A few years ago my mom had a friend over to our house. While showing her around, she came into my room while I was DJing. ”Oh you just have to see this,” my mom told her friend with a look of pride on her face. ”My son, Brandon, writes all of this music and then mixes it together,” she continued . ”Actually mom, I don’t write the music, I just mix it together,” I told her. ”Wait, you get paid to play other people’s music?” she asked, clearly taken aback. “Isn’t that illegal?”
We live in a strange time. Never before in history has there existed a style of music so easily assailable, so readily parodied and yet so popular.
“Untz Untz Untz…” Every song sounds the same…” “Boot and cats and boots and cats and boots and…” “Anyone could write this…” “Wob wob wob wawawawawa wob…” “This sounds like you flicked a doorstop and put a microphone to it…”
As much as the popularity of electronic music has grown in the last few years, the need to defend yourself as a fan of electronic music has persisted as well. Moral panics aren’t new to music criticism. Most every successful genre including blues and jazz was once called “the devil’s music” by the generation who saw it replace what was hip to listen to when they were young. ’Rap is just talking’ and ‘sampling is stealing’ are some phrases I’m sure you’ve heard before. While my dad could show me a video of Jimmy Page or Miles Davis shredding a solo and point to his obvious musical talent, it’s a bit more difficult for me to show him a clip of Boys Noize pressing play on a CD player and expect him to be impressed. It doesn’t really work when I play him an Umek track and describe how perfectly he EQed his snare hits either.
I know I speak on behalf of many of you when I say that there seems to be some sort of disconnect between us and our parents’ generation when it comes to the appreciation of electronic music. Here’s to mending that disconnect. At the Metropolitan Jolt We believe that every generation should be able to see the value in every other generation’s music. As easy as it is for our parents to strike a dichotomy between ‘our’ music and ‘their’ music, it doesn’t have to be that way. As the founder of Metrojolt’s dad shows in his Coachella review, music can be appreciated regardless of age. There’s no need to call up Bill O’Reilly and tell him that EDM is destroying traditional family values. Electronic music doesn’t have to be divisive. Below, I give you five house tracks packed with familiar samples that will be sure to open up you parents’ ears to the music you love.
And the Beat Goes On (Realboy Bootleg) – The Whispers
Get Down On It (Rocco Raimundo Edit) – Kool & The Gang
Off The Wall ft. Franky S (Tradelove Remix) – The Black Project
