Glitch Hop - The Latest And Greatest

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By Garrett Mickley

When Music Meets Noise

The musical genre called Hip-hop is typically identified as a continuous beat or rhythm often accompanied with rapping and break-dancing. Glitch, on the other hand, is a term used to describe certain faults or errors that usually correct themselves without any applied fix. Glitch became a genre of electronic music when music artists started using glitches to create a whole new kind of dance music. The sound materials used in Glitch come from CD skips, scratches, system errors, hardware and electrical noise, as well as distorted audio samples. These sounds, when incorporated with a Hip-hop beat and rhythm, results to what is now known as Glitch-Hop music. Although Glitch music has been around since the middle of the 1990s, this type of musical fusion was first heard sometime in mid-2000s. Glitch sounds are, of course, edited to create a rhythmic pattern which will serve as accompaniment to rapping or any preferred Hip-hop element. Glitch-Hop music has consistently remained popular, despite the many changes that the dance music and Hip-hop scene has gone through. You would still hear scratches, skips, distortion, and many more Glitch sounds in most Hip-hop tracks nowadays.

A Unique Musical Fusion

Glitch Hop Music
Glitch Hop Music

Building Blocks Of Glitch-Hop

Glitch-Hop music is a fusion of Hip-hop elements, such as rhymes, and deliberate disturbances that are supposed to be avoided in a musical track or performance. The glitchy bass lines and heavy drum beats of Glitch-hop makes everyone want to move and hit the dance floor. Glitch is first produced by collecting different faulty sounds. These sound samples are then sorted into a pattern that would serve as the beat of the track. Usually, Glitch sounds are used as an alternative to percussion and other instrumentation. They are either used as a complimentary sound or filler, or as the main foundation of the whole song. These supposedly erroneous sounds create a unique sound that is both catchy and inviting. When these disturbance sounds have been edited, it can now be fused with a repetitive beat which can be easily accompanied by a rapper's rhymes, thus, creating one great Glitch-Hop music track.

Glitch Hop Mix

The Glitch Mob Live

Glitch Production Techniques

In the past, sources of Glitch are systems or devices that have malfunctioned. Music artists would scratch a vinyl record back and forth while it is playing to produce a screeching sound. Skipping CDs in a rhythmic pattern is also a source of distorted sound material. Sometimes, other noisy disturbances are also used. The sound of a chainsaw, an electric blender, and the crashing of glass on the floor are recorded and used in Glitch-Hop tracks. As technology improved, gadgets that enable the distortion of normal sounds are used to produce glitch-like sounds that were easier to control. Synthesizers soon featured pre-recorded sounds of shattering glass, scratches, and distortion. In these modern times, Glitch-Hop music has become easier to record because of the many different software products that enable one to create Glitch sounds in their computer. This technology made it possible for more creative sounds and music to be produced, edited, and recorded as well. Glitch hop is made with software such as Ableton Live.

Take The Poll!

Do you like Glitch Hop? (if you haven't heard it, listen to the video above!)

  • YES!
  • NO!
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PLEASE leave a comment and vote up!

Garrett Mickley profile image

Garrett Mickley Hub Author 2 months ago

If you don't care than wouldn't you just click "No"?

nicomp profile image

nicomp Level 6 Commenter 2 months ago

The Poll needs "I don't care." IMHO.

J.S.Matthew profile image

J.S.Matthew Level 7 Commenter 4 months ago

This is very interesting. I had never heard of this as a music genre but it makes sense. It is polyphonic. I like it. Cool video too. Nice job. Voted up!

JSMatthew~

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