share knowledge about their music? As such, the sociological method focuses on participants rather than observers. An aesthetics, on the other hand, involves more subjective intervention. An aesthetic theorist must interpret forms of expression to yield insights that might not necessarily be apparent to participants. The questions that this book attempts to answer include those basic to philosophy, questions that sociology would not neces- sarily be best equipped to tackle: What is electronic music? What about it is experimental? What distinguishes it from nonelectronic music? What is specific to electronic music that is absent in other artistic practices and media? These are not the sorts of subjects that usually drive the discourse of electronic-music communities, because participants tend to assume that the reasons for creating and enjoying their art are self-evident. Electronic musi- cians have little time for contemplating why their music is ontologically dif- ferent from nonelectronic music; they may well be more interested in the traits that make a particular work unique in and of itself.
While ethnographic methods are intrinsic to disciplines like anthro- pology and cultural studies, aesthetic theory brings something to electronic music that ethnography cannot. Electronic music is not one single genre but rather a nexus of numerous genres, styles, and subgenres, divided not only geographically but also institutionally, culturally, technologically, and eco- nomically. Because of this breadth of activity, no one single participant or informant can speak about all of electronic music with equal facility. This is where the aesthetic interpretive subject comes in, an observer who reflects critically, albeit imperfectly, about what these disparate communities share. Aesthetic theory cannot and should not claim a truth content that comes easily to ethnography. It is intractably a product of interpretation but, for this reason, challenges and empowers the observer to see the forest where participants might see only individual trees.
So, to address the questions above: Electronic music is any type of music that makes primary, if not exclusive, use of electronic instruments or equip- ment. It encompasses electroacoustic music, which often enlists acoustic instruments along with electronics, as well as purely electronically produced sounds. Electronic music thus inhabits a large expanse of genres, styles, and practices. This book does not qualify as a survey, a cultural history, or any- thing approaching a comprehensive study of these different genres. Rather, I consider a few genres selectively, including musique concrète, post- Schaefferian electroacoustic music, techno, house, microsound, glitch, ambient, drone, dub techno, noise, chill-out, soundscape, and field recording. From these individual examples, I extract a set of principles that can answer the second question of how electronic music differs from nonelectronic music (more on this appears below). The traits that distinguish these genres from one another are indispensable for understanding electronic music as a