American Techno & Underground House stalwart Seth Troxler, is known to be particularly outspoken when it comes to giving his opinion. With the week of an ongoing-verbal-EDM-feuds reaching a crescendo, it was perhaps Seth‘s article that was originally published on Thump UK, that caused a bunch of reactions from industry pundits and Dance music fans alike. Speaking with respect to the EDM Implosion that the US has seen over the past few years, Seth looks microscopically at Clubbing culture and the transition it has made into Festival culture. While drawing parallels, he insists that the difference between the two is staggering and hence, the authenticity towards the integrity of dance music is often questionable.
I was in Switzerland recently, and a promoter complained to me that there’s a big problem in the country’s club scene because of how many festivals happen around Switzerland. He said that in the summer, it’s hard to get people to come to your club. People would rather spend their money going to festivals abroad, than going to clubs in their home cities.But that dude missed something: dance festivals and dance clubs are not the same. At all. This new generation care much more for the festival experience than the club experience. Kids who like dance music now have grown up with no first hand experience of original club culture; techno, house, even rave in the 90s. Festivals are their “dance music experience” now. Festivals are fucking holidays.
Troxler then even raised some arguments over the ideologies of Festival goers ala Dance music fans. Quoting from a conversation he’s had with a friend, he insisted that Dance music fans from today have no patience for good quality music and that EDM has inherently become about “Lasers, LED screens, Pyrotechnics, DROPS, Boom, Bang, and cake (read Steve Aoki)!” Seth also raised some strong comments against Swedish powerhouse performer Avicii, speaking about super-stardom often gets into the head of some of the big heavyweights of Dance Music.
When I get booked to play these massive festivals in the US, I often walk around them to see what they’re all about—and 90% of the time, it’s fucking horrible. We’re breeding a generation of impatient, annoying festival kids. I say impatient because the patience of the clubber is different to the patience of the festival-goer. At these festivals, you get it all on a platter up-front.
When he(Avicii) went to the hospital during Ultra in Miami, my tour manager Alex was with the nurse assigned to him. The fucking cunt wouldn’t even speak to the nurse. She would have to tell his manager what to tell him, and they were sitting next to each other. You’re in the fucking hospital. You can’t talk to a nurse who’s trying to look after you? The insane stardom syndrome of these massive EDM DJs pisses me off.
Troxler spoke out against Festivals throughout the article, speaking about how sometimes fans cross certain lines of craziness that can even result disturbingly. He cited examples from recent music festivals and gave parallels with incidents that he’s experienced at clubs firsthand. Speaking about the general course of EDM, he pointed out how “commercial” the consumption has become with promoters, artists and event managers looking to rake in as much as moolah as possible with little or no value towards the music. The only few festivals he acknowledged for still being open-minded and experimental with their music was Tomorrowland, Burning Man and Shangri-La at Glastonbury.
If you’re a band, a DJ, whatever, you’re only as big as how many people you can bring to a club or a festival. EDM has really changed what commercial music consumption is. These purpose built clubs inside massive Las Vegas hotels? The music is shit, but they’re selling thousands of bottles of alcohol a night to rich idiots. Kids today would rather go out on a night out, listening to whatever music, and getting on it, than pay $40 to going to a rock show that ends at midnight. Everyone wants more, all the time.
He did end the article with optimism, though. Speaking about how, in its natural course of time, people will get exhausted of Festival culture and “intellectual” listeners will eventually ask the question about ‘where to find the good music’, they will search for something more liberating – whatever it maybe. Seth, being such a distinguished personality in the industry did indeed raise some eyebrows with this article. One of the more noticeable EDM celebrities to respond was Laidback Luke. Here’s what he had to say.
@mthomas2412 @TheChainsmokers @sethtroxler Lol it’s not about Seth if you ask me. In the RA realm you have successful dudes getting shit too
— Laidback Luke (@LaidbackLuke) May 20, 2014
@mthomas2412 @TheChainsmokers @sethtroxler I thought the article was fair. Easy to kick EDM but a lot of it was true ha ha
— Laidback Luke (@LaidbackLuke) May 20, 2014
@mthomas2412 @TheChainsmokers @sethtroxler I thought the article was a bit one-sided and an easy target. But Seth is def someone I rate.
— Laidback Luke (@LaidbackLuke) May 20, 2014
It seems with the digital media age we live in, everyone has something to say regarding this ongoing topic! While Seth and Laidback Luke have made their stance clear on this trend, we’d love to know what you think.
You can read Seth Troxler’s complete article “Dance Festivals are The Best and Worst Places in The World” here.
Reblogged this on Hamed Khalidi Blogging.
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