Avant-pop music
Avant-pop is a form of popular music that is experimental, new, and distinct from previous styles[1] while retaining an immediate accessibility for the listener.[2]
Definition
Generally, "avant-garde music" refers to music which attempts to challenge or alienate its audiences by being purposely outrageous,[3] wheras "popular music" is designed to have mass appeal.[4] Writer Tejumola Olaniyan describes "avant-pop music" as trangressing "the boundaries of established styles, the meanings those styles reference, and the social norms they support or imply."[1] Paul Grimstad says it's music that "re-sequences the Legos of song structure, so that (a) none of the charm of the tune is lost, but (b) this very accessibility leads one to bump into weirder elements welded into the design."[2] The Tribeca New Music Festival defines it as "music that draws its energy from both popular music and classical forms", ranging from Charles Ives to Frank Zappa.[5]
Pioneers
In 1959, music producer Joe Meek recorded I Hear a New World (1960), which Tiny Mix Tapes' Jonathan Patrick calls a "seminal moment in both electronic music and avant-pop history [...] [the album] is a collection of dreamy pop vignettes, adorned with dubby echoes and tape-warped sonic tendrils. These pop experiments, originally released in abbreviated form, were all but ignored at the time."[6] According to The Quietus' David McNamee, the electronic music group White Noise's debut studio album An Electric Storm (1968) is an "undisputed masterpiece of early avant-pop".[7] Others who have been credited as avant-pop's pioneers include the Velvet Underground's Lou Reed,[8] performance artist Laurie Anderson,[9] art pop musician Spookey Ruben,[10] and Black Dice's Eric Copeland.[11]
List of artists
- Laurie Anderson[9]
- Autechre[12]
- Björk[13][14]
- Kate Bush[14]
- The Feelies[15]
- The Flaming Lips[16]
- Fela Kuti[1]
- Githead[17]
- Gauntlet Hair[18]
- The High Llamas[19]
- Charles Ives[5]
- Daniel Johnston[20]
- Grace Jones[21]
- Mercury Rev[22]
- My Bloody Valentine[23]
- Róisín Murphy[24]
- Roxy Music (early records)[25]
- Sack und Blumm[26]
- Slapp Happy[27]
- Stereolab[26][14]
- The Sugarcubes[28]
- Brian Wilson (between 1965–67)[29]
- Frank Zappa[5]
References
- 1 2 3 Olaniyan, Tejumola (2004). Arrest the Music!: Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics. Indiana University Press. p. 7.
- 1 2 Paul Grimstad (September 4, 2007). "What Is Avant-Pop?". Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
- ↑ "Avant-Garde Music". AllMusic.
- ↑ "Popular music". collinsdictionary.com.
- 1 2 3 Kozinn, Alann (May 11, 2006). "'Emerging Avant-Pop': From Charles Ives to Frank Zappa". The New York TImes.
- ↑ Patrick, Jonathan (March 8, 2013). "Joe Meek's pop masterpiece I Hear a New World gets the chance to haunt a whole new generation of audiophile geeks". Tiny Mix Tapes.
- ↑ McNamee, David (January 19, 2009). "The Best Of The BBC Radiophonic Workshop On One Side Of A C90". The Quietus.
- ↑ Marmer, Jake (October 29, 2012). "Lou Reed's Rabbi". Tablet Mag.
- 1 2 Michael Anthony (March 22, 2016). "Laurie Anderson, More Than 'Just a Storyteller'". Star Tribune.
- ↑ Siegel, Evan (February 10, 2016). "Avant-Pop Pioneer Spookey Ruben Conducts a Synth Symphony on 'Granma Faye'". Spin.
- ↑ Pitchfork Staff "Eric Copeland: avant-pop pioneer", Guardian Music Blog, November 18, 2008 , accessed March 22, 2011.
- ↑ Morley, Paul (January 13, 2001). "Autechre". The Quietus.
- ↑ Electronic Beats
- 1 2 3 Maloney, Sean L. (January 28, 2016). "Album review: Your Friend, 'Gumption'". Boston Globe.
- ↑ Ankeny, Jason. "The Feelies". AllMusic.
- ↑ Leopold, Todd (May 20, 2009). "What will save rock 'n' roll?". CNN.
- ↑ Neate, Wilson (2007). "Githead - Art Pop". AllMusic.
- ↑ Phares, Heather. "Gauntlet Hair". AllMusic.
- ↑ Murray, Noel (December 6, 2011). "A year in song (40 great tracks in 40 sentences)". The A.V. Club.
- ↑ Spin Staff (June 12, 2012). "Daniel Johnston and Supreme Join Forces for T-Shirt Line". Spin.
- ↑ Justin Joffe (June 2, 2015). "AFROPUNK Announces Lineup, New Paid Ticket System". The Observer.
- ↑ Ankeny, Jason (September 11, 2001). "Mercury Rev". AllMusic.
- ↑ Phares, Heather. "Shocking Pinks". AllMusic.
- ↑ Idolator
- ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Roxy Music - Avalon". AllMusic.
- 1 2 Couture, François (2001). "Sucre 3". AllMusic.
- ↑ Ankeny, Jason. "Slapp Happy". AllMusic.
- ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Björk". AllMusic.
- ↑ Hann, Michael (September 30, 2012). "The Beach Boys – review". The Guardian.