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Being an experimental artist often means that your music challenges listeners. It's a beautiful art where you imagine what hasn't been done – you explore areas that aren't traditionally "safe." In music, and all arts, avant-garde artists are the ones who end up making new genres and creating new movements.
However, sometimes being experimental also means having difficulty cracking into the mainstream. When your music is left of center, not everyone is going to "get it." Whether you make long, ambient soundscapes like Tim Hecker or freeform jazz like Cecil Taylor, you can still find success. Artists like Bjork and Radiohead have spent years pushing the boundaries on what can be considered "pop." So, while Adele's "Someone Like You" or Coldplay's "The Scientist" will rule the mainstream, don't be discouraged. Several experimental artists have achieved huge attention, and here's what separates them from the rest of the abstract world that's still struggling to get bigger audiences.
Pop-like structure
Following a pop structure in experimental music is a smart way to make your left-field music more accessible to large audiences. An example would be: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, outro. Even if your music doesn't have lyrics, your melody can drive the structure. In addition to melody, rhythm can lead the structure – but the key is to have something recognizable that listeners can easily follow.
UK producer Burial makes dark, ambient electronic music with wrapped, alien-like vocal samples. It's not what you would ever call "mainstream." However, he carefully crafts his songs with thoughtful, pop-like structure. His song "Archangel" follows a very repetitive yet dynamic structure. Radiohead's "Everything In Its Right Place" is one of the band's most experimental tracks. It's covered in reverse vocals, abstract rhythmic sounds, and disturbing ambience. Thom Yorke only sings a total of four lines, yet his organization of those four lines lay out like a pop song, making the track easy to follow and sing along.
This isn't to say that all experimental music should follow a pop structure. (Where would we be without some of Pink Floyd's epic 15-minute space tracks?) But keeping a track under four and a half minutes can be helpful in introducing experimental music to people who may not have had much experience in the genre.
Universal themes and relatable lyrics
FKA twigs is making some of the most experimental music to be given mainstream attention at the moment. Yet, if you were to look at her lyrics on a sheet of paper, it'd be hard to differentiate them from other mainstream artists making more straight-forward music. Bjork is another artist whose music has thrived in the mainstream, all while being some of the weirder music out there. Part of Bjork's appeal is that she's so weird. With that being said, several of her songs address accessible themes of love, lust, or loneliness. Take the lyrics to Pagan Poetry: "This time I'm gonna keep me all to myself / She loves him, she loves him." Bjork is addressing a very human experience with love and loss. At the same time, her music remains complex and extremely artful.
Modern, catchy rhythms
One of the beautiful things about rhythm is how it can ground a song to a place of accessibility. Arca, a Venezuelan producer who's worked with the likes of Kanye West and Bjork, as well as launched his own promising solo career, does a great job of using rhythm to ground his experimental music. Many of Arca's beats sound like they could be from a hip-hop track. He takes modern rhythms and drives his experimental landscapes forward with their catchy movements. If you took out the drums on many of his instrumental tracks, you'd just be hearing a bunch of unintelligible sounds swirling around in an ambient mix. Put the drums back in, and you're all of the sudden nodding your head and diving deeper into the music.
Creative marketing
Looking back at Burial for another example – when the producer was starting to blow up, he made the decision to remain anonymous. No one knew who he was, and he still has never played a live show to this day. Over time, the internet found out his identity, which he later confirmed was true. But even when he was nominated to win the Mercury Prize in 2007, the world didn't know his name. Was it a deliberate marketing plan to generate buzz, or just a decision to remain unknown? Either way, it worked – and several artists since then copied his anonymity.
Experimental electronic producer Aphex Twin flew a blimp over New York in promotion of his album Syro. The album's artwork was spray painted all over New York City. The music is anything but mainstream, yet his promotion was delivered on such a large, creative scale. Many placed Syro on their best-of-2014 lists, and the anticipation for its release was enormous due to his creative promotional tactics.
A history of writing and producing for big acts
Experimental artists often have amazing ideas that the mainstream doesn't explore due to its abstract nature. But with electronic music on the rise, it's becoming less uncommon for big acts to call upon underground musicians. In return, these underground musicians have a chance to show their work to an enormous audience.
Experimental musician Evian Christ was among many of the lesser-known artists who worked on Kanye West's Yeezus. Kanye was searching for a specific, underground, industrial sound, one that Evian Christ had. Having worked with Kanye, Evian Christ saw his music blow up in popularity. Another example: Clams Casino is an experimental producer who makes beats for A$AP Rocky, as well as other members of A$AP Mob. His music on its own stands as very experimental and noise driven. But when someone like A$AP Rocky samples his sound and makes it into a rap hit, Clams Casino gets launched into a new spotlight.
At the end of the day, you're not "dumbing down" your sound or catering to what the radio wants to hear, you're simply making it easier for new listeners to open their minds to new music. Music is about expressing yourself, but it's also about communicating that expression with others. Whether you're adding relatable lyrics to an avant-garde soundscape or putting catchy beats on an ambient, industrial track, it's helpful to ground your experimental music with something many music lovers can recognize and enjoy.
Sam Friedman is an electronic music producer and singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, NY. His music blends experimental ambience with indie-driven dance music. In addition to pursuing his own music, he is a New Music Editor for Unrecorded and is passionate about music journalism. Check out his music and follow him on Twitter @nerveleak.
