SónarText

Electronic music represents the hope of those who imagine that the future will be necessarily different from the present and free from the inertia that inevitably leads to the past in other fields. This may be due to the fact that electronic music is better prepared to establish an interaction between artistic creation and technology than other genres. Its very nature, even from its gestation, makes it perfectly compatible with the technological democratisation boosted by Internet, as well as with the progressive disappearance of physical formats of consumer music. The elimination of both territorialisation and an unidirectional relationship between artists and listeners are on their side, and everything hints at the possibility that one of the scenarios of music in the future will have electronica in is centre. Are we sure? Nine prestigious magazines from Europe and the US speculate about the future: Britain's Dazed & Confused, Jockey Slut and The Wire, Germany's De:Bug and Groove Magazine, France's Les Inrockuptibles, Italy's Rumore, US' Urb and Spain's Dance De Lux (which also acted as co-ordinator of the project) try to imagine the future by raising questions that stem from an analysis of the present, making a formal statement of the points which will define tomorrow's electronic music. They put forward hypotheses which go beyond the confrontation between Man and Machine, as well as the outdated conventions of apocalyptic science fiction. They present comprehensive theories where borders between form and content are totally dissolved. They look for answers to new questions. This editorial project, with very few precedents in the music press, tries to make an appeal for reading ideas and contrasting viewpoints of several publications with different editorial orientations. SonarText aims at encouraging a theoretical debate which allows us to reach some conclusions, at least five minutes before the reality of electronica starts to challenge our assumptions in new ways.