Thursday, May 2, 2013

Wolfgang Gartner Discusses “EDM Apocalypse”


In a recent interview with White Raver Rafting, house producer Wolfgang Gartner revealed his true feelings on the current state of EDM in what he and others deem, the “EDM Apocalypse”.

The interview was fairly typical until he was asked “In your opinion, which artists should we keep an eye out for in 2013”? He responded with:

“To be perfectly honest, and I hate to sound negative, cynical or condescending in any way but that’s probably how this will come off, I’ve been really bummed with most of the new music that’s been making waves in 2013. I feel like the “big” sound in dance music right now is just this mashup of every single subgenre possible, to try and appeal to the most people possible, with these cheesy played-out trance pads and vocal hooks, it all sounds exactly the same and it’s really bad for the most part, and the scariest thing is that people are reacting to this stuff, crowds at festivals and clubs are wanting more of it. A few of us have deemed it the EDM Apocolypse. Dance music is in a really weird place right now. I don’t know where it’s going to go. In some way I’m hoping Daft Punk single-handedly destroys this phenomenon we’re experiencing and un-brainwashes everybody into realizing that real music should have some soul and authenticity to it, and not just be a big kick drum and a trance breakdown with a cheesy one-liner and a “big drop.”

While certainly not the only producer to recently address the issue, Wolfgang adds to a growing list of prominent producers unsatisfied with where dance music is headed (Diplo and Fatboy Slim have also spoken out).

How do you feel about the current state of dance music? Are “big sound” producers with mainstream appeal good for the community and progression of EDM or are they hurting the culture’s foundation which was anything but mainstream for so many years?

Download Wolfgang Gartner on DJcity

| DJ Culture, Music Industry

Popular