders work with Donna Summer. Atkins also mentions that around 1980 I had a tape of nothing but Kraftwerk, Telex, Devo, Giorgio Moroder and Gary Numan, and Id ride around in my car playing it. Regarding his initial impression of Kraftwerk, Atkins notes that they were clean, Derrick May identified the influence of Kraftwerk and other European synthesizer music in commenting that it was just classy and clean, and to us it was beautiful, like outer space. Living around Detroit, there was so little beauty, everything is an ugly mess in Detroit, and so we were attracted to this music. May has commented that he considered his music a direct continuation of the European synthesizer tradition and he also identified Japanese synthpop act Yellow Magic Orchestra, particularly member Ryuichi Sakamoto, and British band Ultravox, as influences, along with Kraftwerk. In 1980 or 1981 they met with Mojo and proposed that they provide mixes for his show, which they did end up doing the following year. These young promoters developed and nurtured the local music scene by both catering to the tastes of the local audience of young people and by marketing parties with new DJs
10.
Electro house
–
Electro house is a form of house music. Electro house is characterized by a prominent bassline and/or kick drum and its origins were influenced by electro, electroclash, electropop, synthpop, and tech house. The term has been used to describe the music of many DJ Mag Top 100 DJs, including Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Hardwell, Skrillex, electro-house is typified by its heavy bass. This is often in the form of buzzing basslines, such as those created with sawtooth waves and it is also often in the form of large bass drum sounds in a four-on-the-floor pattern. The tempo of electro house is usually around 130 beats per minute, electro house sometimes resembles tech house, but it can contain melodic elements and electro-influenced samples and synths. The genre has been described as a genre of house and electro, either in its original form or as fused with electropop and techno in its late-1990s revival. The word electro is now used as an adjective, such as electro-house. Early songs that have been labelled retroactively as electro-house include Dark Invader by Arrivers in 1996, mr. Oizos 1999 hit Flat Beat has also been considered an early example of the genre. Benny Benassi, with his track Satisfaction released in 2002, is seen as the forerunner of electro-house who brought it to the mainstream, by the mid 2000s, electro-house saw an increase in popularity. Since then, electro-house producers such as Feed Me, Knife Party, The M Machine, Porter Robinson, in the early 2010s, a type of electro-house known as big room began to develop, particularly gaining popularity through EDM-oriented events and festivals such as Tomorrowland. Big room now is beginning to subside from the classification of a subgenre of electro house, big room songs resemble Dutch house, often incorporating drops, minimalist percussion, regular beats, sub-bass layered kicks, simple melodies, and synth-driven breakdowns. The layout of a big room track is similar to the layout of a typical electro-house song. Big room is thought of as a subgenre of electro-house, complextro is typified by glitchy, intricate basslines and textures created by sharply cutting between instruments in quick succession. The term, a portmanteau of the complex and electro, was coined by Porter Robinson to describe the sound of the music he was making in 2010. He has cited video game sounds, or chiptunes, as an influence on his style of music along with 1980s analog synth music and it is primarily defined by complex rhythms made from Latin-influenced drum kits, a lower emphasis on basslines, and squeaky, high-pitched lead synths. Influences on the subgenre include Detroit techno, hip hop and other styles of music. It contains influences from Chicago house, Detroit techno, Baltimore club, Kuduro, Pimba, bassline, bouncy techno, dubstep, techstep, hip hop easy listening and world music. Purveyors of the genre include The Bloody Beetroots, AC Slater, Danger, Hervé, Sinden, Jack Beats, the term fidget house was coined by DJs/producers Jesse Rose and Switch, as a joke, which has now gone a little too far
11.
Electronicore
–
Electronicore describes a stylistic fusion of metalcore and/or post-hardcore with electronic music, specifically electronica. Notable artists of this genre have originated from the United Kingdom, sumerian Records noted in the late 2000s that there has been a surplus of electronica/hardcore music as of late. Attack Attack. is often recognized as the primary American contributor of the style, I See Stars debut album, 3-D, was popular amongst the synthcore scene. Enter Shikari is a band that began in 1999, adding their last member and transforming to Enter Shikari from Hybryd in early 2003, in St Albans. The group has received radio airplay and a substantial number of musical awards. NME, Rock Sound Magazine and BT Digital Awards and they express a relationship with electronic music genres such as trance and have been referred to as the kings of trancecore. Their second album, titled Common Dreads, was released in June 2009 and we Butter The Bread With Butter is another electronicore band, from Lübben, Germany, that has released four albums and one EP since 2008. Altsounds, an independent music journal, noted there has been a sudden rise in the amount of bands combining electronic. The article noted that many of the bands who created songs for Punk Goes Pop 4 incorporated characteristics of electronicore, specifically referencing I See Stars and Woe. Electronicore is characterized by typical post-hardcore instrumentation, metalcore-influenced breakdowns, heavy use of sequencers and synthesizers, auto-tuned singing, the genre often features dynamic transitions from soft electronica ballads to intense metalcore passages. However, the degree to which characteristics are incorporated may vary. In addition to electronica, the fusion may involve a variety of electronic music genres, including techno, trance, dubstep, electro. Abandon All Ships American Awesome Alliance Area 11 Arsonists Get All the Girls Asking Alexandria Attack Attack. The Browning Upon This Dawning We Butter the Bread with Butter Woe, Is Me You and What Army Nintendocore is a music genre that includes elements of video game music, chiptunes. It is a form of post-hardcore. Crunkcore is a genre that combines post-hardcore and screamo with crunk hip hop. Digital hardcore is a music genre fusing elements of punk and various forms of electronic music. It developed in Germany during the early 1990s, and often features sociological or left-extremist lyrical themes, electronic rock Dance-punk Industrial metal Electropunk Metalstep
12.
Indie rock
–
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Originally used to independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. In the mid-1980s, the term began to be used to describe the music produced on punk and post-punk labels. Some prominent indie rock record labels were founded during the 1980s, during the 1990s, Grunge bands broke into the mainstream, and the term alternative lost its original counter-cultural meaning. The term indie rock became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status, by the end of the 1990s indie rock developed subgenres and related styles including lo-fi, noise pop, emo, slowcore, post-rock and math rock. In the 2000s, changes in the industry and in music technology enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success. In the early 2000s, a new group of bands played a stripped-down. The commercial breakthrough from these scenes was led by four bands, The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, emo also broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s. By the end of the 2000s the proliferation of bands was being referred to as indie landfill. The term indie rock, which comes from independent, describes the small and relatively low-budget labels on which it is released, the influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including punk, psychedelia, post-punk and country. Allmusic identifies indie rock as including a number of varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes, in fact, there is an everlasting list of genres and subgenres of indie rock. Many countries have developed a local indie scene, flourishing with bands with enough popularity to survive inside the respective country. However, there are still indie bands that start off locally, Indie rock has been identified as a reaction against the macho culture that developed in alternative rock in the aftermath of Nirvanas success. However, Cortney Harding pointed out that this sense of equality is not reflected in the number of women running indie labels. The BBC documentary Music for Misfits, The Story of Indie pinpoints the birth of indie as the 1977 self-publication of the Spiral Scratch EP by Manchester band Buzzcocks, Indie pop and indie were originally synonymous. In the mid-1980s, indie began to be used to describe the music produced on post-punk labels rather than the labels themselves. The indie rock scene in the US was prefigured by the rock that dominated college radio playlists. In the United States, the term was associated with the abrasive, distortion-heavy sounds of the Pixies, Hüsker Dü, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr
13.
Computer music
–
The field of computer music can trace its roots back to the origins of electronic music, and the very first experiments and innovations with electronic instruments at the turn of the 20th century. The worlds first computer to play music was CSIRAC, which was designed and built by Trevor Pearcey, mathematician Geoff Hill programmed the CSIRAC to play popular musical melodies from the very early 1950s. In 1951 it publicly played the Colonel Bogey March of which no known recordings exist, however, CSIRAC played standard repertoire and was not used to extend musical thinking or composition practice which is current computer-music practice. The oldest known recordings of computer generated music were played by the Ferranti Mark 1 computer, the music program was written by Christopher Strachey. During a session recorded by the BBC, the managed to work its way through Baa Baa Black Sheep, God Save the King. Two further major 1950s developments were the origins of digital sound synthesis by computer, max Mathews at Bell Laboratories developed the influential MUSIC I program and its descendents, further popularising computer music through a 1963 article in Science. In Japan, experiments in computer music date back to 1962 and this resulted in a piece entitled TOSBAC Suite, influenced by the Illiac Suite. Later Japanese computer music compositions include a piece by Kenjiro Ezaki presented during Osaka Expo 70, Ezaki also published an article called Contemporary Music and Computers in 1970. Early computer-music programs typically did not run in real time, programs would run for hours or days, on multimillion-dollar computers, to generate a few minutes of music. One way around this was to use a system, most notably the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer. In addition to the Yamaha DX7, the advent of digital chips. By the early 1990s, the performance of microprocessor-based computers reached the point that real-time generation of music using more general programs and algorithms became possible. Interesting sounds must have a fluidity and changeability that allows them to remain fresh to the ear, advances in computing power and software for manipulation of digital media have dramatically affected the way computer music is generated and performed. Current-generation micro-computers are powerful enough to perform very sophisticated audio synthesis using a variety of algorithms. Computer-generated music is composed by, or with the extensive aid of. There is a genre of music that is organized, synthesized. Later, composers such as Gottfried Michael Koenig had computers generate the sounds of the composition as well as the score, Koenig produced algorithmic composition programs which were a generalisation of his own serial composition practice. This is not exactly similar to Xenakis work as he used mathematical abstractions, koenigs software translated the calculation of mathematical equations into codes which represented musical notation
14.
Electro (music)
–
Electro is a genre of electronic music and early hip hop directly influenced by the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machines, and funk. This is the distinction between electro and previously prominent genres such as disco, in which the electronic sound was only part of the instrumentation. It also palpably deviates from its predecessor boogie for being less vocal-oriented, following the decline of disco music in the United States, electro emerged as a fusion of funk and New York boogie. Early hip hop and rap combined with German and Japanese electropop influences such as Kraftwerk, Planet Rock was followed later that year by another breakthrough electro record, Nunk by Warp 9. In 1983, Hashim created an electro funk sound which influenced Herbie Hancock, the early 1980s were electros mainstream peak. By the mid 1980s, the genre moved away from its electronic and funk influences, using harder edged beats and rock samples, Electro became popular again in the late 1990s with artists such as Anthony Rother and DJs such as Dave Clarke. A third wave of popularity occurred in 2007, Electro has branched out into subgenres, including Electrocore and Skweee, which developed in Sweden and Finland. From its inception, one of the characteristics of the electro sound was the use of drum machines, particularly the Roland TR-808. As the genre evolved, computers and sampling replaced drum machines in electronic music and it is important to note, that although the electro of the 1980s and contemporary electro both grew out of the dissolution of disco, they are now different genres. Classic electro drum patterns tend to be electronic emulations of breakbeats, with a kick drum. The difference between electro drumbeats and breakbeats is that electro tends to be mechanical, while breakbeats tend to have more of a human-like feel. The definition however is somewhat ambiguous in nature due to the uses of the term. The Roland TR-808 drum machine hit the market in 1980, defining early electro with its immediately recognizable sound, staccato, percussive drumbeats tended to dominate electro, almost exclusively provided by the TR-808. As an inexpensive way of producing a sound, the TR-808 caught on quickly with the producers of early electro because of the ability of its bass drum to generate extreme low-frequencies. This aspect of the Roland TR-808 was especially appealing to producers who would test drive their tracks in nightclubs and its unique percussion sounds like handclaps, open and closed high-hat, clave and cowbell became integral to the electro sound. A number of songs in the early 1980s employed the TR-808, including Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing, ” Cybotron’s “Clear, ” and Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock. ”The Roland TR-808 has attained iconic status. Through the use of samples, the Roland TR-808 remains popular in electro, most electro is instrumental, but a common element is vocals processed through a vocoder. Additionally, speech synthesis may be used to create robotic or mechanical lyrical content, as in the iconic Planet Rock, although primarily instrumental, early electro utilized rap
15.
Intelligent dance music
–
Intelligent dance music is a genre of electronic music that emerged in the early 1990s. Its creation was influenced by developments in dance music such as Detroit techno. Stylistically, IDM tended to rely upon individualistic experimentation rather than adhering to musical characteristics associated with specific genres of dance music, the range of post-techno styles that emerged in the early 1990s were described variously as art techno, ambient techno, intelligent techno, and electronica. In the United States, the latter is used as a catchall term to describe not only downtempo or downbeat/non-dance electronic music. In 2014, music critic Sasha Frere-Jones observed that the term is widely reviled and he regards UK acts Aphex Twin and Autechre as central to the evolution of the genre. In 1992, Warp released Artificial Intelligence, the first album in the Artificial Intelligence series. Subtitled electronic listening music from Warp, the record was a collection of tracks from such as Autechre, B12, The Black Dog, Aphex Twin and The Orb. Steve Beckett, co-owner of Warp, has said the music that the label was releasing then was targeting a post-club. At the same time, the UK market was saturated with increasingly frenetic breakbeat, in 1993, a number of new intelligent techno/electronica record labels emerged, including New Electronica, Mille Plateaux, 100% Pure, and Ferox Records. In November 1991, the phrase intelligent techno appeared on Usenet in reference to Coils The Snow EP. Off the Internet, the phrase appeared in both the U. S. & UK music press in late 1992, in reference to Jam & Spoons Tales from a Danceographic Ocean. Another instance of the phrase appeared on Usenet in April 1993 in reference to The Black Dogs album Bytes, the first message, sent on 1 August 1993, was entitled Can Dumb People Enjoy IDM, Too. Kirk and The Future Sound of London, and even artists like System 7, William Orbit, Sabres of Paradise, Orbital, Plastikman and Björk. By the end of 1996, Boards of Canada and the Schematic Records label were among the topics of discussion, alongside perennial favorites like Aphex Twin. As of 2015, the mailing list is still active, warps second Artificial Intelligence compilation was released in 1994. The album featured fragments of posts from the IDM mailing list incorporated into typographic artwork by The Designers Republic, sleeve notes by David Toop acknowledged the genres multitude of musical and cultural influences and suggested none should be considered more important than any other. Lesser-known artists on the Likemind label and Kirk Degiorgios A. R. T, in the mid-1990s, North American audiences welcomed IDM, and many IDM record labels were founded, including Drop Beat, Isophlux, Suction, Schematic and Cytrax. In Miami, Florida, labels like Schematic, Merck Records, Nophi Recordings and The Beta Bodega Coalition released material by such as Phoenecia, Dino Felipe, Machinedrum
16.
Drum and bass
–
Drum and bass is a genre and branch of electronic music which emerged from rave and oldschool jungle scenes in England during the early 1990s. The style is characterised by fast breakbeats with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, sampled sources. The popularity of drum and bass at its peak ran parallel to several other homegrown dance styles in the UK including big beat. Drum and bass incorporates a number of scenes and styles, a major influence on jungle and drum and bass was the original Jamaican dub and reggae sound. Another feature of the style is the syncopation of the drum tracks breakbeat. Drum and bass subgenres include breakcore, ragga jungle, hardstep, darkstep, techstep, neurofunk, ambient drum and bass, liquid funk, deep, drumfunk, funkstep, sambass, dnbnoise, from its roots in the UK, the style has established itself around the world. Drum and bass has influenced other genres like hip hop, big beat, dubstep, house, trip hop, ambient music, techno, rock. Drum and bass is dominated by a small group of record labels. The major international labels have shown very little interest in the drum. But rave music tended to feature stronger bass sounds and a faster tempo beats per minute than that of early house music and it is important to note when discussing the history of drum and bass that prior to jungle, rave music was getting faster and more experimental. Professional DJ and producer C. K. states, There was a progression as far as the speed of music is concerned, anyone buying vinyl every week from 1989 to 1992 noticed this. By 1994, jungle had begun to gain popularity and fans of the music became a more recognisable part of youth subculture. However, this developed in tandem with the positive reputation of the music as part of the wider rave scene. As the genre became more polished and sophisticated technically, it began to expand its reach from pirate radio to commercial stations. It also began to split into subgenres such as jump-up. The popularity of drum and bass at its peak ran parallel to several other homegrown dance styles in the UK including big beat. But towards the turn of the millennium its popularity was deemed to have dwindled as the UK garage style known as speed garage yielded several hit singles. London DJ/producer C. K. says, It is often forgotten by my students that a type of music called garage house existed in the late 1980s alongside hip house, acid house and other forms of house music
17.
Nightclub
–
A nightclub is an entertainment venue and bar which serves alcoholic beverages that usually operates late into the night. Another distinction is that whereas many pubs and sports bars aim at a market, nightclubs typically aim at a niche market of music and dancing enthusiasts. The upmarket nature of nightclubs can be seen in the inclusion of VIP areas in some nightclubs, for celebrities, nightclubs are much more likely than pubs or sports bars to use bouncers to screen prospective clubgoers for entry. Some nightclub bouncers do not admit people with ripped jeans or other clothing or gang apparel as part of a dress code. The busiest nights for a nightclub are Friday and Saturday night, most clubs or club nights cater to certain music genres, such as house music or gothic rock. A nightclub may also be called a discothèque, disco, or dance club, from about 1900 to 1920, working class Americans would gather at honky tonks or juke joints to dance to music played on a piano or a jukebox. Webster Hall is credited as the first modern nightclub, being built in 1886 and starting off as a hall, originally functioning as a home for dance. During Prohibition in the United States, nightclubs went underground as illegal speakeasy bars, with Webster Hall staying open, with rumors circulating of Al Capones involvement and police bribery. With the repeal of Prohibition in February 1933, nightclubs were revived, such as New Yorks 21 Club, Copacabana, El Morocco, in Germany, possibly the first discothèque was Scotch-Club. These discothèques were also patronized by anti-Vichy youth called zazous, there were also underground discothèques in Nazi Germany patronized by anti-Nazi youth called the swing kids. In Harlem, Connies Inn and the Cotton Club were popular venues for white audiences, before 1953 and even some years thereafter, most bars and nightclubs used a jukebox or mostly live bands. The Whisky à Gogo set into place the elements of the modern post World War II discothèque-style nightclub. At the end of the 1950s, several of the bars in Soho introduced afternoon dancing. In the early 1960s, Mark Birley opened a members-only discothèque nightclub, Annabels, in Berkeley Square, in 1962, the Peppermint Lounge in New York City became popular and is the place where go-go dancing originated. However, the first rock and roll generation preferred rough and tumble bars and taverns to nightclubs, disco has its roots in the underground club scene. It brought together people from all walks of life and backgrounds and these clubs acted as safe havens for homosexual partygoers to dance in peace and away from public scrutiny. Disco allowed patrons to explore sexuality and push the envelope on the dance floor, disco clubs acted as an escape from such depressing environments and acted as the fantasy marginalized peoples could escape to forget oppression and racism. Disco clubs originally functioned as liberated party spaces and were seen as places of political statement, a smooth mix of long single records to keep people dancing all night long
18.
Rave
–
A rave is a large dance party featuring performances by DJs and occasionally live performers playing electronic music. The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, the music is accompanied by laser light shows, projected images, visual effects and fog machines. The word rave was first used in the late 1980s to describe the subculture grew out of the acid house movement. While some raves may be small parties held at nightclubs or private residences, some raves have grown to immense size, some electronic dance music festivals have features of raves, but on a large, often commercial scale. Raves may last for a time, with some events continuing for twenty-four hours. In the late 1950s in London the term rave was used to describe the wild bohemian parties of the Soho beatnik set, in 1958, Buddy Holly recorded the hit Rave On, citing the madness and frenzy of a feeling and the desire for it never to end. The word rave was used in the burgeoning mod youth culture of the early 1960s as the way to describe any wild party in general. People who were gregarious party animals were described as ravers, pop musicians such as Steve Marriott of The Small Faces and Keith Moon of The Who were self-described ravers. Presaging the words subsequent 1980s association with music, the word rave was a common term used regarding the music of mid-1960s garage rock. It was later part of the title of a music performance event held on 28 January 1967 at Londons Roundhouse titled the Million Volt Light. The event featured the only public airing of an experimental sound collage created for the occasion by Paul McCartney of The Beatles – the legendary Carnival of Light recording. With the rapid change of British pop culture from the mod era of 1963–1966 to the era of 1967 and beyond. Its use during that era would have perceived as a quaint or ironic use of bygone slang. Also during the 1970s the Chicago house movement continued to expand along with a new club - Studio 54, Studio 54 was a world-famous New York nightclub and discothèque. Founded and created by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager in 1977, Rubell and Schrager hired Scott Bromley as architect, Ron Doud as interior designer and Brian Thompson as lighting designer. Where formerly all clubs had very dark, at Studio 54 the crowd could be lit brightly. In the late 1970s, the club was arguably the best-known nightclub in the world, the perception of the word changed again in the late 1980s when the term was revived and adopted by a new youth culture, possibly inspired by the use of the term in Jamaica. In the late 1980s, the word rave was adopted to describe the subculture grew out of the acid house movement
19.
Alternative rock
–
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s and 2000s. In this instance, the word refers to the genres distinction from mainstream rock music. The terms original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their debt to either the musical style or simply the independent. Ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music, Alternative rock is a broad umbrella term consisting of music that differs greatly in terms of its sound, its social context, and its regional roots. Most of these subgenres had achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands representing them, such as Hüsker Dü, with the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became successful. By the end of the decade, alternative rocks mainstream prominence declined due to a number of events that caused grunge and Britpop to fade, emo attracted attention in the larger alternative rock world, and the term was applied to a variety of artists, including multi-platinum acts. Post-punk revival artists such as Modest Mouse and The Killers had commercial success in the early, before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sort of music to which it refers was known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about, in 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had a late night new wave show entitled Rock and Roll Alternative. College rock was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the radio circuit. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture, according to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red, NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called Alternative Charts. The first national chart based on distribution called the Indie Chart was published in January 1980, at the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, at first the term referred to intentionally non–mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave and high-energy dance anthems. The use of alternative gained further exposure due to the success of Lollapalooza, for which festival founder, in the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. Defining music as alternative is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word, the name alternative rock essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in clubs, recorded for indie labels. Sounds range from the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitars of indie pop to the dirty guitars of grunge to the 1960s/1970s revivalism of Britpop. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s, by 1984, a majority of groups signed to independent record labels mined from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years
20.
Electronic dance music
–
Electronic dance music is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres made largely for nightclubs, raves, and festivals. EDM is generally produced for playback by disc jockeys who create seamless selections of tracks, called a mix, EDM producers also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting in what is sometimes called a live PA. In the United Kingdom and in continental Europe, EDM is more commonly called dance music or simply dance. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, following the emergence of raving, pirate radio, at this time a perceived association between EDM and drug culture led governments at state and city level to enact laws and policies intended to halt the spread of rave culture. By the early 2010s the term dance music and the initialism EDM was being pushed by the US music industry. Early examples of dance music include the disco music of Giorgio Moroder. During the early 1980s, the popularity of disco music declined in the United States, abandoned by major US record labels. European disco continued evolving within the mainstream pop music scene. European acts Silver Convention, Love and Kisses, Munich Machine, and American acts Donna Summer, in 1977, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte produced I Feel Love for Donna Summer. It became the first well-known disco hit to have a completely synthesised backing track, other disco producers, most famously American producer Tom Moulton, grabbed ideas and techniques from dub music to provide alternatives to the four on the floor style that dominated. The sound that originated from P-Funk the electronic side of disco, dub music. Much of the music produced during this time was, like disco, at this time creative control started shifting to independent record companies, less established producers, and club DJs. Other dance styles that began to become popular during the era include dance-pop, boogie, electro, Italo disco, house. In the early 1980s, electro emerged as a fusion of funk, also called electro-boogie, but later shortened to electro, cited pioneers include Zapp, D. Train, Sinnamon. Early hip hop and rap combined with German and Japanese electropop influences such as Kraftwerk, as the electronic sound developed, instruments such as the bass guitar and drums were replaced by synthesizers and most notably by iconic drum machines, particularly the Roland TR-808. Early uses of the TR-808 include several Yellow Magic Orchestra tracks in 1980-1981, the 1982 track Planet Rock by Afrikaa Bambaataa, and the 1982 song Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye. In 1982, producer Arthur Baker with Afrika Bambaataa released the seminal Planet Rock which was influenced by the Yellow Magic Orchestra using Kraftwerk samples, Planet Rock was followed later that year by another breakthrough electro record, Nunk by Warp 9. In 1983, Hashim created an electro funk sound which influenced Herbie Hancock, the early 1980s were electros mainstream peak
21.
Music festival
–
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality, or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending, performance art. Many festivals are annual, or repeat at some other interval, some, including many rock festivals, are held only once. Some festivals are organized as for-profit concerts and others are benefits for a specific cause, another type of music festival is the educative type, organized annually in local communities, regionally, or nationally, for the benefit of amateur musicians of all ages and grades of achievement. The Pythian Games at Delphi included musical performances, and may be one of the earliest festivals known, during the Middle Ages, festivals were often held as competitions. Entrants perform prepared pieces in front of an audience which includes competitors and they also usually receive a certificate, classified according to merit, and some may win trophies. The competitive element is played down, however, as the important aspect is that participants can learn from one another. Such festivals aim to provide a friendly and supportive platform for musicians to share in the excitement of making music, for many, they provide a bridge from lessons and examinations to performing confidently in public. Milwaukee, Wisconsins 11-day event, Summerfest, promotes itself as The Worlds Largest Music Festival, operating annually since 1968, the festival attracts between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people each year, and hosts over 800 musical acts. The Woodstock Festival in 1969 drew nearly 500,000 attendees, the largest annual greenfield music festival in the world is Roskilde Festival in Denmark, which attracts about 135,000 spectators each year. Glastonbury Festival has a capacity of about 175,000 spectators, for a more complete listing of active and defunct festivals by region, see Category, Music festivals by country. Some sections may also have links to related lists of music festivals by country, L. my.1 Festival, Biddinghuizen Dekmantel, Amsterdam Festival Mundial, Tilburg Incubate, Tilburg Le Guess Who. Born 1985 Salas Principales Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, Las Palmas y Auditorio Adán Martin, Tenerife. com – The most extensive music festival listings
22.
Dubstep
–
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London, England. It emerged in the late 1990s as a development within a lineage of related styles such as 2-step garage, dub, techno, drum and bass, broken beat, jungle, and reggae. In the United Kingdom the origins of the genre can be traced back to the growth of the Jamaican sound system party scene in the early 1980s, the music generally features sparse, syncopated drum and percussion patterns with bass lines that contain prominent sub bass frequencies. The earliest dubstep releases date back to 1998, and were featured as B-sides of 2-step garage single releases. These tracks were darker, more experimental remixes with less emphasis on vocals, a very early supporter of the sound was BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who started playing it from 2003 onwards. In 2004, the last year of his show, his listeners voted Distance, Digital Mystikz, simultaneously, the genre was receiving extensive coverage in music magazines such as The Wire and online publications such as Pitchfork, with a regular feature entitled The Month In, Grime/Dubstep. Interest in dubstep grew significantly after BBC Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs started championing the genre, towards the end of the 2000s and into the early 2010s, the genre started to become more commercially successful in the UK, with more singles and remixes entering the music charts. Music journalists and critics noticed a dubstep influence in several pop artists work. The music website Allmusic has described Dubsteps overall sound as tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals. According to Simon Reynolds, Dubsteps constituents originally came from different points in the 1989—99 UK lineage, bleep n bass, jungle, techstep, Photek-style neurofunk, speed garage,2 step. Reynolds comments that the traces of pre-existing styles worked through their intrinsic sonic effects but also as signifiers, Dubsteps early roots are in the more experimental releases of UK garage producers, seeking to incorporate elements of drum and bass into the South London-based 2-step garage sound. These experiments often ended up on the B-side of a label or commercial garage release. Similar to a vocal garage hybrid – grime – the genres feel is commonly dark, tracks frequently use a minor key, other distinguishing features often found are the use of samples, a propulsive, sparse rhythm, and an almost omnipresent sub-bass. Some dubstep artists have incorporated a variety of outside influences. Dubstep rhythms are usually syncopated, and often shuffled or incorporating tuplets, the tempo is nearly always in the range of 138–142 beats per minute, with a clap or snare usually inserted every third beat in a bar. In its early stages, dubstep was often more percussive, with influences from 2‑step drum patterns. A lot of producers were experimenting with tribal drum samples, such as Loefahs early release Truly Dread. One characteristic of certain strands of dubstep is the bass, often referred to as the wub
23.
AllMusic
–
AllMusic is an online music guide service website. It was launched in 1991 by All Media Guide which later became All Media Network, AllMusic was launched in 1991 by Michael Erlewine of All Media Guide. The aim was to discographic information on every artist whos made a record since Enrico Caruso gave the industry its first big boost and its first reference book was published the following year. When first released onto the Internet, AMG predated the World Wide Web and was first available as a Gopher site, the AMG consumer web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in July 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. All Media Network, LLC. was formed by the founders of SideReel. com. The following are contributors to AllMusic, as of this date, All Media Network also produced the AllMusic guide series that includes the AllMusic Guide to Rock, the All Music Guide to Jazz and the All Music Guide to the Blues. Vladimir Bogdanov is the president of the series, in August 2007, PC Magazine included AllMusic in its Top 100 Classic Websites list. All Media Network AllGame AllMovie SideReel All Music Guide to the Blues All Music Guide to Jazz Stephen Thomas Erlewine Official website
24.
Synthesizer
–
A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates electric signals that are converted to sound through instrument amplifiers and loudspeakers or headphones. Synthesizers may either imitate instruments like piano, Hammond organ, flute, vocals, natural sounds like ocean waves, etc. or generate new electronic timbres. Synthesizers without built-in controllers are called sound modules, and are controlled via USB, MIDI or CV/gate using a controller device. Synthesizers use various methods to generate electronic signals, synthesizers were first used in pop music in the 1960s. In the 1970s, synths were used in disco, especially in the late 1970s, in the 1980s, the invention of the relatively inexpensive, mass market Yamaha DX7 synth made synthesizers widely available. 1980s pop and dance music often made use of synthesizers. In the 2010s, synthesizers are used in genres of pop, rock. Contemporary classical music composers from the 20th and 21st century write compositions for synthesizer, the beginnings of the synthesizer are difficult to trace, as it is difficult to draw a distinction between synthesizers and some early electric or electronic musical instruments. One of the earliest electric musical instruments, the telegraph, was invented in 1876 by American electrical engineer Elisha Gray. He accidentally discovered the sound generation from a self-vibrating electromechanical circuit and this musical telegraph used steel reeds with oscillations created by electromagnets transmitted over a telegraph line. Gray also built a simple loudspeaker device into later models, consisting of a diaphragm in a magnetic field. This instrument was a remote electromechanical musical instrument that used telegraphy, though it lacked an arbitrary sound-synthesis function, some have erroneously called it the first synthesizer. In 1897, Thaddeus Cahill invented the Teleharmonium, which used dynamos, and was capable of additive synthesis like the Hammond organ, however, Cahills business was unsuccessful for various reasons, and similar but more compact instruments were subsequently developed, such as electronic and tonewheel organs. In 1906, American engineer, Lee De Forest ushered in the electronics age and he invented the first amplifying vacuum tube, called the Audion tube. This led to new entertainment technologies, including radio and sound films, ondes Martenot and Trautonium were continuously developed for several decades, finally developing qualities similar to later synthesizers. In the 1920s, Arseny Avraamov developed various systems of graphic sonic art, in 1938, USSR engineer Yevgeny Murzin designed a compositional tool called ANS, one of the earliest real-time additive synthesizers using optoelectronics. The earliest polyphonic synthesizers were developed in Germany and the United States, during the three years that Hammond manufactured this model,1,069 units were shipped, but production was discontinued at the start of World War II. Both instruments were the forerunners of the electronic organs and polyphonic synthesizers
25.
Music sequencer
–
This software also improved on the quality of the earlier sequencers which tended to be mechanical sounding and were only able to play back notes of exactly equal duration. Software-based sequencers allowed musicians to program performances that were more expressive and these new sequencers could also be used to control external synthesizers, especially rackmounted sound modules, and it was no longer necessary for each synthesizer to have its own devoted keyboard. As the technology matured, sequencers gained more features, such as the ability to record multitrack audio, Sequencers used for audio recording are called digital audio workstations. Many modern sequencers can be used to control virtual instruments implemented as software plug-ins and this allows musicians to replace expensive and cumbersome standalone synthesizers with their software equivalents. Today the term sequencer is used to describe software. Workstation keyboards have their own proprietary built-in MIDI sequencers, drum machines and some older synthesizers have their own step sequencer built in. There are still also standalone hardware MIDI sequencers, although the demand for those has diminished greatly due to the greater feature set of their software counterparts. Music sequencers are often categorized by handling data types, as following, or, the phrase samplers including Groove machines, etc. Also, music sequencer can be categorized by its construction and supporting modes, realtime sequencers record the musical notes in real-time as on audio recorders, and play back musical notes with designated tempo, quantizations, and pitch. For editing, usually punch in/punch out feature originated in the recording is provided. For detailed editing, possibly another visual editing modes under graphical user interface may be more suitable, anyway, this mode provides usability similar to the audio recorder already familiarized by musicians, and it is widely supported on software sequencer, DAW, and built-in hardware sequencers. Analog sequencers are typically implemented with analog electronics, and play the musical notes designated by a series of knobs or sliders corresponding to each musical note and it is designed for both composition and live performance, users can change the musical notes at any time without regarding recording mode. And also possibly, the time-interval between each note can be independently adjustable. Typically, analog sequencer is used to generate the repeated minimalistic phrases which is reminiscent of Tangerine Dream, on the bass machines, select a step note from a chromatic keypads, then select a step duration from a group of length-buttons, sequentially. In general, step mode, along with roughly quantized semi-realtime mode, is supported on the analog drum machines, bass machines. Software sequencer is a class of application software providing a functionality of music sequencer, the features provided as sequencers vary widely depending on the software, even an analog sequencer can be simulated. The user may control the software sequencer either by using the user interfaces or a specialized input devices. The early music sequencers were sound producing devices such as musical instruments, music boxes, mechanical organs, player pianos
26.
Drum machine
–
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums, cymbals, other percussion instruments, and often basslines. Drum machines are most commonly associated with electronic music such as house music. They are usually used when session drummers are not available or if the production cannot afford the cost of a drummer. Also, many modern drum machines can also produce sounds, as well as allowing the user to compose unique drum beats. In the 2010s, most modern machines are sequencers with a sample playback or synthesizer component that specializes in the reproduction of drum timbres. The invention could produce sixteen different rhythms, each associated with a pitch, either individually or in any combination, including en masse. Received with considerable interest when it was introduced in 1932. The next generation of rhythm machines played only pre-programmed rhythms such as mambo, tango, Chamberlin Rhythmate In 1957 Californian Harry Chamberlin constructed a tape loop-based drum machine called the Chamberlin Rhythmate. It had 14 tape loops with a head that allowed playback of different tracks on each piece of tape. It contained a volume and a control and also had a separate amplifier with bass, treble, and volume controls. The tape loops were of real acoustic jazz drum kits playing different style beats, with additions to tracks such as bongos, clave, castanets. First commercial product – Wurlitzer Side Man In 1959 Wurlitzer released a drum machine called the Side Man. The Side Man was intended as an accompaniment for the Wurlitzer organ range. The Side Man offered a choice of 12 electronically generated, predefined rhythm patterns with variable tempos, the sound source was a series of vacuum tubes which created 10 preset electronic drum sounds. Combinations of these different sets of rhythms and drum sounds created popular rhythmic patterns of the day, e. g. waltzes and these combinations were selected by a rotary knob on the top of the Side Man box. The tempo of the patterns was controlled by a slider that increased the speed of rotation of the wiper arm, the Side Man had a panel of 10 buttons for manually triggering drum sounds, and a remote player to control the machine while playing from an organ keyboard. The Side Man was housed in a cabinet that contained the sound-generating circuitry. Raymond Scott In 1960, Raymond Scott constructed the Rhythm Synthesizer and, in 1963, scotts machines were used for recording his album Soothing Sounds for Baby series
27.
Digital audio workstation
–
Regardless of configuration, modern DAWs have a central interface that allows the user to alter and mix multiple recordings and tracks into a final produced piece. DAWs are used for the production and recording of music, radio, television, podcasts, multimedia, early attempts at digital audio workstations in the 1970s and 1980s faced limitations such as the high price of storage, and the vastly slower processing and disk speeds of the time. In 1978, Soundstream built what could be considered the first digital audio workstation using some of the most current computer hardware of the time. Interface cards that plugged into the PDP-11s Unibus slots provided analog and digital input and output for interfacing to Soundstreams digital recorders. The DAP software could perform edits to the recorded on the systems hard disks. By the late 1980s, a number of consumer level computers such as the Apple Macintosh, Atari ST, soon, people began to use them for simple two-track audio editing and CD mastering. This combination of software and hardware was one of the earliest examples of a DAW. Many major recording studios finally went digital after Digidesign introduced its Pro Tools software, modeled after the traditional method, at this time, most DAWs were Apple Mac based. Around 1992, the first Windows based DAWs started to emerge from such as IQS Innovative Quality Software, Soundscape Digital Technology, SADiE, Echo Digital Audio. All the systems at this point used dedicated hardware for their audio processing, in 1993, German company Steinberg released Cubase Audio on Atari Falcon 030. This version brought DSP built-in effects with 8-track audio recording & playback using only native hardware, the first Windows based software-only product, introduced in 1993, was Samplitude Studio. In 1996, Steinberg introduced Cubase VST, which could record, Cubase not only modelled a tape-like interface for recording and editing, but also modelled the entire mixing desk and effects rack common in analog studios. This revolutionised the DAW world, both in features and price tag, and was imitated by most other contemporary DAW systems. An integrated DAW consists of a console, control surface, audio converter. Integrated DAWs were more popular before commonly available personal computers became powerful enough to run DAW software, as computer power and speed increased and price decreased, the popularity of costly integrated systems with console automation dropped. Systems such as the Orban Audicy became standard equipment at radio. This could be as simple as a mouse or as sophisticated as a piano-style MIDI controller keyboard or automated fader board for mixing track volumes, the computer acts as a host for the sound card/audio interface, while the software provides the interface and functionality for audio editing. The software controls all related components and provides a user interface to allow for recording, editing
28.
Recording studio
–
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are designed by an acoustician or audio engineer to achieve optimum acoustic properties. The engineers and producers listen to the music and the recorded tracks on monitor speakers and/or headphones. Major recording studios typically have a range of large, heavy, Isolation booths are small sound-insulated rooms with doors, designed for instrumentalists. This equipment may interfere with the recording process, Recording studios are carefully designed around the principles of room acoustics to create a set of spaces with the acoustical properties required for recording sound with precision and accuracy. This will consist of both room treatment and soundproofing to prevent sound from leaving the property. Even though sound isolation is a key goal, the musicians, singers, audio engineers and record producers still need to be able to see other, to see cue gestures. As such, the room, isolation booths, vocal booths. Some smaller studios do not have instruments, and bands and artists are expected to bring their own instruments, having musical instruments and equipment in the studio creates additional costs for a studio, as pianos have to be tuned and instruments need to be maintained. However, it makes it convenient for recording artists, as they do not have to bring in large. As well, less costly studio time is spent moving in gear, drummers bring their own snare drum, cymbals and sticks/brushes. The types and brands of equipment owned by a studio depends on the styles of music for the bands. A studio that mainly records heavy metal music will be likely to have large, powerful guitar amp heads, in contrast, a studio which mainly records country bands will likely have a selection of small, vintage combo amps. A studio that records a lot of 1970s-style funk may have an electric piano. General purpose computers have rapidly assumed a role in the recording process. A computer thus outfitted is called a Digital Audio Workstation, or DAW, other software applications include Ableton Live, Mixcraft, Cakewalk Sonar, ACID Pro, FL Studio, Adobe Audition, Auto-Tune, Audacity, and Ardour. While Apple Macintosh is used for most studio work, there is a breadth of available for Microsoft Windows. If no mixing console is used and all mixing is done using only a keyboard and mouse, the OTB is used when mixing with other hardware and not just the PC software
29.
Sampling (music)
–
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording in a different song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, by the late 1960s, the use of tape loop sampling influenced the development of minimalist music and the production of psychedelic rock and jazz fusion. Hip hop music was the first popular music based on the art of sampling – being born from 1970s DJs who experimented with manipulating vinyl on two turntables and an audio mixer. Historically, sampling was most often done with a sampler — a specialized piece of hardware — but today, however, vinyl emulation software may also be used, and turntablists continue to sample using traditional methods. Often samples consist of one part of a song, such as a rhythm break, for instance, hip hop music developed from DJs looping the breaks from songs to enable continuous dancing. Samples can also consist of words and phrases, including those in non-musical media such as movies, TV shows. Sampling does not necessarily mean using pre-existing recordings, a number of composers and musicians have constructed pieces or songs by sampling field recordings they made themselves, and others have sampled their own original recordings. The use of sampling is controversial legally and musically, in the 1970s, when hip hop was confined to local dance parties, it was unnecessary to obtain copyright clearance in order to sample recorded music at these parties. Aside from legal issues, sampling has been championed and criticized. Hip-hop DJs today take different approaches to sampling, with critical of its obvious use. Some critics, particularly those with a rockist outlook, have expressed the belief all sampling is lacking in creativity, while others say sampling has been innovative and revolutionary. Those whose own work has been sampled have also voiced a variety of opinions about the practice. Once recorded, samples can be edited, played back, or looped, types of samples include, The drums and percussion parts of many modern recordings are really a variety of short samples of beats strung together. Many libraries of such beats exist and are licensed so that the user incorporating the samples can distribute their recording without paying royalties, such libraries can be loaded into samplers. Though percussion is an application of looping, many kinds of samples can be looped. A piece of music may have an ostinato which is created by sampling a phrase played on any kind of instrument, there is software which specializes in creating loops. Whereas loops are usually a phrase played on a musical instrument, Music workstations and samplers use samples of musical instruments as the basis of their own sounds, and are capable of playing a sample back at any pitch. Many modern synthesizers and drum machines also use samples as the basis of their sounds, most such samples are created in professional recording studios using world-class instruments played by accomplished musicians
30.
Goldfrapp
–
Goldfrapp are an English electronic duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, their 2000 début studio album Felt Mountain did not chart highly. Goldfrapps second album Black Cherry, which incorporated glam rock and synthpop sounds into their music, was released in 2003, the album influenced the same dance-oriented sound of their third album Supernature. Supernature took Goldfrapps work further into dance music, and enjoyed chart success. The album produced three number-one US dance singles, and was nominated for Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 49th Grammy Awards, Head First also earned the duo their second Grammy Award nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2010. Goldfrapp released their critically acclaimed studio album, the folktronica-influenced Tales of Us. Alison Goldfrapp began her career performing with Dance Company Catherine Massin throughout the Netherlands during her early twenties. Afterwards, she attended Middlesex University where she studied Fine Art, in the early 1990s, Alison served as a guest vocalist with the electronic band Orbital and trip hop artist Tricky. In 1999, she was introduced to composer Will Gregory after he had listened to a version of the song Human. Gregory and Goldfrapp felt a connection and subsequently wrote the track Lovely Head. Following several months of calls, they decided to form a musical band. In August 1999, Goldfrapp signed a contract with London-based record label Mute Records. The pair began recording their album over a six-month period, beginning in September 1999. The recording process was difficult for Alison and Will, who found themselves alone and disturbed by the mice, Goldfrapps début album Felt Mountain was released in September 2000 and produced the singles Lovely Head, Utopia, Pilots and Human. The album featured Alison Goldfrapps vocals over cinematic soundscapes and is influenced by a variety of styles including cabaret, folk. The album was received by music critics, which Pitchfork Media described as simultaneously smarmy and seductive, yet elegant. It reached number 57 on the UK Albums Chart, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry, in 2001, Felt Mountain was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best British or Irish album from the previous year. The lyrics on Felt Mountain were written by Alison Goldfrapp and are abstract obsessional tales inspired by films, the song Oompa Radar was inspired by Roman Polanskis film Cul-de-sac, while Pilots describes travellers floating in the atmosphere above the earth
31.
Autechre
–
Autechre are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. Formed in 1987, they are one of the most popular acts signed to the Warp Records label, known for its electronic music. While heavily associated with IDM, Booth and Brown are ambivalent about relating their sound to established genres, Autechre have also recorded under various pseudonyms. One of the duos earliest recordings was a 12 single released under the alias Lego Feet in 1991 by Skam Records, the majority of releases by the umbrella project Gescom have been attributed to Booth and Brown, among other artists. One recent critic stated that Autechre create some of the most complicated music you could hope to drown in and are recognized as pioneers in experimental music. Booth and Brown pronounce the name Autechre with a Rochdale accent, however, they have explained that the name can be pronounced in any way one sees fit. Booth explains, The first two letters were intentional, because there was an au sound in the track, and the rest of the letters were bashed randomly on the keyboard. We had this title for ages, and we had written it on a cassette. It looked good, and we began using it as our name, Brown and Booth met through Manchesters graffiti scene in 1987 when they both lived in Rochdale. Their first release was Lego Feet, a 12 recorded under an alias of the name brought out by Manchesters Skam Records. Their first release as Autechre was the single Cavity Job in 1991, two more tracks appeared during the following year, under the now finalised Autechre name, on the Warp Records compilation Artificial Intelligence, part of the series of the same name. The compilation contained The Egg, later reworked for their first full-length release under the title Eggshell, in 1993 Warp released their debut album, Incunabula, which became a surprise success, reaching the top of the UK Indie Chart. An EP of remixes of Incunabulas Basscadet was released in 1994 and this music video featured on MTV Europes Party Zone when Autechre were interviewed during the show in September that year. 1994 also saw the release of Amber, an album featuring a more ambient, rave music was defined as music which includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats. However we advise DJs to have a lawyer and musicologist present at all times to confirm the non repetitive nature of the music in the event of police harassment, in a 2008 interview with Pitchfork Media, Rob Brown mentioned that Incunabula and Amber retrospectively sounded cheesy. Brown later clarified that he was trying to say how they were more simple. 1995 saw the release of Tri Repetae, their album, as well as the EPs Anvil Vapre. Featuring a monochrome cover designed by The Designers Republic, with whom Autechre have long held a close association, Tri Repetae and its associated EPs were combined into a two disc set entitled Tri Repetae++, which was released in the United States
32.
Aphex Twin
–
Richard David James, known by his stage name Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born English electronic musician and composer. He is known for his influential and idiosyncratic work in music styles such as IDM and acid techno in the 1990s. He is also the co-founder of Rephlex Records with Grant Wilson-Claridge and he rose to mainstream popularity with his 1997 EP Come to Daddy and his 1999 single Windowlicker. James was born in Limerick, Ireland, and grew up in Lanner, Cornwall, UK and he enjoyed living there, feeling apart from nearby cities and the rest of the world. You couldnt make sound on a ZX81, but I played around with machine code, according to musician Benjamin Middleton, James began producing music the following year. As a teenager he was a jockey at the Shire Horse Inn in St Ives, with Tom Middleton at the Bowgie Inn in Crantock. James studied at Cornwall College from 1988 to 1990 for a National Diploma in engineering, about his studies, he said music and electronics went hand in hand. James graduated from college, according to a lecturer he often wore headphones during practical lessons. In 1989, James befriended Grant Wilson-Claridge when they were working alternate weeks as a DJ at the Bowgie pub near Newquay, Wilson-Claridge was intrigued by his sets, and when he discovered that James was playing tapes of his own music he suggested that they make records. James first release as Aphex Twin, later changed to AFX, was the 1991 12-inch EP Analogue Bubblebath on Mighty Force Records, the track En Trance to Exit was recorded with Tom Middleton, also known as Schizophrenia. The EP made the playlist of Kiss FM, an influential London radio station, from 1991 to 1993 James released two Analogue Bubblebath EPs and an EP, Bradleys Beat, as Bradley Strider. Although he allegedly lived on the roundabout in Elephant and Castle, South London, during his years in the city. The first full-length Aphex Twin album, Selected Ambient Works 85–92, was released in 1992 on R&S Records to critical acclaim, John Bush of Allmusic described it as a watershed of ambient music. In 2002 Rolling Stone said about the album, Aphex Twin expanded way beyond the ambient music of Brian Eno by fusing lush soundscapes with oceanic beats, Pitchfork Media called it among the most interesting music ever created with a keyboard and a computer. However, critics noted that the songs were recorded on cassette, in 1992 James also released the Xylem Tube EP and Digeridoo as Aphex Twin, the Pac-Man EP as Power-Pill, and two of his four Joyrex EPs as Caustic Window. Digeridoo reached #55 on the UK Singles Chart, and was described by Rolling Stone as foreshadowing drum. He wrote Digeridoo to clear up his audience after a rave and these early releases were on Rephlex Records, Mighty Force of Exeter and R&S Records of Belgium. Warp Records released Selected Ambient Works Volume II in 1994, with a less beat-, the track names were described with pie chart symbols, each of which was meant to be paired with a corresponding image in the album jacket
33.
Dub music
–
Dub is a genre of music that grew out of reggae in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae. Other techniques include dynamically adding extensive echo, reverb, panoramic delay, Dub was pioneered by Osbourne King Tubby Ruddock, Lee Scratch Perry, Errol Thompson and others in the late 1960s. Augustus Pablo is credited with bringing the melodica to dub, and is also among the pioneers and creators of the genre, similar experiments with recordings at the mixing desk outside of the dancehall environment were also done by producers Clive Chin and Herman Chin Loy. These producers, especially Ruddock and Perry, looked upon the mixing console as an instrument, manipulating tracks to come up with something new and different. Dub has influenced many genres of music, including rock, pop, hip hop, disco, and later house, techno, ambient, electronic dance music, the verb dub is defined as making a copy of one recording to another. The term dub had multiple meanings in Jamaica around the time of the musics origin, in concert, the order dub this one. Meant put an emphasis on bass and drums, drummer Sly Dunbar points to a similar interpretation, relating the term dubwise to using only drums and bass. Another possible source was the term dub plate, as suggested by Augustus Pablo, the word duppy also relates to dub through Jamaicas history of intra-racial terror, violence, and murder that is often overlooked in favor of Jamaican ideologies of racial solidarity. The ghosts of these victims, or duppies, are thought to be captured best within the dub instrumentals, a version is a record with the vocals removed, the alternative cut of a song made for the DJ to toast over. These versions were used as the basis of new songs by rerecording them with new elements, the instrumental tracks are typically drenched in sound effects such as echo, reverberation, with instruments and vocals dropping in and out of the mix. Another hallmark of the dub sound is the prominent use of bass guitar, the music sometimes features other noises, such as birds singing, thunder and lightning, water flowing, and producers shouting instructions at the musicians. It can be augmented by live DJs. There is usually an organic feel to the music, even though the effects are electronically created. Often these tracks are used for toasters rapping heavily rhymed and alliterative lyrics, in forms of sound system based reggae, the performer using a microphone is referred to as the DJ or deejay, and the person choosing the music and operating the turntables is called the selector. A major reason for producing multiple versions was economic, a producer could use a recording he owned to produce numerous versions from a single studio session. A version was also an opportunity for a producer or remix engineer to experiment, Dub music and toasting introduced a new era of creativity in reggae music. From their beginning, toasting and dub music developed together and influenced each other, in 1968, Kingston, Jamaica sound system operator Rudolph Ruddy Redwood went to Duke Reids Treasure Isle studio to cut a one-off dub plate of The Paragons hit On The Beach. Engineer Byron Smith left the track out by accident, but Redwood kept the result
34.
Ray of Light
–
Ray of Light is the seventh studio album by American singer Madonna. It was released on February 22,1998 by Maverick and Warner Bros, after giving birth to her first child, Madonna started working on the album with producers Babyface and Patrick Leonard. Following failed sessions with them, Madonna pursued a new direction with English producer William Orbit. The recording took place four months and experienced problems with Orbits hardware arrangement, which would break down. A departure from her previous work, Ray of Light is an electronica, dance and techno-pop album which incorporates several genres, including ambient, trip hop, vocally, the album saw Madonna sing with greater breadth and a fuller tone. Mystical themes are also present in both the music and lyrics, as a result of Madonna embracing Kabbalah, her study of Hinduism and Buddhism. The album received universal acclaim with reviews commending the new musical direction. Called her most adventurous record, Ray of Light has been noted for its mature, restrained nature, Ray of Light won four Grammy Awards from a total of six nominations. Commercially, the peaked at number one in many countries, such as Australia, Canada, Germany. On the US Billboard 200, the album debuted and peaked at two, with the biggest first week sales by a female artist at the time. Ray of Light has sold more than 16 million copies worldwide, five singles were released from the album, including the international hits Frozen and Ray of Light. The albums promotion was supported by the Drowned World Tour in 2001. Academics noted the influence on popular music, and how it introduced electronica into mainstream pop culture. They also noted Madonnas musical re-invention with the album, which helped her remain contemporary among the artists of the period. Ray of Light has been ranked among lists of greatest albums of all time, following the release of her compilation album Something to Remember, Madonna started taking vocal lessons in preparation for her role in Evita. She also gave birth to her daughter, Lourdes, the same year and these events inspired a period of introspection. That was a big catalyst for me and it took me on a search for answers to questions Id never asked myself before, she said to Q magazine, in 2002. During the same period, she embraced Kabbalah and started studying Hinduism and yoga, all of which helped her step outside, Madonna felt that there was a whole piece of her voice left unused, which she decided to utilize for the album
