Hullo, hullo, my Fanpop peeps. It's me again, back with another article nobody cares about 😄
I've been wanting to share this a long, loooooooooooong time. It's called "How I've Gotten Into EDM."
(I hope the person flagging my articles has been banned, or he/she at least quit, because it's not funny. If not, I'm gonna go back to not writing articles here again.)
2011-early 2013: Electropop Craze
Some of you are familiar with the 128-BPM electropp craze that was hitting the airwaves. Am I right? I'm gonna list a few songs, and you tell me if any of them ring a bell:
LMFAO ft. Goonrock & Lauren Bennett - Party Rock Anthem
Pitbull - Back In Time
Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris - We Found Love
Pitbull - Hotel Room Service
if you answered "Yes", you are a lucky dog!
I was lowkey into this stuff back when my mum, for whatever reason, would play this station (sometimes).
I didn't know what EDM was at the time, and since my parents never lemme use the internet (til age 16), I can only listen to this stuff if I wanted my electronic fix. (Plus, the school district was putting a ban on music. These officials got their pants in a twist.)
Later, I started listening to some EDM songs (that I didn't know) via Patrick Sanders (one of the DJs on 104.5 KIIS FM) dropping them in his Friday evening mix.
Early 2013: My exposure to EDM, thanks to one of my teachers.
I was listening to iHeartRadio channels, but at first, it was just pop stations from across the country. Then, I started looking up "dubstep" on Wikipedia for some apparent reason. My first dubstep track I listened to was 'Smoke Test' by Blackleg; it was a clip on Wikipedia.
Then, I listened to BASS, a former dubstep and drum & bass channel on iHeartRadio, being exposed to the likes of Skrillex, Alvin Risk, Knife Party, Noah D, Roksonix, etc.
What got more exciting is that my teacher (one of them) and I would talk about EDM on the regular.
On Evolution, I was exposed to music from the likes of Eric Prydz/Pryda, Avicii, more of Calvin Harris, Kaskade, Hardwell, Afrojack...
Some of the songs I listened to in that phase:
Hardwell - Apollo
Nero - Promises (Nero & Skrillex Remix)
Eric Prydz - Every Day
Kaskade - Eyes (the original and the Alvin Risk Remix)
Skrillex - Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites
Zedd - Clarity (both the original and the Tiësto Remix)
Emalkay - When I Look At You
Before the end of that school year, I stated that I wanted to be a dj and producer. I carry that dream to this day.
Summer 2013: Club94
I ended up scrolling on my generic radio to q94.1 because why the fuck not? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I happened to stumble upon a bomb Dj mix, called 'Club94,' a former dj mix dedicated to playing hip-hop and EDM. I was moving like nobody's business! It was like something I never heard of before.
(Years later, the novelty of said dj mix passed, given that they played the same pre-recorded mixes 3 Fridays a month.)
Late 2013: SiriusXM BPM, Dutch House, and Electric Area
On one Labor Day when my parents received Dish, I was scrolling to SiriusXM, and I went on BPM. That's when I heard tracks like:
Martin Garrix - Animals (my first big room house track)
Disclosure - You & Me (Baauer Remix) (didn't like it, but still)
Martin Solveig - The Night Out (Sebastian Ingrosso Remix)
Then, I heard this neat Dutch House music from the likes of Alvaro and Quintino. Their remixes of Pitbull's 'Back In Time' blew me away! So I started looking the electro house subgenre up, listening to Firebeatz, Afrojack, Quintino, and Alvaro. (Many others that fall under it, but still.)
2014: Now It's Really Time To DJ
On Christmas of 2013, my mum graced me with a laptop. After some help with connecting the motherfucker, I downloaded some tracks like nobody's business, but at first, it was via Soundcloud.
I tried using Mixxx, my first dj software, but it sucked. Either that, or I didn't know how to play with the sound settings.
After a hard reset (and waiting for weeks to get reconnected to the house internet), I went to some MP3 sites to get some music. My horizon on EDM started expanding a bit, picking up on more EDM genres, such as moombahton, breakbeat, drumstep, big room house, brostep, and trap.
I ended up getting another dj software: Zulu. I made my own mashups. Looking back, I was son cringe with going about it, I made Henry Cejudo act more sane.
Late 2014: I Fucked Up My First Laptop
I ended up download a production software that messed up my first laptop. I spent day and night (sometimes) trying to fix it. (I had no idea how, but...)
I was still getting my does of EDM via the school computers. Every time the schools would shut down a music site, I find another. (Pretty simple, right?)
But at home, it was back to SiriusXM and Electric Area. That, and look for more radio stations that cater to EDM fans. I got exposed to some more songs. Here are a few:
Bassjackers - Crackin
DVBBS & Borgeous - Tsunami
Oliver Heldens - Gecko
John Legend - All Of Me (Tiësto Remix) (That, and the Quintino & AFSheen Remix.
Martin Garrix - Wizard
2015: More Genres
With the help from a guy a teacher knew, my laptop was fixed. (Thank you to the guy that I don't know.) So it was back to djing, right? Somewhat...?
I've gotten into jungleterror, more future house, as well as hard room house. Some of my favourite songs at the time were:
Diplo & Skrillex - Take U There (Tujamo Remix)
Tujamo - Hey Mister!
Wiwek - Angry Birdz
Gregor Salto & Wiwek - On Your Mark
Quintino - Winner
Fatboy Slim & Riva Starr - Eat Sleep rave repeat (Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike & Ummet Ozcan Remix) That, and the Artistic Raw Bootleg.
Quintino & Sandro Silva - Aftermath (basically 'Epic 2.0')
I (begrudgingly) accepted hardstyle tracks; I didn't like it at the time, but I had very few on my person at the time.
2016: The Internet Gulag
I was filling up my old laptop with more and more music, but said device was messed up on the internet, so in most of March, and from May to June, I lived without internet. (The internet gulag was soooo cold.)
My favourite songs at the time (some of them):
The Chainsmokers - Don't Let Me Down (many versions)
Kill The Noise - Without A Trace (Kill the Noise & Virtual Riot Remix)
Barely Alive - WEDABE$
Armin van Buuren & W&W - If It Ain't Dutch (Aria Fredda HARD Edit) (Song was deleted from Soundcloud for copyright infringement. Fuck copyright.)
Later, I found bassline house, a UK-based music genre, listening to music from the likes of Shaun Dean, Faded, JAUZ, Skepsis, the list goes on.
P.S.: Amba Shepherd is hot if you ask me.
2017-2019: Wanting To Make Hot Ass Tracks. Plus, Goodbye To Zulu
I said goodbye to Zulu, given that I didn't have the money to buy the master version. I did manage to get VirtualDJ, a free software.
So I found some free sample packs, and I started making music via LMMS. (I still can't produce my own sounds atm.) I was producing big room house and jungleterror tracks tracks under UMBR3ON, a reference to my favourite Dark-type Pokémon. (It sucks competitively, IMO, but still,) I've even produced under Y3SPLZ, a former future bass and future bounce alias.
Fast forward to late 2018, where my production game was progressing a bit, and I changed my production name to M4RSH4DOW, a reference to Marshadow, also a Pokémon.
Later, after some brutally-honest criticism from a user here (who, however, liked my take on raw trap), I changed to 'V3NOMARSHY.' But that shit wasn't rolling off the tongue, so I'm now producing under M4RSHY.
(Kinda glad to change from producing under M4RSH4DOW, so the Pokémon Company doesn't sue. It's not how I wanna meet the guys there.)
I've picked up some more genres at the time: hard psy, rawstyle, xtra raw, deathstep, riddim, briddim (brostep + riddim), hardcore, happy hardcore, handzup!, more future bass, color bass (melodic riddim), and some mainstream psytrance (some).
Conclusion
It was a rocky time being an EDM fan at the start, especially in real life. My family looks at me crazy for it, and they label the craze as craziness. (Come on, not everyone wants to listen to R&B and soul.)
But I've met some good friends and comrades that like (or love) the craze. I even met some fans here.
Anyways, love me or hate me for my love of the genre, I'm still gonna continue listening to it, even whenever it dies.
I've been wanting to share this a long, loooooooooooong time. It's called "How I've Gotten Into EDM."
(I hope the person flagging my articles has been banned, or he/she at least quit, because it's not funny. If not, I'm gonna go back to not writing articles here again.)
2011-early 2013: Electropop Craze
Some of you are familiar with the 128-BPM electropp craze that was hitting the airwaves. Am I right? I'm gonna list a few songs, and you tell me if any of them ring a bell:
LMFAO ft. Goonrock & Lauren Bennett - Party Rock Anthem
Pitbull - Back In Time
Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris - We Found Love
Pitbull - Hotel Room Service
if you answered "Yes", you are a lucky dog!
I was lowkey into this stuff back when my mum, for whatever reason, would play this station (sometimes).
I didn't know what EDM was at the time, and since my parents never lemme use the internet (til age 16), I can only listen to this stuff if I wanted my electronic fix. (Plus, the school district was putting a ban on music. These officials got their pants in a twist.)
Later, I started listening to some EDM songs (that I didn't know) via Patrick Sanders (one of the DJs on 104.5 KIIS FM) dropping them in his Friday evening mix.
Early 2013: My exposure to EDM, thanks to one of my teachers.
I was listening to iHeartRadio channels, but at first, it was just pop stations from across the country. Then, I started looking up "dubstep" on Wikipedia for some apparent reason. My first dubstep track I listened to was 'Smoke Test' by Blackleg; it was a clip on Wikipedia.
Then, I listened to BASS, a former dubstep and drum & bass channel on iHeartRadio, being exposed to the likes of Skrillex, Alvin Risk, Knife Party, Noah D, Roksonix, etc.
What got more exciting is that my teacher (one of them) and I would talk about EDM on the regular.
On Evolution, I was exposed to music from the likes of Eric Prydz/Pryda, Avicii, more of Calvin Harris, Kaskade, Hardwell, Afrojack...
Some of the songs I listened to in that phase:
Hardwell - Apollo
Nero - Promises (Nero & Skrillex Remix)
Eric Prydz - Every Day
Kaskade - Eyes (the original and the Alvin Risk Remix)
Skrillex - Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites
Zedd - Clarity (both the original and the Tiësto Remix)
Emalkay - When I Look At You
Before the end of that school year, I stated that I wanted to be a dj and producer. I carry that dream to this day.
Summer 2013: Club94
I ended up scrolling on my generic radio to q94.1 because why the fuck not? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I happened to stumble upon a bomb Dj mix, called 'Club94,' a former dj mix dedicated to playing hip-hop and EDM. I was moving like nobody's business! It was like something I never heard of before.
(Years later, the novelty of said dj mix passed, given that they played the same pre-recorded mixes 3 Fridays a month.)
Late 2013: SiriusXM BPM, Dutch House, and Electric Area
On one Labor Day when my parents received Dish, I was scrolling to SiriusXM, and I went on BPM. That's when I heard tracks like:
Martin Garrix - Animals (my first big room house track)
Disclosure - You & Me (Baauer Remix) (didn't like it, but still)
Martin Solveig - The Night Out (Sebastian Ingrosso Remix)
Then, I heard this neat Dutch House music from the likes of Alvaro and Quintino. Their remixes of Pitbull's 'Back In Time' blew me away! So I started looking the electro house subgenre up, listening to Firebeatz, Afrojack, Quintino, and Alvaro. (Many others that fall under it, but still.)
2014: Now It's Really Time To DJ
On Christmas of 2013, my mum graced me with a laptop. After some help with connecting the motherfucker, I downloaded some tracks like nobody's business, but at first, it was via Soundcloud.
I tried using Mixxx, my first dj software, but it sucked. Either that, or I didn't know how to play with the sound settings.
After a hard reset (and waiting for weeks to get reconnected to the house internet), I went to some MP3 sites to get some music. My horizon on EDM started expanding a bit, picking up on more EDM genres, such as moombahton, breakbeat, drumstep, big room house, brostep, and trap.
I ended up getting another dj software: Zulu. I made my own mashups. Looking back, I was son cringe with going about it, I made Henry Cejudo act more sane.
Late 2014: I Fucked Up My First Laptop
I ended up download a production software that messed up my first laptop. I spent day and night (sometimes) trying to fix it. (I had no idea how, but...)
I was still getting my does of EDM via the school computers. Every time the schools would shut down a music site, I find another. (Pretty simple, right?)
But at home, it was back to SiriusXM and Electric Area. That, and look for more radio stations that cater to EDM fans. I got exposed to some more songs. Here are a few:
Bassjackers - Crackin
DVBBS & Borgeous - Tsunami
Oliver Heldens - Gecko
John Legend - All Of Me (Tiësto Remix) (That, and the Quintino & AFSheen Remix.
Martin Garrix - Wizard
2015: More Genres
With the help from a guy a teacher knew, my laptop was fixed. (Thank you to the guy that I don't know.) So it was back to djing, right? Somewhat...?
I've gotten into jungleterror, more future house, as well as hard room house. Some of my favourite songs at the time were:
Diplo & Skrillex - Take U There (Tujamo Remix)
Tujamo - Hey Mister!
Wiwek - Angry Birdz
Gregor Salto & Wiwek - On Your Mark
Quintino - Winner
Fatboy Slim & Riva Starr - Eat Sleep rave repeat (Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike & Ummet Ozcan Remix) That, and the Artistic Raw Bootleg.
Quintino & Sandro Silva - Aftermath (basically 'Epic 2.0')
I (begrudgingly) accepted hardstyle tracks; I didn't like it at the time, but I had very few on my person at the time.
2016: The Internet Gulag
I was filling up my old laptop with more and more music, but said device was messed up on the internet, so in most of March, and from May to June, I lived without internet. (The internet gulag was soooo cold.)
My favourite songs at the time (some of them):
The Chainsmokers - Don't Let Me Down (many versions)
Kill The Noise - Without A Trace (Kill the Noise & Virtual Riot Remix)
Barely Alive - WEDABE$
Armin van Buuren & W&W - If It Ain't Dutch (Aria Fredda HARD Edit) (Song was deleted from Soundcloud for copyright infringement. Fuck copyright.)
Later, I found bassline house, a UK-based music genre, listening to music from the likes of Shaun Dean, Faded, JAUZ, Skepsis, the list goes on.
P.S.: Amba Shepherd is hot if you ask me.
2017-2019: Wanting To Make Hot Ass Tracks. Plus, Goodbye To Zulu
I said goodbye to Zulu, given that I didn't have the money to buy the master version. I did manage to get VirtualDJ, a free software.
So I found some free sample packs, and I started making music via LMMS. (I still can't produce my own sounds atm.) I was producing big room house and jungleterror tracks tracks under UMBR3ON, a reference to my favourite Dark-type Pokémon. (It sucks competitively, IMO, but still,) I've even produced under Y3SPLZ, a former future bass and future bounce alias.
Fast forward to late 2018, where my production game was progressing a bit, and I changed my production name to M4RSH4DOW, a reference to Marshadow, also a Pokémon.
Later, after some brutally-honest criticism from a user here (who, however, liked my take on raw trap), I changed to 'V3NOMARSHY.' But that shit wasn't rolling off the tongue, so I'm now producing under M4RSHY.
(Kinda glad to change from producing under M4RSH4DOW, so the Pokémon Company doesn't sue. It's not how I wanna meet the guys there.)
I've picked up some more genres at the time: hard psy, rawstyle, xtra raw, deathstep, riddim, briddim (brostep + riddim), hardcore, happy hardcore, handzup!, more future bass, color bass (melodic riddim), and some mainstream psytrance (some).
Conclusion
It was a rocky time being an EDM fan at the start, especially in real life. My family looks at me crazy for it, and they label the craze as craziness. (Come on, not everyone wants to listen to R&B and soul.)
But I've met some good friends and comrades that like (or love) the craze. I even met some fans here.
Anyways, love me or hate me for my love of the genre, I'm still gonna continue listening to it, even whenever it dies.