‘More than Music’ Part 1 | A history of Electronic

Music venues may have been largely quiet over the past two years, but the irrepressible memory of their vibrant sound remains alive and well, and will, without a doubt, fuel a dramatic return to form over the coming year. The same can be said of the pair of HYLIXA speakers that were lying dormant in London’s Design Museum, as part of the collection’s closed-due-to-COVID-19 exhibit

Of course, all music today could be classified as ‘electronic’, as nearly all popular contemporary music is made using digital technology. However, electronic as a genre refers rather to electronic dance music (EDM), which relies mainly on circuit-based technology and is a cultural phenomenon that has come to almost dominate contemporary popular music. But where did electronic music come from? And what is its relationship with technological development?

If taken back to its etymological roots, then the origins of electronic music lie in the early twentieth century, with the first pioneering use of circuit-based instruments, like the theremin. First invented in Russia in the 1920s; the theremin is played without physical contact, with changes in frequency and amplitude of its emitted sound controlled by the performer’s hand positions and was very popular after World War Two.

The post-war period saw more electronic experimentation and the emergence of genres based on circuit-based instruments, including Musique Concrète. Beginning in France in the late 1940s, this involved editing together samples of natural and industrial sounds. While only popular amongst the avant-garde, Musique Concrète and other genres like it nevertheless heralded a new relationship between technology and music. Indeed, it was as early as the late ‘50s that computers were first used to form algorithmic musical compositions.

This continued into the 1960s when rock and roll bands began to incorporate more circuit-based instruments into their work, like the iconic Moog Synthesiser. Invented in 1965, this revolutionary machine was able to generate and shape audio signals and was taken up by the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Doors, and Pink Floyd.

It was really the 1970s, however, that electronic as a discernible genre began to take shape, largely thanks to the immensely influential West German band, Kraftwerk, who emulated the rhythm-driven sound of the previous decade within the futuristic sonic framework of the Moog, theremin and other emerging technologies like drum machines and turntables. Amongst other pioneers like Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michael Jarre and Vangelis, the electronic sound also began to be popularised in this decade through its amalgamation with disco by Italian composer, Giorgio Moroder, who produced electronic-sounding songs for musicians like Donna Summer and David Bowie.

For electronic as a genre, however, the early 1980s saw more important technological developments, as falling costs of digital instruments enabled the grass-roots production of underground genres like House, Techno and Acid, resulting in the rave scene of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. This heady period of sonic and cultural upheaval saw a proliferation of global artists and sounds emerging, like Big Beat, Trance, and Trip Hop. Taken up wholesale by club culture at this time and subsequently pop music, electronic truly penetrated the mainstream in the ‘90s; a position it has largely kept to this day.

Indeed, the meteorological rise of EDM in the ‘00s and ‘10s is as much to do with this spirit of technological innovation as it is growing commercialisation; the musical ability of the laptop has further democratised music-creation and resulted in the explosion of microgenres which now come under the electronic umbrella. Paired with the instant-sharing capacity of social media and streaming services, electronic can only proliferate as humanity steps forward in tandem with technology.ion on electronic music last year. Chosen for its superb audio quality, the HYLIXA had been showcasing some of the most influential electronic tracks of the past 50 years; a genre that has always pushed at the frontier of what technology is capable of.