Intentions for prying into the new soul of EDM
Tomorrow, I’m going to Ultra Music Festival in Miami to investigate the soul of EDM. I’d like to reflect on my life’s intertwining with this Golden Genre before setting forth. I aim to write a reflection afterwards as well.
It is a tragedy when you reach the age when you start to detect bad art. Up until a certain age, everything is equally beautiful and amazing. I would venture to say that all people remember the first time they ever experienced the sensation of disliking a movie or song. For me, it was when I saw the first big-budget live-action version of Percy Jackson in theaters. I was a dedicated fan to the novel series, and the film’s lack of understanding of the soul of the book was not lost on me as a 12 year old. I was Double Sad-- firstly because I hated the movie, and secondly because I had discovered what it was like to dislike things in general, that all things were not Good.
Not long after, a similar transformation happened within one of my first musical loves: EDM. EDM is essentially what made me want to pursue music. I watched the Jack Ü Ultra Miami set over and over, studying everything about the video— the style of the audience, the stage presence of Skrillex and Diplo. I worshipped this set. I had barely any friends and was extremely shy but found that EDM made me believe in a life past my pathetic own. My 13 year old brain probably said something like, “Look at how much fun these people are having. I haven’t even thought that fun like that was possible.”
Unfortunately, the songs I began to hear in EDM grew disparate from what inspired me as a 13 year old. I sort of lost the soul of Kaskade “Eyes” or Krewella “Alive” or the playful drop design of early Steve Aoki and Tujamo, right around the time Martin Garrix “Animals” became the song that all producers aspired to replicate. Perhaps I didn’t look hard enough, but I ceased finding anything that meant anything to me in EDM. It no longer felt daring. EDM began to appear in cell phone commercials. Even in, or perhaps especially in, my early teens, this set off an “uncool” radar inside me.
To me, as a teenage listener in the Midwest, it seemed like EDM’s response was to become sleazier and trappier. Thus, the onset of what I call “Twerkstep”, bass-heavy songs to smoke weed and scroll Vine to. Where there were once pixely, crunchy Monstercat YouTube visualizers, there were now dark, B&W noir “TRAP NATION” videos. Sub drops and snap percs. Music by LA neck tat dudes, for LA neck tat dudes.
I exited the world of EDM after this and became a rap fan for a couple years while grinding on becoming valedictorian of my high school, then joined a couple rock bands when I moved to NYC. I really only listened to indie rock for a long expanse of time, before slowly shifting from indie to synth pop (Neon Indian “Polish Girl” changed things for me), then vaporwave, and arriving full circle back at EDM when I remembered how much I love deadmau5 in 2021. I trot back in, now, unsure if I’ll be accepted back, and if I’ll recognize anything of my youth.
In the worst case, I expect to find a new, emblazoned binary in Miami, in which one pole consists of overly chill “Deep House” (my most despised genre, along with “Darkwave”), and the other pole consisting of Bass Music Ride the Rail DMT Head Banger music, the latter seemingly the current evolution of Brostep. I am not going to pay attention to Techno or Hardstyle, as I have never cared for either, save for a couple “Zaag-kick” style songs that Porter has showed me.
Deep House and Bass Music. I think the best EDM blends the emotion of deep house (sexiness, “coolness”) with the dynamics of bass music (larger-than-life noises, crunchy extravagance). This is perhaps why Skrillex is the best producer of all time, as he has consistently found this balance time and time again. I am excited for Afrojack’s set, as I’m curious how much runtime the noise of the Dutch lead of “Quacky” or “Amanda” will get. How Anjunabeats-compilation mix will Above & Beyond feel?
In the best case, I hope to find that the naive and stupid spirit of EDM is still alive. The best EDM wants to say something simple and make you feel like the earth has been made for you in this very moment. It commands you to open your eyes and smile, or cry. It is not nostalgic, or “retro”, but rather a clever trick that injects bubbles of spirit into your Now Body. EDM cannot be separated from being a “Club Tool”, a functional device meant to move you. It’s this spirit that makes EDM the drug of the pop world. It does not try to overcomplicate, to explain too much. It leaves that to you.
Today, I only really listen to EDM from 2010-2014. It’s become my soul once again. It is fun to live in a delusion where this is the only music that exists. As I write this, I’m listening to R3HAB’s “A Night In (EDC Orlando 2012 Anthem)”. The song is slightly Swedish, slightly early Zedd-razor bass. The album art is a big Spinnin’ Records logo eclipsing an orange, sparkling city skyline. I wish to feel the way this track appears forever. Chords balance the razor. Razor balances the chords. Gritty and beautiful.
March 27 2025