Born in Canada, I really like to support Canadian artists. I cannot say I love them all, and Deadmau5 is the perfect example of one I have often times found myself on the fence on, but more times than not, I have a dislike for a lot of the things he says.
Many people do not know Joel Zimmerman's work prior to his collaboration with Kaskade. I was privy to his earlier works as they would play them on Canadian radio. He was part of the IDM collective. IDM meaning "intelligent dance music." It is so interesting to see how the mention of "EDM" can be so polarising, but to make IDM is supposedly cool. Insert eyeroll here. His music was frenetic, electronic, and not close to anything that could be labelled House. I was not really a fan of it to be completely honest. All the while, Kaskade was making house music and contributing to OM Records. Deadmau5 started to crossover to House, and the two eventually collaborated pushing both of them into the spotlight with "I Remember" and 'Move for Me." What I found strange was that Deadmau5 was propelled further than Kaskade initially, but I am glad to see Kaskade now shares a great deal of notoriety as well.
I was shocked because of Deadmau5's success also because I kept hearing his constant negativity and vulgarism. He even dubbed himself as a "professional griefer." During this time, his show and productions were becoming extremely popular. After having a public relationship with a playboy playmate, when that went sour, he started to "grief" less about others and it became apparent he was struggling with personal issues. I truly believe he was undergoing a severe depression, and it changed my tune toward him, because I found myself feeling the need to reach out and help this person who I once was not exactly fond of. I would tweet him messages of encouragement, I have no idea if he ever saw them. Depression is not something to take lightly, and there are a lot of medications and cognitive therapies out there to help people. I still hope he has made the right strides to get the help he needs.
He fell off the radar for a bit, but has gotten back up on the ladder and continues to make waves, and headlines. Criticizing Madonna for her talk of Molly was a big incident. One that I actually agreed with because we all know she wasn't really promoting Cedric Gervais' track Molly, but rather trying to be hip knowing most of the crowd was high on drugs. I don't care how you spin it, drugs like Molly are illegal and she shouldn't be promoting it just because its hip and part of EDM culture. Then he took on Pauly D, which was kind of funny only because they seem to be in completely different stratospheres.
Obviously we all know the biggest allegation that has been made with DJs who are considered to be "EDM" is that they push play on pre-recorded sets. Zimmerman decided that he should weigh in and even call people out. This isn't uncharacteristic of him, but I think its uncalled for really.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/on-the-cover-the-rise-of-deadmau5-20120620 "And not to say I'm not a button pusher. I'm just pushing a lot more buttons." Well good for you, Deadmau5? I don't understand what kind of point he is trying to make. That he is more knowledgeable of the technology he uses? There is no way every DJ and producer out there has the same knowledge of technology. There are so many brands, so many controllers, so many gizmos that it is impossible. He even goes in on Skrillex, who pretty much owes Deadmau5 for kick-starting his career. So Deadmau5 is saying he is a cut above because he is smarter? Hmmm. He lauds his UStream sessions as "lifting the veil" allowing his fans to see what he's doing. Yes, it is great, it makes things very interactive. He even made the Veldt through connecting with one of the online users who contributed the vocals to the track. Awesome. But why are you trying to make others look bad?
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/swedish-house-mafia-defend-david-guetta-dream-of-mccartney-collaboration-20120621
Since Steve Angello was accused of just pushing play, his friend and longtime collaborator Ingrosso defended SHM. But then he went on to say this:
Ingrosso also elaborated on his hopes that Swedish House Mafia might collaborate with Paul McCartney, describing the former Beatle, who stopped by the group's set at Coachella, as "the biggest musical legend today living on this planet."
"I think the Beatles made something that's kind of melancholic to sad and happy combined, and that's just amazing," Ingrosso said, adding that he sees similarities between the Fab Four and Swedish House Mafia's chord progressions. "I kind of analyze music a lot, and I think that what the Beatles have done is what we do today. [It] doesn't matter that we do dance music."
Man, I wish Rolling Stone would stay out of it. Its as if you need the sensationalism to sell your magazine. Bleh.
I saw Hot Creations' Lee Foss ask his followers on Facebook to comment, and here was our exchange. I commented because everyone was bashing SHM:
Deadmau5 then felt the need to elaborate on his Rolling Stone quotes, by posting on his blog:
http://deadmau5.tumblr.com/post/25690507284/we-all-hit-play I felt that this blog post was really for the amateurs, because if you cannot make the distinction between producing and DJing, then google should be your friend. He also feels the need to tell "button-pushers" to own up to it, and stop pretending that they're doing something special up there (in the DJ booth) because it annoys him. Boo hoo.
Why are there so many "who died and made you dance music spokesperson" going around? Why can't these people unite instead of divide and fall together? I get that beause dance music is the biggest thing right now, its becoming saturated and people are trying to set themselves apart, but its so much more classy when done in a positive way.
I'm now going to come across as the biggest hypocrite. I keep talking about being positive but I cannot get on board with the blog Dancing Astronaut. I remember when the Swedish blog Beat My Day emerged. I love that blog because you know that there is research that goes into their posts, and there are long-standing fans of dance music that contribute. So many times I have seen really poor research done and claims made by Dancing Astro that begs the question when these guys started actually listening to dance music. It seems to be run by people who are very new to the world of dance music, and they often don't get their facts straight. Guys & gals at Dancing Astro, google is your friend, use it! I have such an issue with this blog because they probably don't even know who Jeff Mills is and they claim to have the freshest news in dance music. Call yourself an EDM blog, but don't go say you have all the info when the most "underground" artist I've seen them blog about is Brodinski!
What annoys me even more is how many producers praise the blog...this isn't blog on blog war, and I'm not trying to say people new to the scene shouldn't be able to contribute. On the contrary. But I just wish they would dig deep before blindly making claims and posting them as facts.
http://www.dancingastronaut.com/2012/06/editorial-dance-music-has-gone-mainstream-but-it-doesnt-have-to-sell-out/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#axzz1yeZI4YiX
Here is an editorial from Jacob Schulman, who is not the founder but the editor-in-chief of the blog. I envy him cause he does get to go to a number of the big EDM events, and sometimes gets backstage access because, as I said, a lot of producers like the blog. This particular article states that the DJs are playing the same tracks every night. But that is also because they are not playing the same venues every night. Die hard fans may follow them along theur tour circuit, but the vast majority do not. If you go to see Avicii, you're going to want to hear "Le7els." If you go see Green Velvet, you're going to want to hear "Percolator." I understand the point he is trying to make, and yeah, DJs should play a variety, cause it mixes things up. But who the hell is Dancing Astro to dictate what these established DJs should be playing? If you're bored, go watch someone else. Apparently everyone's a critic! Like I've said before, be weary of what you read out there!
More rants:
Once again demonstrating why I prefer Beat My Day:
Side note: am I the only one who thinks Madeon looks like a young Martin Solveig? And no, its not only because they are both French!
I like this rant from Swedish producer Ida Engberg:
Deep Dish's Sharam said this (he probably doesn't like to be branded as Deep Dish since they are no longer a duo but I said that for context) :
Finally, Junior Sanchez felt the need to explain the direction of his music. Caught in the middle of the SHM vs Sneak war, I find his opinion is always one worth at least hearing out.
Less politics, more music please!
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