In time for the other EDMs

Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is a term frequently misunderstood. At it's simplest, the genre involves percussive sounds produced electronically, instead of using live musical instruments. The idea: to make the listener go berserk dancing!

Coined in the late 80s and early 90s, EDM rebranded dance music and the 'rave culture' in clubs of Europe and the US. It has no single definition because it encompasses house, disco, rave, jungle, techno, trance, drum and bass, dubstep and other sounds. With such diversity clubbin' under one umbrella term, it's almost impossible to pin down which direction EDM is taking at a given point.

Internationally, all these artists fall under EDM – Avicii, Deadmau5, Kygo, Bonobo, Diplo, Flume, Chet Faker, Steve Aoki, Tiesto, The Prodigy, Daft Punk, Afrojack, Disclosure, Zedd, David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Skrillex, Major Lazer. Phew! Gobsmacked? There's more closer home. Trip on tracks by B.L.O.T, Anish Sood, Arjun Vagale, Lost Stories, Sartek, Dualist Inquiry, Zaeden, Curtain Blue, Nicholson, Argenil and you'll know what we're talking about. Those familiar with the scene know that these sounds are so eclectic that if not for the fluid space of EDM, they could be different genres all together! On one end of the spectrum is dubstep artiste Nucleya who electronically infuses vocals and indigenous instruments like uduku, udumi, dollu, snares, bass drums, cymbals and bells into his tracks. Then there's Aneesh Gera, music producer and DJ with record label Ultraviolet, whose sound is deep and progressive house. He is also the first Indian to hit the Top 25 US Billboard Dance Chart. Nucleya's energetic F*ck That Shit and Gera's No Tears for Fears reflect well the dualities within EDM.

Viresh Vizrani, who runs the music portal EDMofy, agrees that what while "weaving in indigenous sounds has been popular for a while, it is becoming noticeable now. Take Major Lazer, for instance. If you look at the artists behind the trio – DJs Diplo, Jillionaire and Walshy Fire – you'll see that each one's bringing in a different kind of music (EDM, reggae and dancehall) to create something new. So people say EDM is dead, they mean that the commercial product we've consumed so far is fading and the sub-genres are on the rise."

At this point, it is clear that EDM is constantly evolving. Throwback to Swedish DJ Avicii debuting Wake me up at 2013's Ultra Music Festival in Miami that had influences of jazz, blues, soul and funk, and bringing bluegrass musicians onstage, ditching his progressive house past. And while purists may frown at live instruments fit into EDM, there's Argenil, from Bangalore-based Hindustani house duo Rohit Gandhi and Anil Prasad, which fuses the dhol, violin, flute with computer-generated sounds.

Their Black Money is a track on demonetisation with Kannada rapper Gubbi and South Indian tapori beat, the drops in Pahadi use flute, gungaroo and dhol, and Swadesh is remindful of Karsh Kale.

"When our Tha-Di-Ki-Na-Thom was played on 30 American radio stations, we got messages from people all over the world that they were reminded of their life in India. The genre that we play probably doesn't exist today, but we are pushing for something new," says Gandhi, who has learnt the octapad, guitar, tabla, now Hindustani vocals and by February end he'll debut with the saxophone onstage.

Gera, however, says that fusion has existed for a while – like Sheila Chandra's classical Indian vocals for Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up in 2002. DJ Nasha and Talvin Singh have also been doing it for a while. He also adds, "I feel the EDM culture is insanely oversaturated right now. Any David Guetta record of the last few years sounds the same to me! It works for some, but I don't like monotony."

But it is this commercial roadblock that has given a lovely ride to often confusing, always enthralling sub-genres in the world right now. "One that has zoomed out of nowhere is techno. At Supersonic last year, the second main stage was techno and it did very well for a country like India. And who would've have imagined that DJs Armin Van Dynk or Above and Beyond would have podcasts and radio shows with 300,000 listeners a week?" Gera takes heart.

Itching to get started? Roll with Kiara (Bonobo), Tha-Di-Ki-Na-Thom (Argenil), Instant Crush (Daft Punk) and Firestone (Kygo). And if you still don't get what EDM is all about, just dance, we say!