EVIL NEEDLE :: SUNSET

DJ CRAZE :: NEW SLAVES ROUTINE

DJ Craze taking a shot at all you WACK EDM button pushers. #REALDJING

DEGO :: 4HERO :: COUSIN COCKROACH :: NUTS EP

Whenever Dego releases a 12" change occurs. Music changes. Producers switch gears. Panic sets in. Tidal-wave size ripples echo throughout time forcing shapes to be thrown and bodies to be bounced. Where words alone can not convey emotions, Dego speaks through his music, healing all that are willing to open their ears. Through some bizarre twist of fate? Luck? Hard work? Dego and Blueberry Records have come together on a 12", of Breakbeat Funk!!!

MARK FARINA DJ SET :: MUSHROOM JAZZ SET :: SHAMBHALA 2014

MOODYMAN FEAT ANDRES - LYK YOU USED 2 :: OFFICIAL VIDEO

EVERYTHING COMES FROM THE STREETS

"Everything Comes From The Streets" traces the early roots and history of lowriding in San Diego, California, and the borderlands, featuring the men and women who pioneered and shaped the Mexican American movement defined by self-expression and cultural ingenuity. The film draws on intimate interviews, archival footage and rare old home movies and photographs unearthed in the making of the film to present an engaging and rich story covering nearly 30 years of lowriding from the 1950s to early 1980s.

In the late 1970s, lowriders affirmed their identity by adapting old airplane hydraulic parts to make their cars hop and evading law enforcement regulations; and lowriding expressions expanded as women formed their own car clubs. Police surveillance and media hysteria led to the eventual outlawing of cruising, bringing to an end one of lowriding's most dynamic eras. But recently the old past time of cruising has been revived again with hundreds of car club members assembling weekly to express their pride in their cars and culture. "Everything Comes From The Streets" celebrates a deep form of cultural expression, reflecting a long history of struggle and affirmation rooted in the streets.

"Everything Comes From The Streets" is directed by Alberto López Pulido, produced by Alberto López Pulido, Rigo Reyes and Kelly Whalen, and edited and photographed by Kelly Whalen. Supported by Cal Humanities and the University of San Diego.

MAURICE FULTON :: RARE MIXES

Rare mix recorded live back in 2008.. If you ever get a chance to catch Maurice Fulton in action then you already know what to expect music wise. Maurice Fulton......... Enough said!!!!








“Maurice Fulton is probably the most rhythmically inventive producer working in electronic dance music right now.” The Wire Maverick production genius Maurice Fulton is a man of few words, who is more inclined to let his music do the talking. We know for certain that he comes from Baltimore in the USA and has been DJing since his early teens. Starting on Hip-hop and then moving on to House and Garage at various residencies across the US he played under his nickname DR Scratch.

Maurice began playing organ in church and drums in high school. So when he put his talent to making music it wasn’t long before he was using his skills to produce tracks with The Basement Boys and Ultra Nate. His most famous work was heard on Gypsy Woman by Crystal Waters, one of the most successful house tunes of the early ‘90s.

Maurice went on to become highly prolific in his production work releasing tracks on various labels through the 90’s including Nuphonic and Warp in the UK. Often linked to contemporaries like Carl Craig, Derrick May and Frankie Knuckles, his textured sounds and complexity of production astounded many and grew him a loyal fan base. Some called it weird house others arty disco, his left of center productions was always on the money.

In his more recent years he has been working for Tirk, Kathy Diamond and DFA. Maurice likes to be known first and foremost as a producer, though for those in the know Maurice is also an extremely accomplished DJ. His sets are firmly routed in Loft and Garage classics that gave New York City its clubbing heritage. These tracks often quietly edited to perfection by his own hand, and presented and eq’ed to maximum effect on the floor.

Maurice Fulton is one of house music’s true originals and his enviable back catalogue will live long in a modern world of disposable downloads.

OUT NOW ON VINYL :: FIRST TOUCH :: SURE FEELS GOOD TO ME

Support the new release from my buddies "First Touch" on Rock The Box Vol.1, Hot Shot Sounds. Peep the link below and turn it up! Keep posted for exclusive and future release info on forth coming tracks.

SASAC

I can't stop playing these 2 joints from Sasac! So good. Blaze one... If you like that Funk that is!

FIRST TOUCH PODCAST MIX

Delicious grooves from German Boogie funk veterans FIRST TOUCH! Feel good vibes guaranteed! Free Download!

EL ANGEL

R.I.P. DOGTOWN LEGEND :: JAY ADAMAS

CRUISING SANTA MARIA 2014

Los Boulevardos Car Club and friends made their annual pilgrimage to Santa Maria, California for the West Coast Kustoms Cruisin' Nationals. Friday night was spent cruising Main Street with world class custom cars, followed by the show Saturday and Sunday.

Song Artist: Ikebe Shakedown
Song Title: Hard Steppin'

Santa Maria 2014 from Alex Rosen on Vimeo.

I'M BACK

Hello readers. After a long break I found my inspiration again as I'll be updating this Blog as often as I can. I will continue to bring you the same content that you all love. Thanks again for all the emails and support through out the years.

DJ DAY :: LAND OF 1000 DANCES

TOKiMONSTA FEAT KOOL KEITH :: THE FORCE

A$AP ROCKY & DANNY BROWN :: COMEDY

FUNKUSHIMA RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION HEADING WEST

JIMMY SPICER :: MONEY (DOLLAR BILL YALL)

EL ANGEL

BOULEVARD FREAKS :: AUGUST 15 :: SAN FRANCISCO

JOEY NEGRO REMIX :: TONIGHTS THE NIGHT

MYRON & E :: DO IT DO IT DISCO :: STONES THROW RECORDS

A project several years in the making, considering the two met while providing backup vocals (Myron) and turntable skills (E) for Blackalicious some time ago. The clip above, directed by Mochilla's Eric Coleman, finds our hosts lacing up at Cerritos' Skate Depot alongside the actual patrons who frequent the Southern California hub on disco night. Old-timers play dominos in the corner, custom skates rule the day (Nikes!), and the moves can be quite breathtaking."



from the album BROADWAY | Video directed by Eric Coleman
http://stonesthrow.com/myronande | http://itunes.com/myronande

THE SOULEROS BALL REVUE :: SACRAMENTO

THEE OFFICIAL FAMILY FIRST C.C. OLDIES AFTER PARTY
SOULEROS BALL VII "UNDER THE STREET LAMP"

SUN. SEP. 1, 2013
5:30 PM-'TIL THE NEEDLE BREAKS!

VALLEJO'S RESTAURANT
(OUTSIDE PATIO "UNDER THE STREET LAMP")
1100 O ST.
SACRA, CA 95814

ALL AGES EVENT!
$10 PRE-SALE
$15 AT DOOR
KIDS 12 & UNDER FREE!
TICKET INCLUDES 1 ARM'S LENGTH OF RAFFLE TICKETS!
$5 FOR 1 ADDITIONAL ARM'S LENGTH OF RAFFLE TICKETS!
$10 FOR 3 ARM'S LENGTHS OF RAFFLE TICKETS!

TICKETS AVAILIBLE AT: http://www.flavorus.com/event/SOULEROS-BALL-VII/183968

G (916) 835-8783

VALLEJO'S
1100 O ST.
SACRA, CA

HAMMER & LEWIS
1040 S. WHITE
SAN JO, CA
(408) 259 7656

TIME WARP
SAN JO FLEA MARKET
(H STREET SPACE 316 BETWEEN 14TH & 16TH)
1590 BERRYESSA RD.
SAN JO, CA
(408) 849-1233

SOULEROS BALL REVUE Y OTHER GUESTS SPINNING RARE OLDIES/SOUL 45'S
THEE RAREST OF RARE! THEE SWEETEST OF SWEET!
GROUP HARMONIES THAT CAN DO YOU NO HARM!
MOVE YOUR GROOVE! JERK YOUR TEARS!
PUT THEM ELBOWS UP!
OLDIES DANCE!
FIRME ROLITAS!
NO MP3'S! NO iTUNES! NO LAPTOPS! NO CD'S!

PERFORMING LIVE!
SACRA’S VERY OWN CHICANO SOUL LEGENDS
SUENOS
“BABY I LOVE YOU” http://youtu.be/dZ8HOThwghc
“OH LITTLE GIRL” http://youtu.be/v4F-mnVao8c
“HOLLYWOOD GIRL” http://youtu.be/GshoosMEEB0
THEIR NEW SINGLE "SAD LOVE SONG" https://soundcloud.com/lovetaxi/suenos-band-sad-love-song
& A FIRME TRIBUTE PERFORMANCE OF “UNDER THE STREET LAMP”

DRESS CODE STRICTLY ENFORCED!
MUST BE SUITED & BOOTED!
DOLLED UP & ZOOTED!
CREASED UP FROM THE FEET UP!
IN YOUR BONNERUES!
NO COLORS!

HAMMER & LEWIS & TEEN ANGELS MAGAZINE PRESENTS
BADDEST CHOLA/CHOLO & COUPLES SLOW DANCE CONTEST!
BADDEST PACHUCA/PACHUCO & COUPLES SLOW DANCE CONTEST!

MARGARITA "SOULERA" GALVAN DE U.N.I.C.A.S. PRESENTS
BADDEST CHOLA-BAND CONTEST!

CONTEST WINNERS WILL BE FEATURED IN TEEN ANGELS MAGAZINE! https://www.facebook.com/teenangelsarte?fref=ts

RAFFLING OFF
*“HOLLYWOOD GIRL” BY SUENOS 45 7” SINGLE OG PROMO COPY!
*MYRON & E BROADWAY LP RELEASED BY STONES THROW RECORDS & "CLAP SING" LIMITED 45!
*IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU" BY NICOLE WILLIS 45 DJ COPY!
*"GIVES ME EVERYTHING" BY WILLIE WEST ON SOUL SIDES OG COPY LIMITED 100 PRESS!
& MUCH MORE AS THE DAYS GET CLOSER!!!!


INFO, SPONSORS, CONTACT:
(408) 661-2604
(702) 808-3509
(408)614-6065
SOULEROSBALL@GMAIL.COM

PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY!
NO SET TRIPPING - NO BAD ATTITUDES - GOD LOVES YOU!

THIS EVENT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
CATALYST FOR YOUTH
SOULEROS BALL REVUE
U.N.I.C.A.S.
PD SOUNDZ
VALLEJO'S
JUKEBOX GEEZEE
FAMILY FIRST C.C.
SUENOS
MYRON & E RELEASED BY STONES THROW RECORDS
TIMMION RECORDS
HAMMER & LEWIS
TEEN ANGELS MAGAZINE
G GROOVE APPAREL
TIME WARP MUSIC

--

PICK UP ALL YOUR HARD TO FIND & CLASSIC STYLES & NAME BRANDS FROM THEE OFFICIAL SOULEROS BALL VII CLOTHING STORE

HAMMER & LEWIS https://www.facebook.com/HammerLewisClothiers?fref=ts
1040 S. WHITE
SAN JO, CA

SIR JACS
CHARLIE BROWNS
501'S
PENDLETONS
ZOOT SUITS
BISCUITS
STACY ADAMS
WINOS
WALLABEES

--

TRUCHA! PICK UP YOUR COPY OF OUR LIMITED
“SOULEROS BALL VII” RARE OLDIES CD!
1ST PRESS LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!
ALL ROLAS DERIVED FROM RECORDS!
NO DIGITAL DOWNLOADS!
INCLUDES LINER NOTES SPOTLIGHTING FEATURED RECORD COLLECTORS & ROLAS!
11X17 PROMO POSTER!
OUR ANNUAL EVENT PROGRAM/ZINE FEATURING FIRME ARTICLES & OLD SCHOOL FLICKAS!

BE SURE TO PICK UP MYRON & E WITH THE SOUL INVESTIGATORS NEW ALBUM, BROADWAY!
RELEASED BY STONES THROW RECORDS
ALBUM AVAILABLE IN VINYL, CD OR MP3
http://stonesthrow.com/store/album/myronande/broadway

BE SURE TO ALSO PICK UP MYRON & E WITH THE SOUL INVESTIGATORS 45'S 7“ VINYL WHILE THEY LAST! LIMITED 1ST PRESS!
RELEASED BY TIMMION RECORDS
& CHECK OUT ALL THEIR OTHER FIRME ROLITAS!
http://www.timmion.com/webshop/7-2/

--

NEAR BY HOTELS (CLICK ON LINK)
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=hotels&ll=38.577896%2C-121.494198&spn=0.012883%2C0.027874&sll=38.574055%2C-121.494563&sspn=0.006295%2C0.006295&near=Vallejo%27s+Restaurants%2C+1100+O+St+%23+8%2C+Sacramento%2C+CA+95814&geocode=Cc_GxWemajv2FeeXTAId3SPC-Cm9X6Q1JtGagDEOSHOW2eDnaQ&gl=us&dq=vallejos+11th+o+street+loc%3A+Sacramento%2C+CA&hq=hotels&t=m&z=16

--

*SOULEROS BALL REVUE IS A CATALYST FOR YOUTH FISCALLY SPONSORED PROGRAM. CATALYST FOR YOUTH IS A 501 (C) 3 NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION. http://www.catalystforyouth.org/

J DAVEY :: GANGSTER

I was cleaning out my CD bins last weekend when I rediscovered my promo copy of J.Davey album from 2007... These cats along with SA-RA album were on heavy rotation in my DJ sets at the time. Both albums are stellar with specific time & era in my memory. I hope J.Davey produces something new in the near future. Until then I'll keep rocking this LP.


GANGSTER!

VOLTAIRE RECORDS :: PRIVATE FUNCTION

Thanks to Voltaire Records (SF) for lacing me up with their current release "Private Function" (Props for hand delivered vinyl). Label owner "Randy" took his time and produced a high quality product on 12"! I already knew this EP was going to be funky based off art work designed by Primo. Private Function is a Modern Funk compilation presented by Voltaire Records, featuring artists from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Miami. Weaving through elements of Boogie, Funk, Modern Soul, and G-Funk, Private Function heralds a new breed of talented producers re-inventing and amplifying this relished sound.

K-Maxx -A close friend & HOMIE who delivers FUNKY music with every release. Ken is talented and plays all Instruments opposed to over produced Digital techniques that's saturating the market. "Da Blast" supplies that head nodding, West Coast-Funk bounce usually associated with Zap. Pick up his latest EP on Sound Boutique. Hopefully K-Maxx forms a band in the near future.





XL Middleton & Eddie Funkster - A Dangerous combo who've been damaging speakers with their signature L.A.Boogie/Slap Sound over the past few years. Another group of close friends who continue to amaze me on every release. "Night Time Is Coming" screams 101 south in July! The Duo is out there breaking necks with tasty tunes on their own Record label "MO'FUNK". Make sure you snatch up anything they release. Supplies are limited!





Loose Shus - The track "Loose Coupling" takes you on a Sci-Fi Synth adventure with hints of 80's soundtrack. I love the movie "BloodSport" and feel this track should have been the closing credits... And that's a good thing. If you dig soundtrack tunes you'll feel this one. I've noticed Sci-Fi/Soundtrack parties popping up all over, Volatare Records has you covered.





Night School - Night School is the solo project of Miami Based Mickey De Grand IV. He is a member of Psychic Mirrors and runs the label Cosmic Chronic. On this release I think he captured the current sound of Funk at the moment. With hints of the past, present, and future, the track is Funky and hip shaker no doubt. I look forward to future releases from Night School.

THE BRAIN RAPIST!

MYRON & E :: STONES THROW RECORDING ARTIST :: IF I GAVE YOU MY LOVE

From the album Broadway | Street date: July 2, 2013
EP on iTunes http://goo.gl/JPhrE | MP3 http://goo.gl/An5DL
Shot & Directed by: Eric Coleman (Mochilla)
Produced by: Shane Sakanoi & Azul Amaral
Editor: Luke Lynch
Stylist: John Carlos deLuna
Cast: Iliana Carter, Miguel Cabrello and Christina "Shorty" Sanchez
Make up: Rachelle Llanes
2nd Camera: Cee Brown & Azul Amaral
Crew: Nic Cabrera, Haley Ptiker, Tim Nable and Bo Lee
Special thanks to: Ruben Molina, George Miller, Soulera 5150, and the entire Southern Soul Spinners, Cousuelo at the UFW Hall and the City of Industry, Groupe Car Club, Hardware Studio, Johnny Simmons and Stephen Serrato.






DOWNLOAD THE SONG FOR FREE

Q-TIP RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY LECTURE :: 2013

Lecture: Q-Tip (New York, 2013) from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

Shit gets deep with Tip... Kick back and enjoy!

MAYOR HAWTHORNE & PHARRELL BEHIND THE DOOR

LEE FIELDS :: LETS TALK IT OVER

PREORDER NOW - TRUTH & SOUL - Ships JUN 28th! Over the past four years, Lee Fields has released two critically acclaimed full-lengths on the Truth & Soul label which have secured him a younger and extremely dedicated audience. He has been touring the world gaining new fans that now know Mr. Fields for the tough-as-nails, lushly orchestrated sweet soul music that is featured on the “My World” and “Faithful Man” records. However, Mr. Fields’ musical career goes far beyond those two records. The latest 45 is a small glimpse of Mr. Fields’ long and rich career.

FIRST TOUCH MIX CD's ARRIVED

Contact me if you would like one. Limited press, exclusive event mix - $10

THE RIO DEAL :: RARE BRAZILIAN FUNK & SOUL MIX :: THE FUNK FELLOWSHIP

My friend and long time record nerd "The Ambassador" of the infamous Wax Poetics family and Bay Area Brazilian crew has put together this nice mix for my new night "The Funk Fellowship"... Allen will start at 9pm playing these tunes and more. Make sure you get there early. Allen has amazing records! Enjoy







1. Cassiano - Onda
2. Lemos e Debito - Morro No Baracco Sem Agua
3. Super Som T.A. - Agora Chega
4. Paulo Diniz - Baiao
5. Dom Salvador e Abolição - Uma Vida
6. Waltel Branco - Jael
7. Banda União Black - Yeah, Yeah
8. Di Melo - Pernalonga
9. Rosa Maria - Rio da Felicidade
10. Antonio Carlos & Jocafi - Chamego De Iná (7" version)
11. Trio Ternura - A Gira
12. New York Electric Band - Sossego
13. Average White Band - Atlantic Avenue
13. Brylho - Se Voce For a Salvador
14. Painel de Controle - Relax
15. Sandra Sá - Negra Flor
16. Alex Malheiros - Papaia
17. Marcos Valle - A Paraiba Não É Chicago
18. Skowa e A Mafia - Deus Me Faça Funky

EDM - THE WORST THING THAT HAPPENED TO DANCE MUSIC

Someone had to write it! And I'm glad they did. I'm tired of everyone telling me about Trap and EDM... I smile and let them bury their own hole. Any way I found this great article via Disco Demons.... Well said fellas. I agree 100%


“Who’d have thought three little letters could make dance music look so wanky?”, fellow blogger Clive from UK-based music blog Electronic Rumors asked on Twitter a few months ago. “What’s happened to dance music?”, Haezer asks his fans on Facebook. London music blog Too Many Sebastians recently declared the beginning of EDMageddon on Twitter.

In the meantime, Tiesto is still touring US universities for his Club Life College Invasion tour, Steve Aoki is still surfing underage crowds on an inflatable raft and David Guetta is still selling out every single show he plays. Skrillex and Avicii can still be heard blasting out of every kid’s iPod, the top ten tracks for electro house on Beatport still have cheesy trance vocals and synths in the breaks and Rihanna or Pitbull’s songs still sound like big-room club anthems. Madonna still keeps appearing at Avicii’s shows. Sebastian Ingrosso of Swedish House Mafia still thinks SHM are the new Beatles. And above all, Paris Hilton still thinks she’s a DJ now. What has electronic dance music become? Or is EDM just electronic dance music for douchebags?

After an entire summer spent traveling from one EDM festival to another, I obviously could go on for hours here, but let’s just forget about all that for a second and step back to take a closer look at this thing called EDM. A few years ago, EDM had been a collective term for all kinds of electronic dance music (rather than a genre on its own), ranging from techno over house to drum&bass, and all other kinds of music created on computers and synthesizers with the purpose of making people dance. Except for some new genres (like dubstep or moombahton) that have recently joined the family, EDM is still the catch-all term for electronic dance music. So what exactly has changed, and why are so many people (including me) so upset about it?


“EDM has become an entire generation’s pop music.”

If you ask someone what kind of music they enjoy and the answer is rock, you can go on asking which kinds of rock music, and you would probably get stoner rock, indie rock, hard rock or any other kind of music with guitars as an answer. If you ask today’s average EDM fan the same question, they will most probably have a hard time naming you three sub-genres of EDM they’re into. If you don’t believe me, go check the line-ups of dance events a few years ago: never before have artists such as Tiesto, John Dahlbäck, Richie Hawtin and Steve Aoki constantly shared stages, because each of them represented a different style (trance, house, techno, electro, etc.) back then, with completely different crowds. Today, it’s all just EDM. For a large number of (young) listeners (mainly in the US), EDM has become a new genre, it seems. A genre characterized by simple melodies that immediately get stuck in your head and catchy vocals that you can sing along to after the first listen (wait, isn’t that pretty much a definition of pop music?). Add a big drop with lots of bass, gritty synths and white noise to that, and you’ve got a pocket definition of 2012′s idea of EDM. I recently asked on Twitter “What has dance music become?”, and one answer I got was from Andrew of Harder Blogger Faster: “One word: predictable.” I couldn’t agree more with this, remembering Skrillex joking about one of his fans commenting “Nice song, but where’s the drop” after the prince of dubstep posted a video of Aphex Twin’s Windowlicker on Facebook.

How could it have come to this, though? For years now, electronic dance music has been growing bigger and bigger, finally making the jump from music made for clubs to receiving attention on mainstream radio – outside of clubs. This process was sort of kickstarted between 2006 and 2008 when some emerging artists managed to build a big hype and make electronic music “socially acceptable” for people who have never been into dance music before: somewhere between alternative rock (which was huge back then) and dance music, indie dance was born. Think of: Justice’s remix for Simian’s We Are Your Friends, the early days of The Hype Machine, blog house, Kitsuné, the Ed Banger generation, Crookers, MGMT’s Kids (Soulwax Remix). In fact though, this process has been going on for much longer, though: electronic music has always been drawing influences from other genres – think Bloody Beetroots collaborating with hardcore punk bands such as Refused. After this big hype back in 2006 – 2008 though, it started actually influencing other genres itself. For years now, electronic dance music has been influencing mainstream pop music – I don’t think I need to give examples for that.


Today however, the situation has changed. Electronic dance music is no longer influencing mainstream pop music. EDM has become mainstream pop music.





Underground music has been influencing mainstream music for as long as music exists, probably. When underground music actually becomes mainstream music, though, some problems arise: long-time members of the original scene will feel irritated with lots of new people suddenly claiming to be part of the movement when they obviously have no idea what this scene is really about. What better example than old-school house legend Mark Farina being removed from the decks in Vegas after the club received complaints from its bottle-service VIP crowd for “too much house music”? Or deadmau5 ranting about Madonna, and his “we all hit play” statement, and Boys Noize tweeting “if you see a dj that uses a mic and screams ‘put your hands up’ throw a banana at him”. Furthermore, artists who used to define and shape the scene for long years will start to “sell out” because of the big money that suddenly can be made when a genre blows up. These problems and others are of course typical side effects of a genre’s commercialization, and no EDM-specific phenomenon.



EDM in the USA – a booming industry.

With the hype exploding and still growing, EDM has evolved from an underground movement to a big target market for all kinds of enterprises, attracting the attention of big companies who started pouring lots of money into the scene, hosting bigger, louder, crazier festivals all over the world (think Holy Ship, Ultra, EDC, Tomorrowland etc.). “It’s just a marketing term to sell various genres of dance music to the US.”, Clive of Electronic Rumors once tweeted, and he’s totally right about that. With the massive marketing firepower of the entire event industry as a strong tailwind, EDM is getting bigger and bigger. In fact, the bigger it gets, the bigger it gets – a vicious circle.

Obviously what I’m talking about here is largely a US-based phenomenon. Of course it’s swapping over to Europe, but the real big hype hasn’t actually arrived yet (and I’m not sure if it ever will): even at European mainstream EDM festival like Tomorrowland you will meet more North and South Americans than Europeans combined. This is due to a strong, independent scene and a long tradition of electronic dance music in Europe: French house in, well, France, drum & bass and dubstep in the UK, techno and deep house in Berlin – just to name a few examples. There are lots of big artists in Europe who firmly stand against the EDM hype, who have always chosen quality electronic dance music over cheap music for the masses. I’m not going to do some namedropping here – if you’ve been following this blog for some time chances are that you already know who the good guys are. After being asked in an interview why Europe seems to be constantly ahead of the US when it comes to electronic dance music, techno legend Richie Hawtin explains that the club scene in Europe has not only a much longer tradition than it has in the States, but also complains about the mentality of the US scene: “I think music in America, and this emanates across the world, everybody wants to be a superstar. Everybody wants to actually cut themselves off from people. Everybody wants to be on a pedestal. [...] It’s a little bit disappointing how that’s happened in America. It’s really like the whole rock star, hip-hop mentality. You know, these unreachable people.”

Having said that, EDM’s poster boys are of course in no way inferior when it comes to producing and DJing (except for some of the obvious douchebags), in fact I have all the respect in the world for artists like David Guetta: every single piece of music this man touches immediately turns into solid earworm gold. Also, he’s French, so obviously I’m not just hating on the US music scene here, just to be clear about that too. The US music scene is clearly breaking new grounds with EDM at the moment, so obviously there are lots of people who are new to electronic dance music – and of course they can’t be expected to immediately know and appreciate the more elaborate and sophisticated facets of electronic music, as Hawtin explains: “If you just got into Calvin Harris or you just got into Afrojack, great. You’ve stepped through the door, but there’s so much more to learn.”



This is the end?


However, at some point in the near future the EDM hype will probably collapse, as new (or old) genres will eventually start replacing it again. I remember asking Olle of Dada Life in an interview I did with them back in 2009 if he thought that electronic dance music would ever become as popular as indie rock, and he answered: “It already is, in some ways. On a regular weekend more people are partying to house and electro than rock. They just don’t know what they’re hearing at the club. I don’t think that will change, but that’s fine!” Obviously it did change, so why shouldn’t it change again? Hopefully for the better, this time.

In my opinion, while quickly gaining lots of fans, electronic dance music has become less credible in the course of this big EDM hype. The (bigger part of the) underground clubbing scene (where it has been all about the music) has turned into a commercial hype focusing on festivals, fireworks and rockstar personality cult rather than on the music itself. It has become harder to spot the most interesting artists, and it has become harder for talented artists to reach an audience if their music is not big-room compatible. While introducing massive crowds to electronic music, this thing called EDM has been a major setback for electronic dance music, as it has changed the public’s perception of dance music to something that dance music never wanted to represent.

Having said that, the scene has always been sort of re-inventing itself – and the bigger EDM becomes, the more up and coming artists start rejecting the hunt for the hardest drop, slowly developing a fresh underground scene, where it’s all about the music again – for example the future techno movement. Facing the rapid commercialization of mainstream dance music, these small underground scenes are rapidly gaining fans who are fed up with the EDM hype. So let’s all just sit back and wait for this whole thing to repeat itself again in a few years. Eurodance, EDM – I wonder what they will call it the next time.

BRAZILIAN FUNK MIX FROM THE AMBASSADOR :: THE FUNK FELLOWSHIP

Check this out. The Ambassador put together this 'lil hour-long Brazilian Funk mix for the Funk Fellowship gig coming up next Thursday (May 30th) at El Amigo Bar! Here is a taste.