Bands breaking up. There are way too many bands out there that suck. It's time to thin the herd. Chris Gramlich
Boy bands and Britney writing their own material. What's next, newborns changing their own nappies? Cam Lindsay
Click-Dub/Glitch-no. I. Khider
Dance music underwent its bifurcation into two camps, the first espousing hedonism and pure rush, and the other taking a more "serious" approach to the music. Hard house led the rush with DJs Judge Jules and Fergie, and a thousand snare rolls and synth stabs. Their opponents took a different route with the hypnotic grooves played by DJ John Digweed and the rest of the "nu breed," going under the name "progressive." As usual, both scenes will probably take the characteristics of their respective styles too far, and a new, more centrist and accessible hybrid will be formed next year. Philip Downey
DIY electro-pop. Combining synthetic 80s energy with punk and techno, bands like Le Tigre, Chicks on Speed, Peaches, and the Prima Donnas ruled the school this year. Lorraine Carpenter
Drum & bass with hip-hop. The mixing of the sister sounds has been happening bit by bit for a couple of years now, but as it moves towards the mainstream hopefully this mixture will add a bit of excitement into two genres that have been flirty with stagnation lately. Thomas Quinlan
Face zippers. Chuck Molgat
Integration of musicians and live instrumentation into the dance music mix. The learning curve is rocketing up and the music is becoming richer as a result. Denise Benson
Making music instead of trying to cop a trend to cover the fact that you can't make music. Roman Sokal
Napster/Morpheus and all the music sharing software. They allow underground music scenes to cross-pollinate from across the world and people to have access to music they would never have had before. Dan Cohen
The end of record company reliance. Bands such as Wilco shedding their labels plainly shows (if there was ever any doubt) that the music business has nothing to do with music. -Jason Schneider
"Quiet is the new loud" of Ida, Kings of Convenience, Low and Kingsbury Manx. It's so unpunk to put a premium on songcraft, well-performed harmonies and gorgeous vocal melodies, but when most aggressive music has basically become a mall outlet, then pretty, delicate songs begin to sound like sly acts of defiance. Chris Wodskou
Reissues. There was so many amazing albums remastered and reissued this year that many new releases probably didn't get the attention they really deserved. I know I spent as much time listening to reissued records by Blue Oyster Cult, the Band, Radio Birdman and the Grateful Dead as anything on my top 10. What does that tell you? Sean Palmerston
Shorter albums. This time of short attention spans is not a prime era to give us 50-plus minute albums, unless you're Neurosis or Queensryche. Greg Pratt
The absence of a predominant cultural phenomenon. Bring back pluralism! Michael White
Boy bands and Britney writing their own material. What's next, newborns changing their own nappies? Cam Lindsay
Click-Dub/Glitch-no. I. Khider
Dance music underwent its bifurcation into two camps, the first espousing hedonism and pure rush, and the other taking a more "serious" approach to the music. Hard house led the rush with DJs Judge Jules and Fergie, and a thousand snare rolls and synth stabs. Their opponents took a different route with the hypnotic grooves played by DJ John Digweed and the rest of the "nu breed," going under the name "progressive." As usual, both scenes will probably take the characteristics of their respective styles too far, and a new, more centrist and accessible hybrid will be formed next year. Philip Downey
DIY electro-pop. Combining synthetic 80s energy with punk and techno, bands like Le Tigre, Chicks on Speed, Peaches, and the Prima Donnas ruled the school this year. Lorraine Carpenter
Drum & bass with hip-hop. The mixing of the sister sounds has been happening bit by bit for a couple of years now, but as it moves towards the mainstream hopefully this mixture will add a bit of excitement into two genres that have been flirty with stagnation lately. Thomas Quinlan
Face zippers. Chuck Molgat
Integration of musicians and live instrumentation into the dance music mix. The learning curve is rocketing up and the music is becoming richer as a result. Denise Benson
Making music instead of trying to cop a trend to cover the fact that you can't make music. Roman Sokal
Napster/Morpheus and all the music sharing software. They allow underground music scenes to cross-pollinate from across the world and people to have access to music they would never have had before. Dan Cohen
The end of record company reliance. Bands such as Wilco shedding their labels plainly shows (if there was ever any doubt) that the music business has nothing to do with music. -Jason Schneider
"Quiet is the new loud" of Ida, Kings of Convenience, Low and Kingsbury Manx. It's so unpunk to put a premium on songcraft, well-performed harmonies and gorgeous vocal melodies, but when most aggressive music has basically become a mall outlet, then pretty, delicate songs begin to sound like sly acts of defiance. Chris Wodskou
Reissues. There was so many amazing albums remastered and reissued this year that many new releases probably didn't get the attention they really deserved. I know I spent as much time listening to reissued records by Blue Oyster Cult, the Band, Radio Birdman and the Grateful Dead as anything on my top 10. What does that tell you? Sean Palmerston
Shorter albums. This time of short attention spans is not a prime era to give us 50-plus minute albums, unless you're Neurosis or Queensryche. Greg Pratt
The absence of a predominant cultural phenomenon. Bring back pluralism! Michael White
