The Wonderful World of EDM: Armin Van Buuren, Skrillex and Tommorowland
By Cathy H - 7:29 PM
Lately I've just been obsessing over electronic music of all kind-from dubstep to trance to house. I've always loved EDM starting with the infamous "Cinema" remix by Skrillex and than progressed to various other tracks such as Armin's "State of Trance" podcasts. There's just something about EDM that makes me feel alive unlike anything else. I think it pertains to a certain lifestyle that embraces music and happiness because when you're at an event, everyone around you is brought together by the same music! Just like the Tommorowland aftermovie, everyone is just happy and even though they come from all corners of the world but together for one purpose. Many people that attended Tommorowland says it changed their life for the better and made them realize the main goal in life is to be HAPPY. Who cares what tomorrow brings or what yesterday brought, there's always escapes such as music that will never leave. I am aiming to go to Tommorowland next year and hope to make it despite tickets selling out so fast. Imagine 3 whole days a Europe with 100,000+ EDM fans, I couldn't even imagine the experience!
Let me just express my love for my top 2 EDM artists:
ARMIN VAN BUUREN
He's a legend of trance in itself, no one does it better! Unlike the other DJ like Tiesto and Guetta, he really sticks to his trance sound and keeps trying new things at the same time. His tracks are always refreshing and has excellent buildup and synth parts as well as the release. After all, trance is supposed to be progressive and he always combines the right beats and effect together to create that perfect technical not too heavy or light sound. He always says he never decides on his play set when playing live to suite the taste of the audience. I think he's really in it for the music because he was supposed to be a lawyer as a fallback, so not many people hate and call him a sellout because he sticks to the genre and does what he does best. After all, who would produce 600 episodes of A State of Trance for free for fans that takes hours of work to make? His production is always consistent and unparalleled in quality.
SKRILLEX
He's the one who initially introduced me to EDM 2 years ago. I remember first hearing "Cinema" and thinking how amazing the vocals sounded against synthetic notes and the drop. I love his genius compositions because unlike other dubstep beats that lack a good melody and mixing, he always has a very catchy loop in his songs. This is why his hits like "scary monsters and nice sprites" and "promises" can be converted and remade to anything ranging from orchestra composition, piano covers to metal rock sounds. When I saw his live videos I feel like if I ever went to his concert I'd die from a seizure/ecstasy from the bass and lighting.
The way he DJs is crazy, its like the music is controlling him to manipulate the knobs haha. It contains some parts that are purely instrumental to the heavy "monster" sounds, and even though some people say its just pure noise and not music- its clear if you hear the parts closely that there's evident progressions and transition from vocals to the beats. For me, a good piece of EDM music always contains the perfect melody and a dreamy vocal track combined with the perfect bass drop. Skrillex nails it for me, everything about his style is just so futuristic, hardcore, and perfect.
I'm glad I found EDM because there's just so many layers of composition and creativity in it, it brought me so alot of great moments and I already met a few Armin loving fans ;) I guess I obsess with something too much at once, but this love aint faltering anytime soon!
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