The Death of Electronic Dance Music
In the June of 2013, filmmaker Steven Spielberg predicted that the film industry was going to implode. One year later, and electronic artist DeadMau5, “the Steven Spielberg of house music,” is predicting the same fate for Electronic Dance Music.
“Disco had a longer run than EDM has, to be honest about it, and that died in a f****** hurry,” the EDM kingpin told the London Evening Standard in an eloquent interview two weeks ago. “EDM is way more susceptible because [disco] was in a time when they didn’t have mass social media and all that shit. It’s not gonna be me saying, ‘OK, EDM’s done,’ and the whole thing falls apart, but I think it’ll eventually f*** itself so hard.”
Say it ain’t so! EDM has been a staple for decades. It not only managed to survive the 90’s rave scene, but it's become increasingly mainstream. Daft Punk just won the Grammy for Album of the Year, for Pete's sake. Of course, we’re biased. We don’t want EDM to die. Can you imagine a world where the bass never drops? No thank you.
Still, the relentless march of time waits for no genre, so it’s best to be prepared. On the off-chance that Deadmau5 is right, we’re going to help you build your survival kit for the impending EDM Apocalypse.
What to put in your EDM Survival Kit:
Music
This little playlist will help remind you what you're fighting for. Viva la resistance!
Badges of Honor
It’s not enough to listen to EDM. You have to look like EDM. Consider one of these “badges of honor” to alert fellow survivors of where your loyalties lie.
This shirt should say everything there is to say about you. But on the offchance that you're looking for a little more subtlety, consider one of these trance-tastic iPhone cases.
DIY EDM
What’s that, you say? You don’t play an instrument? Neither do most EDM artists! Making electronic music is as simple as pressing buttons and looking awesome while you do it. Here are some tools that will help you to keep producing your own EDM for years to come. Just remember- the dance floor is wherever you say it is.
This easily goes down as the coolest Google Doodle ever made. It’s a working emulator of the classic Moog synth. You can play it using your laptop keyboard, mess around with different oscillators and settings, even multi-track record!
The good folks at Propellerhead have built this awesome iPhone app for making pretty solid electronic music in minutes. It costs $0.99, but it’s worth a million dollars. Literally.
In Summation
While it’s good to be prepared, it’s likely Deadmau5's inflammatory comments were just an attempt to "drum up" a little publicity for his sprawling new double-album, while(1<2). The album dropped mid-June and has been getting mixed reviews. Rolling Stone says the album sees Deadmau5 turning “from an electro-house polymath into the world’s most unnecessary Nine Inch Nails tribute act.” Some harsh words, though they do raise some interesting questions, like “Is there such a thing as a necessary Nine Inch Nails tribute act?” (Answer: Sort of.)
No matter what happens, it's important to remember: Electronic Dance Music can never really die so long as it lives on in our hearts and minds and smartphones.
EDM is kind of being butchered in context. In mainstream, EDM is described by it’s few subgenres rather than the whole collective. It gives me such a burden to hear a bunch of build ups and drops and trap music being played on the radio. That’s not EDM. That’s just a bunch of producers reusing the same method and making it clichéd and obsolete. It bores the fuck out of me. Does it hurt to have a little more into the radio? Perhaps some funky house music or retro 80’s cyberpunk-esque electro synth pop? What about drum and bass or conceptual tracks much like Danger’s? Mainstream is all about money and attention because it focuses on an average mind who can only enjoy a song with simple, repetitive lyrics. Lyrics that have to do with this vague “baby” everyone talks about. And how every situation has to be about drinking in the club with booties bouncing. And when a song could be so “deep” with words such as “light”, “stars”, “eyes”, “shine”, and “dance”. So yes, EDM is not quite dead, but it is for true music lovers and critics.
Leave a comment