chhxdjsj parent
Has it really though? Genuinely asking.. I’ve checked out a lot since 2010 or so but not sure I hear anything wildly different, vaporwave and sorta meme music was quite fresh but other than that im not sure.. maybe its just part of getting old and having less time to hunt around.
Yes, it has. In both breadth and depth. People paying attention know this.
Even within techno (my favorite genre), which is already a quite narrow genre in terms of sounds, the variety of novel sounds birthing new techno sub-genres over the last 10-15 years has been wild.
What's the endgame? Micro-genres of techno only five people listen to. I can't wait!
I dislike calling them genres, they're more like trends or styles. One producer makes something new and unusual that breaks the established patterns, people like it a lot, other producers copy it, and that cycle continues until fans get bored and move on. That lifecycle usually lasts about 2-5 years, sometimes not even long enough to get a proper name, but if you're into the scene you know that "genre" when you hear it.
To give a recent "mainstream" example, Odd Mob has created a certain sound that blew up in popularity despite not fitting neatly in any of the existing boxes we had (tracks like Get Busy, Losing Control, Palm Of My Hands), other producers copied it and by now you have anonymous shitposters on social media complaining that most new songs sound like they were made by him.