“It’s dull, boring.” “Just a guy pushing buttons.” “What am I supposed to be looking at?” How many times have you heard the above sentiments used to describe an electronic music performance? No matter if a synthpop act triggers samples from an Emulator II or DJs at Electric Daisy Carnival [...]
When it comes to recognition and record sales, 2012 was an excellent year for electronic dance music. As we have pointed out, EDM was added as a category for multiple well-known awards over the past year – the VMAs and American Music Awards – and received a more prominent spot [...]
For the average individual, New Year’s Eve is a celebration – a time you look around for the best party to knock back a few cocktails and dance until the early hours of the morning. Yet, for the DJ, New Year’s Eve is the prime time to knock back a [...]
Some artists are trendsetters and others followers. In the current musical climate of EDM, Avicii is turning into the former, a formidable force of hummable piano lines and uplifting house tracks that fill a dance floor and become an anthem even before he headlines his next festival. But with careers [...]
In the second half of the 1980s, Morrissey, still with The Smiths, sang, “Burn down the disco, hang the blessed DJ.” Now, according to a trend piece in the New York Times, disco revival groups – but not nu-disco – want to resurrect it. But acts like Crystal Ark Party [...]
For every positive action, there’s a negative reaction. For every shiny side of a coin, there’s a tarnished one. No matter which metaphor you use, there’s no denying that 2012 was a paradoxical year for electronic dance music. On one hand, increased record sales, festival attendance, and inclusion at U.S. [...]
Larger festival presence and greater music sales form just one part of EDM’s mainstream ascent. Whether you argue this visibility has watered down the genre or is more beneficial is a moot issue. Instead of being seen as a more repetitive, if not lesser, form of disco, electronic dance music [...]
Although much has been said about EDM’s ascent in 2012, one aspect of it has been significantly positive: music-related charity events. These aren’t your local dance-offs at a club. Instead, no matter if DJs are raising money for a cause or a disaster, top talent brings the crowd (and sometimes [...]
Repetition is no stranger to electronic dance music. Reoccurring themes pepper tracks, while loops lull familiar material over a 4/4 beat. Even with keys modulating, the pattern of intervals remains unchanged in a four-minute span. Yet, beyond the elements of individual tracks, repetition has seeped into another aspect of dance [...]
Who is Gemini? The 22-year-old producer and songwriter born Thomas Slinger attempts to define himself on this short, five-track EP that includes two of his larger singles, “3D Romeo” and “Freedom.” The Mercury EP, out on November 19, assembles a collection of vignettes, each exploring a different and divergent facet [...]