A Senior Citizen’s Guide to EDM

I’m a longtime music fanatic who is closer to collecting Social Security than middle aged. But I pride myself on approaching music – all music – with an open heart and open ears. Never thought I’d turn into an aging curmudgeon who poo-poos any form of music. So I was I little flummoxed when I had my “Get of my porch, you kids!” moment at 2017’s Suwannee Hulaween while trying to stomach Bassnectar and his cacophonous handiwork.

I decided to check him out on the advice of young associates who promised me that, at the very least, his light show was worth sitting through. That much was true. But I was driven from The Meadow in less than five minutes after feeling my rib cage start to crack apart from the suffocating bass and earsplitting noise emanating from the stage.

Mind you, I like it loud. For Pete’s sake, my ears survived The Who in Philadelphia in 1981 where I parked myself in front of a 10-story stack of speakers for the duration of their show. I am a child of the 70s weaned on Led Zeppelin, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, and AC/DC. At the same time I fell deeply in love with funk, R&B and soul, including Sly & The Family Stone, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and later Prince and Parliment Funkadelic. I reveled in disco in the 70’s and spent the 90s living in Miami Beach, which was awash in clubs blasting Techno and EDM. I was at home in a rave scene that produced Moby, Fat Boy Slim, The Prodigy, C&C Music Factory, Massive Attack and Tiesto.

But, Bass music??? “Sweet Jesus! What new level of hell is this?” I asked myself as I ran from Bassnectar’s machinations for the soothing grooves of The New Mastersounds throwing down on The Spirit Lake Stage that last night of Hulaween 2017. Feeling a little defeated and never one to give up on any genre of music, I promised myself I’d give Bass Music, and EDM as a whole, another try at last year’s Hulaween. The ensuing experience is the basis for what I’ve dubbed “A Senior Citizens Guide To EDM.” This is for you music lovers of a certain age who remain open, curious and young at heart and in spirit. And for those of you who believe nothing good in music has been produced since 1975, well, you’ll just have to stay up on that porch of yours. For the rest of you, keep you minds open.

First, the basics. Let’s define EDM (Electronic Dance Music). Loosely speaking, EDM is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres played by disc jockeys who create seamless mixes of recordings. And when I say broad, I mean BROAD, as in seemingly endless. There are literally dozens of genres and over 100 subgenres (Suomisaundi Psychedelic Trance anyone?). Forget trying to decipher them all or you’ll overwhelm whatever brain capacity you have left in your advanced years. To start, stick with the “dance” part of EDM and sample music with grooves that make you want to move. This has to be done in person. EDM is much better live in a communal setting. Festivals are a great place to start.

In order to ease into this, find a festival that encompasses diverse genres. Bonnaroo, Electric Forest, North Coast Music Festival and my absolute favorite, Suwannee Hulaween, are just a few of the many festivals, large and small, scattered throughout the country that fit the bill. For instance Hulaween, which takes place around Halloween each year, is a festival with Jam at it’s heart but also offers EDM, Reggae, Hip Hop, Rap, Bluegrass, Rock, Soul, R&B and even a little Jazz. If one act doesn’t float your boat, there’s a dozen more that will. It’s a smorgasbord of music ready to be sampled and the loving vibe there is one you’ll recognize if you’ve ever engaged in the collective ecstasy of a Grateful Dead or Springsteen show.

Next, start with what you know. Do not dive head first into a pulsating throng of twenty-something’s raging to “Close Encounters of The Third Kind” level bass drops that will pull the earth out from under your feet. You’ll only hurt yourself and your chances of ever embracing something totally out of your comfort zone again. Instead, pick a new band or two that incorporate electronic elements with live instruments and vocals – one that plays beats and grooves that you’ll recognize and actually want to dance to.

Jamtronica (sometimes known as Livetronica), a genre that melds jam and electronic music, is the least painful way to start. Legendary pianist. Herbie Hancock loosely falls into this category and dabbled in electronic grooves long before most modern DJ’s were even born. He was one of the first to introduce synthesizers and electronic elements into jazz and had a hit single doing so with “Rockit” in 1983. Revered in electronic circles, Hancock remains an icon today for many Drum and Bass artists who continue to sample his work.

The stable of modern Jamtronica artists includes Lotus, Griz, Break Science, Gramatik, Rufus Du Soul, Odesza, Manic Focus, The Disco Biscuits, STS9, Particle, EOTO, Big Gigantic, DYNOHUNTER, Sunsquabi, The Floozies and many more. All of the aforementioned bands have made stops at Hulaween where I’ve had the pleasure of sampling most of them.

For me, the more live instruments the better and there were a number of Livetronica artists at last year’s Hulaween. STS9 (Sound Sector Tribe 9), Odesza, Break Science, EOTO, Gramatik, SunSquabi, The Floozies, Manic Focus, and DYNOHUNTER were among the acts whose members are also skilled musicians. The host band and rolling party train of jam, The String Cheese Incident, also incorporates electronic elements into their music and their production value registers off the hook.

For example: Break Science, a glorious side project for Pretty Lights keyboardist Borahm Lee and Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch, absolutely slayed it during their daytime set at the festival’s Amphitheatre Stage. An overflowing crowd of all ages gleefully danced to the Break Science Live Band’s fusion of jazz, funk, electronic and Hip Hop beats. They got a little help from nearly the entire cast of characters in Lettuce, who joined them on stage for a set that threatened to dislocate hips on certain older members of the audience raging harder than some of the youngins.

Odesza was another step into the trippy alternate sonic soundscapes that I treated myself too and one I can highly recommend. Made up of the production duo of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight plus and 11-piece ensemble that includes a horn section and marching drum line, Odesza is a spectacle to behold.

Taking in as much of Jamtronica as you can digest is a good way to break down your preconceived notions of electronic music and have a smashing good time doing it. But it’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to move on to pure computerized music. At a minimum, you’ll begin to understand it better. Or you could end up like Rave Pops, a 72-year-old grandfather of five whose antics went viral in a 2016 video of him dancing his face off at the Sunset Music Festival in Tampa.

Okay. So maybe your goal is not to be Rave Pops but you’d just like to experience some of the electricity coursing through a crowd of ravers without liquefying your cerebral cortex. Take the next step and choose and artist laying down discernible beats that are not a continuous loop of earsplitting “WOMP! WOMP! WOMP!

2018’s Hulaween featured a terrific contingent of electronic DJs including Tipper, Rezz, CloZee, MZG, and more. I settled on Rezz, a fierce young female DJ making a serious mark in an EDM biosphere dominated by men. Her edgy, hard-hitting productions have been described as sinister and dark and she has drawn comparisons to Trent Reznor. Don’t know that’d I’d call what I witnessed sinister, but it sure had a hint of Reznor’s dark spirit in it. But it soon gave way to joy.

My festival buddy, who is also in her 50’s, and I parked ourselves on the edge of a massive Amphitheater crowd overlooking the entire spectacle of undulating bodies. It didn’t take long before we gave ourselves over to the beat and were undulating right along with them. Not sure what I was listening to but I succumbed to a wave of energy coursing through the crowd. And that’s when it hit me. “Eureka! That’s it!” I thought to myself.

EDM, when it’s good, dazzlingly raises the vibration of the planet. Okay – maybe not the vibration of the whole planet. But it sure does raise the positive vibrations of its adherents. The best EDM DJ’s, in my opinion, also employ the art of the change up and don’t get lost in over long, excruciatingly boring numbers that make you think it’s the same song that’s been playing for three hours straight. I’m sure Generation Z feels the same way about Grandma’s favorite Phish jam.

Fairly confident in the hope that maybe I’m a few years off from being awarded my geezer badge, I might actually make an effort to attend a festival or show weighted heavily with EDM artists. It may never be your cup of tea and that’s okay. But at least make an effort to go out there and do your best to embarrass your kids (or grandkids). Rest assured, there’ll come a day when they too will have their own “get off my porch you kids” moment.