Yared Lee

Well from the perspective of a young person who feels as if I’m a bit more enlightened than others my age. I think that music has a very cyclical quality to it, there’s an ebb and flow to the genres and the tastes of what’s popular. Secondly I think that no matter what aspect of electronic music rose to popularity, that people would have the same opinions towards it. Suppose Trance is what blew up, and all the festivals etc. were playing it? I think that people would be posting threads similar to this, only complaining about trance. That being said I think that while it is true that the big EDM bubble is hurting the less popular genres across the board, that the “underground” genres are good because they are just that, underground. I’m sure that progressive hour and the like were better when they were underground genres. However I would also like to make the point that while a majority of the “EDM” which is released nowadays(Electro House, Progressive etc etc.) shares similar structures and some artists really don’t put in as much effort anymore, that we can’t write it off as being bad music simply because it is the current trend. People tend to do that with ANYTHING that gets massively popular. For example the song “Animals”, I actually liked it very much when it just came out, but then it got overplayed and overplayed and overplayed….

I find that I enjoy the current music festivals a great deal although there are certain big name artists/ songs/ styles that I don’t like hearing sometimes. I also enjoy some music from the lesser appreciated genres, although to be totally honest, i don’t like it all, and I’m not extremely well versed in them, but coming from a musical family, I can appreciate any kind of music once it’s good music (Except country, and metal, bleh) because that’s what my father taught me “Good Music, Is Good Music.”

So yes its true that the quality of the music is degraded with all of the popularity, but I think that a lot of people from the older generations are just reacting defensively against the current trend because the cyclical nature of the tastes in music has taken the genre that they love/play out of the spotlight for a bit. So it isnt right to say.. for example that “______ genre of music that was once popular is making a comeback, finally good music is being appreciated again”, I think statements like that are a bit flawed, bringing me back to my previous point that; Just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s bad.

That being said, there are the real fans, who truly like the music, and then there are those that are slaves to trends and will only like the music as long as the trend lasts. But please, PLEASE don’t make the closed-minded, short sighted generalization that “All young people don’t know good music nowadays and are just following trends”. There is some truth to that statement, but nowhere near enough to make the generalization.

My tastes in music vary from the popular stuff; Electro house and Big Room, Trap, Some Dubstep and deep house etc. to Hip-Hop(Alot of old school and underground artistes), to random tidbits that I pick up such as Nujabes, Laura Welsh etc. The genre I love most however is Roots Reggae and Dub, just something about the instruments, and the smooth heavy basslines and the soul drenching delays and reverb. And Dub is certainly a genre which remains relatively underground, and i think I’d like to see it stay that way.

But hey, what do I know, I’m only 18 😛

EDITED / DELETED:
Even if things may be true, we do not use bad words and general trolling. If you need make an argument about it and do not generalise and worse use bad language and disrespect towards a company to do so.

Sorry for the editing and any inconvenience this may have caused.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by Terry_42.

Yes that does happen, I call it the Artist’s Curse because it happens to anyone in every creative field. But I read an article once that you shouldn’t get too hung up on making that one track perfect. Just get it decent, and on to the next one or else you wont progress

Ahh well, I can’t speak on Jungle all that much, but if it’s Reggae/Dub you’re looking for, I got you.

I love the entire catalog from Alpha & Omega, Specifically “Sound System Dub” and “Watch And Pray”

You can look up Panda Dub, I haven’t dug deep into their collection but I’ve heard a few good tracks

The Militancy Riddim is a good look as well.

I could go on and on and on, but those are a good place to start

Listen keenly to the wise words of the moderators lol.

Another thing, as a beginner just starting out, its easy to fall prey to your own mind. It can create way more reasons why you shouldn’t than why you should. So its easy to talk yourself out of a gig, or progressing in general. Learn to control your mind and gain confidence, and after that, you’re unstoppable.

DJ Vintage is especially right about personal music taste taking a back seat. you can play 50-50 between what the crowd wants and what you wants, but honestly that’s just a rough number, as situations can be different.

Here’s my personal scenario, I live in Miami, Florida in the US. I play Roots Reggae. Dub and EDM(Electro-House/Big Room, Prog. House, Trap, Dubstep and a few randoms). Originally I wanted to play JUST those genres, with a some TOP 40 thrown in to keep the mainstream audience at my gigs happy without them coming up to me for too many requests.

Here’s the twist. I’m not from a latin/spanish descent and honestly, not to be too prejudiced, but it severely irritates me that the primary language spoken in South Florida/Miami seems to be Spanish -_-. So when I just moved to the US from Jamaica in October of 2013, I decided that “I’m going to make it as a DJ in Miami WITHOUT playing any spanish music(Reggaeton, salsa, bachata etc.) and I would be beating very big odds to be able to do that.

My ultimatum was shattered by pure logic. Firstly, I am NOT a superstar DJ, nor a DJ or any significant reputation, so the truth is that I don’t really get to make that choice. (Yet hehehe ;))

Secondly, more often than not, it is the venue owner/promoter who is paying you. They want to keep their audience happy, they don’t really care how. As long as heads are coming through the door, people are dancing and the bar is packed. Therefore, seeing that the majority of my audience is going to be from the Latin/Spanish demographic, I naturally have to keep the promoter/owner happy, and as the DJ that means making the audience happy.

Thirdly, requests are GOING to happen, in varying intensities depending on where you are. Now DJ’s have varying opinions on how to deal with requests. Personally, I detest them, however, if you have a friend to take them for you, or a notepad for the patrons to write their requests down. Then you have the option to pick and choose the tracks requested, that fit into the set (if you have them that is, because if you dont have them, then the punters are out of luck), also, taking a couple seconds to analyze the person making the request, ESPECIALLY if its a good looking female or group of females, will prove to be an advantage because in almost ANY situation, once the girls are dancing, then you’re making people happy. So requests may be a way to get the dancefloor full, or to get an idea of what the audience wants.

Fourthly, you’re a DJ and you want to get gigs again once you get that first taste of playing out in public, its addicting, trust me. So it would be in your own best interest to program your set in away that satisfies both you and your audience. There MUST be tracks that exist, which you like, that are in the genre most requested or preferred by your audience. Take my experience for example, I don’t really like spanish music, but I bought some Reggaeton bangers that I liked and that I always saw the crowd go crazy to whenever I went out, now whenever I gig i take the time to throw that into my set, simply because I WANT TO DO THIS AGAIN lol. I played a warm up set at a club from 11:30-1. I played about 20 minutes of the reggaeton at around 12:15 when the place was starting to get full, so that the audience could at least get their dose. The rest of the night I stuck to what I liked, which was EDM and some Top40. Let the other DJ play what he wants. But focus on YOU and find YOUR own compromise with the music selection. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “Dude, you’re a DJ in Miami and you don’t have any spanish music?”.

Lastly, but most importantly. If you find a level of compromise that your comfortable with. STICK TO IT. If you go out to a gig, and play your set, and the promoter tries to tall you to “Play more of this, or less of that”, then it’s best if you don’t play at that event anymore. Because at that point, then you lose your personal style and passion for the Art of what we do, and it loses its beauty. Don’t sacrifice your pride too much. Compromise is good because you are supposed to make the audience happy, but if they want you to be the DJ you’re not, then that’s not the right audience for you.

This was a bit long winded, but I think it’s solid advice hehe.

Well Rizki, I wouldn’t be able to tell you the best EDM Trap songs ever. But right now, I’ve had these on repeat:
1. Kanye West- Mercy (RL Grime & Salva Remix)
2. Kanye West- New Slaves (DJ Snake Remix)
3. Mayhem x Antiserum- Brick Squad Anthem
4. Major Lazer feat. Flux Pavillion- Jah No Partial (Heroes x Villains Remix)
5. Knife Party- LRAD (Boombox Cartel WTF Is Festival Trap Remix)
6. Flosstradamus- Underground Anthem
7. Rick Ross- Marble Floors (Dotcom Remix) <—- The second drop is NAAAAAASSSSTTYYYYYY >.<
8. Major Lazer- Original Don (Flosstradamus Remix)
9. Flosstradamus- Mosh Pit
10. Benasis- Atom Bomb