7 on the floor…Odd Time Signatures in Electronic Music
The majority of western music nowadays is almost completely dominated by the very common & symmetric 4\4 time signature.That’s definitely the case with popular music & especially with EDM. 4 on the floor anyone ?
The 4\4 time signature known also as common time is a sort of a ‘golden’ time signature, a default time signature, the most ‘basic’ & ‘fundamental’ one in western culture today probably due to its complete symmetric qualities.Every music software you can dream of opens with a ‘default’ template which is… you guessed it : 4\4.
That wasn’t the case a few hundred years ago in Medieval times where the 3\4 or 3\2 actually, the triple meter, was considered the perfect one ( after the holy trinity ) & the duple or quadruple was considered imperfect.Nowadays it seems that western civilization is in many ways pre-conditioned to think & operate in the 4\4 environment.That’s definitely not the case with other cultures like African music where the 3 over 2 poly rhythmic tension is most prevalent, the Indian music with it’s unique & complex Tala rhythmic syntax & Balkan music with its complex & asymmetric rhythms & meters.
In this blog I’ll try to introduce some interesting examples of electronic music ( not necessarily EDM ) which break the 4\4 dogma & which offer a refreshing & unique rhythmic attitude.I tried to cherry pick tracks which I believe are generating this rhythmic shift in a very natural & musical way.The list will progress from ambient & rather mellow musical tracks to the most hardcore & extreme.Let’s hit the road.