What is the sound of now?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

In yesterday's conversation about Pizzicato Five and pop, Cis drew a kind of distinction between pop which obeys current sonic rules and pop which refuses to (apols if my precis loses a lot of subtlety).

This interested me and got me thinking what the current rules of pop might be - not just in terms of sound, but attitude, look, emotional content, trends, etc.

What characterises late 00s pop? What is happening now which wouldn't or couldn't have happened before? What will allow a kid in ten years time to identify music from now? (in the way that a music fan who had never heard records or seen pictures of Suzi Quatro, or A Flock Of Seagulls, or Ned's Atomic Dustbin might be able to put them in place and time)

Comments

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it's possible to define what, now, is either distinctive or generic, because we are still living in it (depends on where you draw the line and close the group, right?). Thus, we don't know what will be the aspects which lots of artists successful enough to pique the general consciousness will adopt, and what will fall by the wayside.

Sorry for quotidian response! If we were talking about nowpop as being only-just-thenpop (say post-millenial, 2000-05 or summat), it would be easier but also entirely difficult, I suspect.

But if pushed to give an answer, I suppose: a gradual but strong shift away from the idea of the instrument(s) defining the genre, and a preference for categorising through content (lyrics and what I would think of as musical 'reference', poss the wrong term but I'm tired)?