San Francisco’s open-minded and cosmopolitan atmosphere has encouraged many kinds of music to flourish and develop over the years. Musicians and DJ’s from overseas have come to the City to experience this unique vibe, bringing their sounds and talent into a place already flush with highly creative people. As a result, San Francisco has a healthy international music culture and one the best electronic music scenes in the country.

The City’s nightclubs have always done a good job at keeping up with the latest styles of music, and this decade has been no different. There has been a discernible shift in the tastes of club goers during the past several years as a younger generation of people have entered the clubs, followed by a host of new genres.

At the beginning of this decade, San Francisco’s nightlife scene experienced a bit of a slump. The dot com bust put a lot of people out of work, which made them less willing to spend wads of cash on a big night out. Many of the genres that had been popular during the late 90’s, progressive house, deep house, trance, and drum and bass, had stagnated creatively and subsequently fell out of favor. Rock music made its big comeback and fans of electronic music turned to more song based electroclash acts like Fischerspooner and Peaches. The crowds attending house music parties seemed to be getting older and promoters couldn’t grab the attention of the early 20-somethings. Electronic dance music was at a fork in the road and needed fresh ideas in order to remain relevant and prevent a fade into obscurity.

Things began to change around 2006. Daft Punk’s legendary performance at Coachella that year opened up a lot people’s minds towards house music and many artists began revisiting electronic dance music, breathing new life into some of the older genres. German-style techno made its way to the west coast and found solid fan bases in LA and SF. The Burning Man breaks scene blew up and entered mainstream clubs like 1015. Drum and bass morphed into Dubstep. Local indie kids got into dance music through SF-based groups like Erase Errata and Tussle.

These developments have made dance music in San Francisco exciting again and the City has become a haven for electronic music of all kinds. Here’s a breakdown of the current trends:

Berlin Invades SF
Techno has experienced a renaissance in this decade, with Berlin producers and DJ’s leading the charge. By the end of the 90’s, Techno had become extremely fast and pounding, losing much of the groove that had made it such vital music in the late 80’s. In reaction, producers began to slow the tempos and use the stripped-down aesthetic of minimal techno, a strain of techno invented by Detroit legends Rob Hood and Dan Bell and later championed by Richie Hawtin. German labels like Perlon and Kompakt pushed the sound and eventually this new version of techno became popular worldwide.

San Francisco clubs have historically favored genres like house and hip-hop. Until recently, techno has struggled to gain a foothold in the City. The scene throughout the 90’s was small but several SF-based producers during that period, Sutekh, Kit Clayton, and Safety Scissors, provided a glimpse of the future with their glitchy, dub-influenced take on the genre. In recent years, crews like Kontrol and Auralism have had success in breaking the Berlin sound to San Francisco crowds and consistently bring in the best talent from overseas. Local producer Dave Aju has helped put San Francisco on the map artistically with his recent album, Open Wide. With new weeklies and underground parties popping up every week in SF and Oakland, the future looks bright for techno in the Bay Area.

Warped & Twisted: Glitch-Hop, Dubstep, and Beyond
Bass heavy genres like drum and bass and breakbeat have received creative makeovers during the past several years. Burning Man favorites Tipper, Bassnectar, and The Glitch Mob have been killing burners out on the playa with their futuristic, IDM-influenced, hip-hop tempo beats. Their music has steadily gained in popularity and has seen crossover success, with Bassnectar releasing an album on OM Records last year and the Glitch Mob selling out shows in SF and embarking on a European tour. Local duo Lazersword have approached the sound from a hip-hop background and have managed to make glitchy music palatable to hipster kids. Flying Lotus turned a lot of heads this year with his album, Los Angeles. His jazz influenced, instrumental hip-hop has a loose feel that makes it stand out in a crowded field of producers.

Dubstep has risen from the ashes of the drum and bass scene. The genre’s highly syncopated, shuffling rhythms have gained a dedicated following in the Bay Area. Surefire Productions have been booking the heavy hitters from London and former drum and bass DJ’s like Juju are pushing the sound at weeklies around San Francisco.

Indie Kids Put On Their Dancing Shoes
At some point during the past several years, indie rock fans have decided that it’s ok to dance. Initially turned off by the repetitive, tracky nature of techno and house, hipsters pursued dance music that had more of a traditional pop structure and live instrumentation. Bands like The Rapture effectively revisited the dance-punk sounds of the early 80’s, while LCD Soundsystem experienced mainstream success. Eventually, fans of these groups became more exposed to electronic sounds and the reemergence of Daft Punk set the stage for Justice to blow the gates wide open with their aggressive, electro house. This sound has done well in San Francisco, DJ’s at nights like Blow Up at the Rickshaw Stop play the latest electro house remixes to packed dancefloors and groups like Digitalism and Simian Mobile Disco sell out venues whenever they roll through town.

What’s Next?
Who knows? San Francisco is always evolving and it is highly likely that tastes will completely shift again within the next five years. One thing is for certain though; SF is a city that loves to dance.