March 19, 2014
Two Norwegians and a New Yorker walked into a packed Brooklyn club with some laptops and drum machines. The buzzing crowd raised their arms, exhaled clouds of herb, and greeted them with open minds. The trio of music makers then took the stage, one after the other, and switched the crowd's energy from potential to kinetic.
In case you've been hibernating for a few years, EDM is where the party's at these days. No longer confined to the obscurity of the underground it grew up in, it's reached popularity unimaginable only a decade ago. Enormous multi-day festivals are held throughout the year that focus solely on the form, while other genres hop in bed together to draw a crowd. How did this happen? Hip hop kicked the door down when it made DJs into stars. The internet changed how people consume and experience life. Modern electronic music has evolved from the convergence of these two elements. It is music beyond the limits of what's possible with a traditional band and it's only getting started.
No sound on earth is safe from its vacuum. Computers can pull up, reproduce, and process virtually any sound ever made and build with an infinite number of tracks. Can't find a group of talented musicians who share your vision to create a band with? No problem, you can go it alone. While this has led to an avalanche of mediocre music, the most successful artists of our time are mastering the art of melding genres in this digital forge.
Obey City, Trippy Turtle, & Cashmere Cat are all skilled in this contemporary trade. Each of them fuses pop, techno, hip hop, and R&B into chest rattling chunks of bass fueled fun. On Wednesday night, their sets were almost indistinguishable. All three did a masterful job employing build/drop/build foreplay and peppering in remixes to keep the place jumping. The crowd's enthusiasm lasted from start to finish. An outstanding night of music. If I had to pick a "winner", I'd say Cashmere Cat. His music has a bit more heart than the others & communicates with more colors of the emotional spectrum. It's no surprise he got top billing. Some music sites don't care for his use of summery and subtle. I disagree. By the look of things the other night, I'm not alone.
No sound on earth is safe from its vacuum. Computers can pull up, reproduce, and process virtually any sound ever made and build with an infinite number of tracks. Can't find a group of talented musicians who share your vision to create a band with? No problem, you can go it alone. While this has led to an avalanche of mediocre music, the most successful artists of our time are mastering the art of melding genres in this digital forge.
Obey City, Trippy Turtle, & Cashmere Cat are all skilled in this contemporary trade. Each of them fuses pop, techno, hip hop, and R&B into chest rattling chunks of bass fueled fun. On Wednesday night, their sets were almost indistinguishable. All three did a masterful job employing build/drop/build foreplay and peppering in remixes to keep the place jumping. The crowd's enthusiasm lasted from start to finish. An outstanding night of music. If I had to pick a "winner", I'd say Cashmere Cat. His music has a bit more heart than the others & communicates with more colors of the emotional spectrum. It's no surprise he got top billing. Some music sites don't care for his use of summery and subtle. I disagree. By the look of things the other night, I'm not alone.
