Electro (music)
[13] This aspect of the Roland TR-808 was especially appealing to producers who would test drive their tracks in nightclubs (like NYC's Funhouse), where the bass drum sound was essential for a record's success.
A number of popular songs in the early 1980s employed the TR-808, including Marvin Gaye's “Sexual Healing,” Cybotron's “Clear,” and Afrika Bambaataa's “Planet Rock.”[15] The Roland TR-808 has attained iconic status, eventually being used on more hits than any other drum machine.
Other electro instrumentation was generally electronic, favoring analog synthesis, programmed bass lines, sequenced or arpeggiated synthetic riffs, and atonal sound effects all created with synthesizers.
Heavy use of effects such as reverbs, delays, chorus or phasers along with eerie synthetic ensemble strings or pad sounds emphasized the science fiction or futuristic themes of classic (1980s) electro, represented in the lyrics and/or music.
The imagery of its lyrical refrain space is the place for the human race pays homage to Sun Ra's 1974 film of the same name,[18] while its synth lines and sound effects are informed by sci-fi, computer games, and cartoons,"born of a science-fiction revival.".
Additionally, speech synthesis may be used to create robotic or mechanical lyrical content, as in the iconic Planet Rock and the automatous chant in the chorus of Nunk by Warp 9.
Male rap dominated the genre, however female rappers are an integral part of the electro tradition, whether featured in a group as in Warp 9 or as solo performers like Roxanne Shante.
Without him, there'd be no electro.Following the decline of disco music in the late 1970s, various funk artists such as Zapp began experimenting with talk boxes and the use of heavier, more distinctive beats.
[21] Electro eventually emerged as a fusion of different styles, including funk, boogie combined with German and Japanese technopop, in addition to influences from the futurism of Alvin Toffler, martial arts films, and video game music.
"[17] Although remaining unreleased, a pre-Def Jam Russell Simmons produced Bruce Haack's proto hip-hop single "Party Machine" at a studio in Philadelphia.
Electro hip hop releases in 1982 include songs by: Planet Patrol, Warp 9, Man Parrish, George Clinton (Computer Games), Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Tyrone Brunson, The Jonzun Crew and Whodini.
[28] At the time Hashim was influenced by Man Parrish's "Hip Hop, Be Bop", Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" and Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock".
[32] Baker, Pettibone, Golden and Scher enjoyed robust careers well into the house era, eluding the "genre trap" to successfully produce mainstream artists.
[33] Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Detroit Techno musicians James Stinson and Gerald Donald released numerous EPs, singles and albums of conceptual electro music under several different aliases.
[34] In the early 1980s, Detroit techno DJ Eddie Fowlkes shaped a related style called electro-soul, which was characterized by a predominant bass line and a chopped up electro breakbeat contrasted with soulful male vocals.
[42] The genre enjoyed a resurgence starting in 2016, with DJs like Helena Hauff and DJ Stingray gaining more popularity and festivals like Dekmantel featuring it prominently on their lineups.
Labels like Cultivated Electronics, CPU, Mars Frequency Records, Furatena, brokntoys and Mechatronica are currently pushing a new trove of artists [43][44] which has introduced the genre to a new generation.
