electronica, n. With sing. concord.
Brit. /ɪˌlɛkˈtrɒnɪkə/, /ˌɛlɛkˈtrɒnɪkə/, /ˌɛlɪkˈtrɒnɪkə/, /ˌiːlɛkˈtrɒnɪkə/, U.S. /əˌlɛkˈtrɑnəkə/, /iˌlɛkˈtrɑnəkə/
Forms: 19– electronica, 19– electronika, 19– elektronika
[‹ electronic adj. + -a suffix2, after e.g. erotica n., exotica n., etc.
Compare the following isolated attestation of electronica apparently denoting a kind of musical instrument (and perhaps showing a blend of electronic adj. and harmonica n.):
| 1938 N.Y. Times 15 May x. 5/8 At the League of Composers' recent demonstration of music and electricity,..everybody was feeling very cocky about the electric organ's 24,000,000 tone colors, the magic of the theremin space-controlled instrument and the wonders of the electronica. |
1. Music. a. Any of various kinds of electronically generated music; electronic music in general.
| 1980 Listener 14 Aug. 223/3 Few of the new bands toying with electronica now can be expected to survive. 1991 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 4 Mar. f3/1 Choreographically crabbed and melodramatic, it draws sonically on portentous spoken words and conventional electronica. 1994 Face Jan. 94/2 Veterans of early-Eighties grey electronica (Throbbing Gristle), they loom behind their keyboards like a couple of monochrome mannequins. 1997 Guardian 24 Jan. (Friday Review section) 14/3 Fresh takes the old ambient/meditation tape cliché of lapping waves and runs it beneath the kind of muzaky electronica people used to laugh—quite rightly—at Jean-Michel Jarre for. |
b. spec. Any of various popular styles of electronic music deriving from techno and rave music, esp. those having a more ambient, esoteric, or cerebral quality. Often used as a generic or marketing term for these types of music, or for electronic dance music in general, esp. in the U.S. Also new electronica.
| 1993 Independent (Nexis) 14 Nov. 31 Aphex Twin: On (Warp, single). Sparse and ethereal electronica; as spooky as it gets. 1996 Time Out N.Y. 4 Sept. 44/4 The Static crew is back with this new evening of ‘elektronika and cerebral syncopations’ (i.e., everything from ambient and Kraftwerk to the latest Detroitisms) in XVI's laid-back lounge. 1997 Face June 163/2 She's been getting into the British dance music marketed in the US as electronica: Future Sound Of London, Underworld, The Prodigy. 2001 Independent (Electronic ed.) 7 Dec. As their career has progressed, Station 17 have modernised their approach,..arriving, by 1999's Bravo, at a point roughly commensurate with the burgeoning German new electronica scene of Pole, Kreidler and To Rococo Rot. |
2. Electronic devices or technology, considered collectively.
| 1980 N.Y. Times 28 Nov. d3/1 That view was the accepted wisdom at Electronica 80, the international trade fair for electronic components held here [sc. Munich] recently. 1986 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 7 Nov. c2 Once upon a time, way back when the VCR was still an esoteric piece of electronica, a fledgling young entrepreneur named Stuart Karl had this idea. 1993 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 30 May (Calendar section) 3 A Macintosh with a big monitor; a rack of samplers and other dedicated musical electronica, and a large mixing board. 1999 M. Sawyer Park & Ride (2000) ii. 32 Someone opened the boot. It was full of winking, blinking electronica. |