quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J You're one of the most pretentious people on this forum. You are ridiculously self-congratulatory about how much better you are than all your peers for the music you listen to. Go into any specialist dance music record shop and start telling them about how dark and psychedelic the Tiesto remix of Flesh is and you'll get laughed out of the building. You and Kosmotika are kids playing at being music snobs. It's fucking embarrassing.

We don't have many record shops here, this isn't Europe. I have however talked to all sorts of DJs through the last few years though and it appears to me that none of them have ever even listened to EDM of anything prior to 2008. The average "raver" only recently got into EDM since late '09 and '10. I don't get how they can say things like "oh yeah Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Guns N Roses, and Motley Crue were the real rockers! New rock sucks!" and then you get the same guys saying "Real hip hop is nothing without Tupac, BiGGie, Digital Underground, or any of the hip hop OGs."

but when it comes to EDM, they act like this is the most progressed evolution of electronica. you get assholes saying Trance, ambient, prog-psy, they're saying that what we listen to is all inferior just because the DJs aren't playing it in the mainstream, it must mean we are somewhat inferior hipsters.

I personally will not allow people to insult us like that. Maybe you're better at handling it 'J, but not me. I get pissed when people talk shit and know nothing about it. Maybe it's just my Californian stubborness kicking in. There really is beautiful music in the EDM world, and several popular house DJs themselves have admitted that the music they're playing is sh*t but the masses don't even know it.

The interviews don't lie, man. If the DJs, who are the current faces of the EDM scene (at least in America) are saying the music that they are putting out isn't that good, then that pretty much affirms the whole conversation we have here that the music that is put out in the limelight sucks. Now, whether I'm pretentious or not, 'J, you KNOW it's true that the music put out today sucks. I love the new music you share, you have good taste.

The difference between me and you is you just wanna chill and snip all that garbage out of your life. For me, it's in my face every god damn day wherever I go. The radio, the barber shop, the coffee shop, my work place, or the mall. It gets annoying, so I'm just more vocal and actively resistant about this. but I'm not pretentious. 'J if you had someone poking you constantly every single everywhere you go you're eventually gonna want punch the person or people back for being annoying, or do something about it.

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Pluviose I don't think about being pretentious at all. I personally think if we just get honest with ourselves and see things quite clearly, you can't just turn a blind eye to the current EDM scene and say that our cheese of the past (or your past), is the same as the cheese now. You know what rock music listeners say? I've never seen a fucking Led Zeppelin fan who grew up in the 60s say that music back in his day was cheesy as it is today in My Chemical Romance. Current EDM is cheesy and if you think 1999 was cheesy, then today is cheesy by FAR. I mean sure today we have Gangnam Style and Harlem Shake because of the electro house movement, but seriously back in our day we had "I like to move it move it" or the Macarena. When I meet the average EDM listener in America most of them aren't even musically inspired. They all got into EDM because they discovered laptop DJing and because here in the states hip hop is becoming obsolete and milked as shit so they needed a new trend for other sheep to follow. The average American here is just in it for the popularity. Did you fucking know that in 2007-2008 I was a high school 16-17 year old trying to introduce rave concerts or EDM to people and they hella judged me and said I was bad for introducing them to drug culture? I gave a guy an E pill at my own house party and he was so square and stuck up he thought it was cool to act above it all and throw the pill on the floor and walk out of my house with a disrespectful attitude. Now 4 years later I see the same asshole going to raves or EDM concerts cuz all of a sudden all the cool kids are doing it and he isn't cool anymore if he throws someone else's good E on the floor. Especially when raves are so massive than ever before, he wants to just fit in with everybody. Like I said most people are just in it for the popularity not for the true, darker and underground part of electronica.

I've got to fault you on that drug stuff mate, that's destructive to the rave scene on the whole. Maybe it's one of the stereotypes that a raver has to be constantly popping pills and giving out shitty bead bracelets, but fact is we did have some booming trance clubs in the USA in the late 90s / early 2000s and just about all of them got closed down because junkies were dropping dead left and right. So really, pillheads killed the rave scene pretty quick in America. To me, being a raver is all about the music...if a song doesn't make you move by just listening to it, it's either not a good song or you're just not that into the music to begin with. I hate those idiots that wander around "H-hey have...have you seen molly..." with a dead look in their eye not even giving a shit about what's being played through the speakers, absolutely hate em. I'm not saying drug culture hasn't always been a part of electronic music (or any music for that matter) but it's certainly not what being a raver is about. It's about the music man, nothing else matters if you aren't about that. The reason those people scoffed at you isn't because the music you listen to is bad or that they were closed to ever hearing it, but because you perpetuated a negative stereotype of what a raver is. There's a lot of people, younger than me even (keep in mind I'm 22) who didn't give me the same reactions as the people you've described, and they were open to listening to (and often enjoying) older trance because I just say "Hey, here's the music I'm into, have a listen." I don't go around trying to give people drugs. You don't need to do certain things or look a certain way just because of a stereotype commonly associated with the kind of music you like, yknow?

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PM me your oldschool style trance tunes for potential worldwide digital releasing and free mastering!
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Last edited by kosmotika on Nov-23-2014 at 00:54

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Pluviose The difference between me and you is you just wanna chill and snip all that garbage out of your life. For me, it's in my face every god damn day wherever I go. The radio, the barber shop, the coffee shop, my work place, or the mall.

I've said to you before: move. Get out of Hicksville. You clearly have nothing but contempt for the people you associate with, and you're also shockingly naive about the larger world of music. There are plenty of places in the US where electronic music is well established and you'll find cool people who listen to great music, and even specialist record shops where they buy their tunes from. Do that and you won't get frustrated by all the idiots in your life any more, and you'll learn a lot of things very quickly that will make you do a gigantic face-palm about all your old posts on TA.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

Pluv', as someone who's been into this stuff for quite a while now, trust me when I say there's absolutely no point in getting riled up about the current state of EDM. Everyone you're fussing about are tourists. They're here for only a short time. Maybe a few will stick around and get into the 'real' underground (whatever that is for a local scene), but the turnover rate for dance music of this sort is quite high (LOL pun). It's only as popular as the PR makes it, and the moment something trendier (and more cost effective) comes along, the balloon will burst.

Either that, or the next generation will see what their parents were doing at these festivals as, like, totally lame, and find their own thing to get into. It will subside at some point, so there's little reason to bitch about the NOW scene. Play the long-game, my friend.

___________________
Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most.
Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!

@kosmostika
The thing is I don't go out to EDM concerts on E at all anymore. I throw my own private rave parties with very selective people. Yes, being a raver is all about the music, I don't disregard that at all, but personally for me and all my close buddies, just little bit of enhancements makes a big difference. There's a difference between people who enhance it just for the sake of looking cool, or getting fucked up and forgetting reality cuz they have their own personal baggage or self-image issues, and then there's the fine difference between ones who take it to enhance their musical enjoyment to a level further and be completely aware of the enhancements and have fun with. That is not take away from being sober and being sober sucks, it just means that my close friends and I personally enjoy the enhancement and can enjoy with or without, but in a party setting, we prefer to be enhanced.

@ 'J
That's a great advice and with all consideration I would totally do that The problem is I already live in California, which is supposed to be one of the most developed states of America. West and East coast are the big towns here. I think what I need to do is get out there and start DJing for reals and start slowly introducing people to trance (and other great electronica) through more parties that I throw. I really think I need to introduce people through the crowd on the dance floor rather than just talk about it. That's my only solution, but I'm just saving up for the equipment.

@Sykonee
Will do. Like I said to 'J, I don't really think statistics, interviews, talking about it, being vocal about it, and making fun of it, or waiting around for it is going to work. I think eventually if I'm the only one who wants to create the vision for others to see, I gotta go out there and represent it like any established visionary would. Like if I could just give a bigger group of people an amazing night in a few small events I could open some more minds. Afterall, I believe that's how it all works anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Pluviose @ 'J That's a great advice and with all consideration I would totally do that The problem is I already live in California, which is supposed to be one of the most developed states of America.

Seems to me like you still get plenty of good DJs in California: http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...p?s=&forumid=60

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

You'll be a lot happier if you stop thinking you are better than people because of what you like, you stop hating people for being stupid, and you get the fuck out of San Jose.

___________________
Quarantine Classics Brunello di Montalcino (In Transit) Edition [Progressive Classics] (August 2020)
Quarantine Classics - Puligny-Montrachet Edition [Progressive Classics] (April 2020)
What Is Progressive Anyways? [Progressive House Classics] (November 2019)

Good music doesn't need to be enhanced imo

___________________
Elitist and smalltime label owner
PM me your oldschool style trance tunes for potential worldwide digital releasing and free mastering!
RIP Little Jam, DJ Energy, Tillmann Uhrmacher & Gary D

quote:

Originally posted by kosmotika Good music doesn't need to be enhanced imo

Those 5.1 Surround 40th anniversary re-edition deluxe turbo releases of [insert Boomer Rock classic] begs to differ.

___________________
Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most.
Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I've said to you before: move. Get out of Hicksville.

That's the thing, this guy is not in Hicksville. He lives in San Jose, which is not only the third largest city in California, but also part of the San Francisco Bay Area. He's about 45 minutes away from a city where there has always been a thriving underground scene, and the fact that he apparently can't find it means he either doesn't know how to look or is more interested in complaining about the new generation of pop-dance ravers.

___________________
He traded sands for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand. Afari, Tales

quote:

Originally posted by Paradox Lost That's the thing, this guy is not in Hicksville. He lives in San Jose, which is not only the third largest city in California, but also part of the San Francisco Bay Area. He's about 45 minutes away from a city where there has always been a thriving underground scene, and the fact that he apparently can't find it means he either doesn't know how to look or is more interested in complaining about the new generation of pop-dance ravers.

Well yeah, I didn't want to comment too much on a place I've never visited so I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm well aware that California in general is not short of electronic music events and it wouldn't take a massive relocation to get into the thick of the action.

I don't know why I'm bothering, to be honest. If this guy did actually stumble across a proper party he'd be as dorky and out of place as he is on these forums. The people you choose to associate with say a lot about you, and this guy's stories about his peers tell me everything I need to know.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

At a party I'm usually doing my thing and getting into it. It depends on my mood. If I'm listening to big room house music, I'm sorta gonna have to fake it (as best I can) and just play along, and hopefully pray for something better to go on later.

If I'm pissed off either sober or rollin' on E I wouldnt care telling a DJ to change up his shit. Either that or I'll just bounce and blast music in my car.