![[Column] Neo-Futurism / Avant-Garde Pop](/../assets/images/column-neo-futurism-avant-garde-pop.webp)
Introduction: Can avant-garde become pop?
Text: mmr｜Theme: Organized as an intersection of music history, art history, and technology history, and about actual artists’ achievements and work trends
Neo-futurism/avant-garde pop is a trend that has established experimental sound structures, physicality, and future-oriented visual expression within the distribution structure of pop music. In the 21st century, the aspiration for the “future” that originated in Futurist art in the early 20th century has been linked to digital production environments, post-internet visual culture, and the redefinition of gender and body representation, reconfiguring music and visual expression as inseparable.
FKA twigs and Arca are iconic in this context. Her/their work does not simply present innovative sounds, but functions as a comprehensive art that integrates the body, technology, emotion, and identity.
1. Historical background: from futurism to post-digital
1-1. Futurism and musical experimentation
Italian Futurism in the early 20th century focused on machines, speed, and noise as objects of beauty. Luigi Russolo’s noise music theorized a departure from melodicism and had a strong influence on later experimental music. Although this idea was not directly inherited by pop music, it became an important prototype in terms of its ““attitude to affirm futuristic acoustics.’’
1-2. Prehistory of avant-garde pop
In the 1960s and 1970s, electronic music and pop became closer together. With the spread of synthesizers, experimental tones were introduced into popular music, and science fiction images were frequently used in visual expression. These formed a model that was ““avant-garde, yet communicable.’’
1-3. Transformation after digital
Since the 2000s, production environments using DAWs and laptops have become commonplace, and the degree of freedom in audio manipulation has increased dramatically. At the same time, an environment has been created where visuals and music can be consumed simultaneously through SNS and video platforms. Under these conditions, neo-futurism/avant-garde pop is possible.
2. Definition of Neo-Futurism / Avant-Garde Pop
- Futuristic and non-organic tone design
- Visuals that reconstruct body representation
- Coexistence of pop structure (hooks, repetition) and experimentation
- A world view that focuses on technology
3. Detailed analysis of acoustic features
3-1. Tone design
In neofuturist pop, synthesizers and digitally processed tones are foregrounded as ““artificial entities’’ rather than substitutes for natural instruments. Glitches, distortions, and extreme dynamic changes serve as part of the emotional expression.
3-2. Rhythm and structure
The rhythms are not necessarily dance floor-oriented, and are often fragmented and asymmetrical. On the other hand, the choruses and motifs are clearly established and retain their memorability as pop songs.
3-3. Vocal processing
Although the vocals are real voices, they are presented as an ““extension of the body’’ through pitch processing, formant conversion, and multiple processing. This is a symbolic method to show the fluidity of the subject.
4. Characteristics of visual expression
4-1. Body reconstruction
As seen in FKA twigs’ video works, the body is often fragmented and rendered mechanically or sculpturally. This does not mean the disappearance of the body, but its redefinition.
4-2. Digital texture
3DCG, motion capture, and digital compositing blur the boundaries between reality and virtuality. The texture is smooth yet unstable, emphasizing a futuristic feel.
5. Major artist analysis
5-1. FKA twigs
FKA twigs integrates experimental sounds and advanced physical expression while maintaining an R&B context. He treats music, dance, and video as inseparable elements, creating emotion and abstraction at the same time.
5-2. Arca
Arca is known for productions that coexist with sonic extremes and pop. Distorted bass, sudden structural changes, and fluid expressions of identity demonstrate the core of neofuturism.
6. Chronology: Formation of neo-futurism/avant-garde pop
7. Illustration: Relationship between sound and visuals
8. Sociocultural significance
Neofuturism/avant-garde pop is not just a style, but a cultural practice that questions the relationship between technology and humans. By presenting bodies, gender, and emotions as non-fixed, the futuristic imagination continues to be renewed.
9. Details of production techniques: relationship between studio and body
Here, we will organize how neo-futurist expression is materialized through actual production environments and techniques.
9-1. DAW and nonlinear editing
What FKA twigs and Arca’s works have in common is a departure from a linear compositional process. The songs do not necessarily follow a linear process from demo to completion, but fragmented ideas, sonic experiments, and improvised vocals are rearranged on the DAW. Operations such as cutting, reversing, and time stretching are more like sculptural acts than editing.
9-2. Music construction starting from the body
In FKA twigs’ productions, dance and physical movement are often the inspiration for musical structures. Rhythm reflects the tension and release of the body, and is manifested in the fluctuations in tempo and pauses. This is a body-driven composition method that differs from traditional beat-centered composition.
9-3. Distance between acoustic processing and emotion
Extreme distortion and digital processing do not serve to hide emotions, but rather to emphasize them. Human voices undergo artificial processing to present vulnerability and strength at the same time.
10. Relationship between avant-garde pop and the market
Neo-futurist expressions blur the boundaries between major and indie. In the streaming era, the avant-garde is no longer confined to a specific scene, as experimental works are simultaneously distributed globally.
The strength of the visuals increases the visibility of the work more than the music alone, resulting in the avant-garde content being widely shared. This structure itself is a characteristic of 21st century pop.
11. Critical reception and evaluation axis
Traditional pop criticism has focused on song structure and hit potential. However, in neo-futurism/avant-garde pop, the totality of sound, visuals, and physical expression is the subject of evaluation.
There is a growing tendency for criticism to be based on ““what kind of questions are posed” rather than ““easy to understand”. This means approaching the axis of contemporary art evaluation.
12. Illustration: Circulatory structure of production, body, and vision
13. Organizing development by age
13-1. Early 2010s
The fusion of experimental R&B and electronic music progresses, and avant-garde expressions begin to appear in pop contexts.
13-2. Late 2010s
The integration of music and visuals is accelerating, and emphasis is placed on building a worldview on an album-by-album basis.
13-3. 2020s
Expressions that cut across gender, the body, and technology became commonplace, and neofuturism became established as an aesthetic.
Conclusion
Neofuturism/avant-garde pop is not a style that embellishes the future, but a practice that visualizes the relationship between the current body and technology. Works by FKA twigs and Arca show how music can integrate vision, thought, and the body.
This trend is not a passing trend, but rather the latest in a cultural continuum extending from the 20th century avant-garde. The avant-garde is no longer on the periphery, but continues to be renewed within pop.
