Electronica benefited from advancements in music technology, especially electronic musical

instruments, synthesizers, music sequencers, drum machines, anddigital audio workstations. As

the technology developed, it became possible for individuals or smaller groups to produce
electronic songs and recordings in smaller studios, even in project studios. At the same time,
computers facilitated the use of music "samples" and "loops" as construction kits for sonic
compositions.[6] This led to a period of creative experimentation and the development of new
forms, some of which became known as electronica.[7][8]
Electronica currently includes a wide variety of musical acts and styles, linked by a penchant for
overtly electronic production;[9] a range which includes more popular acts such
as Bjrk, Madonna, Goldfrapp and IDM artists such as Autechre, and Aphex Twin to duboriented downtempo, downbeat, and trip-hop. Madonna and Bjrk are said to be responsible for
electronica's thrust into mainstream culture, with their albums Ray of
Light (Madonna),[10] Post and Homogenic (Bjrk). Electronica artists that would later become
commercially successful began to record in the late 1980s, before the term had come into
common usage, including for example The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk, The Chemical
Brothers, The Crystal Method, Epoch, Moby, Electro
Arcade, Underworld and Faithless.[11] Electronica composers often create alternate versions of
their compositions, known as "remixes"; this practice also occurs in related musical forms such
as ambient, jungle, andelectronic dance music.[12] Wide ranges of influences, both sonic and
compositional, are combined in electronica recordings.[13] Hits from this period
includeinstrumental pieces like Children by Robert Miles (1995).
The more abstract Autechre and Aphex Twin around this time were releasing early records in
the "intelligent techno" or so-called intelligent dance music (IDM) style, while other Bristol-based
musicians such as Tricky, Leftfield, Massive Attack and Portishead were experimenting with the
fusion of electronic textures with hip-hop,R&B rhythms to form what became known as trip-hop.
Later extensions to the trip-hop aesthetic around 1997 came from the highly influential Viennabased duo ofKruder & Dorfmeister, whose blunted, dubbed-out, slowed beats became the
blueprint for the new style of downtempo.
It could be noted that older bands such as Eurythmics, Erasure, New Order and Depeche
Mode had built on the new wave music of the 1980s and added more dance and electronic
instrumentation and alternative rock influences to become early pioneers of "electronica" music.

Global patterns of popularity[edit]

By the late 1990s, artists like Moby had become internationally famous, releasing albums and
performing regularly in major venues.

New York City became one center of experimentation and growth for the electronica sound, with
DJs and music producers from areas as diverse as Southeast Asia and Brazil brought their
creative work to the nightclubs of that city.[14][15]

Effect on mainstream popular music[edit]

Around the mid-1990s, with the success of the big beat-sound exemplified by The Chemical
Brothers and The Prodigy in the UK, and spurred by the attention from mainstream artists,
including Madonna in her collaboration with William Orbit on her album Ray of Light[10] and
Australian singer Dannii Minogue with her 1997 album Girl,[16] music of this period began to be
produced with a higher budget, increased technical quality, and with more layers than most
other forms of dance music, since it was backed by major record labels and MTV as the "next
big thing".[17]
In the late 80s, rave culture began to filter through from English ex-pats and DJs who would visit
Europe. However, rave culture's major expansion in North America is often credited to Frankie
Bones, who after spinning a party in an aircraft hangar in England helped organize some of the
earliest known American raves in the 1990s in New York City called "Storm Raves" which
maintained a consistent core audience. Coinciding at the same time were the "NASA" parties in
NYC by DJ Scotto, which were featured in the 1995 film Kids, and forthcoming was concert
producer p.a.w.n. Lasers in Pennsylvania who later became the most well known laser company
at raves in East Coast by cross-promoting these rave events State to State as far south as
Florida and Louisiana. After this, hundreds of smaller promotional groups sprung up across the
east coast such as Ultraworld (MD,DC), Park Rave Madness (NYC), G.O. Guaranteed
Overdose (NYC), Local 13 (NJ), Caffeine (NYC), Liquid Grooove aka Liquified (GA), Columns of
Knowledge (CT), Special K aka Circle Management (PA), Zen Festivals (FL), Disco Donnie
(LA), Ultra Music Festival (FL), and later the west coast, causing a true "scene" to develop.
According to a 1997 Billboard article, "[t]he union of the club community and independent
labels" provided the experimental and trend-setting environment in which electronica acts
developed and eventually reached the mainstream. It cites American labels such
as Astralwerks (The Future Sound of London, Fluke), Moonshine(DJ Keoki), Sims, and City of
Angels (The Crystal Method) for playing a significant role in discovering and marketing artists
who became popularized in the electronica scene.[2]
Radiohead's Kid A (2000) found one of the most polarised critical receptions for an adoption of
electronic sounds by a rock group, but the album also received wide acclaim, their next
album Amnesiac (2001) further diverged into electronic style. and the band cited their debts to

many electronic musicians, such as Autechre andBoards of Canada, in a recording which

reached number one on the US album charts.[citation needed]
In the early 2000s, electronica-inspired post-punk experienced a revival, with rock bands such
as Interpol and The Killers specifically drawing on the 1980s sound ofNew Order and The
Cure.[citation needed]
With newly prominent music styles such as reggaeton, and subgenres such as electroclash,
and favela funk, electronic music styles in the current decade are seen to permeate nearly all
genres of the mainstream and indie landscape such that a distinct "electronica" genre of pop
music is rarely noted.[citation needed]

Hip hop fusion[edit]

Hip hop DJs and producers had been mining electronic sounds to create beats since Afrika
Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash pioneered the use of drum machines and synthesizers in
the early 1980s, and the hip hop genre shared with other forms of electronic music an emphasis
on sampling. Beginning with the success of Dr. Dre and G-funk rap in the mid-1990s, many hip
hop producers began turning to a more synthesized sound, resulting in the rise of
"superproducers" such as The Neptunes, who cultivated a science fiction image with sleek,
overtly electronic beats, and Timbaland, who did likewise and also was known for creative
sampling, rising to fame for his work with Aaliyah and Missy Elliott and producing a variety
of pop and R&B records for artists such as Justin Timberlake. Timberlake's 2006 hit songs
"SexyBack" and "My Love", both produced by Timbaland, were particularly notable for their
electronic aesthetic, while The Neptunes worked with a range of acts from Britney
Spears to Jay-Z.
A variety of other hip hop performers used electronica-influenced sounds as hooks in their
songs. Outkast, a popular and acclaimed hip hop duo, adopted sounds in their 2003 hit single
"Hey Ya" and member/producer Andre Benjamin praised the music of Squarepusher. In
2007 Kanye West, initially known for more natural sounding hip hop productions influenced by
classic R&B music, released his third album Graduation, which featured some songs with a
sharp electronic aesthetic, a sound which greatly expanded on West's latest album, where he
emphasized synthesizer and vocal manipulations prominently and cited major influences from
1980s synthpop music, as well as from T-Pain, a hip-hop performer known for manipulating his
voice by using the electronic effect processor Autotune. However, West's 2007 single "Stronger"
used a prominent sample from a song by the French dance-oriented electronic act Daft Punk,
whose work in the 1990s and early 2000s was also becoming highly sampled and influential on
the musical aesthetic of acts in other genres such as indie rock and indie dance.

Electronica in 2009 gained global recognition as an essential part of most hip hop becoming the
core sound on a range of tracks by artists like The Black Eyed Peasand new emerging artists
like Tinie Tempah, and in 2010 Daft Punk with the release of the soundtrack for Tron: Legacy.

Post-hardcore fusion[edit]
Main article: Electronicore
In the mid to late 2000s, many electronic post-hardcore bands that were newly formed began
receiving attention.[18] I See Stars's debut-full-length album, 3-D andmetalcore band, Attack
Attack!'s debut album, Someday Came Suddenly, set a precedent for newer bands of this
style.[19]
The first single from Someday Came Suddenly, "Stick Stickly", was released on June 4, 2009. It
reached a good amount of popularity as it spawned a music video as well as its inclusion as
downloadable content for Rock Band 2 via the Rock Band Network in March 2010.[20] Canadian
post-hardcore band, Abandon All Shipsfurther popularized this genre. Upon being signed
to Rise Records, the band had a large success with their single "Take One Last
Breath".[21] British metalcore bandAsking Alexandria expanded on the traditional electronica
sounds in their cover of Akon's "Right Now (Na Na Na)" on Punk Goes Pop 3.
These bands often play songs that contain "dancable beats, with some breakdowns splashed
in."[22]

Included in today's media[edit]

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, electronica music was increasingly used as background
scores for television advertisements, initially for automobiles. It was also used for various video
games, including the Wipeout series, for which the soundtrack was composed of many popular
electronica tracks that helped create more interest in this type of music[23]and later for other
technological and business products such as computers and financial services. Then in
2011, Hyundai Veloster, in association with The Grammys, produced a project that became
known as Re:Generation