I recently attended a music production class lead by a very established dance music producer, more just to gain insight into the process of dance music production vs. the songcraft I am accustomed to being an “organic” musician as well. In the entire 6 hour course, not a single mention was given to the idea of musical expression, emotion, or anything else that compels me to pick up a guitar and create, but rather portrayed the process as if it were some sort of purely-engineered practice. Granted this was an introductory course, and one cannot be taught to be inspired to song, yet the complete absence of musical thought versus technical process presented in this introduction somewhat validated my concerns that dance music today, in all of its barrier-less accessibility, is less music and more a mechanized hobby with a coded formula for success. Such an approach does not breed innovation, much less art.

While the clubs may be happily bouncin’ to riffy, compressed electro prog, my headphones and I are happily waiting it out in a Hooj Choon time warp until the qualities that make good music good (thought, originality, expression, soul, etc.) come back in style. Thanks for the very thoughtful, original, and expressive article; assuming your mixes are crafted in the same spirit, I may have some awakening to do

Cheers,
Andy

and yet i have crates full of yesterday’s cutting edge sounds gathering dust. at $10 a piece they represent a very heavy and expensive investment and commitment to what may be a dying art form. it meant more to me then than it does now, because i see djing as what it is, interactive music listening that represents a convergence of old ideas being recycled as something new. the very nature of electronic music relys on the ideas and forms that proceeded it. this is not to say that it is just a sum of the parts involved, but it is nearly impossible to attempt to produce something without it being a cliche the moment it reaches the pop culture taste makers. what evolves underground is pushed into the mainstream and commodified and has it’s 15 minutes of being blown up, and the saturation point is easily heard in the number of lame remixes being done in that style that year.

records were the top tracks of their day, on labels that no longer exist and produced by people that will never see a dime, but it was the fact that they were the true innovaters that made it possible and paved the way forward.

anyways, that’s my two cents…props to the blog writer. and to those keeping the shit real, underground. :}>>>>>K

Agreed. My officemate was getting way too deep into electro about the time it had begun to turn into a formula (*cough* KLAAS *cough*) and he used to bump it ALL THE TIME AND IT WAS KILLING ME SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY. Other genres that do this to me are: all the rest. Because really, you’re right. I mean, I get knocked by this guy for preferring what he calls “overproduced” tracks. Since then, his taste has improved, but really…I take a lot of pride in knowing that though it takes me ages to finish a single new track or remix, there’s enough content in there to slay the majority of that which has come before and will come after. I can release a track and know that the “overproduction” is like this thick armor of original synths, minimal command-c & v, and breakdowns that took forever to construct so that they drop harder than all the world’s snare rolls played simultaneously.

I’m just so sick of the BS out there, especially when it gets put on high. People are all, “Pryda this,” and “Deadmau5 that”, and it’s still riff-music.

Riff-tracks is all EM is anymore; riff gets made, copy and paste, song goes on beatport. 8 MINUTES OF IT. And then you hear all 8 minutes in the club and you want to slap the DJ for being lazy.

Lately, I don’t even listen to new stuff. I just keep on loving the old stuff, and follow this inexplicable desire I have to make it. I really feel your disenchantment, dude. It’s a serious problem. It’s might bolster the stereotypes that it’s simple music with a simple beat, but it will definitely make the super-producers, the valiant defenders of the form, stand out like visionaries. These visionaries may not get the props they deserve as band-wagons trail closely behind, but that’s their sacrifice, and it’s a necessary one.