IN DEFENSE OF ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC

When folk virtuoso Bob Dylan (congrats on the Nobel Prize lol) “went electro” in 1965 at a concert, the audience booed him, the fans felt betrayed, and the critics condemned him. When Radiohead transitioned to an electronic sound at the turn of the millennium, the climate was more or less the same at first, but of course, Kid A is now retrospectively hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time. And speaking of “ALL TIME!!!!” when Kanye West used Auto-Tune to manipulate his music that showcased his vulnerable side in 808s & Heartbreak (2008), who would’ve thought that the hip hop landscape would forever be altered?

Electronic dance music is a misnomer. What is it, exactly? It’s music that is made with electronics that you can dance to. At least, that’d be the immediate perception of it, right? But that would be difficult to pinpoint. The consensus seems to be that EDM is a contemporary genre. However, the fusion of electronic music + dance music has lasted for a couple of decades now. Should we lump together Whitney Houston and Avicii? How about ABBA and Martin Garrix? We have been using electronics to produce and sound-engineer the music that we have had since we started learning how to perfect them, and that was before the acronym EDM was even coined.

The music of, say, FKA Twigs is heavily produced using technology and I can dance to it for all people care, but her fans would mob me the moment I classify her next to the likes of Diplo and Armin van Buuren. Rostam Batmanglij (formerly of Vampire Weekend) once shared the selfish and petty reason why he left the band: he insists that the band's third album Modern Vampires of the City (2013) is an electronic album and so his efforts as a producer are often neglected. The record is definitely hard not to dance to. But Vampire Weekend? An EDM act? ¡Qué horror!

If you look at a quick list of electronic music genres, you will learn that there are around 20— and some of them have those subgenres whose names sound like hallucinatory symptoms: ethereal wave, dream trance, witch house, liquid funk, space disco, etc. Some of those subgenres even have their own subgenres!

When we casually mention EDM, we actually refer to a specific kind of subgenre: big room (i.e. the “tugs tugs music”). I constantly hear—and have now accepted—the stereotype about it. A song with the four-to-the-floor beat that climbs, and thins, and as soon as the anticipation is ripe, and all corners are covered, and there is nowhere else for the music to diffuse to, the bass drops and the mindless sync-jumping (or humping?) of affluent “fuccbois” and “basic bitches” ensues. The introverts at the side are left thinking either “I shouldn’t have gone outside tonight” or “I need more alcohol, I’m too sober for this.”

American producer-cum-DJ Porter Robinson has repeated on different occasions about his intent to distance himself from this “mindless” kind of music. See one of these interviews below.

 

Robinson is a weeaboo at heart: he is obsessed with Japanese culture (his interest in EDM was kickstarted by Dance Dance Revolution after all) and it is apparent in his debut album Worlds (2014) with his use of Vocaloid software, Japanese lyrics and influences from video game soundtracks.

Worlds is an overhyped and pretentious mess, albeit sometimes great. Was it a 180-degree move from his past work? On a personal level, sure. All the tracks are original, the visuals specifically created for the Worlds live shows are lovely, and he even sang a bit on it. But was there a significant leap with this album from his past EPs? Not really.

Prior to its release, and even after, it was plagued with overly ambitious statements. There is this peculiar track that seems to encapsulate his EDM-is-not-art ideology called “Fellow Feeling.”

The mood is atmospheric at the beginning, and it is only at the 2-minute mark that the beat kicks in and a voice starts to talk about something vague, dripping with nostalgia. It then begs, “Now please, hear what I hear” and then the music descends to dubstep chaos that would make Skrillex proud. After this flurry of discordant sounds (or noises, if you will), the voice tells the listener, “Let me explain/ this ugliness, this cruelty, this repulsiveness/ it will all die out/ and now, I cry for all that is beautiful,” and then the song swells back to its vast and ethereal strings.

The “worlds” that Robinson creates through his music are beautiful, though some of them are shaky and uninspired. It’s funny that his close friend, the more humble Madeon, released the better debut album: Adventure (2015), and even the deluxe cuts are worth a listen. They collaborated this year with “Shelter” and poignant visuals aside, the song is a formidable EDM banger.

This dichotomy with EDM and art is ridiculous. Let’s expand that: this dichotomy with electronic music and traditional music is ridiculous. Going electronic, particularly when it’s danceable, is not selling out. And who cares if you're selling out if you're still producing good music? (I guess this argument is parallel with the great debate of rockism vs. poptimism.)

However, Robinson isn’t far off with his view on EDM. In 2013, Swedish duo Daleri made a mashup of 16 drops from the Top 100 chart of Beatport, arguably the biggest online network for EDM. The result is unsurprisingly laughable. The drops are interchangeable and lifeless when placed next to one another.

Take note that Robinson isn’t alone with this point of view. Deadmau5 hates dubstep, many producers resent DJ Mag’s annual, perpetually controversial Top 100 DJs list, every other person in this planet is condescending towards college boys dancing to this kind of music hoping to get laid, etc. I, too, hate 90% of EDM, but surely, it's not that different with other genres of music?

Big room is passé now. House music is gaining traction again. Trap and dancehall are creeping into pop music. EDM is returning to its more relaxed roots. The Chainsmokers’ 12-week run (3 months!!! oh my god!!!) at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 this year is extraordinary. The electronic breakdown is literally just the melody of its chorus. It’s lazy, but it gets the job done anyway. Even Calvin Harris, who was once king of the game with his Rihanna-collab “We Found Love,” is doing subtler approaches to his tracks nowadays.

(Note: I know I hate-tweet on “Closer” a lot but I actually listen to it now and then because lyrics notwithstanding, it’s actually an okay song. I also believe that “#SELFIE” is a GREAT satire of a song. EDM is surprising sometimes.)

While EDM still hasn’t taken its stereotype of being shallow “crowd-pleasers” (a reiteration: nothing is wrong about appealing to the masses) off its back, the genre—a big umbrella term, really—is becoming more and more diverse that it escapes easy categorizations.

On the other hand, I think the biggest offense regarding electronic music in general is the thought that it isn’t real music. A device plays the music for you. Everyone can become a producer or a songwriter, or both. And that’s as elitist as it gets. Don't even get me started on the term IDM! """Intelligent""" dance music my EDM-twerking derrière!

If you think this way, we can’t be friends tbh lol no but seriously, believing in this is ignoring its history. Early forms of disco and house music helped shaped the underground culture of marginalized sectors and identities. While the likes of Frankie Knuckles and Brian Eno (I dislike ambient music btw but I understand how this subgenre pioneered a whole new movement) will never reach the respected heights of, say, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members only because the latter did not primarily tinker away on turntables and mixing consoles, the fact remains that electronic music has a rich history that should not be reduced unfairly to fodder for raves and music festivals. Besides, what's wrong with allowing people access to "instruments" they could not have afforded otherwise? Technology provides that, and even more.

Sure, many DJs are a sham. Check out this clip of David Guetta looking as confused and unexcited as the music he’s playing.

That’s a given. Another reason why I can’t take The Chainsmokers seriously. (I mean, aside from their deplorable interview in Billboard magazine.) When Drew Taggart explained how he had produced the drop in “Roses,” he said that he was only playing with some effects to see what could produce the best sound. I have no problem with accidental strokes of genius whatsoever but honestly, this whole thing with them being an electronic duo is a joke (the other member doesn’t even write/produce any of their songs!). Taggart isn’t the most technologically adept man in the industry and they might as well just play their songs from their laptops.

Anyway, for every Drew Taggart who is lost in this electronic frenzy and every Porter Robinson who further belittles EDM, there is a Madeon who shines brightly and lets their music speak for themselves.

Honestly, if that isn't real music made by a talented artist, then I don't know what to tell or show you. The music is still the same. It's the instruments, or lack thereof, that are changing.

LOL this post got really long. I would just like to point out that synthpop is the genre I most listen to and it overlaps with this topic so I just went off on this one. Just because the music is synthetic doesn’t mean the emotions have to be artificial as well. Give EDM a chance!! Hehe.