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>Doesn't the word "Techno" in the USA include anything that you can dance to, and that has even a hint of electronic sounds in it?

Depends on who you're talking to. Anyone who listens to electronic music can tell you that techno is just a subgenre, along with house, trance, breaks, etc. If you're talking to someone who listens to more mainstream fare, all electronic music is techno.

A great reference for all the genres is The Ishkur Guide.

I for one, wholeheartedly embrace the concept of design...

Clarification: MS10 and SQ10 are Korg models, although of the same popular analog design as Moog's pioneering equipment about 10 years earlier.

Regarding I Feel Love (1977), it's likely the first sequencer track heard by the big audience, and yet today it's got an interesting balance between catchiness and experimentation. Also uncannily true to later formulations of techno...

Umm, Britney Spears is electronic. She's as popular as ever. Half of the currently popular music contains some electronic instrumentation, sampling, processing, or whatever. Everyone:

ELECTRONIC != TECHNO != RAVE

Only the unwashed think of rave music when they hear electronic music.

There are a number of classical composers who create electronic music. Paul Lanksy comes to mind. Check out his composition Idle Chatter Junior The whole electro-acoustic movement is very alive and creating completely new and unique forms of music.

But if you really must limit yourself to the popular dance/techno/rave styles, there is still a lot going on. Here's a very detailed map of the history of popular electronic music.

LS

As Ishkur will tell you, electronic music has been around a lot longer than 1947. It'll also tell you that electronic music is more than that "blips and bleeps" that your annoying loser roommate at college played. It's pretty likely that *you* listen to some "techno," and don't even know it!

Today, the only the electronic music most of us hear is the repetitive, simplistic beat of dance or industrial music piped into clubs and dubbed over with offensive lyrics and banter.

I think someone needs to check out ishkur's guide to electronic music. There is a pretty wide variation between the intricate beats of Drum 'n Base and the repetitive, simplistic beat of House. Of course, if you want more experimental electronica, look for IDM, Aka intelligent (unintelligible) dance music. None of these would be possible without using computers carefully as instruments, and none of them fit into mainstream musical categorization.

I must also argue with the idea that game artists haven't evolved the craft. Most games now feature dynamically adjusting music based at bare minimum on character states. They adjust for boss encounters without interrupting musical lines, and can dynamically increase or decrease instrumentation based upon on-screen action. While most game audio creators do focus on sounding like traditional recordings, this is probably because most are traditional recording artists these days.

Some of the best game soundtracks are traditional recordings. Final Fantasy, Xenogears, and Wipeout all spring to mind as great soundtracks involving "dumped-in" music. Even Street Sk8er, with it's off-kilter collection of grungy tunes, was a great listen.

That's not to say that the article doesn't have it's points. But to say that videogame composers should be at the forefront of experimentation just because they used to need to be is erroneous. Of course, if everyone were as original and good as The Fat Man (no lie, he's one of the greats) game audio would be far better off. But that combination of original sound and skill is rare in any medium... and The Fat Man's genius is not so easily replicated.

Game audio should be convincing, engaging without being detracting, and should heighten enjoyment the first time heard without getting annoying the 10th. It should dynamically change based upon the character's situation, and should contain an original artistic spark. Game audio shouldn't be the tunes you hear in your car... Nor should they be the buzzes and blips of yesteryear. While certain composers pioneer original genres (Tommy Tallerico springs to mind), this shouldn't be the defining feature.

All artists should be creative, game or no.

http://www.ishkur.com/music/

This was one of the coolest guides to the different genre's of electronic music I've seen. Warning: flash

Errr... Sorry. Try this link instead.

Only 175 days till the olson twins turn legal, actually.

Only 175 days till the olson twins turn legal, actually.

First you should probably get a feel for everything to see what you like. The styles of electronic music (please don't call it 'electronica'..bleh) are about as varied and diverse as any other genre. I rather amusing but informative site is Iskhur's Guide to Electronic Music. The descriptions are a bit cheeky, but there's tons of samples to pull from.

There's no real "jumping in" point for listening to electronic music...you just more or less keep listening to everything, until something just grabs you.

...by trying this online guide to electronic music.

By no way is it complete, but it's a great place to start, and an invaluable guide for those who don't know electronica inside-out upside-down and backwards.

Caveat: it's Flash. The first link I gave is for the low-bandwidth (~3 meg) version. If your pipes are fat, or you don't mind the wait, there's also the ~17 meg high-quality stereo version.

Caveat: it's Flash. The first link I gave is for the low-bandwidth (~3 meg) version. If your pipes are fat, or you don't mind the wait, there's also the ~17 meg high-quality stereo version.

Heres a few things you could try if you want to find out more about electronic music.

Find a specialist dance music store (make sure that the shop sells vinyl) and have a chat with the staff there. Ask them for recommendations and have a listen to what they suggest. Buy stuff that you like.

While you're at the shop, look for some flyers for raves/events in your area. You'll probably want to go to an event that has different genres on the one night so you can be exposed to different sounds.

Have a look at Iskkur's guide to Electronic Music and have a listen to the different genres. This will give you an idea as to what the different genres sound like.

Don't let anyone tell you that their genre of music is better than what you like. Electronic music is very broad. I have friends that are into Drum 'n' Bass, Progressive House, Techno, Psytrance etc.. (I spin breaks, but I'm also like the lighter/ambient/intelligent drum 'n' bass and I like techno too).

Watch out though! If you really start liking electronic music, you might end up buying a pair of turntables like me, and end up spending all your money on vinyl!

http://www.ishkur.com/features/music/guide.htm

best guide to the various genres of electronic music, hands down. even people familiar with electronic music will benefit.

check out some detroit stuff, like derrick may and juan atkins if you get a chance, or the retro electro sound of adult.

Here's teh lowdown. Oakenfold is fucking glowstick waving stadium trance. Micro cancelled a gig in Tulsa last week because "there weren't enough people there." Terry Mullan has a 40 percent cancel rate.

The presence of MDMA and K at massives attract stupid frat boys and sorority girls who get mashed up and raise their hands to people who shouldn't be making 300 bucks a night, let alone 15,000 like Oaky.

Here are a few links for background information on drum and bass, arguably a deeper, more exciting genre than Eurotrance, and definitely the most diverse genre out there.

Ishkur
Dogs On Acid
Drum and Bass Arena
And here's a pretty good atmospheric drum and bass mix by yours truly.

TECHNO is not a genre, it's a subgenre within electronic music as a whole. Unfortunately, most people consider any electronic music "techno". The use of "techno" is usually accompanied with the famous line of "How can you listen to this TECHNO stuff."

The fact that you've "been into the whole techno" thing demonstrates the usual laypersons' ineptitude in describing electronica.

Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music should straighten you out a little. While I don't like Ishkur's attitude that he can classify music better than anyone else, it does serve as a goode exposure to what's available in the electronic genre. Also, the music samples are the BOMB.

Techno is one of the major classes of electronic music along with breakbeat, house, jungle, and drum and bass.

As far as ambient, or illbient for that matter, being considered the same as downtempo and lowrecase, that's crazy.

I'd have to disagree with you that a lot of Moby's early works are really "lowercase." Most of his works are ambient and house(rave):

Moby - Ambient
Moby - Early Underground
Moby - Collected B-Sides

being three examples.

Autechre, IMHO, should be considered Intelligent Dance Music (IDM) and it's not very "lowercase". I thought my head was going to explode listening to it and processing all of the sounds.

On a final note, I'd use Shoutcast radio as a source of Internet Radio within the electronic genre. Highly Recommended:

Digitally Imported

I suggest Ishkur's site for a similar primer. Just make sure your sense of humor is activated :)