The new Bop

By Anonymous -


Dynaudio Focus 160 Bookshelf Speakers



There’s a new kind of electronic music thriving in its own subgenre these days, one that I enjoy very much.

It’s a mix of bebop, jazz, soul and blues in a punchy, creative electronic mix. I’m really not sure what to call it, and attempts I’ve seen so far don’t really capture the spirit of this music, in my opinion.

Occasionally, lyrics and a singer are involved, but for the most part it’s an instrumental affair. And a good part of the instrumentation is electronically generated, though much less of it than other electronic genres.

Samples are big, binaural recorded samples are bigger, and often real drums, real organ or piano make a notable appearance.

See what you think and let me know if you come up with any good terms for this genre. Members include a French multi instrumentalist called Anomalie, a French saxophone and piano player named FKJ (stands for French Kiwi Juice), a Canadian boy/girl duo called Tennyson (my favorite), and I suppose you could throw Ronald Jenkees in there, and Vulfpeck even counts, I think.

Listen to “Velours” by Anomalie, “Joy” by FKJ and “L’olseau qui danse” by Tennyson. You’ll start to get a feel for what I’m talking about.

One of the most apparent things about this new music is the extremely high production value. These seem to be a mix of live performance and programmed music, but they all retain a bounce and a lightness. And, a common element seems to be thick, juicy bass.

It’s new music born from new technology. And it is a fantastic test of a system and in particular, the speakers.

Many speakers crap out when playing such complicated stuff, but when you’re cranking on a really dynamic pair of speaks and your bass is handled (or handed off to a good sub) this music is oh, so juicy.

Today’s piece of gear I’m highlighting is a pair of speakers from Dynaudio, which absolutely crush this type of music. The Dynaudio Focus 160 are an incredible pair in their own right, but when firing up “Odyssee” by Anomalie my brain lights up with fascination. They just present the music between and slightly behind the speakers (in my setup) as a hanging portrait for me to admire.

And that bounce…

If you’ve never heard Dynaudio speakers before, listen to a few of these tunes. Fire up the track “For You” from Tennyson, and you’ll hear immediately what these speakers are made for. If that track doesn’t bounce you into a toe-tapping state, you may need a pair of Dynaudios in your life!

These particular ones come in a stunning high gloss black finish. I know from experience that they will not stay on the website long. Dynaudios ship well, are generally bought by people who care about their things, and because of those two facts I can’t say I’ve ever come across a pair that have any faults in my time here.

Buy with confidence. Pop a search into our site up above for Dynaudio to see what we’ve got at the moment.

And here’s one more in this genre — “Baited” by the duo Electrocado. Enjoy!

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