Electronic music on the rise in Windsor
By Josh Kolm
Lance Writer
November 12, 2008
 While electronic qualities have been utilized to various extents in rock and hip hop for decades, straight electronic music has largely remained a fringe genre. With such a rich pool of talent to draw from in Windsor, Stephen Surlin has been using it with the intention of bringing fans and newcomers alike the opportunity to fully enjoy electronic music.
Approaching the third in a string of recent shows, Surlin, who also performs under the moniker Furs, has been intent on specifically showcasing Windsor talent.
“There used to be the once and a while stuff, but it seemed like as I got older there were hardly any electronic showcases for local artists. You could still say clubs downtown play a good amount of electronic music, but as far as the local electronic artists who make their own music, there hasn’t been large-scale events where they can perform,” said Surlin.
The increasing availability of equipment and software has led to practice and production of electronic music at a rate that is on par with other genres.
The range of talent and variety of sounds present is impressive. The line-up runs from internationally successful artists like Kero, critically hailed musicians Furs and Vex, drum and bass-style (wh)y.m.e.(??), and the ambient, experimental 87 Things for the Future. For the followers of electronic music in the city, it still offers the potential for something new to discover.
“There’s people who really know electro music that will be drawn out, and maybe they know one band but not another and get interested,” Surlin said about what his shows offer to a knowledgeable fan base.
“Maybe the people who are doing this at home will come out and see there are people doing this and see the opportunity is there to step up and do a show themselves,” he continued.
Like a backer of any genre, Surlin not only hopes to give existing electronic fans what they are looking for, but also on getting those with a slight curiosity turned on. “One of the things I’m trying to do is bring out the people who might go to The Loop sometimes and it might be a fluke that they even come to the show, but when they do, the find someone they like a lot. And, hopefully, it will make them realize, ‘Oh, there’s stuff going on here that I haven’t heard of before.’”
Surlin is reluctant to place labels on his colleagues, and predictably so. Debating out loud for several minutes on the negatives and positives, he felt uncomfortable affixing any genre- or regionally-based brand. “I don’t want to get too attached to something like that. I don’t want there to be that homogenizing phrase. Every artist is really different, so for there to suddenly be an accepted ‘Windsor sound’ would be too restrictive.”
The spirit of Windsor electronic artists lies more in a spirit of progression. “Some of us have shows together pretty often, and that kind of context creates competition. There’s a closeness of artists where hopefully there will be a unified focus on what we want to do or change. We want to be progressive, not just have shows to perform what we already have.”
“Not For Anything, Not Really” takes place Friday, Nov. 14 at The Loop and features live sets from all artists mentioned above, plus visual effects by Citynoise.
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