There is a movement afoot; one that has tried to get a foothold for decades, but is slowly permeating every facet and subculture of music today. DJs are now as recognizable as the most famous popstars. Your favorite artists are dying for these spinners to sample their songs or to get a featured credit performing on new beats. You might have even had the awkward situation of introducing your parents to a new flame who dresses in garish neon clothes and has a penchant to use the word “rage” at the dinner table.
That movement is Electronic Dance Music, or EDM, and its Bonaroo-Coachella-Lollapalooza equivalent happened this weekend in Miami’s Bayfront Park. It’s called Ultra — the Ultra Music Festival XIV to be exact. According to the Wall Street Journal (America’s No. 1 music periodical), 200,000 ravers cut off bridge traffic from Miami to South Beach, and many more watched the simulcast online. Such enthusiasm shows why this is the fastest growing musical undercurrent as we continue to march on into the young decade.
Unless you’ve been actively avoiding this Dance Dance Revolution, you would recognize the names of featured headliners like Avicii, Deadmau5 and David Guetta. If not, you might know some other people who made surprise appearances. How about socialite and former sex-tape star Paris Hilton? She hopped about on stage to the music of her new boyfriend, Afrojack. You may remember ‘90s trip-hop DJ Fat Boy Slim (The funk's your brother. Remember him?). He did a set incorporating his favorites as well as mixes of the new EDM kings, such as Tiesto’s “Work Hard, Play Hard” and Chuckie’s “I’m in Miami Bitch.” Will.i.am and David Guetta premiered a new track. And how about Madonna, who also showed up to jam to Avicii’s new remix of her song “Girl Gone Wild" and asking everyone if they had “seen Molly” (Hey, who’s Molly? Oh! That Molly. Lol. Madonna’s a silly old bitch).
The fact that this year’s Ultra was so massive this year means it could be the sign of a new musical awakening long-awaited. After the ‘80s and ‘90s, when dance music tried so hard to gain leverage in an American music market, we are witnessing the ultimate groundswell of something that may eclipse our previous standards, expanding out of its niche scene like how rap did over the last twenty years. You can find EDM's influence everywhere in contemporary music, and you don't have to look very hard. For example, having ruled the airwaves since the early 2000s, pop rappers like Pitbull and Flo Rida are now using the EDM craze to get another single out into the ether.
I’ve often thought about what would happen if I were to review a new album from this milieu.
“Jim, are you going to review the new Skrillex album?”
Errr. I dunno. Probably not.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate this at all. I actually want to go to go to a rave really badly (“Don’t tell my Mom I’m rollin’ right now!”). Even so, I think a lot of the appeal of the music is actually losing yourself while feeling the same energy among a large group of people.
But no, I wouldn't expect a review of a new dubstep album on my blog in the near future if I were you. I'm doing this out of fairness. It's not like I haven't tried. I gave an honest attempt to review the new Grimes album, and I couldn’t make heads or tales of it — I don’t know what makes a EDM album “good” or “bad.” In fact, unless some sites have hired someone to decipher these kinds of records, I wouldn’t trust their judgment. Believe me, the real ravers aren't getting any reviews from Pitchfork or Spin. In fact, I only know a few homies who could answer such a question, and that is because they go to a rave every week.
If EDM has taught me anything, it's that I'm personally at the cusp of "cool dad" territory. You know, the dad that pretends he knows what's going on to bond with his kid's friends. He pretty much says a few facts to make sure no one calls him on his B.S. and then concentrates on getting everyone to basketball practice in his Dodge Caravan. I don't think I'm quite there yet, but I'm pretty close to pulling a Danny Glover in that I might be getting too old for this sh!t. If anyone wants to school me on the in's and out's of good dance music, please let me know. If things keep up, you're going to have to write this stupid blog by default.
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