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55. Flume - Flume (2012)

Electronic Dance

Back in 2012, EDM had yet to truly transcend the nightclub scene and infiltrate popular culture. It was an inevitability, really, given the trend of digitalization since the turn of the century. Dropping around the time when the EDM wave was cresting, Flume’s eponymous 2012 debut album ended up being instrumental in solidifying the mainstream success of the genre in the years that followed. Since then electronic dance music has crashed into every other genre like cranberries did in the juice world, making everything distinctly more interesting than it had been before.

While it is beyond obvious that electronic music has existed, and thrived, in many corners of the music world long before the 2010s, the “popification” of electronic music, like that championed by Australia’s Flume, is still relatively novel. His debut found him creating a new dreamy sound that’s transportative, but not overtly unnatural. His use of sampling can be found throughout the record and in many cases, like on “Sleepless”, it takes a page out of Kanye’s book and becomes part of the beat itself. Hip hop influences are prevalent and actually take center stage in the second half of the deluxe release of the album, which boasts around a dozen reworks of original songs with rap over the top. The marriage is a perfect one and, at least to hip hop fans, might actually be even more fun than the originals. 

A number of other wildly popular EDM acts, including Odesza, Petit Biscuit and others, can attribute at least small portions of their success to the path opened up for them by Flume. Since the album’s release, Flume’s popularity has only grown and his willingness to collaborate with artists across just about any other genre has allowed him to further shape the landscape of electronic pop music.

*image; cover art for the album Flume by the artist Flume