Cox brings brilliant energy to electronic

British DJ and electronic music producer Carl Cox just released his newest album, Electronic Generations. The album is a fun and energized take on hip hop influenced instrumental electronic dance music. 

The first song, the title track, “Electronic Generations,” layers rhythm upon rhythm as it builds into a fast-paced dance track. The track blends a fast-paced hip hop beat with spacey synths and effects. “Our Time Will Come,” a couple songs down the tracklist, has a 90s hip hop feel to it. It combines a low bass with drums and cymbals before quickly transitioning into a lighter dance-style section. The song’s mood is celebratory and full of high energy, using papery drum sounds with a low bass drum to create a stylistically pleasing and fun song. 

“Bring It Back” has a similar foundational hip hop beat as the previous songs, which coherently ties the album together, but this song feels different in terms of mood and style. The instrumentation is different from the other songs, with the implementation of cow bells and a middle section that is unlike anything at the beginning of the album, a minimalistic keyboard ostinato over a beat. 

“Get After It” begins with a single four to the floor bass drum line, adding in, layer by layer, the different rhythmic pieces of the song. The piece gradually builds in energy, complexity and excitement. Although the first part of the song is purely the rhythm section, eventually Cox adds in a bass ostinato that brings in a more dance-like mood. The bass is then distorted into a new sound that increases the energy of the piece. “Move the Crowd” uses multiple registers to create a very danceable melody using the same instrumental sound. This piece definitely “moves” the listener to dance or at least to enjoy the technically complex song. 

For the listener looking for a more melodic-sounding dance track, “See the Sun Rising” is a harmonically complex piece that uses sound distortion so beautifully. The piece is elegant and optimistic-sounding, and is less heavy than the preceding tracks, but still quite danceable. 

Carl Cox’s Electronic Generations is a fun and fascinating collection of songs that yields a great opportunity for technical listening and dancing or just enjoying.