Deadmau5; MTV VMA House Artist; Who for next year?

Hey what's going on everyone? Sure has been a while since my last post. Either way, I'm back and will try and post more often. There's been a lot of events I've been to lately and haven't really had a chance to catch up on all of the amazing energy that's been happening around the bay area and San Francisco. But let's get down to the gritty...
Now I know I'm REALLY late on this one...but the VMA's...oh what to say about the VMA's. Really there isn't a whole lot to say about them except they were boring, superficial, and slightly awkward as usual. No surprise in the random pairing of award presenters, underwhelming pop acts performing songs we've had millions of times on the radio, and of course Lady Gaga trying to out-do herself in the "I dress worse than anyone else but I'm a visionary for it" department. And Jesus, how awfully boring was Chelsea Handler? I swear, the VMA's did better the year that they actually had no host. To me, Chris Rock in 1999 and Russel Brand the previous years were teh ones that stood ut. HOWEVER...there was one big element that changed in this particular year. That big element was the house DJ actually being an electro house artist: DEADMAU5!


Now before I continue, it should be known that I have mixed feelings about Deadmau5, as I'm sure many in the EDM community do as well. He's arrogant, considers himself above his class, rude to fans (in some occasions), rude to interviewers, and overall doesn't seem like a nice guy sometimes. Despite all this, the fact remains that the man is a visionary and his talent for music and stage production cannot be denied. He has created a sound, an image, and a brand that has blossomed out of the dance music scene and into the mainstream. While he has garnered a few haters, his fanbase is nothing less than overwhelming. Good for him. Overall I think he is a positive thing for electronic music because of what he represents: not going with the flow. He hasn't really "sold out" in terms of making radio friendly songs or collaborating with big pop acts like David Guetta has. He's a computer nerd who doesn't really like fame or traveling, and just happen to get famous making the music he believed in. This interview might shed some light into the type of person that he is. Keep in mind its part 1 of 2:


So now I get to thinking why did MTV choose him as the house artist for the VMA awards show? I think it's pretty simple:
1) His popularity is blossoming at a huge rate. Since he's started he reached the upper echelons of the EDM scene within the matter of a couple years. To the point where his popular tracks can actually be heard on the radio!
2) The popularity of dance music as a whole is blossoming; especially house & electro house. Listen to the radio. It's EVERYWHERE! Even Usher using electro pop beats? you kidding me?
3) "Ghosts N Stuff" was a huge hit. It's been played on MTV before.
4) His stage act is reminiscent of Daft Punk-esque visual stimulation. Probably enjoyable for all in attendance and those watching at home. Actually looked really cool in HD.
4) He's cheap. While he is in the big leagues of electronic music, he is still a small fish in the bigger pond that is the global pop music world. At this point, he isn't in the position to demand a lot of money for this opportunity. I'm willing to bet MTV didn't shell out too much for his fees.

Check out his performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGRxpu4Pv9g

How well do you think he did? In my opinion, I think he did rather well. Many criticized him for not really doing much at all...which is exactly what he was supposed to do. The house artist has always been meant to provide as background noise. The few couple of times he got to shine, he kept it lowkey to his hits. Why play anything else? I'm sure all the famous people in the audience don't care about his newest track or what direction he's going in musically. They want to hear fun and upbeat popular tracks. He didn't over do it, and that was a BIG key to have the famous audience grooving along to his jams without really feeling like "what is this techno music crap"? I also think the work he had to do was underrated. For the show he had to create a whole slew of remixes and put together the performances that he got with some guest spots. I think it was horrible who he was paired up with to be honest. Travie McCoy? Jason DeRulo? Robyn?? Wow...what a melting pot of pure fail, musically. None of those artists, except for Robyn, had any chemistry with Deadmau5. Just didn't seem to work well at all. He did what he could though, and managed to walk away with himself intact. MTV should have known better. Overall, I give his performance a 4 out of 5 stars. Nothing extravagant, which is what was necessary, while at the same time not failing completely at being molded by MTV. He showed what he was about. Kudos.


WHO FOR NEXT YEAR???

Now all this begs the question as to who should be the house artist next year? Should MTV continue in an electronic music direction? Will electronic music still be as relevant in the pop world at this time next year? Or will music be in a completely different direction? For all intents and purposes, let's assume that electronic and dance music continues in its sky-rocketing boom. Who do YOU think that opportunity/burden should fall upon? Who would be well suited to take on the pop masses? I happen to have a suggestion...


I think the house artist for next year's MTV VMA, assuming music will continue its trend, should be none other than the dance music legend: TIESTO. Now I may have my personal bias in this as I am a very big Tiesto fan, but consider the facts:
1) Tiesto is already in the ears of the pop masses, whether they knew it or not.
2) He already has established working relationships with many popular artists including Tegan & Sara, Nelly Furtado, Three 6 Mafia, Bloc Party, and others with collaborations.
3) His musical direction as of late has taken a drastic shift from full blown trance to a more "radio friendly" sound that incorporates progressive house, electro house, and electro pop. He has become a jack of all trades; able to please whatever crowd he steps in front of.
4) He understands and loves all forms of music, not just the trance heavy sound he creates. He could spin anything at the award show and make it blend perfect.
5) He understands the US crowd and knows not to overdo it.
6) He is already a household name to much of the rest of the world outside of the US.
7) My own personal bias again, but Tiesto has earned his legend status through his years of endless hard work. He deserves it.

So there you have it...my wrap up on a lot of opinion on MTV, the Video Music Awards, and just the nature of EDM in the popular music scene. I'm sure the same case I made for Tiesto could be made for David Guetta...but let's be honest, David Guetta just recently boomed. I'm still yet to be convinced he's the real deal. He isn't as prolific of a producer as Tiesto and his popularity push came at expense of his house roots. What do you think? Any opinions?? Who do you think should be the one to spin at the next MTV VMA's?? Leave a comment!!

~Mark

Top 100 DJ's poll: My 5 votes for 2010 and why

Once again music heads, welcome one and all to the most important day of the week for many people in the working world...FRIDAY! Everyone loves Friday. I'm not even working right now and I love Friday. Not really too sure what it is about today, but Fridays usually just radiate positive vibes, good energy, and all around good times considering most of the working world knows their work week is coming to a close and they can enjoy doing the things they actually want to do for the next couple of days in the weekend. What does that include for most people? Cutting loose, putting on some good tracks, enjoying a nice strong drink, and dancing the night away. And if that's not what you enjoy doing on a Friday night, well you should probably re-evaluate your extracurricular activities.

On another note...this day brings me to a more important topic. It has come now to that time of year where once again (drumroll please) the TOP 100 DJ POLL HAS BEEN RE-OPENED!! That's right ladies and gentlemen. For those that haven't been up to speed in the DJ world, this is the most prestigious and recognized ranking system for DJ's around the world to showcase who remains on top, who is having a great year, who is making a breakthrough, and who is generally relevant in the electronic music community. Put on by www.djmag.com and voting through www.top100djs.net, the system runs from now until September for music lovers to vote for their top 5 DJ's of this year. The system has a very legitimate way of verifying voting so there is as little spamming as possible, and usually the results come out around October to announce the full 100 lineup in voted order to show who has really made an impact this year. As you can imagine, my voting has already come full circle and I've cast my choices. Do you want to hear about them? Of course you do. These are my top 5 choices that I've cast in rank order.

A few things to remember:
-This is in no way an opinion on who I think are the BEST 5 DJ's in the world. I'm sure some of my choices could be considered inferior to some bigger names that have had a few years head start. This is mainly my voting on who I feel deserve the votes because they have impacted my music listening in 2010 in some way, shape, or form. Somehow these have been special. So don't take it personal if I didn't pick your favorite.
-Only 5 are allowed to go on your cast ballot. If 10 were allowed or 20 were allowed, I could include more of the DJ's I hold near and dear to myself. However, I can't, so only 5 can do.
-This is not simply a countdown on who is a good "DJ". This is an all inclusive list that incorporates their productions, live shows, DJing skills, and ability to maintain their fanbase.

Now journey with me...

5. Tritonal

The ever so energetic DJ duo from Austin, Texas has my vote for number five because of the amazing breakthrough they have accomplished and great year they have had so far. They haven't really come on my radar in the past, but I felt they deserved a vote this year because of the countless shoutouts they have been receiving from huge name trance DJ's on radio shows, compilations, and remixes. Their podcast "Air Up There" has also been gaining a great amount of steam with great cuts picked out on the regular. These Texas boys have good taste. Not to mention, how often do you hear of trance DJ's coming out of Texas?? That's almost unheard of to me. Very remarkable. There is some definite USA pride coming with this vote and I think they deserve it. They work hard. And from what I have heard, their shows showcase a great amount of energy as well.

Check out:



4. Ashley Wallbridge

Perhaps my favorite producer of 2009-2010, Ashley Wallbridge from the UK never ceases to impress me. His productions are flawless. I don't think I have listened to one of his tracks or remixes yet without being stricken with awe. I really don't think this man has made a bad or boring track yet (knock on wood). He deserves this vote because this has certainly been his year on the rise. He has become a work machine, pumping out track after track while still maintaining a hectic touring schedule all over the world and maintaining his podcast. You could say, he's kind of like an Armin van Buuren Jr., but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. I've witnessed some live footage of him on youtube and from what I can see, the man certainly does not disappoint in his live shows either. Perhaps my biggest regret of 2010 will be the fact that I missed his show in San Francisco at Ruby Skye. Oh well. If he continues on this path of success, I am sure it will be only a matter of time before he comes back.

Check out:



3. Dada Life

These party boy Swedes most definitely have amazed me this year. I had the pleasure of seeing them twice at the same event! Seeing their name on the lineup for Electric Daisy Carnival had me do some investigation on their tracks and where they are from. Considering this has been a huge year for house, Dada Life has enjoyed some success in 2010 stemming from their big releases, remixes, and guest DJ remixes of their own track for maximum exposure. I really dig their style of producing. Whether they lean on the more electro or progressive side of things, their tracks always have a groove that immediately has your head bobbing to the beat. What really makes them stand out however, is their live show. Their set at EDC completely rocked me because of the insane amount of energy these two have live. Most importantly for me, they rock it because they honestly look like they are having fun while they are spinning the records they love! I think this is important because a sour DJ will never have the crowd in their pocket. These two are incredible fun and always bring out surprises at their shows (inflatable bananas and champagne bottles anyone?). Their sense of humor has also been able to crack up their follow DJ's with the likes of twitter. I can see big things coming for Dada Life. Do the DaDa!

Check out:



2. Benny Benassi

The Italian Stallion himself, Benny Benassi certainly belongs on this countdown for me because of the amazing year he has been having so far. We all have known him ever since his smash hit "Satisfaction" in 2003, however what has made him relevant ever since then and this year especially, is his ability to re-invent himself to once again bring something new to the fold. When a DJ has a big single like "Satisfaction", that sort of success can either make or break you. In the latter case, many DJ's like Darude and Dirty Vegas have scored a one hit wonder and fizzled out with time due to their lack of a follow up hit and inability to translate that style into momentum. Benny Benassi has kept up as a work-a-holic with countless remixes, releases, and compilations to prove to the masses that his staying power is without question. Switching up the style in 2010 to include hip hop artists and R&B singers, he has still been able to be considered a purist by many because of his producing style having the ability to evolve and bring something new while being able to snag the attention of newcomers to house music. Simply put, he can do it all. On a small side note...his live shows are simply amazing. His set at Electric Daisy Carnival this year proved to me that Benny Benassi will be a name that might never be rid of in the house music world. His transitions, song choices, stage theatrics, guest apperances, and overall show flow made him one of my favorites at EDC without a doubt. Bow down to the Italian Stallion.

Check out:



1. Armin van Buuren

The man, the legend, the already 3 time top 100 #1 DJ winner once again is a candidate for #1 for me without question. Armin van Buuren is THE icon of trance in today's electronic music scene. How has he been able to do it? We all know the reasons why: his globally popular "A State of Trance" radio show, his incredible live shows, his amazing ability to connect with fans, and powerful productions & remixes. But I think the main reason why I think that Armin has been able to remain on top while others like Tiesto and Paul van Dyk have slowly decreased in rank is because the man is a complete and utter work-a-holic. He's a machine. Ever since I began following him in 2007, I'm not sure he has ever really taken time for himself. The radio show alone and global touring schedule is enough to be considered a 200% full time job, but he still manages to consistently crank out full artist albums that rock the trance community. I could honestly write a whole column on Armin van Buuren and why he is the best (which I think I will do someday), but for now let's just say that the man has been and most likely will be #1 for a reason. He knows what he's doing and he's remained humble all throughout. He has a way of connecting to people that I don't think any other DJ can do at this particular moment in time. I should also mention he has a new album due out in September called "Mirage". Some more classics to turn up on there I am sure. Cheers mate, you earned this one again. 4 times the king!

Check out:



...and that's it boys and girls! What do you think? Do you agree with these 5 choices? Do you disagree with these choices? What would your choices be? I think these are 5 solid candidates that deserve all the props they get for their hard work and expect to see great things come out of each and every one of them throughout the rest of the year; especially in competing for that grand prize of being crowned as the #1 DJ of the world. I'm certainly excited to see how the polls turn out. Let the games begin! GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!!!!

~Dr. M

Throwback Thursday: The Hyphy Movement

If you listen to rap radio stations when you live in the Bay Area, it is a little depressing to realize that all of the "hits" that are played on our local stations don't play any local music. Once in a while we might hear a local "hit" from a local "big name" artist, but it is a rare occasion considering that these artists fizzle out after their career remains stagnant even in local circles. It's not their fault however. The San Francisco Bay Area is by and large one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the United States that has struggled to discover an identity in rap to separate themselves from the rest of the nation ever since rap has been introduced to the masses. Many Bay Area rap fans can argue with me on this. We do indeed have a lot of unique artists that make music unlike any others in the country. Bay Area beats do have some unique identifiers that most can recognize and attribute to being from the Bay Area. However, this is all old school. The rap legends of the 90's have cemented their legacy in our corner of the nation: Too $hort, Digital Underground, Mac Dre, Richie Rich, E-40, The Luniz, etc. The new generation of rap artists remained with no local sense of identity or direction. That is...until the Hyphy Movement was introduced.
I wanted to write this Throwback Thursday in commemoration and appreciation of the Hyphy Movement. Even though the movement has lost most of its steam at this point, it represented something new and fresh for the rap scene in the Bay Area that we had never experienced before. Finally, the Bay Area had something to call its own. The Hyphy Movement brought along new slang, new themes, new artists, and everybody was loving it. Suddenly we were all wearing "stunnas", going "dumb", and "poppin' thizz" in our "scraper" on the way to the "sideshow" while "yokin'". Even if the rest of the nation didn't necessarily like it or catch on to it, everyone knew about it. When My Block: The Bay premiered on MTV, the word was out: The Bay Area had a new movement.
Even the older Bay Area rappers wanted to catch on. Suddenly we heard veterans like E-40 and Richie Rich doing raps on Hyphy beats. It was all about parties, clubs, drinks, drugs, going dumb, and being ignorant to the extreme. It pretty much was similar to the Crunk scene of the South, but what separated it a bit was the slang, the rappers, the territory, the different style beat, and the extreme nature. I believe the height of the Hyphy Movement had a few notable moments:
-E-40's My Ghetto Report Card album debuting at #3 on the billboard 200
-Keak Da Sneak's "Super Hyphy" music video making an appearance on MTV's video rotation
-Big name producers like Lil Jon contributing production for Bay Area artists
-Mistah FAB getting signed to Atlantic Records
-Bay Area rappers making appearances on big name rappers' mixtapes and vise versa (Example: Ma$e making an appearance on Mac Dre's Judge Dre Mathis)
-MTV doing their My Block: The Bay special
-MTVnews actually covering news of Bay Area artists and the growth of Hyphy
Why did it die? I really can't tell. For a while it seemed like the movement was here to stay. Unfortunately for the Bay, this was not the case. There are many fingers to point at the demise of our precious rap identity. Was it because the scene was so similar to Crunk of the South? Possibly. Was it because even though we kept learning about new rappers, none of them brought anything fresh to the table? Likely. Was it because after a while the corporately owned radio stations began to get bored and decided to play less Bay Area music to please the higher ups? Maybe. Or could it have been because every song started to sound the same after a while? Very likely. In any event the scene has greatly died down and we don't hear so much about the rappers we had grown to love between around 2002 to 2008. We don't hear so much about guys like Rydah J. Kyle, J. Diggs, Keak Da Sneak, and Dubee Sugawulf anymore. Matter of fact, many of these rappers like Mistah Fab, are actually doing their best to steer away from their Hyphy roots and cleanse their image to blend in with the rest of the generic rap going on in the music industry today. The most tragic part about all of this, is the aftermath in the wake of Hyphy. The Hyphy Movement has produced some bastard children like L.A.'s "Jerkin" movement; clearly an offspring from the bay sounding beats, bay sounding flows, variation of the turfin' style of dance from Oakland, and use of bay area slang. Jagged Edge also has a song called "Stunnas". Did I mention they were from Atlanta? Anyways... It's sad to see that the promise and possibility of the Bay Area to finally have their own identity ripped away. However, I can see some solace in the fact that even though it only lasted for a short minute, the Bay Area was recognized as an up and coming force to be reckoned with. We realize the potential is there as long as it is organized, supported, and marketed correctly. I believe it's only a matter of time before the Bay Area regroups and comes up with something new and fresh. Even if we don't, I don't mind the Bay Area lacking commercial exploitation like some areas such as Miami have endured. Maybe that's what makes us so unique; we keep it so real that we can't fit into any commercial category that the music industry can exploit and generalize. Keep it real Bay, we will have our day...

~M

Throwback Thursday: How Napster Changed The Game

I have been reminiscing on a lot of great music and music moments from my teen years, my pre-teen years, and my childhood years and how a lot of them have affected my life. In this pursuit I have come up with a lot of good material for the Throwback Thursday column. However, then I started thinking deeper and about how I even became so inclined to music in the first place. Then it hit me as I started to download some new tracks. Not sure what all of you music heads use to download music (yes I am one of those), but I use LimeWire. I have my issues with it, but overall it gets the job done. No point in getting too used to one particular program because before you know it, you will have to find something new. Before this it was KaZaa for me, before that it was Morpheus, before that it was WinMX, before that it was....Napster. It made sense. This is what I had to write about. Napster not only changed my life in various ways, it enriched it infinitely. But forget about me, Napster single handedly changed the music industry as a whole forever. It will never be the same, and it's all thanks to a kid named Shawn Fanning... Let's just get into this Throwback Thursday shall we?


This week: Napster

Before the internet became the mass population's superhighway for music discovery and music purchasing, we were all old school. How did we find out about new music? Whatever the hell radio played. How did we buy music? Record stores. What were the media outlets? CD's and audio cassettes. Needless to say, I'm sure all of us listened to a lot more of a narrow selection of music back then as we do today. Aside from the record labels and radio stations playing for us what they wanted us to listen to, our selections for music were also limited based on income. Take me for example: I was a kid living in the suburbs of the SF Bay Area and my only outlets for music were the radio that I listened to on my walkman and the few CD's/tapes I could afford to buy with the little bit of allowance here and there. Yeesh. Were I still restricted to those constraints for the rest of my life, my musical knowledge and appreciation would be slim to none. The outcome of this was that all I listened to were top 40 hits and when I could actually afford to buy something I would get whatever album was popular with my friends at the time. It sounds ridiculous in hindsight, but who could blame me? I didn't know any better, and I can imagine a lot of youth back then did not either. Music for me wasn't necessarily a form of self expression in my childhood years; it was more of an acceptance tool. I didn't know much about it or understood what was "good music", so I went along with the flock of sheep when it came to music selection. I didn't grow up poor, but I didn't get a lot of money from my parents, so the CD's I bought were the popular rap or rock albums at the time. Green Day's Dookie, Sublime's self titled, Puff Daddy's No Way Out, Notorious BIG's Life After Death...you get the picture. However, the answer existed that nobody had thought about up to this point: the internet.

I can't remember exactly when the internet was introduced to me. I think it was in 5th grade that I got a personal PC for the first time. It might have been until 1997 that I actually got the internet on that personal computer. I thought the internet was the greatest thing ever invented when I begin to explore it, but the true potential experienced to me was when I realized things were "downloadable". First it was sound clips, sound bytes, and short video trailers. But the true pinnacle was just around the corner. The introduction of the mp3 file was a key element. Windows .wav files were way too big to reasonably be able to download at full length of a song with the 56k dial up speeds that the internet operated on at the time. MP3's were a new file type that greatly reduced the amount of data required to represent an audio recording and still sounded like a faithful reproduction of the uncompressed audio. Now with this, The true pinnacle was realized to me when Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker released Napster in June 1999. Nothing was ever going to be the same for the music industry because myself and the rest of the world finally found a way to get all the music we couldn't afford and actually have control over what was being played to our ears. The concept was amazing: all one had to do was type in the artist name and song title and a list of the people who were sharing those songs would pop up. One double click away and a download would begin for the mp3 file of the song of your choice. A few minutes later we had a file that was good to go to just press play. The revolution had begun and there was no stopping it...

The Good:

What did it mean that kids could listen to music now without having to pay for it? It meant that all the doors were opened for music listeners to discover new music and accept new genres because the burden of paying for a record virtually didn't exist anymore.
Example: I wasn't a huge fan of the blues before simply because I didn't know about it. I never heard blues music on the radio so by default it wasn't my thing and it wasn't in my music library. However, I had heard so much about B.B. King and wanted to understand why he was so popular. But like most of the general public, I didn't feel like shelling out 16 dollars simply to check out a new artist. My money was limited so I wanted to spend it on music I knew I would enjoy. Napster introduced the new alternative: I typed "B.B. King" in the artist box of Napster and downloaded the top results. What happened? I am now a full blown fan of the blues. Would this have happened without Napster? Absolutely not.
People became more eclectic and appreciative of other music styles simply because it was available and they had the option of exploring. If a young kid like me was curious about new artists and new music movements that were happening, they could actually check out what was going on. This meant amazing things for up and coming artists looking for exposure. Also, it is an arguable point that post millennium saw the biggest uprising of genre blending among artists. Rap Metal, Blues Punk, indie rap, electronic rock...the possibilities became endless.

The Bad:

Those same up and coming artists that were excited about all this new exposure were also facing an incredible backlash from the recording industry and leading record labels. File sharing meant less profit margin for record labels and big name artists, and naturally, they didn't like that one bit. Many acts like Metallica, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Britney Spears were widely outspoken against people listening to their music for free. Lars Ulrich event want as far as to publicly campaign and help orchestrate a string of lawsuits that would ultimately be the demise of the Napster program (we all remember that now don't we?). Since there was less money all across the board for the recording industry, the inevitable outcome for all up and coming artists was that securing a record deal was infinitely more difficult. Not only that, but once a record deal was secured, it on the record label's terms. Now that the dust has settled and it's 10 years later, we see the long run effects that the record industry has suffered. Music as a whole has been watered down and the same producers and artists are now being forced upon us; simply because they have the money to do so. Less profitability means more struggling artists. There is less emphasis on quality and more emphasis by the labels on the search for "the next big thing".

There was no denying that the revolution was here to stay. File sharing was introduced to the masses and the greater population. Once Napster was shut down, the idea was not about to die. New programs were created in its stead and file sharing became an untamable beast that eventually grew to film and television. Some options have been presented to keep money in the hands of the record labels like iTunes, a pay version of Napster, Rhapsody, and other mp3 download sites. Will there ever be an answer on how to save the music industry and still keep the music lovers happy? I have no idea. I do know one thing for sure: I am a living, breathing product of the Napster revolution and I owe all my music enthusiasm, music knowledge, musical depth, and musical inclination to the program. Thanks Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. You created a monster. Cheers.

~Dr. M.