Although studio production of EDM tracks is still technologically mediated, the hallmark of a respected EDM performer, through the familiar form of the disk-jockey, is his ability to select, combine, and manipulate records into new, continuously streaming compositions in front of a continuously evolving audience, thus making live, improvisational performance an integral component of electronic dance music production and culture. In “Off the Record: Turntablism and Controllerism in the 21st Century” published in Dancecult, a journal of electronic dance music culture, van Veen remarks how “dancefloors instinctively respond to longer-held mixes as the affect of blended sounds creates heightened tension as the tracks play off each other.” Dancers use their bodies to physically interact with electronic dance music, and a DJ must be able to expertly distinguish subtle differences in rhythm and pitch of his selected tracks to create a sustained, fluid stream of sound. Because an EDM audience is unpredictable in its response to a DJ performance, the DJ must remain in a continuous process of interaction with his dancers. His virtuosity is rooted in his demonstration of technologically-based compositional techniques in public practice with inherent performance risk. His mark of a true artist rests in his ability to ride the tension manifested in the unmediated movements of his audience.

In his blog post, “It’s You, It’s Me”, Ryan Raddon, more famously known by his stage name of Kaskade, recounts the struggles of his years as an electronic dance music artist. Although he had been honing his craft since his twenties, his circumstances were desperate. He put his heart and soul into his first album of the same title, yet he knew that if his listeners could not relate to the vibe of his music, he would have to “prepare myself for that eventuality that music would just be a hobby.” Since the beginning of his musical career, Kaskade understood that, in order to establish his mark as a true EDM DJ-producer, he needed to create music that his audience would resonate with and remember.

Unlike other contemporary EDM artists, Kaskade’s signature mark in electronic dance music is his infusion of melodies and lyrics with complex rhythm and meter. He keeps his music fresh through unique sound designs and production tricks, but it is his emphasis on the lyrical, of which he expertly captures in his debut album, that propelled him into the EDM spotlight and enabled him “to lead with my heart and create the slap and bass that would paint the audio pictures I was put here to make.”

Though it first emerged in the underground nightclubs of Chicago and Detriot, today, electronic dance music has paved its way into mainstream music culture, consumed in exclusive, nightclub environments, massive nighttime dance parties (“raves” and similar events), and daytime, open-air festival settings. In her article “Memory and Nostalgia in Youth Music Cultures”, Eileen M. Wu discusses how the often-cited rave ethos of “PLUR”, which stands for “peace, love unity, and respect”, characterized the San Francisco EDM scene in the 1990s and 2000s. These rave events depended on the coming together of diverse individuals to experience a collective energy, fostering not only a deep appreciation for the electronic sound, but also a strong sense of communion. No matter the type of the venue, dancers turn to the EDM DJ for an experience on the dancefloor that enables them to zone into their bodies and minds to feel the music within themselves and within the crowd, “a distinct sensation of being alone together.”

Kaskade is one of the few exemplary EDM artists whose illustrious professional music career has grown in tangent with the evolution of electronic dance music in terms of its production and reception. In “Out of Nowhere: The EDM Story”, he refutes the popular media notion of how “EDM could just pop onto the music scene, *poof* and then dominate festivals, nightclubs, arenas, charts and even be given our own category at the Grammys.” As reflected in our earlier exploration of electronic dance music’s roots in disco, since its emergence in the early 1980s, the genre has overcome many obstacles in its development and refinement, yet there has always been opportunities for rising artists to enter and shape the genre. In fact, Kaskade emphasizes that the strength of the EDM scene lies in its slow, but steady growth. He remarks how EDM artists have been “lurking and making back alley pushes to help music as a whole for ages,” and how the genre’s musical potential has generated “some of the most creatively-savvy and long-lasting players in the music industry.”

Yet because of the broad range of EDM subgenres, as well as the increasing popularity of EDM in pop culture, DJs face another set of challenges: catering their electronic sound to ever growing, diverse sets of audiences. As electronic dance music hits mainstream, Kaskade laments for the artists who, after experiencing success, deviates dramatically from their musical roots and releases new tracks along the same cookie-cutter success formula in order to satisfy the demands of the majority, ultimately leaving some fans betrayed because the once intimate musical relationship they had shared with the artist is gone. When Kaskade looks back fondly at Its You, Its Me, the record that garnered him initial success, he still finds meaning in his first single, but he refuses to recycle that one vibe, believing that “when a track is finished, it’s the end of the sentence.” Yet, despite his experimentations in sound, Kaskade asserts that the holistic approach he utilizes to create music has been and will always remain the same: “one part heart, one part soul, one part technology, and one part muse.” Raddon’s love for electronic dance music creation is deeply reflected in his artistic endeavors, enabling him to stay entrenched in his musical roots.

Kaskade, as an EDM DJ, shapes the jouissance journey of his audience on the dancefloor. Rhythm and meter, as well as their close interactions with texture and timbre, are the driving characteristics of electronic dance music, inciting, as what Mark J. Butlers describes in the introduction of Unlocking the Groove, “the force that inspires audiences to move with such fervor.” The fundamental traits of rhythm and meter — duple organization, cyclical structure, metrical dissonance, underdetermination, and process — form the structure of EDM tracks that facilitates the DJ’s freedom in combining records through a “balance of predictability and irregularity.” The modular design of electronic dance music allows for not only great flexibility in composition, but also creative potential in its alteration and recontextualization. This hallmark of the electronic sound enables disk-jockeys to construct musical experiences for its audience that not only promotes active participation but leaves ample room for individual interpretation and reflection.

In “Disco’s Revenge: House Music’s Nomadic Memory”, Rietveld notes that traditionally, “the interaction between dancers and DJ on the dance floor has a particular dynamic that is simultaneously authoritarian and democratic.” The disk-jockey, through her ability to construct a continuous musical experience, is bestowed with great power, but with leadership, she is also burdened with the responsibility of ensuring that her musical experience she weaves together is the one that is desired by her audience. The crowd and the DJ dynamically and consistently interact. The audience welds a powerful influence on an evening’s set of music, and the DJ, in order to receive the maximal response from the dancers, must always be one step ahead of the crowd, attuning to the energy of the floor and arranging the mix to suit the particular moment in time.

Today, the scenery in which EDM listeners experience the electronic sound has changed dramatically, moving out of the intimate, underground nightclub and morphing into massive, daylight stadium style sets and musical festivals to accommodate EDM’s growing popularity. With their musical services now in international demand, EDM DJs must strike a balance between “the big feel of huge crowds, anthems, and mayhem” and the subdued, “small and dirty gig-type atmosphere.” Whether it’s sharing his musical roots though intimate performances in his Its You Its Me Redux tour to designing spectacular individual experiences for massive audiences in his Atmosphere and Freaks of Nature tour, Raddon strives to perform across the spectrum, providing his listeners with a unique musical journey through every live performance.

The most successful of electronic dance music DJs, such as Kaskade, understand how to shape the energy and intensity within the set that is subsequently translated into the movement of his audience. Whether in a massive arena that holds tens of thousands or in an intimate nightclub that houses a hundred, no matter the size of his audience, a DJ’s goal is to seduce the crowd and to fuel its desire to keep dancing in a seemingly neverending musical journey.