Electronic Dance Music continues to increase In popularity as electronic producers garner headlining spots at festivals and hold top slots on radio charts. The world of indie rock still remains a little aloof, perhaps even wary, regarding the EDM genre, this writer included. However, after Australian platimum-selling artist flume signed to American indie label Mom+Pop for statside releases and recently collaborated with Autre Ne Veut and Ghostface Killah, we decided to check out his live show last week at Emo’s.
It’s apparent that Flume’s electronic textures and mixes are of a more restrained and nuanced brand that many EDM musicians. Soulful samples and gentle grooves dominate the arrangements. He’s not a guy who’s going to beat the listener over the head with incessant bass thumps and skittering dub-like beats. However, there’s still plenty to dance to, as Flume manages to find a balance between artful electronica and house music.
With one guy standing behind a large table, the human component of live EDM music feels lacking. As such, one of the most fascinating aspects of an EDM set is the crowd itself. It makes sense, as the moniker itself bears the word Dance right in the middle—there is an emphasis on audience participation, specifically the movement of the body. As the performer onstage recedes from focus in a swirl of smoke and a wash of blinding light, the crowd becomes the center of the experience. Their engagement, their movement, their energy will decide the enjoyment of the show.
There’s nothing wrong with letting go and getting down with some friends, and admittedly, it’s almost refreshing to watch a group of fans be so overtaken by sound as to gyrate, shake, and shimmy (those are the words the kids are using these days, right?). Although, I can’t figure out why people will stand passively at a show where a stage of four to five people are actively performing, but go nuts for pre-tracked sounds. In some ways, it feels silly that I have such trouble wrapping my head around the phenomenon of EDM. In others, it makes complete sense as the genre brings to the fore basic questions about seeing live music. Is attending a show about performance or about experience?
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