What is a sonic meme?
we can see many examples of a ‘sonic meme’, it could be anything from: a repeating catch phrase, a particular sound/sonic, a beat tag or the overall production style could all be considered memes that reaffirm their respective memeplexes. In an interview with Resident Advisor magazine Donk artist Lobsta B identifies some examples of sonic memes through out the generations, saying “The acid bassline. The amen break. The 909 ride cymbal. Even those with a casual interest in dance music can recognise the sounds and samples that have impacted decades of music history.” (Tippit, Z. and B, L. 2022) Each of these sonic memes are familiar and easily distinguishable which Ione of the many factors which helps them propagate.
Using Dawkins & Blackmore’s framework seeing religion as Memeplex, one could draw the comparison to seeing Genres as sonic/aesthetic Memeplexes with each sonic/aesthetic component being a meme that reaffirms the memeplex that is the genre. The word genre come from the latin word genus which is very similar to Dawkins analogy of Cultural gene clusters. So using this comparison It is not too crazy to link other cultural Custers such as: Aesthetics, Genres and movements. Digital hardcore is a memeplex