Why Dance Music Will Die

People ask me why I always have a bone to pick with EDM.  It’s not the music that’s the problem, it’s the attitude of a lot of the artists.

This morning one of them wrote about how “living a life of art, devoid of rules & answering to absolutely no one is sublime”.  Sure, but your ability to live like that is largely owed to the Live Nations/ClearChannels/SFXs that elevated you to this level. Not because your “movement” rose up from the underground by itself.  For years and years the US scene showed no signs of evolution whatsoever.  (A scene cannot survive on a handful of Avalons and Twilos alone - for those old enough to remember)

For a community that supposedly cares about dance music so much, I don’t see them looking into the future, when all the stock is being dumped and the investors stop having interest in this music/lifestyle/branding opportunity, thus leaving everyone (including the underground) in the dust.  So just as every trend got eradicated by the next one, all dance music is in danger of vanishing.  And that doesn’t mean going “underground”.  It means getting buried. If you want examples, there are many: Hair metal, Grunge, Nu-Metal, boy bands, the list is endless.

I have nothing against going for the big bucks, or great branding opportunities, we all do this on one scale or another since music is a business.  But it’s hypocritical to project that the mass appeal EDM has is purely based on “organic”and “grass-roots” efforts.  And on top of that, the EDM community is shocked when events such as the tragic deaths of people at festivals cause such large-scale media outrage.  When things like that happen to publicly traded companies it reflects directly on their stock, hence the outrage.  So it’s the stock market vs. whoever wants to go up against it.  And we all know how that turns out.

Dear Diary

You gotta walk the walk if you talk the talk, so I pretty much lived up all the crap I’ve been ranting about, for better or for worse. After living the dream too much with chaotic gigs, general decadence, and spreading the Techno word anyway possible I’m starting to think that I’m back on form.

There’s no partying in the studio, so all the psyche-bashing is out the window for now.  I finally made an original track for Stefano Noferini’s Deeperfect, another one for my friend Roel Salemink’s compilation οn the mighty Bush label, and a couple of remixes for modern Techno rebels Renesanz and Inlab.

So a tumultuous season is behind me, and I am happy it included stints with Carl Cox & Umek, a visit to the West Coast of the U.S. and a healthy injection of kick-ass Techno into a stagnant and saturated Greek scene, reeking of bubblegum “celebrities” and Deep House weenies.

Big Business Is Nothing New In Dance Music

This is my actual ticket stub from the infamous Sasha & Digweed Delta Heavy Tour in 2002.  As you can see from the very cool pink arrow, international conglomerates were already making money from electronic music in the U.S. while most of the country's scene still relied on half-empty venues and back rooms of bigger clubs to host international DJs.  Meanwhile, the locals were "spinning Top 40, House and Breaks".  (For those of you who were clubbing in the U.S. back then, that phrase should sound very familiar.)

So it's nothing new that large-scale corporations are a huge part of this industry today.  As much as the U.S. lacked in so-called dance music culture, it apparently made up for in business savvy. Good or bad?  That's not my call to make.  

It's just funny to hear the EDM spokespeople of today boast about how they are now taking over the entire music business after "living underground" and "nurturing the scene since '88", when the reality is that the largest work for this "takeover" was done by colossal entertainment firms.

Out With The Old, In With The New

What is it about being young that makes artists compose their best music?

I read some things about the neuroscience behind all that, and from my understanding, after a certain age our brain remains wired to our past influences etc. and it can’t really change much.

So, if that’s the case, does it mean that our creativity reaches its peak at our early twenties?  Do we just re-hash our old self after that?

Also, is that the reason why the a lot of older artists can’t make the music they used to? Is it merely a physical progression?

Giving Life Back To Music?

Could I be quiet about the Daft Punk hype?  No I couldn’t.

They make some great points: “Technology has made music accessible, but when everyone can make magic, it’s like there’s no more magic”.

And some of the songs on “Random Access Memories” are indeed magical.

However, have we crossed over to the complete opposite side where we are now considering what is essentially a funk album as the saviour of Dance Music?

1605 Ways To Deal With Christian Cambas

This week I put together the latest installment of 1605’s Beatport mixes and made it a point to focus on the tracks that meant the most to me both sound-wise and, of course, emotionally - just because I’m such an emotional guy.

Since I made the first ever “1605 Ways To Deal With…” compilation a couple of years ago, things have definitely changed in our scene and in the ever-evolving 1605 sound.  But while the choice of tracks might seem like a retrospective of sorts, it is in no way a nostalgic look to the past, but a firm nod to the sound that established my identity as a producer.

Another very important aspect regarding the artists who appear on this compilation is that I have developed a personal relationship with pretty much all of them, either by playing together at events, getting together for drinks or just even chatting online.  And I’m not talking about strictly business relationships, but just plain-old messing around, most of the time.

In a recent talk I had with Bizzy from Dataminions, we were wondering the usual: where the sound was going, what would be the next wave to evolve, the standard stuff.  I told him that after struggling with my own sound, I came to the conclusion that it’s probably better for me to be consistent with my tracks even when trends come and go.  My initial “1605 sound” is what I’m into 100% and it’s also what most of the people who support me, associate me with.  So, to honor all of the above, I chose these 13 tracks that sum up everything I do :)

Here is the link for you to check out the mix:
http://mixes.beatport.com/mix/id/60882

Clockwise from top left:  Umek, Spartaque, Piatto, Bizzy from Dataminions

And the cover from the first “1605 Ways To Deal With Christian Cambas” from 2011:

You can check it here:  http://www.beatport.com/release/1605-ways-to-deal-with-christian-cambas/818733

Carl Cox, UMEK and me!

OK, time for me to get emotional.  Carl Cox was the first DJ I ever opened up for.  That party also marked my first proper gig as a professional DJ, so it was a pretty lucky break, if you ask me :)

Over the years, I played with Carl once or twice again, I can’t really remember.  And of course, I have
done quite a few things with lord Umek who is the nicest guy in the business.  So this past weekend, more than 10 years after the first time I shared the stage with Carl Cox, we played in my hometown of Athens, with a lineup that summed up a lot about what we know about Techno and Tech House these days: Carl Cox, Umek, and Ramon Tapia. And it was a fucking blast.  It was fun.

So, looking back over a decade, there is only one thing for me to say: As long as we are having FUN, that’s all that matters.