When your Genre is dieing (an Emo Tale)

[DJ FC]

I think music has meant just as much to me as most anybody and probably as much as the regular posters in the download of the day thread. I do not participate there for 2 main reasons:

My musical scope has been very limited and not shared by other members of this board

and

Sadly, the time I have had to immerse myself has fallen several fold since graduating from IU and even moreso since moving to London. And in London they just don't have the kind of music that I used to love.

I can say that music has meant as much to me as anybody else because for almost my entire youth it dominated my interest and dictated how I acted. But the types of music I found myself entranced were, well early Trance and American Gangster Rap. Two genres which everybody else in the world seems to dismiss as 100% garbage and sugary cheese. And, admittedly, these two genres bring a lot of trash to the world of pop music. So I was always a bit sheepish about my hidden obsession with the two genres.

But I was a purist in both genres, mostly in Trance. I was a member of some online forums, discovering the mechanics of these types of music. I spent a great deal of time trying to make music with pirated software, with limited success. Ultimately I didnt have the budget for the hardware to go any further. But it didn't change the way I felt when I heard something expertly put together. I'd hear a piece of electronic music and after 20 minutes, if it was good, I would feel euphoria. It was an amazing feeling I don't know if I can explain to people. It's not like being drunk and hearing some ballad that you want to blast out - it's not that kind of euphoria. It's also not the kind that you get taking ecstacy and listening to trance music either. It was the kind you get when something so foreign and abstract somehow describes your being. Early Trance music was so organic in such an odd and mechanical way that when it was right - it was right. You could listen to it actively or passively and it became a part of you. Because it wasn't over-the-top and it wasn't obnoxious the way that people tend to think of it. It was mostly extremely subtle and understated. Formulaic and repetitive. Nothing fancy, but a pure sound and journey through time. When you got an ear for it, it was amazing. But then the ecstacy got involved and people wanted CHOONS. These were still enjoyable, quite a bit so, because they shared the same roots as the original trance. And I found myself listening to all the choons with everybody else. But like any drug, the effect wears off with too much use. And the false-euphoria of the choons spoiled everybody's taste for electronic music. Friends, you need to discover the understated trance. It exists.

Then there was Gangster Rap. I loved it for some of the same reasons I loved Trance. For one: Gangsta Rap is not about a message or an idea. Yes I know they are rapping about murder and drugs and saying words. But the focus of their words is the sound moreso than the content. Don't ridicule rappers for what they rap about. Their rap is an instrument the same as a drum set. So you had some artists who were making music that just made you feel good. You just nod your head and smile. These were people like Dr. Dre and Three 6 Mafia. They weren't rapping about important things. They weren't fake white guys from Minnesota. They were just very good at conveying a sound and an emphasis of feeling with it.

Now that I'm out of the USA I have exposure to neither of these genres, even though they are both dead. I still cling to the past like a dumb little emo bitch. I reminisce of the days when Tiesto released In Search of Sunrise 2 and the whole trance world creamed their pants at the simple joy that was released upon the world.

I stumbled upon this:

YouTube - Three 6 Mafia feat. Tiësto - Feel It (Official Music Video)

YouTube - Three 6 Mafia feat. Tiësto - Feel It (Official Music Video)

and it makes me want to cry. It's awful. These two genres should never mix and now they are just pop trash. Two of my favorite artists (DJ Tiesto and Three 6 Mafia) making a song together and it makes me want to throw up.

[Der Fuhrer]

.

[SittinOnDubsWGW]

The merge of house/trance/rap has been getting pretty big over the past couple of years, especially at clubs.

The song you posted above, I think has a good party/club beat, but I'm not feeling the vocals at all and that is what kills it (for me).

There's times where I think electronic music is picking up here stateside, but I don't think it'll get too popular other than strictly at clubs.


Alt rock and electronic are what I have playing the majority of the time.