..said Fatboy in 1998. It seems this has also held true for the EDM scene. We’ve weathered electro, tech house, complextro and are currently surrounded by Skrillexicans, hands raised to the sky in their fervent admiration of anything the prolific Mr Moore touches.
But where to from here? What does the future of EDM hold? With artists like Madeon producing incredibly melodic pop content and influenced by legendary electronic producers and artists such as Stuart Price (Thin White Duke/Jacques Lu Cont), and the up-and-coming wunderkind ‘Zedd’ (Shotgun/Spectrum) cranking out remixes for Wolfgang Gartner and Swedish House Mafia, is our preference changing to more of a ‘let’s-hug-it-out’ vibe? Or, on the other side of the spectrum, with AraabMuzik able to reduce an MPC to a smoking pile of circuitry in one performance, are we descending into the depths of glitchy, electro loops and arpeggiated insanity?
And what of the club scene? Will speaker stacks and stomach-churning low frequencies be replaced with complimentary wireless headphones handed out at the door, where different rooms in the venue cater for multiple music preferences? …the DJ stands..above the assembled crowd, fist pumping to the sky, while the only sound that can be heard is the shuffling of feet and the electronic whir of the lighting rig as the strobes and UV’s change bounce off the assembled crowd and their matching earbuds…sure, it may sound bizarre now, but perhaps not so far from reality as we may think.
So the question still remains, where to from here for EDM? For those that have been around the scene long enough to see influences come and go, there appears to be a cyclic feel to the music style du jour. In short, what goes around, comes around. Same flavour, but very different ingredients; always with a new twist. And we return, insatiable individuals that we are, to feed again and again.
