How does EDM differ from say, Electronica? It reminds me of IDM - ‘Intelligent Dance Music’. So, I wonder what exactly is EDM? Most recorded music these days goes through some form of electronic, or more precisely, digital production. They have been opened up by a range of artists and production techniques and new/sub genres have emerged as music travels across peer-to-peer networks, blogs and file-sharing platforms cross-infecting genres of bass. With their unique histories and handful of pioneers these genres have since globalised and mutated. Notably, all of these genres emerged out of specific locals, often lower socio-economic enclaves of big cities - hip hop from the Bronx, New York ragga from downtown Kingston, Jamaica jungle, garage and grime from the estates of London funk from Rio’s comunidades. I could happily spend hours (days, months, years) traveling down these wormholes, exploring the genealogies of such genres, but that’s not what I want to do right now. Think of the ‘Funky Drummer’ in hip hop, the ‘Sleng Teng’ riddim in ragga, the ‘Amen Break’ in jungle, the ‘Volt Beat’ for funk carioca, reggaeton’s ‘Dem Bows’. With reference to ‘urban dance music’ (UDM?), there is an established discourse about how certain looped samples laid the foundation for specific genres. I’ve been thinking about a notion of ‘riddim discursivity’. Living in Gary, Indiana her early points of reference were footwork from Chicago, and she describes her sound as ‘EDM: Electronic Dance Music.’ I’ve noticed there is a lot of footwork in this folder, old and new. After last night’s listening session I decided I would push these tracks to front of my ‘crate’ in Mixxx (free and open source) and shape my collection around them. (The company went bankrupt in 2014, which I only learned when I recovered my barely used Spin last year from storage). I tell people I stopped more than a decade ago and the entry level Vestax controller I bought around that time is proof of it. I’m not part of any scene, so I lack insider knowledge and don’t get sent anything exclusive. I don’t stick to genres, nor the latest releases. I suppose this is why ‘tracks’ are called ‘DJ tools’. I often playing with tracks I haven’t listened to all the way through, teasing out their possibilities as they unfold. This is very different to when I mix, which is intuitive. It made a significant difference to the music I usually only hear when I mix and I found myself listening to certain tracks by the Two Lone Swordsman, Jlin and Kode 9 several times over, fascinated by their subtle productions techniques arguably listening with respect for the time and experience that went into their making. Last night I was listening to music, the way I used to when I was a child: lights off, sitting in front of the speakers and emotionally available to go with the sound… but now with high quality headphones that detect the fine production details.
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