Whether you're just "meeting" me here for the first time or you've been following a few of my posts, or know me vaguely as an artist - you will probably figure out quickly that besides my propensity to make strange noises with even stranger custom equipment, one of my deep passions is to build and strengthen community. Even my passion for art itself was born from an early existence as a loner, discovering that even though I struggled to relate and charm my peers...
Music was the language that I could finally easily communicate to the world my love for them.
As an "Xennial" I grew up in that magic in-between generation where we played outside and chanted rhyming games and jumped rope - but also quickly adopted computers. As an isolated "gifted child" I was pushed into the first incarnation of BBSes (Bulletin Board Systems) the earliest chat/communication technologies on a pre-Internet. The regional adviser told my parents there was a virtual place where I could meet other lonely gifted kids and make friends with them, and as a deep introvert, this was compelling for me. I became a co-sysop at the age of eleven, helping to a run a board with -gasp- two whole phone lines, so a whopping three people could chat at once!!
The artwork for a retro-inspired release I did for an ANSI collective artpack, my old friends MISTIGRIS
I quickly devoured any method of communication after that. From IRC, where I was a regular fixture on the #rave and #jungle chatrooms, meeting some early friends who I still work with to this day - to being one of the original founders of the first global message board for hyper-edited bass music Glitch Hop Forum (now archived as bassmusic.io)
TL:DR - I'm an artistic community internet chat animal.
Through a long, movie-worthy story involving both serendipitous accidents and Gamergate-esque online stalking and harassment, I somehow ended up with the keys to EDMP Discord- originally founded as the official companion to the subreddit /r/edmproduction, but quickly evolving into its own major community respected by others in the industry. I'm proud that in around two years, we've grown to over 5000 members strong, with a vivid, regular roster of professional Q&As, prized competitions, industry sponsorships and most importantly of all....
An incredibly diverse worldwide community spanning ages 11-50s united by electronic music creation and passion.
This is my most consuming passion project yet, because it operates on so many levels:
The word "EDM" (an originally vicious tagline that makes most true electronic music fans writhe like a cross to a vampire's forehead) is symbolic - as we cross over into a point where electronic music finally becomes mainstream, it reminds me of being a teenage hip hop fan and protesting to any non-involved "adult" - "But Auntie, rap music is so much more than just thugs talking about money and drugs - it can be conscious, it can be dynamic - and sometimes even just plain catchy and fun".
We use this term because of our parent subreddit, but after an initial period of wincing and apologizing I'll stand proud and say, the music I love is big enough now to earn a cheesy umbrella term that even people who don't know it have heard of, and big enough that we have an annoying mainstream stereotype to overcome. "EDM" is an insanely overwhelming melting pot influenced by rock, pop, hip hop, jazz, classical, unearthy alien noises never heard before - basically everything.
As a creative global tribe, music lovers have always proudly divided themselves by genre, even electronic fans. Growing up going to raves, there were people who loved house and people who loved trance and drum n bass heads... and they all hung out in different rooms at the warehouse. Now more than ever, especially among the majority youth age group that make up our Discord (15-23), these boundaries are melted away.
The music is fresh, cutting edge and experimental, with no regards to previous convention.
And these people are so much more to me than just this playlist. They are a diverse group of amazing people, who have criss-crossed my real life in insanely touching ways. I've hired a 14-year-old to do brass recording and arrangement on a licensing album (and he promptly bought Ariana Grande tickets). Collaborated with people of many types and ages worldwide (see some of my other posts). Given advice on how to talk to a girl... how to get your first gig... how to plan a set. I don't even have the space to fully get into our amazing volunteer staff, ranging from a young Puerto Rican hurricane survivor/gifted early college student to a lovingly crotchety audio engineer/blogger of encyclopedic knowledge.
Weekly EDMP Music Review stream by Raggs
And here, I present to you one of the regular playlists I make of our members' music. Many of the following artists I interact with personally on a daily basis; some lurk in the shadows but constantly produce heartbreakingly beautiful art.
Starting with an ambient soundscape from 15-year-old Gater (who I watched Bladerunner 2049 with in the London theaters as we both marvelled at the amazing, retro-synth score), this playlists spans all my personal favorite flavors of "EDM".
Many of these tracks feature original vocals from their producers, including the amazing Aoyoru who is equally strong in singing, rapping and producing; a cheeky freestyle from our resident comedian/streamer/multitalent Raggs, who gleefully sabotaged his sneakers dancing in the mud to my festival set in Atlanta; a gorgeously understated indie-pop joint from real-life collab friend Covex who has joined our Discord ranks; the angelic tones of Detroit's CASHFORGOLD overlaying her passionate long-distance collaborator, Germany's Tim Schaufert, who hosted me in Germany while I explored Berlin and played on a VICE radio show last year; and the closing piece from the mysterious Lo' Fi Boy a tenderly halting, shy expression I just can't stop listening to.
There's so much more and so many more poetic waxings I could drip into your ears about these amazing people. Flawless mixing and artistry from Florida's Alex Martian, also an incredible visual artist; a new release from the effortlessly catchy Baltimore beatmaker Shisto - only 19 years old; a surprisingly un-annoying remix of the rather annoying Eurovision 2018 song winner by Lithuania's Visionary; a rock-and-acoustically influenced intricate journey from the always clever British pharmacist-slash-beat-wizard Ibi; a rousing remix from Israel's trap duo, Stereotype; an ambitious, evolving electronic symphony from my co-admin and resident modular-geek-slash-brass-band-genius teen POZI; a mystical earworm from a French expat to the farthest corner of the earth (New Caledonia), the amazing Koyo.
On the train with Gater and Discord co-admin Frost returning from Bladerunner 2049
But for now, enjoy this playlist, which I laughed at myself for naming "1st Quarter" as it's a throwback to the many white-collar jobs I had before I had the good luck (or curse, hah) to go full-time musician. At 18 I worked the graveyard shift typing up stock market reports, and continued the theme working as accounting and legal assistants, producing many papers with titles like this. But in a way, EDMP is my own personally traded stock, with 5000+ shareholders. We've invested our time, our help, our community support... and the ROI is fierce. My heart is exploding with musical dividends. Even my forays into sharing my art here with you in Steemit are pretty much just raising capital for me to continue to invest in this stock.
So enjoy our first quarter report!!! With play counts ranging from 33 to 104K, artists from undiscovered to established...
We are the community. Here is our soundtrack.
embeds seem to be broken occasionally so here's the plain link as well
https://soundcloud.com/edmpdiscord/sets/edmp-discord-2018-so-far