Any genres currently having their 'Golden Years'?

[Julian Del Agranda]

I think a lot of these genres are made up just to be ‘an inventor’ of something. And thats ‘cool’. Its marketing. Not always justified or needed to label it a whole new genre.

 

[freewave]

I think a lot of these genres are made up just to be ‘an inventor’ of something. And thats ‘cool’. Its marketing. Not always justified or needed to label it a whole new genre.

I agree to a degree. That said electronic dance music (and other genres too) are survival of the fittest and its innovation and diversification that lead to some many new subgenre's branching off and keeping music fresh and vital. It's Darwin's Law music style and its absolutely essential. But for every recognized genre, there's debatable microgenres, and more failed attempts that went nowhere. The worst though are renaming the same new genre several different ways as its taking off because the term hasn't solidified. So it seems several names are floating around for the same scene but with different vibes from different labels.. There's no way around that as genres emerge from individual artists and labels and not via organized committees of course.

 

[Recharge]

I think you are missing a very obvious genre that I absolutely dislike hence I am sure it is in its peak atm - Reggaeton. Its huge in both Americas, Europe, Africa I am not sure about Australia and Asia though. And definitely has been on the rise in the past 5 years.

 

[dmgtz96]

I think you are missing a very obvious genre that I absolutely dislike hence I am sure it is in its peak atm - Reggaeton. Its huge in both Americas, Europe, Africa I am not sure about Australia and Asia though. And definitely has been on the rise in the past 5 years.

Well, yes but actually no.
Reggaeton had its first peak back in ~2004, when Daddy Yankee's Gasolina made it to the general mainstream. Before it, reggaeton had a darker, more aggressive, more underground vibe, and even after Gasolina it retained many of its original elements. Similar to early hip hop, this kind of reggaeton talked about the struggles of poverty in Puerto Rico (and elsewhere in LatAm).
The genre faded into obscurity outside of Latin America shortly after, and it did not resurface until ~2016 when a new wave of reggaeton flooded mainstream pop music. This version of reggaeton was softer, more commercial, more 4 chords-like and is the genre to which Despacito belongs. "Despacito" represents the epitome of reggaeton's popularity at any time in history.
Once the soundcloud rappers of 2018 took over, reggaeton faded from the mainstream focus. You still have a few mainstream hits here and there, but it's not like 2016-2017. I've also noticed artists pushing the boundaries to sound more underground (vs. fully commercial).

 

[Hensmon]

Weird one, but how about the 'non-thinking' genres. I brought up lo-fi before. It's not a genre meant for dancing but also Its not even meant for listening. It's background, switch off music, or something to fill a void. The genre is just one example of the larger cultural/listening norm today, which didn't exist 10 years ago, which is essentially the rise of and backgroundification of music, enabled of course by the rise of Youtube.

We've seen quite a few genres go this route, and become hugely popular because of it, or even get 'invented'. Lo-fi if the most famous one, but today's dub techno is another great example... just a sea of endless mixes where every track sounds the same, has very little musical creativity, and just replicates the most basic formula in order to pass itself of as that particular genre. Modern Psybient has become completely formualised for this type of experience now, so generic, but listening for 4 hours is not an issue. Organic House i'd say is a genre born from it. You'll find deep house, jazz, prog, prog rock, house, even nature noises, ethnic/historical music - its all been completely Youtubed! Nothing but formulas!.

It seems to be one of the most popular, if not the most popular way to listen to music today, and it never existed until recently. I spent many times with these types of mixes myself, but have mixed feelings. You could call the last 7 years the golden period for this then? Not saying its this brilliant thing, but probable notable when looking back in 50 years.

 

[nightslapper]

ironically, I would say trance has entered its second golden season after the late 90s/early 00s. you can now see some big EDM and techno artists and labels dropping more and more trance releases.

or course, for those who are following trance for a while, the current hype around it may seem too forced / marketing driven but I am pretty sure now is exciting time to discover the genre and become a new trance fan

 

[Magdelayna]

ironically, I would say trance has entered its second golden season after the late 90s/early 00s. you can now see some big EDM and techno artists and labels dropping more and more trance releases.

or course, for those who are following trance for a while, the current hype around it may seem too forced / marketing driven but I am pretty sure now is exciting time to discover the genre and become a new trance fan

You are joking - theres nothing been golden for a long time haha. Trance is at its weakest its ever been...

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

Lo-fi if the most famous one, but today's dub techno is another great example... just a sea of endless mixes where every track sounds the same, has very little musical creativity, and just replicates the most basic formula in order to pass itself of as that particular genre.

you should not trust the -digital only- labels and releases, concentrate on -vinyl only- or -vinyl+digital- labels/releases and also with 'Dub Techno' you will find much more quality, the best labels have 3 max 6 releases in a year, they are harder to found but it is worth of the search... also those popular -no name-(genres oriented) mixes on youtube/soundcloud are super generic, search for mixes from Djs and selectors that are actually paid for their work with live gigs ... this works for me since 2007, its the easiest way how to select generic music from the better releases

 

[Redrot]

UK/neuro-inspired cinematic bass music/glitch hop/whatever people call it is having an amazing time right now, lots of young producers doing really incredible things. Think KOAN Sound (they're still kickin but they've gone more orchestral recently), but some other names include Stasys, Azaleh, Alydian, Echo Map, Hudson Lee, Frequent, and ALEPH.

Stasys recently put out a 4 track album. Each track is 10 minutes.

https://soundcloud.com/stasysmusial%2Fsets%2Fthe-alchemist
There is also a lot of hot stinking garbage out there too though, be warned.

Also, I'm pretty offended at the dub techno "renaissance" because the tunes they choose for those most of the time are sooooo bland and cookie-cutter. There's fantastic dub techno out there but that ain't it. Those mixes are like the equivalent of those "VOCAL BEST TRANCE HEAVEN MIX #89173.83" mixes on youtube that I swear have to be AI-generated at this point.

 

[Julian Del Agranda]

Trash remixes of 90s classics by David Guetta.

 

[Jetflag]

Dunno if this counts as a genre... but theme-based-ambient is something thats doing quite well. basically ambient music made from or for a particular theme. (dune, warhammer, "cyber punk" etc.)

 

[Hensmon]

you should not trust the -digital only- labels and releases, concentrate on -vinyl only- or -vinyl+digital- labels/releases and also with 'Dub Techno' you will find much more quality

Yeah I have found a great love for dub techno in recent years by looking in the more obscure places, finding those quality ones that do exist. I'm more just making an observation that 'background' interpretations of this genre, and many other genres, seem to have had an explosion in the last decade, where much of music is no longer for the purpose of dancing or meaningful listening (as it was in the past) and instead now for low cognitive purposes, like studying, cooking, driving, task completion, mood setting. Mood genres is a good word for it. Jetflag themed example is just another version of this.

Lo-fi music was almost invented from this need or purposes, and most genres have produced a variant in the same light. It does lead to generic, mundane, formulaic and cookie cutter approaches, but it also serves the purpose. I really like lo-fi music in some instances, and sometimes the dub techno ones too. It serves the purpose and I can choose the mood. I don't look for any meaningful listening experience with it.

 

[Redrot]

Lo-fi music was almost invented from this need or purposes,

Strongly disagree with this. It was popularized by those youtube channels and vaporwave-aesthetic simpsonwave videos but it was around (and frankly a lot more interesting on average) before that all came about. A lot of early vaporwave is quite avant-garde and definitely not a "functional" music.

Granted, I say this with this album being one of my go-to work albums:


I hope that the identity of the genre hasn't focused on more "functional" stuff, but from my not-too-invested understanding of the genre, that still is not the case. Groups like nmesh and death's dynamic shroud are still doing really bold, music-first stuff.

 

[Recharge]

Synthwave was probably down to Stranger Things and some other 80s throwbacks being produced...you had the Muse and Digital Blonde albums paying tribute to that sound. Very small in terms of talking about a golden era though.

Maybe at the start yeah, but if Blinding Lights proved something is that synthwave and elecro-pop can be big even now. With that said its far from a golden era/age, but definitely showing some life.

 

[Hensmon]

It was popularized by those youtube channels and vaporwave-aesthetic simpsonwave videos but it was around (and frankly a lot more interesting on average) before that all came about.

Yes but i'm not talking about the first invention, but the 'golden moment' where popularity, quality and cultural movements all diverge in some ratio together. Some say Trance golden years was 99 for example, but we had almost 10 years of people making Trance before that point.

 

[Redrot]

Maybe I'm conflating the ideas of golden moment meaning "peak of quality music" and "peak of popularity." The two are widely different notions imo, though I guess they did coincide for trance, depending on who you ask.

 

[Hensmon]

I think there's a point where the two overlap, where really high quality stuff is realized fully (uniting the underground and non-underground) and a strong cultural movement appears. The events start increasing, the volume of quality increases, new ideas flourish, the buzz is everywhere, people are talking, sharing, creating and lots of recognition is seen.

 

[TRANCEBLASTER]

this guy has some point about music 5:22 - 7:40

 

[Magdelayna]

He has some good points - like no one sits down at the same exact time to watch something on TV anymore. But i did think of something different - online dating haha.

 

[GeorD]

Industrial Hardstyle is currently at its best, and keeps revolutionizing every few months. Some guys like Mortis, Kruelty, Mindst8, Insurgent and Amduscias are pushing the limits with every release.

Check here

I'd call it a golden age, but as is the case with these things sadly, it's only truly possible to recognize one once they've passed.