From The Deep South To Sónar 2015. How Trap Took Over The World


Kategorie: Sonar Festival
geschrieben von: Sonar Festival geschrieben am: 28.05.2015 um: 12:00 Uhr

Over the last few years, trap, a genre that has its origins in the strip clubs and crack dens of Atlanta has emerged as the unlikely heir to EDM.  Across the globe a host of new producers, DJs and rappers are taking its signature double and triple time hi hats and 808 basslines and twisting them into new and exciting forms. From the street rap of Spain's PXXR GVNG to LA's RL Grimes' dancefloor slaying post dubstep, trap is evolving at a dizzying rate


Spreading the gospel

If trap is the Gangster Rap of the new millennium, then A$AP Rocky is it's Biggie. Thanks to his high profile collaborations with the likes of Lana Del Rey and Rihanna, Rocky has been catapulted to front pages and front rows across the world, and it's his ability to straddle the worlds of the street and the mainstream while consistently pushing trap's boundaries that's made him into one of the contemporary scenes most exciting and essential artists. You don't have to look much further for proof of Rocky's influence as an ambassador for the genre than Spain's PXXR GVNG, who share the New York artist's obsession with fashion and years of work in the underground with a similar open minded approach to production, turning them into the freshest act to come out of Spain in years and icons of the 'swagger' subculture.


Trap on the dancefloor

In parallel to its rise as the dominant variant of hip-hop has been traps' transition to the dancefloor. While a penchant for 808 drum sounds provide a direct, if subtle, link to America's original electronic club music -techno- it's thanks to the work of DJs and producers such as LA's RL Grime that trap has found a new audience in the superclubs of Miami and Ibiza. Closer to its origins as a localised strain of American club music, but no less dedicated to making people dance is New Jersey's DJ Sliink, recently signed to Skrillex's OWSLA imprint, and the international face of Jersey Club. Even the Mediterranean has fallen under traps' spell, with a host of home grown Spanish acts incorporating trap into their sound, with ¥Eur$Ø's rambunctious footwork key among them.


New Positions

Like any virus, the key to survival is versatility, and trap has proven itself especially adaptable, it's hallmarks cropping up in the work of a host of producers working at electronica's more experimental edge. With it's sampled gunshots, ¾ time signatures and cascades of hi hats, Evian Christ's thugged out maximalism wears its influences proudly, without falling into pastiche. Elsewhere, UK based Arca, perhaps the world's most influential producer right now, has made no secret for his love of the cadences and rhythms of trap and southern hip hop, most prevalent on his work on FKA Twigs's resplendent "Two Weeks".

With evolution a constant, nobody knows for sure where trap will go from here. But Sónar will be keeping it's eyes and ears open as it carries on its seemingly unstoppable journey.


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Quelle: http://www.sonar.es mehr: Sonar Festival News