Here’s a sampling of the artists:  Bassectar, Big Boi, 3Lau, Datsik, Faltydl, Freekbot, Ill-Esha, Jwls Mindelixir, Killabits, Knife Party, Magnetic Man, Mord Fustang, Mr. Mfn Exquire. Mux Mool, Star Slinger, Virtual Boy, Zeds Dead…

No?  Well surely you’ll recognize such headliners as Deadmau5 and Skrillex.

Guess we’d better take it back a notch.  Here’s a sampling of the genres: Breakbeat, Electronica, Electropop, Dub, Hi-NRG, Synthpop, Folktronica, Indietronica, Trance, Progressive House, Electro House, Deep House, Garage House, Metalcore, Hip House, Oldschool Jungle, Grime, …then there’s Dubstep.

No?  Actually if you DO have some familiarity with even a fraction of these artists and genres I would be willing to lay odds that you have no recollection of a pre-digitalized world.

Take Dubstep for instance. To the best of my understanding (and really, it’s not easy for my 50++ cerebral hemispheres to soak much of this in) it’s a “musical” genre that originated around the turn of the millennium in Brixton…ah yes, the South London district that’s home to Electric Avenue, Britain’s first electrified street and the subject of a great song by Eddie Grant…that I understand, but according to what I’ve read Dubstep is basically the “dub remixing” of “2-Step Garage” tracks that in those days featured the “jittery, irregular rhythms that don’t conform to UK Garage’s four-on-the-floor pulse.”

UK Garage, of course finds its origins in that American electronic dance genre known as “House Music” which in turn has its origins in “Eurobeat” …and I’m not delving any deeper, except to add that there are those among us who are rather flummoxed when we see the enchantment it holds over our kids, with the cryptic appeal of Electro-Techno-Dub-Industrial-Synth-Trance-House…et al occasionally impelling them to travel distressing distances to attend multi-day festivals to listen and dance to the sound stylings of those (and many more like them) listed above.  Okay, maybe something there rings a bell from the past.

At least I recognize one name at the crest of the current wave and that’s (Hereford, England-born) Elena Jane “Ellie” Goulding, only the second artist ever to top the BBC’s annual “Sound of…” poll AND win the BRIT Awards Critic’s Choice in the same year.  A keen athlete with an impressive physique, who runs six miles every day, she is not only a darling of the running subculture but is also a performer who is able to cross numerous popular genres, from the rather enigmatic Indie-Electronic regions (while collaborating and touring with Dubstep-Maven, Skrillex) to the more fathomable dominions of Alternative Rock and Folk.

Today’s selection, which reached Number 2 on the UK charts when it was released in 2010, is a prime example. With lyrics that were written by Bernie Taupin over breakfast, and music composed by Elton John in about ten minutes later that October morning in 1969, “Your Song” hit the Top Ten in both the US and UK the following year.  But then again, those were simpler times….

LISTEN TO TODAY’S SELECTION – Wednesday 14 November

Your Song

 It’s a little bit funny

This feeling inside

I’m not one of those who can easily hide

I don’t have much money

But boy if I did

I’d buy a big house where

We both could live

So excuse me forgetting

But these things I do

See I’ve forgotten if

They’re green or they’re blue

Anyway the thing is

What I really mean

Yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen

 And you can tell everybody,

This is your song

It may be quite simple but

Now that is done

I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind

That I put down in words

How wonderful life is now you’re in the world

 If I was a sculptor

But then again no

Or girl who makes potions in a traveling show

I know it’s not much but

It’s the best I can do

My gift is my song and

This one’s for you

 And you can tell everybody

This is your song

It may be quite simple but

Now that it’s done

I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind

That I put down in words

How wonderful life is now you’re in the world