An array of multicoloured videos have inspired the rise of a new musical niche, a subculture known as #glitchcore.
Each year, we see a new musical phenomenon capture the collective imagination of the internet. Musically speaking, the last 12 months has seen the rise in popularity of the new hyperactive subgenre, glitchcore.
“Defined by high-pitched vocals layered atop impaling 808s and wailing hi-hats that stop and start all over the place. Basically, glitchcore is hyperpop on steroids.”Source: NME
In 2020, the production house PC Music plus stars which include Charlie XCX and A.G. Cook helped in the popularisation of hyper pop as a genre, pushing the melodic sound into mainstream culture saw an offshoot of the genre develop, quickly becoming known as glitchcore. Hyperpop is essentially, a sub-genre of Hip Hop. If you examine the beat, you’ll be able to identify 808s, hi-hats and trap drum patterns. The glitchy vocals and trance or tech synths are laid over the top, creating textures with jumpy, cartoon-like samples. glitchcore’s visual aesthetic is an easier concept to understand. It derives itself from society’s recent fascination with “glitch”, the notion of technological error.
Pixelated Psychedelia
“in mid-August, Kanye [West] hung out with a young animator who experiments with glitchcore edits: Sean-Tyler Walton, known professionally as Osean.”Source: Pitchfork
Saturated, psychedelic snippets of landscapes which morph endlessly and heat sensor-style imagery are commonplace in clips which feature the glitchcore style. It’s not unusual for the videos to contain pixelated images, mimicking an authentic glitch or two. At times, the images mutate somewhat like a brain-melting trip to the backdrop of some bizarre song. Collectively, glitchpop tracks have garnered hundreds of thousands of TikTok likes since the start of 2020.
One such clip was created on TikTok by @bugfruit, featuring the song “NEVER MET” by CMTEN. After exploding onto the platform, the track is now featured in almost 600,000 TikToks.
“The blue-haired creator @bugfruit gazes into their front-facing camera, looking bored but cute. A grey Windows Start button descends over their face. A cursor clicks on it. “A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A,” a childlike voice stutters. “I wish we never met.”Source: Pitchfork
The Glitchcore Creative Community
A small community of hyperpop creators have formed an innovative movement which enables creators to flex their creative prowess. Rather than a display of their innate musical talents, the idea is to create the most visually unique and cinematic audio experience which lasts for roughly 3 minutes. In our modern world, software and programs (such as Splice and Bandlab) have enabled stylistic exploration and creativity to exist in endless ways.
“Editors are really helping songs blow up,” says Tyler Shepherd, co-founder of the popular cyber rave Subculture Party. “The TikToks are like their own mini music videos.”Source: Pitchfork
One such influential editor is 18-year-old @iguana Alana, revered for bringing David Shawty and Yungster’s under group hip hop track “Under Pressure to TikTok earlier on in the year.
“According to Huff, “the ‘U-U-U-U-U-Under Pressure’ song” inspired his own “A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A” tag in “NEVER MET!,” testifying to the speed at which sonic features mutate and spread in this universe. Alana’s co-sign is so significant that a few months after he made a “NEVER MET!” edit in May, Huff, CMTEN, and some friends wrote him a tribute song. A rapper named kxzia did too, aptly pronouncing Alana “CEO of glitchcore.”Source: Pitchfork
Hyperpop Playlist
In early 2020, a playlist entitles ‘Hyperpop’ was released on Spotify. It features Swedish rapper/scene veteran Bladee and mainstream punk-pop princess Rico Nasty. Spotify invited A.G. Cook to take over the playlist in September of 2020 to edit the tracklist and curate a more genre-specific sound. MISOGI, London-based glitchcore crusader, explains the story,
“When A.G. Cook took over the Hyperpop playlist, one of the songs he put on there was [Philadelphia rapper] Lil Uzi [Vert]’s ‘Futsal Shuffle’, and people were angry about that – how was Uzi hyperpop? But if you actually listen to it, it is.” It’s true: with the excessive use of computerised chords, the song is a hyperbolic take on the current pop sounds, making it hyperpop.”Source: NME
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