Editor,
Electronic dance music (EDM) is being played everywhere, and by just about everyone.
The hard-hitting bass beats that pulsate from the speakers of club DJs are traveling from the dark dance floors and illegal massive raves of their founding straight into the ears of mainstream America.
Everyone from Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Flo Rida and Busta Rhymes are using the genre’s fast paced beats to meet the demands of the world’s music lovers. No longer are names like Tiesto, Wolfgang Gartner, and Diplo exclusive to small EDM scene circles.
No, they are quickly becoming known by peoples of all demographics. Together, pop artists and EDM artists are collaborating to push the mainstream music envelope and rewrite the popular-playlist paradigm.
EDM has had its mainstream ups and downs in the past, but nothing like what’s going on now; it’s a revolution of rhythm and sound that is becoming a global musical language, a genre juggernaut.
EDM is actually a broad term that acts as an umbrella to many diverse sub genres. Each sub genre has its own distinct sound, classic songs and noteworthy artists.
“But it all sounds the same…”
False. That is like saying; “All beer tastes the same”, or “if you’ve had one kind of wine, you’ve had them all.”
Just like anything worth enjoying and savoring, you must train yourself to identify and appreciate the wide scope of differences each sub genre brings to the table. Dubstep sounds nothing like Trance music. While House and Progressive share some similarities, but they also have stark differences. Some DJs use vocals from various artists and songs, while others leave out vocals all together.
The genre and sub-genres are versatile and ever-changing. A single song can be cast out through the web by one of the genre’s prime players and be remixed a million ways, and then some more by both signed and unsigned artists. In addition, there are infinite combinations that can be remixed from those remixes. Each new remix weaves its own sounds into the track, while still maintaining the integrity of the original; a digital art piece where both artist and admirer can fuse their ideas onto the same canvas.
The abbreviation “DJ,” stands for “Disk Jockey.” To me, and many other fans of the music, it doesn’t do the artists behind the turntables justice. If anything they are “DCs,” or “Digital Composers.” They are to the modern age what the great symphonists and composers were to the age of classical music — musical visionaries and virtuosos who use the instruments of their time to transform their sounds into rhythmic compositions. However, modern day DCs have the upper hand over their classical predecessors: the Internet and living in the digital age.
Composers in centuries past had their talents and vision confined to the instruments and musical technology of their times. While still beautiful and revolutionary, the composers’ and orchestras’ capabilities and influence were restricted to small, often elite, circles of admirers.
Some of the most beautiful music only made it to the ears of a small demographic and its powerful resonance was restrained from the masses, doing a disservice to both parties: the musician and the listener.
But no more!
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Gone is the composer’s baton and chorus pit of the past! They have been replaced with multiple LCD screens, computer monitors, CD turn tables, synthesizers, switchboards and a vast network of intertwined audio cables. With the click of a mouse and switch of a button the DC can import music from anywhere in the world and formulate it into his/her current musical piece, which treats the crowd to sounds alien from anything they’ve ever heard before.
The music library of the World Wide Web is infinite and as versatile as the genre itself. It’s not uncommon to hear choruses of classic rock songs, video game jingles and pop music verses painted across the backdrop of an electronic beat, redefining everything you’ve known or thought you knew about the music.
I believe the music’s appeal is due to the versatility described above and the ability for the DC to transport you to a different place with the flip of a switch and turn of a knob. It’s a place where everyone listening to the track is temporarily transported into a state of nirvana. Each drop and raise in tempo and sound hit a different point on the emotional spectrum before elevating the listener to the harmonious heavens of melody.
There are some of you nodding your heads with a smile on your face because you know exactly what I am talking about. It’s that euphoric environment that entrenches you in the energy of the music. It’s hard to put into words, but definitely worth trying.
The future is bright for the genre, sub genres, and the people making the music we love. It is up to us to help the scene mature even more and become a bigger force to reckon with. Don’t abandon your beloved electronic music just because others are gaining appreciation for it.
Electronic music isn’t selling out to the mainstream; the mainstream is graciously selling out its hearts, ears and minds to its infectious sounds.
Adam Ornelas
UNM student
