I know what you mean. He seems to have lost all relevance, but none of his popularity.

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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/

Agreed, but it's been like that for a while now hasn't it? For me his relevancy kind of ended during the 90s. Not sure when or why. I'd still go and see him at a club if I had the chance (unless there's a ridiculous ticket price) as I still think he throw down some interesting sets

On the other hand, he never really hit it off as a producer ever did he? His draw has always been as a DJ, never as the creator of some hit track. So perhaps his relevancy has never been in the traditional sense to begin with

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His mixing skills are top-notch without a shadow of a doubt. Can't say the same about his productions, though he had some decent ones like "Give Me Your Love".
Bottom line - the guy knows how to make the crowd dancing, but he seems to slowed down the bpm nowadays [miss his 01-05 style].

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quote:

Originally posted by Col However, EDM seems to be political for some people - it's not about the music itself but it's about what the music symbolises, where the music came from, who spins it and how obscure it is.

quote:

Originally posted by Johan (DJ Irish) Agreed, but it's been like that for a while now hasn't it? For me his relevancy kind of ended during the 90s. Not sure when or why. I'd still go and see him at a club if I had the chance (unless there's a ridiculous ticket price) as I still think he throw down some interesting sets On the other hand, he never really hit it off as a producer ever did he? His draw has always been as a DJ, never as the creator of some hit track. So perhaps his relevancy has never been in the traditional sense to begin with

Good analysis.

what is this relevancy thing you guys speak of? what does that mean exactly? he packs clubs and tents because when he plays he causes large masses of bodies to move non stop, and thats the most important thing.

case in point:

quote:

Originally posted by stevö what is this relevancy thing you guys speak of? what does that mean exactly? he packs clubs and tents because when he plays he causes large masses of bodies to move non stop, and thats the most important thing.

It means his incidence with currently popular trends, which is usually an important part of both measuring and maintaining success. Nobody talks about Carl Cox - there's no journalistic features by him, no threads about him, no artists mention him in interviews, he doesn't seem to feature highly on popularity polls, no matter who is being polled. I don't see his records in shops anymore, he doesn't come up on Beatport or Amazon. He seems to be completely irrelevant to everything happening in dance music, which would normally mean his popularity would go down. Certainly if I were just getting into dance music in 2011 Carl Cox would not register as a major DJ.

This was a guy, don't forget, who was once #1 on the DJ Mag poll, who spent so much time on the front cover of Mixmag he took out a mortgage on it, who had cameos in films like Human Traffic and It's All Gone Pete Tong. In the late '90s, you couldn't get away from Carl Cox. Compared to those days, he's totally invisible. How do people know he "he causes large masses of bodies to move non stop" when nobody talks about him? Is he just drawing the same crowd every year?

___________________
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/

always liked these tracks, as dated as they do sound now;

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J It means his incidence with currently popular trends, which is usually an important part of both measuring and maintaining success. Nobody talks about Carl Cox - there's no journalistic features by him, no threads about him, no artists mention him in interviews, he doesn't seem to feature highly on popularity polls, no matter who is being polled. I don't see his records in shops anymore, he doesn't come up on Beatport or Amazon. He seems to be completely irrelevant to everything happening in dance music, which would normally mean his popularity would go down. Certainly if I were just getting into dance music in 2011 Carl Cox would not register as a major DJ. This was a guy, don't forget, who was once #1 on the DJ Mag poll, who spent so much time on the front cover of Mixmag he took out a mortgage on it, who had cameos in films like Human Traffic and It's All Gone Pete Tong. In the late '90s, you couldn't get away from Carl Cox. Compared to those days, he's totally invisible. How do people know he "he causes large masses of bodies to move non stop" when nobody talks about him? Is he just drawing the same crowd every year?

thanks for that explanation. i now know that relevancy is irrelevant to me (as in, not important to me).

he's probably still popular because he does a good job keeping a dancefloor moving without resorting to cheesy vocals, or churning out releases that aspire to be innovative but end up not being actually good music. it sounds like carl cox's story is a great one that says: even in this day and age, word of mouth and actually doing a good job as a dj carries more weight in the long run, than what magazines and media choose to cover.

it sounds like relevancy = putting out releases or pioneering a new sound, because that's what grabs the media's attention and gets you mentioned in interviews and gets people talking about you. skrillex is a good example of that.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I know what you mean. He seems to have lost all relevance, but none of his popularity.

I've been having this same kind of thought about him, lately.

I've noticed that whenever Global comes on (Sirius radio) I always enjoy it, but I never hear anyone talk about him.

It's probably like Johan says, he isn't really knocking out hit records or starting breakthrough trends. He's just doing what he's good at. I think we're just used to seeing the "stars" fizzle out instead of chugging along just fine.

I agree with the others. shit songs, savage sets. phoebus apollo is alright though.