I spent about the last 3 hours listening to Electric Area (SiriusXM). A lot of modern electronic music seems to have morphed into what feels like semi-related, random clips of bleeps and burps pasted randomly together into something that's highly percussive and technologic sounding (which I like, don't get me wrong), but it got me wondering about popularity of here and now versus actually sitting down and writing a song with meaningful melodies versus letting the computer do much of the work for us.
I'm not sure that's necessarily an Ableton clip-triggering thing (because Cubase and FLS, which I use, allow the same thing... to a point where it's disgustingly simple to just record some snippets and assign them somewhat randomly, creating a patchwork quilt of "who knows what comes out"). And I'm not against beautiful accidents, but I thought it might be an interesting food for thought discussion if nothing else.
I enjoy listening to the current dubstep wave, but can't help feeling its a bit automated, kind of like society itself is becoming maybe?
Simultaneously I've gotten this recent urge to produce good old fashioned, cheesy disco... not so much for the musical value itself as for the nostalgic vibe it inspires for someone who grew up watching Starskey and Hutch or Baretta on TV as a kid
When 80's new wave came about I used to scoff at this music and how passé it was, yet now I have a new appreciation for it and feel inspired to have a go at producing it. Maybe I will say the same thing about dubstep in 20 years? Dubstep is the new Disco!