EDM is dead, long live electronic dance music

[Wolkenkrabber]

Following on from the news that  Avicii is retiring (pleeease let it be permanent!), comes a long Pitchfork article that many of us have doubtless been expecting for some time:

A Timeline Of How EDM's Bubble Burst

Quite a good catch-up article for those of us who haven't been paying close attention. Although if there are errors in this, I probably wouldn't notice!

By the way who else knew about Disney's Dconstructed album? I think the Muppet Show is my favourite. And look what Avicii did to Daft Punk's derezzed! But seriously, what's UNKLE doing in there?

[MadPooter]

I have to admit it: I'm a fairly pretentious contrarian.

It was convenient when there were a whole bunch of electronic music festivals/events lining up some electronic music artists that I loved alongside a whole swath of crap that I loathed. But... that was the thing. The throngs, the masses--they were all listening to the type of music that I was listening to that helped define my musical tastes as... well, a little off-beat, perhaps?

I kind of liked, in a self-absorbed way, to listen to music that was not quite as mainstream as the rest. It's irrational, illogical, and I will certainly admit not all that constructive. But nonetheless, there it is.

If EDM is trending out of the mainstream, fine. I welcome that with open arms. I'll accept the transition toward the old dude who loves techno.

And I'll make fun of the people who tell me that, because I'll be able to tell them that what we're listening to is not, in fact, techno. You dumb motherfucker.

[Bosco]

I still don't know how "EDM" is categorized. I just assume it's the shitty electronic music artists that bunch themselves up and tour around like a traveling circus during the summer. But maybe it's more broader than that. Maybe it's just a hot phrase/word like "Electronica", or  if you're OG (like mentioned by Pooter), "Techno".

"EDM" era hasn't affected me too much. It's saturation within Coachella, has caused me to skip the festival for several years now, although it's not the singular reason.

It's also frustrating in social situations, because when I mention I like electronic music, it's automatically assumed by the other party that I must like Skrillex, Deadmau5, or your endless list of shitty popular DJ's. 

And finally, I do find myself listening to less "new" electronic music over these past few years. Now, I don't know if "EDM" is to blame, but I do find a hard compatibility with new electronic producers. Probably me just getting old.

[KngtRdr]

Whoa -- little Japstars in there. Definitely going to ask Sirkuz about that.... hmm

[androidgeoff]

Newer EDM stuff tends to have less "soul" to it, at least for me. Whereas the goal used to be make great music to hopefully stand the test of time, artists are now cranking out rehashed song after rehashed song with the hopes of staying "relevant." Also, production value took a huuuuge backseat. I remember Borgore complaining that when his tracks for some EP were mastered, they sounded like shit. I think the issue was the mastering engineer went for balance, something that should have been celebrated.

It wasn't until the announcement of BITE that I went back to listening to electronic. There is a huge positive in this, as I was more or less forced to explore other music for a good 5 years.

When EDM got popular, I was annoyed by people thinking that was what I listened to. Even mentioning to people that I make electronic, their first thought was that I made Skrillex music. And to be quite honest, it turned me off of even making music, because...



I AM SKRILLEX, MOTHERFUCKERS

[whirlygirl]

So the bubble has burst again, as it did with electronic music in the earlier 2000's before it was resurrected in slightly altered and evolved forms under the EDM umbrella.

Music is cyclic. What's big now but not in a year or two... it always comes around full circle, at least that's how I see it.

I'm too old to give a crap what people think of my musical tastes. :p what I like isn't defined by any one type of music or culture that surrounds music. If I like it, I like it. It doesn't matter what kind of music it is and I'm not so much interested anymore in categorizing it or trying to peg it - although I do see the need to use terms like electronic music, rock, etc. to describe and market music.

[whirlygirl]

A Timeline Of How EDM's Bubble Burst

Quite a good catch-up article for those of us who haven't been paying close attention. Although if there are errors in this, I probably wouldn't notice!

"July 2014: On stage, mid-set, David Guetta stares into the void and realizes the futility of human existence."

Hahaha!

[WhiteNoise]

I think EDM isn't around so much because it became (and is still becoming) a bunch of different genres instead of "literally the same big room house song with the same Pryda snare on the last beat every two measures"... it's branched out as the people who were interested in the genre in the first place broadened their palette. I can't keep up with every trend and "new genre", but it's diversified into more hipster-friendly genres like chillwave and future bass, reinvigorations of old genres (I hear jungle and psy-trance are making a comeback), and of course, "chill" and "deep" and "hard" variations of that classic EDM sound that manage to not contain ALL of the unoriginal aspects of the EDM genre at once.

I type this as I listen to the thin treble-y insistence of a big room house set leaking from the much too loud headphones of the guy across the computer lab.

[WhiteNoise]

"July 2014: On stage, mid-set, David Guetta stares into the void and realizes the futility of human existence."

Hahaha!

I forgot how awesome this was:



Ed commented on it - "It's nice to see Windows visualizers getting traction at EDM festivals".

[Wolkenkrabber]

tl;dr? Even if you didn't like Avicii's music, watch "Avicii: True Stories" if you can.

Avicii is dead.

I kept waiting for someone here to mention the death of one of the biggest stars in dance music . But not a peep from any of you.
I guess that's because most of us on this forum don't care for his music. And following on from my opening post on this thread (two years and one month ago), at least we know he's not coming out of retirement.
Harsh words? Yep, but they caught your eye, right? Avicii and EDM were never about subtlety so why should this post be?
Well, actually there may be one reason; it seems he killed himself with broken glass. Not nice.

Following his death, a Mixmag article about Avicii started trending on Twitter, and actually it's worth a read. The title is rather provocative but the writer was trying to make a point, and again, subtlety probably wasn't going to work.   

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR AVICII'S DEATH

The article was enough to make me seek out the film:  Avicii: True Stories.
The film was on Netflix UK but got removed around the time of Avicii's death. There was a BBC films logo at the beginning, so I'm guessing it will eventually end up on normal TV wherever you are.
At the same time as the film disappeared from Netflix it popped up on other "free" film apps (Megabox HD and Showbox). So I sought it out there.

I've got to say, you would have to be a particularly mean person not to enjoy "inside" footage of the guy's early success. When he comes up with the Levels loop you can see the excitement on his face. Avicii seems to accept being filmed from quite early on and then clearly allows the film director and crew to follow him on tour, ...and into the studio, ...and even into hospital when he falls ill with pancreatitis (not fun!). He also adds his own narration to the film.

I guess this could have been a big ego trip, but Tim Bergling (to use his real name) doesn't really have a big ego. He descibes himself as an introvert, he talks about how touring made him feel, talks about being ill, talks about wanting to quit.
We get to see the change in him from Levels through to his Coldplay (really Chirs Martin) collab, where Martin seems far more excited about the music than Bergling. We also get to see the way he has it all in his head. He knows exactly what he wants to make. It's just too bad he wanted to make cheesy EDM pop-trance.   

Was it entirely the music industry's fault? Hmm, well we see pretty early on that Tim is a workaholic. Once he starts a track he keeps going until it's finished. We also see that he likes to co-operate with the people around him.
I also think the level of success he achieved hit him hard and fast. His own manager Arash (aka Ash) talks about missing out on part of life if you have too much success too young. Kinda ironic when you see that Arash is also the guy pushing him to do more and more shows.
It's true that the people around him encouraged him to do interviews etc and not to stop. But perhaps that's human nature considering (1) it was their job to organise stuff, and (2) it paid their salary. Tim was at times too willing to say yes.

But even when Bergling eventually took an eight month break, as soon as he went back to touring he realised he didn't like it, and that then lead to retirement. I suspect by the time he took his own life, Tim felt he had already accomplished his dreams and didn't know what else to live for.

I must admit that the film probably hits harder now that he's dead. You don't doubt his voiceover when he says he wasn't happy. You know it's true. And the more he talks to the viewer the more you tend to like him.

At the end of the day Tim Bergling was a nice guy who went on the kind of journey we might all like to go on. Or so we think.
I won't miss Avicii, the 'music' but I'm sad for Avicii, the person. I really liked him after watching this film. You might like him too.

[sandelic]

I honestly can't tell you name of one Avicii song, he's that relevant to me
But, to be fair, if it's not Chemical Brothers, I seriously don't even pay attention these... years, really
But I was sad upon hearing what happened, suicide is always such a terrible echo of cries for help
I'll definitely watch that film, when able