Evolve
The huge controversy I want to talk about today is “is EDM dying”. Veteran ravers and non ravers alike are fixated on the idea that the scene is “falling off”. Now as a current raver I obviously don’t want to believe it but I decided to read around to get the gist of what these “haters” are thinking.
One thing I was able to stumble upon was a blogger saying EDM music cannot and will no evolve. They are claiming that it is scientifically proven to sound generally the samey. Yes, you read that right. They said “samey”. Their justification for this outrageous statement is that the music is becoming too mainstream. But what they are not accounting for is the endless possibilities of remix’s, and even a discovery of new sub genres that people might enjoy.
I wonder if people thought the same way about EDM 5 years ago before new DJs and new sub genres became prevalent in the rave culture. How do they know a new DJ isn’t coming out soon with new beats or a new style or even harder drops? Veteran ravers are saying the “big drop” template is starting to outgrow. I can see and understand where that is coming from. Sure it becomes evident that there is a huge drop in every song but that doesn’t mean there cant be any better drops than the ones you’ve previously heard. And I’m sure everyone has had that moment of thinking “Holy Shit that was the hardest drop I’ve ever heard.” And then hearing another one after and changed their mind.
Another crazy accusation I saw was that claim that the festivals and events have peaked. Pretty much saying they are as good as they can ever be. So at first I wasn’t sure if this was a really good compliment or was it a way of challenging these events to get better.
Now im not the most creative person out there or even closely familiar with with infrastructure and planning that goes into making these festivals but I sure can come up with ideas to make it better. With all the variations of artistic styles, landscaping, live action visual affects, and even the innovation of technology, there is definitely a wide range of paths these festivals can choose to evolve too. I mean even the fact that creating new festivals in locations where there haven’t been festivals before offers room to get over the “peek”.
Heres the offical aftermovie of the worlds most infamous rave festival in Belgium known as “Tomorrowland”. The worlds tops DJs travel to perform here as this is for most people the top destination for raving.
I’ve got another one that Veteran ravers have been all over like white on rice. There is a speculation around the community that the new and upcoming DJs are “faking it”. By faking it we mean being a half ass DJ. This includes playing pre-recorded sets at shows and pretending to DJ, the use of LED screens to DJ, and even the lack of use of vinyl and sometimes headphones.
Now I personally understand the frustration some people might have of DJs not actually Djing live. That’s actually real wack. But the use of LED screens over vinyls is just a way of saying out with the old and in with the new. Being a new generation raver I don’t see anything wrong with having open two apple mac computers. This is definitely an old school concern and I can visualize now an old man waving his cane talking about “Damn technology” LOL (jokes).
The bottom line is, there is definitely some back and forth with the new school and the old school. The argument of is EDM dying or is it evolving. But its really all in the amount of experience you have with the culture and what you expect to get out of it. I enjoy the culture for everything it is right now and I can only see it getting better festival after festival. If you haven’t been to one, I encourage you to try one out sometime so you can pick a side in the argument. People are so in love with the culture that they change and adapt with it. I’ve seen people in there 60s and 70s at these shows. Being accepted because of their reason of being there. They didn’t fall off and become a hater. No one likes haters.
