This is the central change and I agree it has essentially rendered the question of “where is the next huge change innovation band?” to be kind of nonsensical (in the literal sense, the question doesn’t make sense any more.)
Things are happening so fast with so many new great things coming out all the time (the first part of your sentence), and bands are no longer gatekept by the industry (the second part), that the changes are constant and more smooth now than the larger step changes of the past.
I would disagree. I think there is plenty of creativity and shredding going on in rock. From Bloodywood to Hanabie to Maximum the Hormone to the Voice of Baceprot.
I think the genre is vibrant, but all these groups are Asian, I think the West is in some doldrums as far as rock goes.
But they are taking influence from the East with folks like Poppy adding her spin, and producer Jordan Fish is doing some good stuff too. Sleep Token, Spiritbox, the future is looking good.
Popular artists/bands playing music that evolved from the blues on electrified instruments is far from dead.
But the strain of popular music that evolved out of blues that is thriving is the one based on the funk and soul that black people evolved blues into.
Hip hop artists are making much stronger use of live instrumentation now than ever before. Sampling collage is falling away because copyright lawsuits are getting crazy.
I guess the Eastern groups are a possible new frontier I could see Rock with Eastern influence as you mention becoming a new commonly recognised genre, as that has an original influence as long as it was recognizable both as rock but also a definite new sub-genre
Yeah cool songs are being made as I said, I am interested whether any of those artists are part of a scene?
Is there a loose grouping of bands in a time (and often place) that are all going a new musical sub-direction bouncing off each other i.e. following ‘the new sound’ …a thing that magically one day crystalizes to the world at large as a new genre that everyone knows
Actually despite living here I would say there is as much new stuff going on in rock in the west. Here there’s a lot of what I would consider new fresh takes on power pop, electropop, indie, power metal, etc being done by exceptionally technically proficient artists; but when you look at someone like Band Maid it’s still basically power metal. Same really for Babymetal, etc. Yes there are other eastern influences but what really sets them apart are the technical skills of the musicians.
It sure is thriving though.
Contrast with the west and you have vast new genres that have surfaced inthe last 20 years or so - post-rock, post-metal, etc. Then you also have new fresh takes on Shoegaze, Post-Punk, Post-Hardcore, not to mention retro synthwave, etc.
The Russians are also going strong with rock; lots of goth, post-punk, new stuff like Maidcore, etc
I wouldn’t say any region is especially beating the others here, its just that some are more popular on YouTube.
I say that being the first to stand behind local Japanese bands, too.
Really though, these kids jumping into and modernizing shoegaze with some of the insane tech available now (by god some of the reverb pedals out there would make 1992 Slowdive cry) is incredible. Post-punk nowadays… man it’s not repackaged goth rock anymore. Tbh, as far as pushing boundaries in existing genres, I think modern post punk is where it’s at. There’s some notso hotso crud coming out of that scene too, but the gems blow anything that came out of the 80s / 90s out of the water. Modern Post Hardcore is probably my least favorite of the 3. I really think the Husker Du’s, Black Flags, Fugazi’s, Lungfish etc. did it better and that’s my get off my lawn opinion about it.
But isn’t all that post-something in fact just warming up old dishes. Might taste better … but it is still the same dish!?
It’s like spending a night with a girl, that tells you you are a “post-best-lover” after
Still haven’t heared of any new sub culture that defines a new genre and has created a classic like “Love will tear us apart”, sorry!
By the way, I discussed this topic with some of my younger “park friends” (guys & gals I meet while practicing bass). Those are hippies, technoheads, some hip-hoppers, all kinds of weird left-wing underground people … many of them actually listening to “old” music.
I found it especially funny to hear (great) 90s techno from a sausage fest (many dudes and a two girls) next to my favourite bass practicing spot.
I got into a conversation with them, got an actual sausage (from the barbecue, no worries :-)) - and none of them could really tell me about some new movement, let alone an instant classic.
Hahaha … but is it?
The Techno sausage fest discussion this week started, when they played "Insomnia by Faithless.
Now that WAS an instant classic. I clearly remember when I heared it the first time. And this is true for most techno old timers I know. And even those young girl-less dudes in the park shared the feeling.
I cannot define what makes the quality of an “instant classic”, but there is something to it.
“Love will tears us apart” was surely a defining moment too, when heared first in the 80s … it’s still a song that is played at every reunion with the other old f@rts I know, everybody gets this melancholic gaze when listening to it, mixed with the joy of almost forgotten memories.
EDIT Just read an article about “brain rot”, funnily enough coined by Thoreau (the “Walden” guy). Maybe the deterioration of music correlates with the the deterioration the general mental or intellectual state? It explains a lot, also other current developments
You’re still missing the point @g13dip and I were making - due to changes in both production (anyone can get the tools to do it) and publishing (label gatekeeping gone, many more distro channels), big step changes like that are simply not the way things happen any more, in favor of constant and much more rapid evolution.
The breadth of available styles are so much wider now than in 1980 it’s silly.
tl;dr, you’re not going to get what you are looking for because it is no longer how things work.
So, I’m expecting a revolution, where I can find only an evolution?
I can live with that explanation!
I was thinking a lot about this discussion. Maybe it makes a difference for people that were (are???) actual part of a sub culture - in contrast to “just listening to music”?
If music is an integral part of a life style or even way of life, you tend to defend it.
