What Is Electronica? — The Music Genre Defined
When it comes to electronic music, there’s a broad spectrum of sub-genres that have emerged since the pioneering years of electronic music in its infancy.
As computers & computing power began to develop and grow in the ‘90s, music software emerged and that would change the very fabric of music forever.
By connecting hardware and software and the confluence & interaction of the two, music could be produced on computers and that paved the way for emerging electronic music artists all over the world.
This post is about a sub-genre of electronic music that’s been misstated & not broadly understood and the term isn’t used as often as it should be.
That’s — Electronica.
So what is Electronica? And what does it sound like?
Wikipedia defines the genre as follows:
“Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to refer to electronic music generally.
The History Of Electronica
While the origins of the term are largely debatable and have emerged from very nascent and underground beginnings, Wikipedia explains the term’s history as:
The original wide-spread use of the term “electronica” derives from the influential English experimental techno label New Electronica, which was one of the leading forces of the early 1990s introducing and supporting dance-based electronic music oriented towards home listening rather than dance-floor play, although the word “electronica” had already begun to be associated with synthesizer generated music as early as 1983, when a “UK Electronica Festival” was first held. At that time electronica became known as “electronic listening music”, also becoming more or less synonymous to ambient techno and intelligent techno, and was considered distinct from other emerging genres such as jungle and trip hop
Electronica would emerge from the shadows of early Trip Hop and emerging Downtempo in the UK. The terms “Downtempo” & “Trip Hop” emerged in the ’80s while the music made by artists in the ’90s would categorize into both those sub-genres of Electronic music.
Electronica is much more for listening, as the origins of the term suggest; it’s a genre that evokes peace, and tranquility but also has movement and progression, and more of a groove to it.
What Does Electronica Sound Like & How Is It Made?
Electronica has electronic drums and beats to it, they may be programmed on DAWs using MIDI or mouse clicks or created using drum machines and drum sequencers.
Electronica is more meditative and peaceful and more easy-listening oriented as opposed to more loud, aggressive, and harder music like Techno or EDM(Electronic Dance Music).
The kind of instruments or software instruments that are used by producers in producing electronica are made with much more peaceful, calm, and relaxing motives behind their choice. Whether they’re guitars, pianos, synths, violins, bass, marimbas, hang drums etc.
Electronica is more subtle, more progressive, diverse, and inventive in its beats, modulations, and transitions, while the sampling or instruments or vocals are much more chill and calm & touch on more peaceful themes.
So if you take Downtempo & Chillout, which are slightly slower in tempo, and make them slightly more groove-oriented, and at a slightly higher BPM you get Electronica.
However, Electronica sounds as close to its nearest cousin which is Downtempo but with more groove and swing.
Electronica vocals also touch on lighter and happier themes as well.
There are a number of ways that Electronica artists produce music that fits the genre, but essentially, it’s to create music with a peaceful ethos and sound.
The Difference Between EDM & Electronica
EDM(Electronic Dance Music) has often been used to describe Electronica, yet there’s a vast difference between EDM and Electronica.
Both essentially touch on happier and uplifting themes, but EDM is louder, more party-oriented and created to be more danceable, and generally has 4x4 beats that are more continuous, and at times monotonous.
EDM tracks are generally longer and very synth-heavy, also they have more aggressive kick drums and snares which are produced and played by artists to primarily get large crowds dancing; it’s more festival-oriented music, whereas Electronica is much more for easy-listening & relaxing.
EDM uses more aggressive basslines, synths, and beats that are louder, more in your face, and longer in form that sound more cliche and blur into similar sounds from one EDM artist to the next.
Electronica can be danceable too, but in a subtler way. It’s not as overpowering as EDM and is much lighter and easier to listen to, while also having a groove and swing to it; it’s meant for just chilling out but has enough movement in its beats and percussion to get you grooving.
Electronica is much calmer, relaxing, peaceful, meditative, serene, and halcyonic which goes great with a pristine view or just while working or winding-down.
The best way to illustrate the difference between the two genres is the difference in sound from say a Bonobo or Four Tet from a Steve Aoki, David Guetta, Armin Van Buuren or Calvin Harris sort of sound, so you get the difference, right?
Electronica Pioneers
The first two names, as I’ve stated above, when it comes to the sound of Electronica are most definitely both UK-born artists Bonobo and Four Tet.
Simon Green(Bonobo) and Kieran Hebden(Four Tet) are arguably the pioneers of Electronica. Originating from the UK and being exposed to the electronic music scene there, in those early years, their music emerged as the blueprint for several Electronica artists to follow.
There music, by far, touches upon lighter themes, and peace. They’ve also been around for a while, releasing compelling album after album.
Bonobo released his first album “Animal Magic” in 2000 and Four Tet put out “Dialogue” in 1999. So it’s safe to say that they’ve pioneered the genre in its formative years.
Why The Term Should Be Used To Differentiate Electronica From EDM & Downtempo Other Genres
It’s important to segregate genres based on their sound so that listeners can differentiate, and tell the music apart from artist to artist.
The term “Electronica” should be strictly used for the genre of artists who make the pertinent sound of the genre as opposed to calling it EDM.
However, the term has been on the decline ever since the birth of the term EDM and has been lumped together into the EDM category while it’s clearly very different, as I’ve explained earlier.
The term Electronica needs to be revived and reused and become a staple name for artists within the spectrum of the genre and not group all electronic music into EDM, that’s just bad practice and bad taste.
My Single In The Electronica Genre
My single “A Bouquet Of Stars” is a track where I explored producing in the Electronica genre. Considering I produced this in the formative stages of my music production journey, it’s just a glimpse of my take on the genre that I love so much.
You can stream it here:
Electronica Artists
There are a wide range of artists who make Electronica all over the world who create music within the genre.
Searching for Electronica artists on Google can be misleading because the search engine blurs the genres of EDM, Trip Hop, IDM, and Downtempo into one, giving out lists of artists that aren’t actually Electronica artists.
While I could just list all the Electronica artists I like and listen to here in a simple list, I’d prefer that you check out my mixes & playlists, and albums and discover them for yourself by listening to them straight away!
But to name a few you have to check out, I’d say: Tor, Christian Loffler, Jon Hopkins, Nils Frahm, Marley Carroll, and Rohne.
The list is pretty extensive, so I’d recommend checking out my mixes, sets, and playlists.
You can find the tracklists with the artist’s names in the YouTube video description links or the Spotify playlists I’ve embedded (I hope you like the music!)
[Please also consider following my Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, & Mixcloud especially if you like the music! I would gladly appreciate it & it would go a long way in helping my career as a musician as I’m a very underground & undiscovered artist at the moment]
Here are all my mixes, and playlists with Electronica artists…..
Sunrise Over Om Beach
Another Sunset On The Horizon
In The Tides
Peace Piece
Movements Through Space
Dawn Chorus
Legend Mixes (Spotify Playlist)
Here are all the mixes put together in a Spotify playlist
In The Tides(Spotify Playlist)
A Summer With You (Soundcloud Set)
A Juxtaposition Of Images
About Me
I’m Gaurav. I’m a multi-genre musician, producer, film composer, entrepreneur, writer, and knowledge, football, film, and tech enthusiast. I’m a firm believer that ideas, knowledge, positive action & perseverance can change the world — “Music sets the soul in motion”
Here’s my Linktree:
That’s a wrap!
I hope you find this post informative and I hope it throws light on what Electronica really is, once again, do follow my profiles on YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, Mixcloud & other places.
Thank you! :)
