Why are jambands becoming electronic now

Why are Jam Bands becming electronic and trace sounding. Instead of the traditional electric guitar with the wah pedal and the electric organ.

 

They enjoy playing the style of music.

 

i personally believe its got a lot to do with the type of drugs popular in the audience at the time. In my mind i associate the change to the more electronic trancey jam to the rise in popularity of the speedy drugs (x, molli, etc) and the decline of acid use...just like how cocaine fueled the disco thing...just my 2 cents....

 

i like the electronic jam band

dont get me wrong, the dead will always be my favorite band, but the new electronic direction is great to dance to. and yes, the type of drugs you consume make it better.. but my favorite drugs to see these types of bands are shrooms and doses..

also, there are some pretty sweet jams that come from theses type of bands (can anyone say that Lotus and EOTO dont jam well?)

i like all types of jam bands, and i dont think that people should view the electronic side of jam as bad thing.. if you just dont like it, yonder and plently of jamgrass bands still tour

 

Yeah I sometimes get sick of all the trance jams. I can see the appeal. I love rockin out to like 1 quickie trance jam at a show, but sometimes im lookin for more groove, and when one trance jam goes into another and another for 20 minutes I start to doze off. Dont get me wrong a lil techno breakdown is all set with me, but personally, Im all about the funk, the rippin guitar solos, and soul.

 

I HATE when people say you have to be one x or some other drug to like this music. I personally am really into the electronic/trancier bands. I love sts9, pgroove, lotus, jfjo completly sober. Its like when people say you have to be high to like phish. I know there are alot of unsavory people in the scene but if you can look beyond that the music that these guys are making is very complex and innovative. I think that electronic music can be very organic and natural feeling (sts9 for example). Its all part of the wonderfull diversity of the jamband scene. Thats why it is so great. I love bands like yonder, HBRSB, RRE, grisman quintet too. I agree with drumin' that "traditional jam" has stagnated to a degree. This is all part of evolution and the natural progression of things.

 

you certainly dont need drugs to enjoy the music, the music is better than any drug... BUT, improv music created in a live setting will be affected by the collective vibe in the room, and the preponderance of different drugs have different effects on that vibe

 

i dont like the electronic thing as much. I was rather annoyed when SCI started doing that at all their shows.

 

i think the reason is that people DANCE alot more with the electronic stuff. When at moe, umhpreys (whos actually throwing in some electronic stuff now), alo, etc i think you see people bobbin their heads and what not. Then you go to EOTO, zilla, pnuma, sts9, and people RAGE IT. eoto in my mind is on fire right now. They have some incredibly cool jams that i would put up against ANY guitar solo or jam with all the top artists. And plus, alot of those "jam bands" sound SO much alike now. Its hard to tell them apart at some times. guitar solo here, drum solo there, bass solo there, jam for a while....been there done that. livetronica is all about dancing. But eoto is filthy, you cant see them live and not enjoy, i just dont think its possible. I also think its a lot easier to distinguish a livetronica act than a traditional jam band that just plays rock music.

And some of the best shows ive seen, i have been sober. (Pnuma and friends with jamie janover, few guys from lotus, new monsoon, p groove, etc) I danced more at that show than most others ive been to messed up on whatever. If you say drugs make the music then im sorry but thats just retarded. it shouldnt ever come to that.

The bottom line is this. Everybody has their own opinion on music lol. I for one, love the livetronica scene, i think its easier to dance to and more energy within the show. Which equals a better time for me. If you like "chill" stuff thats easy to listen to, and relaxing ala grateful dead, phish, whatever, then you probably want something completely different. Something with less computers involved, and more human elements, or whatever it may be. Panic, Salmon, moe and the rest are enjoyed to the fullest when you KNOW their material before hand. the livetronica is most enjoyed when youve NEVER heard it before, and i think that is my main difference. If i dont know the lyrics to moe, then when i go see them im obviously gonna look lost. Thats not the case when your dancing to eoto or zilla.

 

Thats kinda funny. I wouldnt conisder phish chill at all. I would put it under the same catagory as electronica in the wasy that you cannot stop moving during a fast paced phish jam. Its easy to rage to that shit, just like boomin trance jams. But by know means is phish head bobbing music.

 

well phish plays a lot of different stuff, you could make a case that they play a number of different styles. But for the most part, your right. I guess it was a bad example lol, but im just sayin. But i wouldnt say Phish is ragin style either. They kinda sound like a rock band that has lots of jam/jazz influences. but i dunno about electronica. When i think of electronica im thinkin of Ozric Tentacles, Eat Static, Shpongle, Hallucinogen, etc. Trance kinda stuff.

 

yeah, def not elec. just sayin it makes me dance the same way as some trance does. they got plenty of different styles, a lotta slow one and even one those one i movin'. thats just me tho, everyone reacts differently to different shit.
Im actually a bigger fan of preprogrammed trance, the kinda sounds they play at raves. My buddy is a big trance head and he djs a bit. When he blast some trance on his speakers and puts on the smoke/lazers, its such a siiick expereince.

 

I think the answer to the original question is the infultration of the jamband scene by the rave scene. It started about 10 years ago. Personally I am not happy with the new crowd, or their music. Although I'm fine w/ SCI playing that type stuff. I hate techno.

 

I wonder if anyone raised similar concern back in the day when bluegrass and country started entering the Dead's repetoire, or when Phish first introduced small household appliances into theirs :tongue: LOL.

To call my musical tastes eclectic would be an understatement.I have found truly enjoyable bits of music here and there from all genres, styles, countries. Equally I have found bits from all of those places I did not particularly enjoy. I do appreciate the merits of those artists/bands that introduce a few different flavors into their own sound from time to time. It's a healthy practice.


Love and light,

Monk

 

they're just goin' with the flow

 

i like bands that inquire trance jams....but i am not a huge fan of pure electronica jam bands....STS9 is very, very boring. way, way too much sub frequencies.....they ruined the speakers at the Greek before SCI.....i don't mind lotus....they can be awesome, there set at sea of dreams last was amazing!

 

Phish has head bobbing jams (feel like a chicken sometimes), they have ragers (almost feel like running around the room), they have arm wavers, they have sit downs, they have every fucking sound you could ever imagine. hence the reason i like them so much more than any other band. they can give me everything, while most **not all, but most** occupy niches. electronica, bluegrass...etc.....Phish did it all and they did it well.

 

Well I'm in a jam band, and we do everything, speaking for ourselves it's not so much as "going digital" it's just that everything that makes a sound is put to use... everything has the potential of sounding dope, its just how you put it to use...
one time we play this sortha thing, and the other day de did it like this ..theres a crowd for everything, and surely theres someone out there who can apriciate one or the other...