In today’s post-categorical music landscape, drawing strict borders between genres doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Not that it was ever that fruitful a practice. Stylistic bleed also appears inseparable from references to the avant-garde within pop and electronic music—detectable in sound or merely mentioned by artists in interviews. Of course, swearing allegiance to the less pop is nothing new: Bob Dylan had Bertolt Brecht and Woody Guthrie, The Doors had John Coltrane, David Bowie had krautrock, and the list goes on. The difference today however is online accessibility. How does instant access to a broader, interhyperlinked avant-garde change the way artists and musicians process it? We hope this issue will offer some insight.
Kindest regards,Max Dax Editor-in-Chief