Just Keep Dancing

It's Sunday but it's also a long weekend in most places, which means you may be tired, but you may also be headed out again tonight. With that in mind I've put together a list of extended dance type tracks, old and new; just some of my favourites these days.

Again I've turned to Spotify as most of these tracks are not on Soundcloud, but unlike my new music playlists I've put these in a 'cohesive' listening order. It starts with more throwback disco/dance grooves, with legends like The Cure, Barry White and a repacked version of The Stooges. Then we get two of the hottest dance tracks of the moment with Peggy Gou and Offaiah, before hitting the finale of Snarky Puppy. That track, "Lingus" is by far and away my most played track in the last few months and I still can't get enough of it. It is the oddball in this list but I just needed to share it, and this felt like the right time to sneak it in. Hope this makes your Sunday and weekend more enjoyable. Cheers!

2017's Inaugural Electronic Music Awards (Preview)

I've written about the Grammys and Junos before, focusing on their electronic categories, but always lament the lack of coverage they get, as both opt to announce those winners on their side shows. I've since wondered whether we should care about these award shows at all, since they so often leave a bad taste in our mouths (fans and artists alike). Everyone one knows about the DJ Mag Top 100 lists and the controversies they entail, particularly the so called "DJ" list that in the end is a popularity contest among producers, not DJs. Perhaps as a protest, two new award shows have arisen: The Goldie Awards (backed by A-Trak and THUMP, focusing on DJ and Beat Battles) and The Electronic Music Awards (backed by Paul Oakenfold and TV4, showcasing all that is electronic music). For the purposes of this post, I'll focus on the latter as the anticipation grows in the 3 weeks prior to the event.

Originally announced in January of 2016, as the Electronic Music Awards and Foundation Show, and set for broadcast on FOX, this seemed as large and legitimate as anyone could possibly hope. However in the following months the event was postponed for more than a year, renamed and relegated to a Twitter broadcast. The previously 7 categories have grown to 11, and the winners will be announced live September 21st starting at 7:47 PM PDT. So now let's take a look at those categories and their nominees. Note that I won't be making predictions today, but merely digging into the categories and nominations themselves. See the image below or find the direct link to the noms here.

As you can plainly see, the list of names here is absolutely packed with powerhouse producers, deserving DJs, and awesome artists. The organizers have done a good job of separating categories from Producer of the Year to DJ of the Year, and Live Act of the Year. However I wonder about the New Artist of the Year category, as arguably every act has been big since early 2016, if not before then. But since this is the first edition, I'll give them a little leeway in what new means.

Looking through this list it's clear that the same people who would argue that award shows are mainstream, could easily make that argument again here. There are no names that I'm unfamiliar with. It's absolutely jam packed with big names, but at least to their credit those big names come from all over the place. It's not just top 40 radio wannabes or techno titans. There's deep house, hip hop, electro and of course, what continues to be the style of the moment, future bass.

As always I wonder about how these names were chosen, and further how the winners will be decided. The official statement is that "nominees and winners are voted on by sixty-seven members who were selected to represent all aspects of the electronic music community, in a two-round voting process." But who selected these members? And how well are they balanced? Now, I don't mean to claim that there's collusion or foul play, I just always advocate for more transparency. And no matter what people will bitch and moan about this or that. The positive (and value of any award show) is to showcase worthy talent. Sure you can claim that some of these artists need no more showcasing, but their impact is undeniable, and ought to be recognized as such. Now back to those categories.

Origin of EDM

As show-runner for Enlightenment For Your Ears, I've become accustom to using the phrase Electronic Dance Music (EDM) to describe what, for years before, could only be terms techno. The phrase EDM has ballooned and become the synonymous term associated with techno music. It's use has especially seen such widespread use in North America, the true creators of techno and deejay-ed music. The first man to cue and mix multiple records, and therefore be deserving of the title DJ, was Ray Newby in California , in 1909. That's right, we, North Americans, are responsible for the creation of techno music and deejaying, however, as has become the case throughout history, the cultural hotbed that is Europe took over and has begun to sell us back our DJs and our techno music. Europe has be able to go as far as convincing us that our techno and deejay-ed music must be imported, despite our creation. As has become the norm, the Europeans have found a way to make techno their own.

In 2008, eleven years after the original DJ Mag Top 100 Armin Van Buuren won for a second time, and the culture and semantics of techno music would change forever. Notable French DJ Sebastien Leger used the term Electronic Dance Music to describe his style, he pledged to step away from the electro-house with which he was associated. "Electro-house has almost become an insult for me because there's so many cheesy records," he says. "I want to make it impossible to predict what I'm going to do next." This all comes from a place deep inside Seb Leger, a confirmed hater of flippant French donkey David Guetta, who only last year reached the top spot of the DJ Mag Top 100. This year has been monumental in terms of the backlash in response to the voting and placement of this years DJ Mag Top 100. In the 16 years of voting, there have been only eight winners, with AVB winning five, Tiesto taking three, and both Pauls, Oakenfold and Van Dyk taking two each. Single winners Carl Cox, Sasha, John Digweed, and the aforementioned greasy Guetta. The backlash from DJs and fans alike show the disdain for these DJs and the plain fact that AVB can win his fifth title, while the list of 100 is nearly impossible to crack without morally reprehensible actions such as SHM and pandering for votes. The reality is we are here/hear for the art that is EDM, a term coined by virtuoso Sebastien Leger, back in 2008.

Read more here:
Seb Leger Facebook post
Brief history of DJing
DJ Mag Top 100 - Past Winners
Electronic Dance Music