A great amount of the music I'm into, electronic, indie alternative, freak folk, noise, and general avant-garde tinged music probably wouldn't exist if our culture wasn't so invested in postmodern ideology. A lot of electronic music is sample heavy in its presentation. The idea of the sample seems like a very postmodern thing. Taking music from other artists or sounds from television, movie clips, and other sources falls in line with the idea of using culture to make something new out of it. The use of samples, though its not always important that the listener has knowledge of their source, is built off the idea that people today have an extremely large cache of pop-culture knowledge and references, and are not surprised by the implementation of vocal clips and sound bits in their music.
This idea of recycling musical culture also works with indie alternative music extremely well, though it may not be as blunt and obvious as the sample. Bands like Animal Collective have been pegged as several genres of music from everything to rock, indie rock, psychedelic, noise, avant-rock, folk, freak folk, and dance. The truth is, in the end, that they are all of these genres and have taken inspiration from a wide array of musical genres to form their own fresh and unique postmodern musical identity. A great amount of music in the indie scene seems very fresh, new, and often shockingly odd but it all seems to be very reminiscent of older genres of music. I can listen to bands like Deerhunter, No Age, and even Animal Collective and recognize very punk-like song elements and structures. Now that I am more familiar with these postmodern ideas I have noticed a shift (its not huge, but its noticeable) in the way I listen to and understand music.
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