Losd Recorded music history has been conveniently digitized and cataloged, available now on your favorite streaming service. The map of musical influence shows arrows going every which direction, circling back on themselves, stretching tautly into the future. Regional scenes have given way to global Internet microgenres, which have in turn dissolved to fill the cracks in our musical past. Music has never been harder to classify, and that is, I think, a good thing.
By the way, since when has “experimental music” been something even remotely definable? The spirit of the avant-garde is so pervasive in today’s art, it’s almost unworthy of mention. No one can deny the place of the avant-garde in pop, and the converse shouldn’t be so hard to swallow.