There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who only want to hear what they've been told to like by commercial radio and the American club scene, and those who are constantly looking to push the envelope of their musical frontiers. There's nothing I can do for the former group except wait for them to come around. For the latter group, I give you The EDM Hour.
I know many people (even among this latter group), and I used to count myself among them, who think they hate EDM because of the relentless beat. They complain that there is no great music being made anymore. Accordingly, they continue to listen only to what they listened to when they were in high school when they took their original musical imprint.
There are others (and I continue to count myself among them), who have continued to explore beyond the perimeter of the commercial Top 40 or Hot 100. These are people who have been delighted to discover the Blues, Jazz, Reggae, Folk, Bluegrass, World Beat, Classical music and much more. I have been on all those journeys and love all those styles of music. But for some reason, some of these folks consider dance music in general, and Electronic Dance Music in particular, to be shallow and unworthy of their precious listening time.
About that let me say three things:
First, they probably think they don't like EDM because the only EDM they've been exposed to really is "bad" music. The 80/20 rule applies to all musical genres: 80% is crap, 20% is worth listening to. In preparing for each episode of The EDM Hour, I suffer through the 80% so you don't have to.
Second, a powerful and relentless beat is not a universal characteristic of all EDM. There are many sub-genres within EDM, and even these sub-genres are perpetually fissioning into even further sub-genres. When you think of EDM today, it's likely you think only of one genre, and you may not even know the name of that genre. But EDM is a vast frontier and a very fertile ground for some astounding creativity. If you think there's no great music being made anymore, you haven't really gone exploring. There are in fact many creative and talented producers who have discovered and made use of the concept of subtlety in their music. They're part of the 20%.
Third, aside from the obvious utility of a strong, steady beat for dancing and beatmatching, psychologically the brain begins to ignore the steady beat after a while, and once the brain gets beyond the beat, it begins to discover a vast forest filled with new kinds of music. I invite you, nay challenge you, to embark with me upon a trek through that undiscovered realm. Join me for The EDM Hour.
-- DJ Mongo
The EDM Hour is produced in cooperation with KUNV Radio, a broadcast service of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. KUNV is a finalist for the 2014 National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Award for non-commercial Radio Station of the Year. Hide full description
There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who only want to hear what they've been told to like by commercial radio and the American club scene, and those who are constantly looking to push the envelope of their musical frontiers. There's nothing I can do for the former group except wait for them to come around. For the latter group, I give you The EDM Hour.I know many people (even among this latter group), and I used to count myself among them, who think they hate EDM because of the relentless beat. They complain that there is no great music being made anymore. Accordingly, they continue to listen only to what they listened to when they were in high school when they took their original musical imprint. There are others (and I continue to count myself among them), who have... Show full description