Whether you call it techno, house music or most likely dubstep, it all falls under the broad cover of one of the newest mega-genres in the music world: electronic dance music.
“EDM is so fresh,” Ben Glad, a Dill Street disc jockey, said. “And the fact that it’s now becoming popular is drawing a lot of producers that maybe historically wouldn’t have done a record in this genre to go ahead and do it. A really good example of this is current trap music, where you infuse rap music with a dubstep or house sort of sound.”
EDM is a category of music that encompasses a wide variety of electronic-based genres ranging from synth-centric electro to in-your-face “brostep” made popular largely by Skrillex. The newest branch of EDM is called Moombahton, and it presents a slower Latin feel that happens to be a favorite of Ball State alumnus Glad.
Glad, known by most Dill Street frequenters as DJ BG, has been disc jockeying in the general area since 2004 and at Dill Street since 2008. His interest in disc jockeying was first piqued as an undergraduate in Bloomington, Ind., when his cycling coach gave him a DJ AM mixtape he had picked up at a show in Chicago. After giving it a listen and being exposed to what a successful DJ could create, he said he decided to buy his first mixer and started building up his collection of vinyl records. The quantity of records a DJ has to tote at the time was a definite hassle.
“Back in the day, every DJ you knew had a truck,” said Alex Edgecombe, a Ball State alumnus who is known as Cool Hand Lex. “At my last all-vinyl show, I was hauling four crates of records plus turntables, a mixer, speakers and cabling. Now, all the DJs I know drive little cars. It’s crazy.”
Edgecombe, who works as a full-time DJ around the Indianapolis and Broad Ripple area, said he is a big fan of traditional vinyl turntable disc jockeying. Such a huge enthusiast, in fact, that he created an all-vinyl show that’s been running monthly for two years in Indianapolis. Edgecombe also happens to be very passionate about EDM.
“It was actually a turn away from hip-hop,” Edgecombe said. “When I started getting into music in middle school, I really fell in love with rap music. That’s what I listened to and began DJing and playing all the way up until I was about 22. Now, I really enjoy playing electronic dance music that is typically very bass heavy: from electro to dubstep and hip-hop stuff like trap. When I play outside Indianapolis, that’s usually what I get booked for.”
Mainstream producers such as David Guetta and Calvin Harris and DJs such as Tiësto, Diplo and Skrillex are using EDM. Some of the more moderated electro-house music is getting radio time thanks to artists like Pitbull and Flo Rida. But for Glad, the genre still has a long way to go.
“In order for the genre to be successful, it needs to be embraced beyond the reaction that it gets,” Glad said. “For progressive house, you get a lot of fist-pumping going on, and that’s just wanting to hear a record based on the reaction that it elicits from you. You don’t necessarily like the record, but you think it’s cool to fist-pump on the dance floor. That’s sort of where we’re at for dubstep. People go insane whenever the really bassy section of the record drops in. Dubstep is popular because it’s so outrageously in your face, and people need to embrace its subtleties.
As a way to foster this acceptance, Glad has teamed up with Edgecombe and DJ Dan Zernicke, known by his stage name Dirty Dan Oh, to start a night at Dill Street. The event, called WTF Wednesdays by the trio, kicked off Wednesday at Dill Street, and it will continue to happen monthly if all goes well.
“What it is, basically, is an opportunity for Ball State club-goers to hear DJs that aren’t college DJs, but guys that have been at it for years,” Glad said. “With [Cool Hand Lex], you’re going to hear a lot of electronic sets and old-school hip-hop. With Danny, you’re going to get a lot of rock remixes and unique mash-ups styled in the same vein as the DJ AM mix that led me to DJing. With me, it’s a lot of Moombahton and hip-hop. You’ll hear just about everything, and that’s the whole idea behind the night.”
As an added draw for the event, Glad mixes complementary videos alongside the music using Dill Street’s projector, which adds to the aesthetic draw of the event. He said his mixing software, Serato Scratch Live, allows him to easily pull up the music video and add the desired effects without breaking stride in a mix.
“Serato is basically the same setup as vinyl,” Zernicke said. “You have two turntables, and it will run through your laptop so you can convert your MP3s into a vinyl-type feel. You can still scratch and stop the record; it’s real time, but you’re using MP3s through your computer.”
The program allows the DJs to download music video and then manipulate effects, Glad said.
“Starting out, music video mixing is pretty difficult because most DJs haven’t been downloading music videos, so it takes forever to get started,” he said. “But once you get started doing it, it’s really not that tough.”
On Wednesday, there will be a special Homecoming version of WTF Wednesday. The next regularly scheduled night is Oct. 24.
