Where do you see popular music heading from here?

[Guest]

I know this thread has doubtless been done many times before, but I can't recall it recently and I'm on here on an almost daily basis.

Instant access culture has lead to an interesting homogenization within popular music, whereby artists are drawing from a far more varied field of influences than ever before. We see this throughout all genres, and I'd just like to bring up some recent examples; How To Dress Well sounds like he took his cue from Basinski and Beyonce in equal measure; A$AP Rocky melds classic Dipset-esque Harlem flashiness with a Southern flow, and does it over Clams Casino's trippy, Bjork-influenced beats; Ariel Pink uses the lo-fi aesthetic of Daniel Johnston and Beat Happening and twists it to his will, most notably adapting the New Pop of ABC and the like throughout parts of his breakthrough record Before Today; even in metal artists like Clouds Collide and Consciousness Removal Project have taken cues from post-rock, shoegaze and electronic music to expand the sonic palette of the genre (I won't pretend I'm an expert on this, and I understand if this isn't a remotely new phenomenon, though I'd be surprised if this sort of thing was being attempted so widely and successfully five years ago). Simon Reynolds argued in his excellent book Retromania that popular music is stuck in a constant cycle of rehashing certain sounds over and over again ad infinty (even now we're essentially seeing this, with trap bearing many similarities to the early grime instrumental that are now over a decade old), but whilst it is undoubtedly true that certain sounds are destined to be dragged up and molded into the de rigeur every few years or so (look at early Faust records and their influence on post-punk, and then the subsequent post-punk revival) I tend to think that the increasingly adept melding of influences - and subsequent blurring of the lines - is leading to, if not quite new genres, genres that are being twisted and forced in strange, unexpected and largely uncharted directions. There's a strong argument to be made for 2012 being the greatest year ever in music, and I think this is down to the aforementioned "blurring of the lines". Take hip-hop for example, whereby rappers who just five years ago wouldn't have been commercially viable due to their experimental bent are now the genre's rising stars (the aforementioned A$AP Rocky and his innovative ear for beats; Kendrick Lamar with his Beach House samples and his willingness to create a complex story-telling concept album that asks the listener to step their game up a bit, which listeners have clearly felt obliged to do; even Action Bronson, who is ostensibly a New York rap formalist in the mold of Kool G. Rap, teaming up with producer Party Supplies to scour YouTube for low quality samples and then fluff his lines on record and keep the mistakes in; it would be remiss not to mention how influential Madvillainy was on all of this), or electronic music (John Talabot forging his own path in house music; Flying Lotus' stream of consciousness electro-jazz). All the artists mentioned above have clear influences, and many elements of their sound are not remotely new, but the way they are being put together is genuinely innovative, and even more impressive is the amount of popular acclaim and success they are achieving whilst doing so.

So my questions are these:

Where do you see popular music heading from here, as a whole?
Where do you see your preferred genres heading from here?
Which genres could benefit from a sonic shakeup, and what influences would you like to see make their way into those genres?
Which artists do you think will stand out from the crowd in terms of quality and innovation?
What new ideas would you like to see within popular music?

This thread is meant to be a fluid thread in which people can discuss their ideas about the future of pop music, and also their thoughts on the sounds of the last few years. The topic is a pretty open one, so it shouldn't be difficult to stay within those wide parameters. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[purple]

Kranky records musicians will soon begin focusing on process ambient music rather than "natural" ambient music. This will quickly spread across such veritable rosters as Constellation and Warp, eventually making it's way into "indie music" acts like Grizzly Bear and Tame Impala. Soon after, only process music will be able to get "Best New Music" on Pitchfork. Process will quickly become adopted by discerning pop artists such as Katy Perry and Robyn, and Ovalprocess will become the new autotune. In the year 2020, Kanye West will make a 70 minute long magnum opus called "Runaway 2.0," in which he parodies Ovalprocess to hide his "emotions" and clunky raps.

[ButterThumbz]

As with anything that's constantly evolving, I'd regard any attempt to guess where it was heading would be a fruitless endeavour, even if the next "innovation" was just a matter of combining or re-purposing old aesthetics.

I think it's quite telling that when I encounter something new and exciting, I always feel like it was just what I had been waiting for despite having no prior knowledge of it's existence. [Edit] On second thoughts, that seems so obvious that it seems rather idiotic of me to point it out. If I already knew what music was missing, I'd make it myself.

[Norman Bates]

[Jasonconfused]

[Jasonconfused]

Well with all the new technology I see music becoming more and more electronic, if that's even possible at this point. More pronounced mixing of genres.

One of my preferred genres of music, metal, will probably continue to head in a direction that I'm not really interested in. I'll stick with more retro sounds as far as metal goes.

Not sure what genre needs a shakeup right now. I guess metal? I'd really like to see a return to baroque instrumentation. Something about that gives music a really nice, broad sound that I really enjoy.
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[revolver94]

I agree with a lot of what lethal said, especially about music being "rehashed" today. While I still think that the caliber of music being released is very high, (2012 is also one of my favorite years in music), I am somewhat bothered by this rehashing. A mixed with B is fine, but what I really want to hear is C, and it seems like the level of innovation in terms of "purer" creation seems to have slowed down. Maybe it just seems this way because I've only been paying attention to music for about 2-3 years now, but that's my impression, and it frustrates me.

In terms of short-term trends, it's clear that dubstep is becoming VERY popular, even on mainstream radio. Although I'm usually not a fan of dubstep (most of it is tastelessly bombastic and relies completely on "shock factor"), there are definitely great dubstep artists out there (Burial rushes to mind), who are pushing music forward. Long-term, I think your description regarding the melding of genres is pretty accurate.
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[paladisiac]

i think popular music will dissolve into other formats. Goodbye radio. Hello american idol cross promotion, direct-from-website streaming-and-sales, and muzak. The pop/rock star had a good run and it's almost over in a fizzle of wide-angel merchandizing and general celebrity and media programming.
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fav artists NOW | ALL-TIME favs | i listen 2 more music than u so u don't have 2!

[Jasonconfused]

[purple]