Thursday | July 11, 2019

WIRELESS: THE REVIVAL OF EBM

WIRELESS: THE REVIVAL OF EBM
The ‘80s are known for a lot of things – from the increasing use of digital recording to the emergence of genres marked by the gradual decline of disco.

But perhaps a lesser known fact is that it was also the decade that birthed EBM or Electronic Body Music.

The year was 1983 and electronic music group Front 242 was in the midst of pioneering a sound which was somewhere “between instincts, sweat, flesh, muscles, fever and electricity – machines, computers and programs.”

What came next was the beginning of a revolution, neatly compiled in an album titled, “No Comment” – which lead to the term “electronic body music” and its slow infiltration into the dance music scene in Belgium.

Today, artists like The Cure, Kraftwerk and KMFDM are flying the flag for EBM – with their beats reflecting the perfect amalgamation of industrial and electronic dance music.


It is difficult to deny the influence of EBM on early house and techno especially with a new breed of artists such as Silent Servant and Black Merlin expertly combining the genre with techno.

To a large extent, the current political scenario has also played its part in shaping up the genre – making it far more aggressive than ever before.

This should also explain the revived interest in the genre itself; post-punk, wave and industrial have also, unsurprisingly, made a comeback in recent years.

Is the popularity of EBM the result of an increasingly saturated techno scene?! Possibly. But for a genre that’s been around for thirty years, it is impressive to see the EBM resurgence taking over the globe.

 
Article published: 11th July, 2019

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