h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You've already failed to predict Grime incidentally, and make no mention of the eclectic electric fringes of Warp, Rephlex, Mu etc.

I think a telling question is whether genrefication is stable in its current form.
What are the causes of current genre splits. Some, like trance, seem to focus around certain production and psychological techniques (Repetitive auditory stimulation to entrain the auditory neurones and continuously stimulate action potentials).
Others seem to be socially induced. What differs between ragga and hiphop these days is essentially the cultural differences between their respective points of geographical origin.
One major factor is Tempo. DNB and House don't 'interbreed' because they are not at a simple ratio of tempos in the way that DNB and Hiphop (x2) are. I can't mix a house tune in my DNB set.
To take DNB as a case in point (but similar things go on in all styles).. DNB is DNB largely because that's what works well at 180 odd bpm, however the inscestuousness of the scene plays a part in separating it from other styles (it's nucleus is the M4 corridor between Bristol and London, and despite valiant contributions from Australia, New Zealand, Mainland Europe and the US, it has never really become international as such). its affiliation with Pills make it high energy, and the fact that it is roughly equally popular with black and white people give it its peculiar cultural mix.

But is that state of affairs stable? Genres Give birth to others, which grow apart and then cross pollinate. parent styles like jungle and happy hardcore have been overshadowed like saplings in a forest and now have very few directions in which to grow without encroaching on another style's territory, and have effectively collapsed. Meanwhile Trance increases in speed and adopts a certain breaksiness, whilst breaks begins to sound like slow DNB. Techno continues to do what techno does best,(techno only knows), whilst Gabba's holding down the top end of the BPM spectrum trying to squeeze those last few kicks per second into the mix for the benefit of anyone daft enough to take D.O.B

i think what I'm trying to say is...ITS WELL CONFUSIN'!!! and I don't reckon anyone's gonna be able to predict it by much. Predicting culture is what artistic people do for a living. to do so by so much as a month can set you up for life. As for whether we'll ever get back to the stage when 3 hour long works are commissioned by establishment money and take years to write, we'll just have to wait and see..

meanwhile, back at the bass...