Electronic Dance Music - call it a global [post-hip hop] phenomena or a dumb-down replica of an once potent youth culture. Today, EDM may as well be termed as a treadmill sport of Ego-centric Dunce Muzak. The evidence is at large and screaming - DJ and EDM superhero Tiesto takes pride in his newly christened sir-name, as 'Wynn' - inspired from the patronage of the Wynn Las Vegas Luxury Hotel (starting $300 a night, Encore Tower Suites). As the nobility of Swedish EDM, Axwell and Ingrosso claim that their industrial barrage of tracks are "not some evil plan ... and it all comes out of practically nothing". "It's a brand .. kind of what I wanted to do and become" says (with beaming confidence) online megalomaniac, self-acclaimed scion of EDM, Joel Zimmerman - the Deadmau5. At the top of this game lay tonnes of avarice, narcissism and dire mediocrity; Covered up by expensive car rides with ex-metal heads or ranting online about how great the rat_face producer is. Hype is the zeitgeist of EDM. As Hardwell rambles on and on about the tremendous pressure "to be No.1 and not slide to No.6" - just as a boxing ring phenomenon, to be replaced by the next upcoming 4-minute chart busting replica. Belgian superstar brothers, Like Mike & Dimitri assert that their music has the power to "sell out, 60,000 tickets in a matter of hours" [#fact - that the greek brothers are completely sponsored 'sausages' of Tomorrowland Festival] ... "I can draw notes. it's simple, it's like drawing"- Erstwhile World No.1 French DJ (faker on stage & lair) David Guetta exposes himself on TV, when asked about his method of composition. A coked-up clown or a producer who spends hours harping about his patent kickdrum ?
Fact is, the biggest names in the business (of EDM) produce the most hideous and predictable tunes. The uninspiring effect of this music is mostly overcome by immense hype, atrociously loud [clipping] audio and enormous flash & packaging. The daily routine of copy_pasted propaganda, discounts, celebrity gossip and tardy photos of DJs ape-leaping on the stage can be seen across a hundred twitter and face-book accounts. This litany of trash, has notched up as a viral global standard - where in massive mediocrity rules the roost.
The dissemination of electronic music worldwide, tells a sordid story of simplification, industrialization and an almost silent catastrophe - of the spirit of electronic music. The quantized butchery of creativity, mutation and chance, at the alter of pop music and it's godfather - the entertainment busines$ - Candy voices, insipid guitar riffs and 'kindergarden' piano motifs would begin to replace the complex yet potent and ever-changing undercurrents of electronic music. Previously known as Intelligent Dance Music [IDM] for reasons elite, circa 2007, as mass american youth eventually swallowed the sound of electronic music as a viable genre - it was revamped as EDM. Europe’s existing exotic expertise of electronic music would be hacked into and eventually caste aside, to make way for big time business models (hegemony) and crass pop idolatry. Is it the eventual outcome of almost all sub-cultures, once tamed, consumed and forsaken to corporate plunder? At the patronage of global brands, massive events and gigantic festivals -all bent to turn electronic music culture into a gladiator sports of sorts. From Goa to Miami, from Benidorm to Shanghai, from Barcelona to Berlin to Buenos Aires, the image of electronic music is fast becoming singular and almost totalitarian.
Massive visual spectacles, pyro-works, dancers, robots, lasers and the noise of propaganda would allow very little space (or volume) for the actual music or the propagators of the culture within. Who is left listening inside this blitzkrieg of 4 minute rise & fall hits ?! The aesthetics and ethos of a wild & independent spirit within electronic music would be mooched off, in favor of a mostly tacit, yet totally predictable, disney-land like spectacle. Out of the playing-fields, raves, clubs, juntas, regional labels and collectives and into the football stadiums, EDM would regress to a simian status - somewhat similar to the meteoric heraldry & capitalization of Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and Grunge music (circa late 1980's - 90's). Endless automated routines by coked up DJs in-sync with grand production effects ensure the continuos roll of jingles, for the bosses to rake in millions as tickets sales, via VIP arenas, merchandise, joyrides, exclusives and the pre and after parties. $hit Sells & Your Paying ?! Further little do the millions of consumers care, that this Industry is clearly sexist as well as very selective towards non-white artists. Just like most of the entertainment and culture industry in Europe and North America. The evidence is in the overwhelming propaganda as seen on twitter and facebook as well as detailed studies done by feminist groups and culturally 'neutral' indexes. Read More Here -
The dissemination of electronic music worldwide, tells a sordid story of simplification, industrialization and an almost silent catastrophe - of the spirit of electronic music. The quantized butchery of creativity, mutation and chance, at the alter of pop music and it's godfather - the entertainment busines$ - Candy voices, insipid guitar riffs and 'kindergarden' piano motifs would begin to replace the complex yet potent and ever-changing undercurrents of electronic music. Previously known as Intelligent Dance Music [IDM] for reasons elite, circa 2007, as mass american youth eventually swallowed the sound of electronic music as a viable genre - it was revamped as EDM. Europe’s existing exotic expertise of electronic music would be hacked into and eventually caste aside, to make way for big time business models (hegemony) and crass pop idolatry. Is it the eventual outcome of almost all sub-cultures, once tamed, consumed and forsaken to corporate plunder? At the patronage of global brands, massive events and gigantic festivals -all bent to turn electronic music culture into a gladiator sports of sorts. From Goa to Miami, from Benidorm to Shanghai, from Barcelona to Berlin to Buenos Aires, the image of electronic music is fast becoming singular and almost totalitarian.
Massive visual spectacles, pyro-works, dancers, robots, lasers and the noise of propaganda would allow very little space (or volume) for the actual music or the propagators of the culture within. Who is left listening inside this blitzkrieg of 4 minute rise & fall hits ?! The aesthetics and ethos of a wild & independent spirit within electronic music would be mooched off, in favor of a mostly tacit, yet totally predictable, disney-land like spectacle. Out of the playing-fields, raves, clubs, juntas, regional labels and collectives and into the football stadiums, EDM would regress to a simian status - somewhat similar to the meteoric heraldry & capitalization of Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and Grunge music (circa late 1980's - 90's). Endless automated routines by coked up DJs in-sync with grand production effects ensure the continuos roll of jingles, for the bosses to rake in millions as tickets sales, via VIP arenas, merchandise, joyrides, exclusives and the pre and after parties. $hit Sells & Your Paying ?! Further little do the millions of consumers care, that this Industry is clearly sexist as well as very selective towards non-white artists. Just like most of the entertainment and culture industry in Europe and North America. The evidence is in the overwhelming propaganda as seen on twitter and facebook as well as detailed studies done by feminist groups and culturally 'neutral' indexes. Read More Here -
Industry experts and major festival demographics predict (and expect) the EDM cow (market) to be worth approx. 250 Million USD, by 2017. Has electronic music been cuffed into a trap of repetition, simplification and eventual stagnation in most parts of the world? Is Popular EDM a soul-less format at best? Or is EDM the most obvious predicament of a technological revolution- now mired in PLUR, Bass, Bro_step, Fashionistas and Doll DJs. Forget not the tirade of online celebrity worship on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc etc. Have we reached a near hopeless & dead [mouse] end of artistry and innovation? Is there no more 'head-room' left in the spectrum ? What do we and the forth-coming generation of producers, DJs, labels, sound enthusiasts and dance music aficionados hope to aspire, to find and to achieve, outside the massive dross and demagoguery of star DJs. There must be a headway, already! Where and How is the need of the day.
Where is the music for the (next) jilted generation ?
Infographic by - https://femalepressure.wordpress.com/facts/facts-2017-results/
https://femalepressure.wordpress.com/
Infographic by - https://femalepressure.wordpress.com/facts/facts-2017-results/
https://femalepressure.wordpress.com/
0 -