A heady combination of trance-like rhythms housed within the more conventional lyric and song-structures of synth-pop (and a not inconsiderable helping of sturdy industrial and pulse-pounding EBM) the genre known as ‘futurepop’ is perhaps one of the most accessible within electronic music’s menagerie of styles.
The term was first coined by VNV Nation’s Ronan Harris, who - at the time - was trying to find a way of defining the sonic and intellectual ethos behind the future-focussed music that he was making.
The kinds of tracks that VNV Nation (and fellow futurepop pioneers Apoptygma Berzerk and Covenant) were creating was simply regarded by its creators as a blending of of synth-pop with the tighter elements of dance music and the heft of industrial. Songs like VNV Nation’s Standing (1999) and Apoptygma Berzerk’s Love Never Dies (1996) clearly demonstrate a spiritual similarity, albeit with different drivers behind the wheel.
