the 5 essentials
one - an ear for difference. You know if were not careful, and we don't continually appreciate the creative when we hear it, its only a matter of time until they start spoon feeding us the same stuff. Come on, its going to be easy if we don't pay attention and keep our ears perked for unique, NEW, interesting sound...We're going to be jumping around, waving our hands in the air to the same shit every performance or show we go to. Put aside the fact that everything's a band wagon these days with "EDM" - every show goer is just stealing our special little secret right? We mock Guetta for selling out, we beak Tiesto for going house, but aren't we just doing that because its the easy thing to do? There's a ton of other "DJ's" and "producers" out there giving us the same old thing and we just keep soaking it up. Listen for something that's different...follow it down the rabbit hole and who knows what kind of exciting stuff you'll find.
two - you've got to care. It's simple really, you've got to care about your music. Nothing separates you from the fan beside you if you don't genuinely care about your music in some capacity. It's a simple argument, one that's not even worth bringing up again. EDM, its association with drugs, yadda yadda. We all know it, we all get it, and Madonna and Deadmau5 rehashing it for us doesn't do any of us any good or change the fact that such a stereotype exists. But those who honestly care for what their ears and their hearts love, besides all of that, well that's beyond essential. That's stone cold necessary.
three - share. I've said it before and I'll say it again; sharing is caring! Share with your friends, your enemy's, whatever. You can't say you hate pickles when you've never taken a bite out of a delicious dill. So many meatballs are strutting their stuff out there, dissing EDM like the "pop-infused club top 40 dance crap" it is...yeah whatever. But you can't blame them because they don't know. So share your finds, your dirty dubstep, your tasty trance, serve it up ready to order - ignorance in this case isn't really that blissful.
four - listen to Markus Schulz. Okay sorry, I had to, but the guy is so good. I linked below his B2B set with Ferry......it's like your ears melt into your earphones. For the fact alone that GDJB is one of the best podcasts's around, his trance is so dark its just addictive. His sound, his style, totally unique. Another reason, in my opinion why trance is anything but dead, and for anyone that says so, lets talk after you listen to this B2B set.
five - confidence. I list this as five, but really it could be the most important point. I can't stand when someone doesn't have a God damn backbone to defend what it is they like and why. BELIEVE in your own tastes. I love trance so much its borderline obsessive. No, it IS obsessive. Without pigeonholing myself into one particular genre, trance is so many things to me, sometimes I can't even find words to explain why it is that I like it. I have confidence in it though, regardless. Like what you wanna like and pardon my french, but fuck the guy who says its no good. If you like it, have a little faith in your own ear.
KM.
P.S. - the beautiful song I was listening to while I wrote this.
