Experimental pop

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Experimental pop is pop music that cannot be categorized within traditional musical boundaries[1][2] or which attempts to push elements of existing popular forms into new areas.[3] It may incorporate experimental techniques such as musique concrète, aleatoric music, or eclecticism into pop contexts.[4] Often, the compositional process involves the use of electronic production effects to manipulate sounds and arrangements,[2] and the composer may draw the listener's attention specifically with both timbre and tonality, though not always simultaneously.[5]

Experimental pop music developed concurrently with

unnatural reverb
, and other sound effects, and by the late 1960s, highly experimental pop music, or sounds that expanded the idea of the typical popular song, was positively received by young audiences.

Characteristics

Author

Bill Martin states that while the term "experimental pop" may sound "seemingly oxymoronic
", it is possible to identify three criteria for characterizing its music:

Some tendencies among artists include the incorporation of experimental techniques such as musique concrète, aleatoric music, or eclecticism into pop contexts.[4] Often, the compositional process involves the use of electronic production effects to manipulate sounds and arrangements.[2] According to musicologist Leigh Landy, experimental pop settings combine sound-based work and note-based work, though not always simultaneously.[5] Composer Nico Muhly described the world of experimental pop as "celebrations of sonic juxtapositions".[6]

History

Origins (1950s–1960s)

Martin writes that experimental pop developed at roughly the same time as

experimental jazz,[nb 1] and that it emerged as "a new kind of avant-garde" made possible by the historical and material circumstances of its time.[3] In the pop and rock music of the early 1960s, it was common for producers, songwriters, and engineers to freely experiment with musical form, orchestration, unnatural reverb, and other sound effects. Some of the best known examples are Phil Spector's Wall of Sound and Joe Meek's use of homemade electronic sound effects for acts like the Tornados.[9] According to author Mark Brend, Meek's I Hear a New World (1960) predates better-known experimental pop by several years,[10][nb 2] whereas musicologist Leigh Landy names the American composer Frank Zappa as one of the first experimental pop musicians.[1]

Musician David Grubbs writes that many younger musicians "moved out of [John] Cage's shadow by taking to a different extreme and embracing the practice of making studio recordings of works along the fringes of popular music".[13] Grubbs further explains that some of the most prominent avant-garde musicians who formed rock bands in the mid 1960s were the Welsh John Cale (later of the Velvet Underground) and the American Joseph Byrd (later of the United States of America), who both went on to create albums of experimental pop music.[13] However, a "gulf" would still exist between experimental composers and "out-there" pop musicians, partly due to the role of the recording studio. Regarding this, composer Robert Ashley is quoted in 1966;

We can't be popular musicians, where the fairly exciting things happen. [...] The one thing I like about popular music is that they record it. They record it, record it, record it, record it! The astute producer cuts out the magic from the different tapes (laughter) and puts them in a certain order and gets a whole piece. It's very beautiful, because it's really aural magic. [...] We have to invent social situations to allow that magic to happen.[14]

Brian Wilson in the studio, 1976

Music historian Lorenzo Candalaria described American rock band the Beach Boys as "one of the most experimental and innovative groups of the 1960s."[15] Co-founder and leader Brian Wilson wrote and produced songs for the group that ranged from massive hits to obscure experimental pop compositions.[16][nb 3] Their 1966 single "Good Vibrations", also produced and co-written by Wilson, topped record charts internationally, subsequently proliferating a wave of pop experimentation with its rush of riff changes, echo chamber effects, and intricate harmonies.[19][nb 4] It was followed by Smiley Smile (1967), an album of stripped-down recordings. In 2003, Stylus Magazine wrote that the album "embrace[d] the listener with a drugged out sincerity; a feat never accomplished by the more pretentious and heavy-handed psychedelia of that era. It is for this reason Smiley Smile flows so well with the more experimental pop of today".[20]

In the view of artist

Syd Barret-led incarnation of Pink Floyd exemplified experimental pop.[21] The group found their initial success playing at the UFO Club in London, an underground venue whose objective was to provide an outlet for experimental pop groups.[22] According to The New York Times, Barrett and his subsequent solo albums "became a touchstone for experimental pop musicians".[23]

By the late 1960s, highly experimental pop music, or sounds that expanded the idea of the typical popular song, was positively received by young audiences, which cultural essayist

studio group referred to as an "experimental pop band" by The A.V. Club's Noel Murray.[27][nb 5]

1970s–1980s

Zurich
in 1976

Author Pascal Bussy wrote that German krautrock groups such as Can and Kraftwerk successfully bridged the gap between experimental and pop music in the 1970s, [29] while according to The New York Times, Kraftwerk refined an "experimental pop sensibility" on albums such as Radio-Activity (1976) and Trans-Europe Express (1977).[30] Writer Owen Hatherley located a "literary-experimental pop tradition" running throughout the United Kingdom during the 1970s and 1980s.[31] Embodied by artists such as Roxy Music, the Smiths, the Associates, and Pet Shop Boys, this tradition "balanced sexuality and literacy, ostentatious performance and austere rectitude, raging ambition and class resentment, translating it into records balancing experimentation with populist cohesion."[31]

Brian Eno at a live remix in 2012

The 1970s work of ex-Roxy Music member musician Brian Eno is cited by Leigh Landy as an archetypal example of a pop musician who "applied developments from the experimental sector while creating their own experimental pop sector."[32] Following his departure from Roxy Music in 1973, Eno began releasing a series of solo albums where he simultaneously developed his ambient, pop, and electronic styles.[33] In the belief of pop musician Scott Miller, they were the era's "most successful" experimental pop artists, explaining that the key to Eno's success "appears to have been making a science out of decision points (see 'Oblique Strategies') rather than being willfully weird or different at the usual unexamined decision points"[34][nb 6]

Eno's album

existing recordings, effectively fusing different styles, a technique used on the duo's 1981 album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.[38]

Laurie Anderson, 1980s

Public Enemy and KRS-One, emerged as a new form of experimental pop, seeing a renewed merger of artistic and political innovation.[42]

1990s–2000s

Icelandic singer Björk, who began her solo career in the 1990s, has been called "the queen of experimental pop" by The Guardian's Michael Cragg.[43]

The record label

Internet age experimental pop that drew on disparate sources such as new wave, avant-garde noise, R&B, and techno.[44] The label released projects by artists such as James Ferraro, Autre Ne Veut, Laurel Halo, Hype Williams, and Arca.[44]

Notes

  1. ^ In the chapter "Free Jazz and Experimental Jazz" of Music USA: The Rough Guide, the term "free jazz" is traced to the experimentations of a few musicians from Los Angeles in the late 1950s. Experimental jazz proceeded to become more "eccentric" over the next decade.[8]
  2. ^ In 2014, Meek was ranked the greatest producer of all time by NME, elaborating; "Meek was a complete trailblazer, attempting endless new ideas in his search for the perfect sound. [...] The legacy of his endless experimentation is writ large over most of your favourite music today."[11] His reputation for experiments in recording music was acknowledged by the Music Producers Guild, who found "The Joe Meek Award for Innovation in Production" in 2009 as an "homage to [the] remarkable producer's pioneering spirit". The first artist inaugurated was Brian Eno.[12]
  3. ^ New York magazine referred to the albums Pet Sounds (1966) and Smiley Smile (1967) as the group's "experimental pop phase",[17] while Sean O'Hagan of the High Llamas named Wilson "the most experimental pop pioneer of our time [...] The same way Sun Ra was utilizing those ideas in the '60s, those guys [Wilson and collaborator Van Dyke Parks] were actually playing around with pop experimental music".[18] NME ranked Wilson number eight in its "50 Greatest Producers Ever" list, describing his mid 1960s productions as "groundbreaking" and underheralded.[11]
  4. ^ AllMusic's John Bush compared the song's fragmented style to the cut-and-paste methods of experimentalist William S. Burroughs, continually switching between partially related sections, and challenging traditional verse-chorus-verse standards.[19]
  5. Smile era."[28]
  6. punk" and "the first approximations of new wave".[36]

References

  1. ^ a b Landy 1994, p. 100.
  2. ^ a b c Johnson 2009, p. 200.
  3. ^ a b c Martin 2015, pp. 4–5.
  4. ^ a b Johnson 2009, p. 199.
  5. ^ a b Landy 2012, p. 14.
  6. ^ Muhly, Nico (5 October 2007). "Walls come tumbling down". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  7. ^ Fact (February 28, 2013). "Joe Meek's experimental pop classic I Hear A New World gets expanded reissue". Fact.
  8. ^ Unterberger, Hicks & Dempsey 1999, pp. 14–15.
  9. ^ Blake 2009, p. 45.
  10. ^ Brend 2005, p. 55.
  11. ^ a b "The 50 Greatest Producers Ever". NME. July 23, 2014.
  12. ^ "Brian Eno wins the first Joe Meek award". Audioprointernational.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
  13. ^ a b Grubbs 2014, p. 61.
  14. ^ Grubbs 2014, p. 62.
  15. ^ Candelaria 2014, p. 130.
  16. Popmatters
    .
  17. ^ New York. New York Magazine Company. 1998.
  18. ^ Pederson, Erik (1997). "What the World Needs Now: The New Easy Listening". Option (77).[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ a b John, Bush. "Review". AllMusic. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  20. ^ Faust, Edwin (September 1, 2003). "The Beach Boys - Smiley Smile/Wild Honey". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  21. ^ Chapman 2012, p. 113.
  22. ^ Palacios 2010, p. 159.
  23. ^ Paraeles, Jon (July 12, 2006). "Syd Barrett, a Founder of Pink Floyd, Dies at 60". The New York Times.
  24. ^ Early 2001, p. 4.
  25. ^ Densmore 2009, p. 184.
  26. ^ Martin 2015, p. 4.
  27. ^ Murray, Noel (April 7, 2011). "Gateways to Geekery: Sunshine Pop". The A.V. Club. Onion Inc. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
  28. ^ Bogdanov, Woodstra & Erlewine 2002, p. 971.
  29. ^ Bussy 2004, p. 39.
  30. ^ Rubin, Mike (December 4, 2009). "Who Knew That Robots Were Funky?". The New York Times.
  31. ^ a b Hatherley, Owen (14 June 2011). "Pulp matter more than ever in today's cowed popcultural landscape". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  32. ^ Landy 2013, p. 167.
  33. ^ a b c Pickard, Joshua (October 10, 2015). "Record Bin: The experimental pop lucidity of Brian Eno's "Before and After Science"". Nooga. Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  34. ^ Miller 2010, p. 69.
  35. ^ Marantz, Andrew (December 31, 2012). "Finding Eno". Mother Jones.
  36. ^ Martin 1998, p. 251.
  37. ^ Mills, Gary (26 May 2010). "No Flak Jacket Required: In Defence Of Phil Collins". The Quietus. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  38. ^ Landy 1994, p. 44.
  39. ^ Hermes, Will (June 25, 2010). "Electronic Expressions in the Service of the Soul". The New York Times.
  40. ^ Cowley, Jason (15 October 2005). "Kate Bush, Aerial". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  41. Paste. Archived from the original
    on October 6, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  42. ^ Martin 1998, p. 6.
  43. ^ The Guardian[full citation needed]
  44. ^ a b Pajot, S. (2 August 2014). "Barron Machat, Founder of Hippos in Tanks Label, Died in Miami Car Crash". New Miami Times. Retrieved 15 July 2017.

Bibliography

Further reading