EDM vs Electronic
Age gaps have always been trouble for any friendship or relationship, the further away someone is to another the less chance we have at getting them to understand or relate where we are coming from. History is lost between the genres and you end up with two completely different era’s and sides. #WEATNU has set out to end this confusion and present the history of Electronic music to the modern EDM youth, but when one side is confetti and loud music, the other side is dark lit clubs with soulful beats and aging DJ’s, along with their aging synthesizers and drum machines, then it becomes difficult. Enter the gap between two genres of music. One side the mainstream, the other the underground. The electronic music lover from the past 20 years is slowly approaching their 40’s, some started even younger and moving into their golden years. Early 20 somethings don’t have time to hear what the electronic sages are saying. But what we’re trying to do is present them with the ability to discover what electronic music is now, and how it’s just as strong today, if not stronger than it was 20, 30 years ago. Much of what we heard ‘back then’ is indeed underground.
When the EDM explosion hit about 2009, it appeared as if the entire world turned it’s head to this Swedish-based progressive trance/house anomaly, equipped with 90’s rave girls and kandi kids selling modern homemade go-go wear. It’s the modern version of Electronic, a place where the youth can go and relax, push themselves to the limit and just get crazy, prob more crazy than my 90’s generation ever was. When you have two sides trying to present each others music, this is where the trouble begins. A twenty year old college student doesn’t get what Boards of Canada is, or wants to, or better yet Underworld, Orbital or even Kraftwerk. 90’s rave culture was all about the music, the energy and yes, drugs. EDM is all about the festival, sometimes the music and yes drugs. Where these two cultures are now is very difficult for the other to notice or even relate. Try telling a 20 year old about the greatness and history of Electronic music and why their EDM is so popular, they will just ignore you and put on their Deadmau5 ears and go on. And yes EDM is here because of the great vibrant history of 30 years of Electronic music.
Something needs to be done to save our history of electronic music, preserve it. I personally miss the days of discovering new underground electronic genres such as DnB, Dub, Experimental, where your heart moved to the rhythm, it was soulful, it was magic. Being American and hearing a underground UK artist gave me a warm feeling. Today the endless array of billionaire titles in a super-saturated market gives EDM its luster. But all this time Electronic lovers who grew up to the classics, try to relate their story to the EDM generation, at how important the history is. It’s akin to talking to your teenager about tin cans and how you would make a telephone from them during the 90’s, then they reach for their iPhone and thumb a few words to their friend in the middle of your conversation. The beauty of #WEATNU is the variety of sub-genres we provide to the masses, if they would only listen. Our attempt is to present them with these modern underground musicians who simply want to share their experience with others, and do not care to adhere to the mold of EDM to be heard. These artists are shaping a new genre, and even without #WEATNU, this in time was bound to happen. Humans decide the fate of music, because everyone has tastes. Is Electronic better than EDM? Only the electronic lover can answer that. But between the genres, one is like oil and one is like water, and oil and water never mix.
Almark – #WEATNU Digital Magazine