Anyone here actually listen to EDM?
I've been getting more and more into it, but very slowly. I'm trying to be more serious about it, having found out just a couple days ago that after nearly 14000 albums on record, I don't even have a proper top 100 for house music. So I'm just wondering, and want to talk about it because the EDM Reddit is WAY TOO IN YOUR FACE about all these super-small time and obscure acts that, upon checking out, aren't good enough for me to remember the name of. I've heard a lot of dubstep EP's for filler on my charts, but rarely find anything special.
I've found some forms of utter brilliance, though.
Fave Breakbeat: The Prodigy. The face-melting techno-induced sounds of Jilted Generation and the wacky-ass collection of their historical sounds in Invaders Must Die make for an excellent hour each.
House: Still studying, but currently favoring the wild superfast complexity and consistency of Naked Flames. Hopefully these allegations of his blow away as his lengthy defense proves more popular.
Techno: For now it's Underworld. Consider them second in house as well, as they combine the two often.
Trance: counting psybient, Shpongle. Not counting psybient, Juno Reactor. Also check of DJ Close Your Eyes to Find Me
I was a techno DJ during the 2000’s & still hold a deep passion for electronic music Rex.
I was a techno DJ during the 2000’s & still hold a deep passion for electronic music Rex.
Anything recorded?
I've never really listened to a lot of EDM, but long ago, shortly before I first became interested in metal, there were a couple electronic music artists that I liked a few songs from:
The Prodigy (breakbeat) - "Firestarter", "Invaders Must Die", "Omen"
Skrillex (dubstep) - "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites", "First of the Year (Equinox)", "Bangarang", "Cinema" (remix of Benny Benassi song)
Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/53FqDTxE8FwmPEIqppLCpC
Fun fact: Skrillex (real name: Sonny Moore) was the lead vocalist of post-hardcore band From First to Last for the first two albums before he left the band to become a dubstep DJ. I've recently listened to and reviewed their metalcore album Dead Trees, though in that album, the lead vocalist is Spencer Sotelo from Periphery.
I was a techno DJ during the 2000’s & still hold a deep passion for electronic music Rex.
Anything recorded?
Yeah, tonnes. I’ll private message you.
Not a great deal, but one of my best friends does and Detroit is the host of Movement which I think is the biggest EDM festival in the United States
DJ Sabrina - Charmed
Genres: House
As I mentioned before, I plan on getting into house. A big reason why I didn't before was because one of the most lauded house artists of all time is constantly putting out two-three hour albums. This someone is DJ Sabrina. Well, I have a day off and plenty of time on my hands. I was gonna start with the debut, Making Magick. However, after the impressive first track, I got this strong itch in me saying, "Fuck it. Get the three-hour one that everyone loves outta the way first. You won't have to worry about it later." So I switched, having made myself familiar with the way DJ Sabrina sounded like starting out.
This is a rarity among music, lemme tell you. This is the kind of album that can blow through genre after genre while maintaining its vapor-inflused summer fun presence. Predominantly, this is a house album, steering into the French sound of Daft Punk and the deep sound of Against All Logic with occasional ventures back into outsider house. But we're all over the place here. Even the synth funk, synthpop and vaporwave songs sound like this. The standard is set by an amazing intro and we get many slight variations in tone and tempo with different genres along the way. This might be my first DJ Sabrina album, but the results are obvious: anything she touches, she destroys. And I mean that in the good way. Some of these songs have a collection of various vocal tricks including spoken word, sampling, singing and rapping. Sometimes all four will appear in one song, and it only makes these songs much more intriguing. There are a few skits in the first half, and they're pretty much completely betrayed in the second half in place of nine-to-fifteen-minute epics. This is certainly not a bad thing, really, because these are the songs that focus more on progression, even if they might reach overlength.
On top of this, rhythm and atmosphere are on a drunken parade here. They work together most of the time and often show amazing levels of creativity and awareness of what's demanded of this type of album. Take a look at "Nyakuza Metro Cats" and tell me this isn't one of the catchiest and most rhythmic house tracks you've ever heard. And then you have atmospheric songs like "My Baby, I Become Unhinged" which last eleven minutes and focus on atmosphere and experience more than anything. The two seriously feel like they belong on the same album despite all the technical differences. The whole album is like this.
Now the big question remains: did this album really have to be three hours long? Well, I'm going to have to say no. There is some filler here. The first fifth has a few samey moments. I could've easily done without Love Foundation as it follows a bit too closely to the two actual tracks that preceded it, especially because the next song, Pool party, added a lot to the album without changing the summer presence. In fact, it improved it with aquatic themes replacing the vapor qualities temporarily. Despite the compliment I gave "My Baby, I Become Unhinged," it did NOT need to last eleven minutes. And eventually, the abundant sampling in the three hours gets a little samey by the end.
I braved the three-hour house album that the world fell in love with and I survived. Of course, I have a minor headache vaguely reminiscent of the bigger one I had when I speedread The Shining in one night a couple months ago. This album shows a lot of ambition and creativity from DJ Sabrina, who was fully aware of the presence she wanted the entire time she recorded that album. She's not like those electronic artists who put out a few EP's every year and sees if one sells. She takes a lot of time to record some very creative things, as well as consistent. Unfortunately, three hours was a little much. With a couple tracks taken off, this might've been a 100. Instead, I'm giving it a 96.
I don't know where you're looking for releases to explore Rex but I'd suggest that RYM's coverage of dance music leaves a lot to be desired with most releases receiving almost no coverage there. I guess this is impacted by the fact that most of the best dance music isn't artist album-based which is RYM's main focus & also the fact that RYM is fairly heavily driven by the USA which isn't the strongest market for more mature dance music. If you really want to dig into the best that dance music has to offer then I'd be more inclined to look at dance-oriented sites. The more popular DJ mixes are also a good place to find great material too.
Looking at the artists you've already listed like The Prodigy & Underworld, have you already explored Chemical Brothers, Leftfield & Orbital?
Shoot me a private message with your email address if you'd like me to Dropbox you some of my DJ sets from the 2000's.
Justice - Cross
Genres: French Electro House, Electro House (Standard)
Subgenres: Nu-Disco, Electro-Industrial, French House, Synth Funk
It's time I finally got back to this one. This one's only 50 minutes and not very saturated, so it's easier-going and more lightweight in comparison to Charmed, which I really needed. I heard this once over ten years ago when I was starting my "albuming," butI haven't revisited it for ten years. I gave it an 8.5 when I first heard it, but that's because it's a much more accessible house album than before. I didn't feel the need to go back and revisit it before since the ratings on RYM seemed to kind of match mine when I did the math. But the ratings for that album are shared among the most lauded house albums, and they had two other albums out recently, so why not check it out again before checking out the rest?
At first I was a little turned off by the cheesy organ sound of "Let There Be Light," rapidly playing an organ-like sound to an odd rhythm. But as the cheesier stuff came in smaller doses, I came to appreciate it as part of the album's unique persona and forbade myself from criticizing the album based on my original feelings. There are quite a few elements here that all work in a beautiful harmony, and everything stays original with a perfect "Look at us, we're Justice" flow. They really set their standard on the first try. Even the kiddy approach to "D.A.N.C.E." didn't bug me anymore, thank God.
Among the cheesy Disneyland Electrical parade vibes are some really funky bangers like DVNO, which is surprisingly vocal as well, almost feeling like a crunk track. Because the production isn't saturated, this extremely catchy album gives off a vibe of easygoing pop. But the complexity is there in spades. Not everything is super-poppy although it certainly puts on that facade. Everything requires twists and turns and precision, even when things get cheesy, like with "Let There Be Light" or the dramatic beginning of "Stress." It would immediately be followed by deep, brostepy mechanical riffs on "Waters of Nazareth" and it felt perfectly fine and even cool.
This debut pleased me even more the second time. Minor flaws in certain tracks are easily made a part of the charm when gone back to and thought about thanks to an eclectic and imaginative EDM album that manages to stay accessible during all of its instrumental wankery. Never too much, not too little thanks to a 50-minute runtime, this is now a personal choice for a top house album, and my new number one standard for electro house replacing the Secret Weapon EP by Au5 and Fractal. This may change with a visit to Woman Worldwide or Planisphere, but I'm never gonna consider the idea that I shouldn't revisit this album again.
I don't know where you're looking for releases to explore Rex but I'd suggest that RYM's coverage of dance music leaves a lot to be desired with most releases receiving almost no coverage there. I guess this is impacted by the fact that most of the best dance music isn't artist album-based which is RYM's main focus & also the fact that RYM is fairly heavily driven by the USA which isn't the strongest market for more mature dance music. If you really want to dig into the best that dance music has to offer then I'd be more inclined to look at dance-oriented sites. The more popular DJ mixes are also a good place to find great material too.
Looking at the artists you've already listed like The Prodigy & Underworld, have you already explored Chemical Brothers, Leftfield & Orbital?
Shoot me a private message with your email address if you'd like me to Dropbox you some of my DJ sets from the 2000's.
I've got Chemical Bros. down. My current favorite in EDM is breakbeat, so I've got a bit of that down. But I look up a lot of obscurities around the EDM spectrum as well as other spectrums. That's how I found Pizzamachine, Constantine Hastalis and The Deer, and some fantastic trance. A trick I often use is to search the back of the RYM charts for the less popular releases with high ratings. Lemme see if I can throw together a good EDM list.
1. The Prodigy - Jilted Generation (Breakbeat)
2. Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongle Land (Chillout, Trance)
3. Juno Reactor - Labyrinth (Trance)
4. Naked Flames - Miracle in Transit (House)
5. Nicolas Jarr (Against All Logic) - 2012-2017 (House)
6. Underworld - Everything, Everything (Techno, House)
7. Chicane - Behind the Sun (Trance)
8. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (Techno)
9. Aphex Twin (as The Tuss) - Rushup Edge (Techno, Breakbeat)
10. Amon Tobin - Permutation (Drum and Bass)
11. Charli XCX - Pop 2 (Bubblegum Bass)
12. Daft Punk - Alive 2007 (House)
13. Justice - Cross (House)
14. DJ Close Your Eyes to Find Me - Angel Trance Edits Volume 1 (Trance, Breakbeat)
15. Machine Girl - WLFGRL (Breakbeat, UK Bass, Footwork)
16. Au5 and Fractal - Secret Weapon EP (Dubstep, House)
17. Juno Reactor - Shango (Trance)
These are the ones I consider perfect albums. Keep in mind, I'm an album review by nature, and I love keeping lists. I don't have much need for singles or live sets. Although, I'm doing a tad better on house than I thought.
Apparently DJ Sabrina has a four-hour album from last year. I'm thinkin' I'm gonna save that one for next Saturday. I'll get through her debut once I'm done with AL-90. Right now I'm starting the debut, SCR. And you guys HAVE to hear this. It's a very soothing, ambient type of lo-fi electronic that works wonders. The track Martin Eden Broadcast blew me away.
https://reckno.bandcamp.com/album/al-90-scr
Just finished up a Cult Member marathon in my outsider house ventures. This guy understands the balance between atmosphere and complex beats. Not quite on par with Cross by Justice, but it maintains a consistent sound through various influences and surprises with plenty of complexity. There are acid techno songs which fit perfectly in this ambient / outsider house sound.