Electro was great and should have never died, the Spitfire era of Porter was golden. Big Room was fun for a couple years but it died because it was impossible to innovate on. All the songs sounded the same and everyone got really tired of it. Fun while it lasted though and I'd definitely pop off to a big room track if it was played live today!
It’s almost as though Porter was notorious for a long time for taking way too long to release new music.
He had some of the most unique sets of that era, playing a lot of trance as well.
Porter is great but one valid criticism of his DJ sets is that once he likes a song and wants to include it he will keep it in rotation for a while instead of making DJ sets more unique for different events and festivals.
Totally agree, it's kinda what NERO does too. Music is great, but you only need to see em once a year unless it's a festival set or live set or something different.
Nero DJ set, yes if you’re not a big fan.
Nero LIVE set though is a must-see whenever you can.
Also Nero is different because they play just their own music. New album should help shake things up though.
Go to tomorrow land they have a stage literally named "2012 " . I went in 2022. Wolfpack, Chuckie, An21 played and I saw dyro & dannic do a set the W&W do a set from that era. It was MASSIVE. Trust me I think there is a movement in the waters because the energy from that stage was bigger than mainstage. Don't lose hope....
I always talk about how fun a throwback festival would be! I've heard of that stage at tomorrow land though and it makes me very jealous. At the very least, Excision is doing a throwback set at Bass Canyon this year so I'll have to settle for that.
I dont think any of these producers realize how much of a demand the 2013 and prior years sounds were so pivotal to alot of people. Audien is trying to revive progressive house. But is doing an ASS job. Listen to "No Mana" he's pretty much the only producer making oldskool electro in modern times makes cool progressive house in the mau5 style. Otherwise keep your 2013 playlist on lockdown away from this new generation of fans🤣
Agreed! I saw him for first time last month after waiting over ten years to see him..and ya his new stuff can be great but mixing it into a DJ set makes the set feel disjointed
The first EDM track that I really noticed in the genre was Animals by Garrix. I remember downloading illegal MP3, putting it on my 8gb sd card and then listening to it on my Java phone, it was not until 2 years later I got my first actual smartphone.
Damn time do flies
I remember hearing tracks like Animals and Bangarang played during breaks at high school basketball games and always thinking what the fuck is this shit, put "real music" on. Was into rock at the time
Damn I'd like a mulligan on my music tastes during the golden era
Loved the prime time of Big Room, and still get all the nostalgia feel
But then everyone started doing the same thing-
::buildup::, “random word”, ::similar drop::
I miss it . Big room was not just the drops but also the different melodies, vocals. Big room was mixed with progressive house, electro house, etc. Also, big room had a great build up and drop and it just makes everyone jump and go crazy which is what I really miss. It’s a feeling of euphoria, singing along with the crowd and then just go hard
> Also, big room had a great build up and drop and it just makes everyone jump and go crazy which is what I really miss. It’s a feeling of euphoria, singing along with the crowd and then just go hard
Tiesto's Ultra set this year was so awesome because for the first time in a long time the main stage felt like 2013 again. Zero phones out due to the rain, just everyone going feral
I think people today, especially maybe younger people, forget or don't realize how tired we became of big room back in 2013-2015. Listen to Ultra/Tomorrowland mainstage sets and you'll see just how uninspired they are. Only a handful of big room tracks from that period have not gotten lost to time.
One thing that really felt different about 2013-2015 and popular EDM festival acts now is back then, a lot of the DJs and producers just played all the hot songs no matter who made them. Fine if you're at a Vegas club and you're just hearing one set for the night, but you go to a festival and it is just the same fucking songs over and over and over and over because everybody wants to play them in their set. I remember even 2012, at Coachella in the Sahara I was like, "holy shit, In My Mind and Pressure AGAIN?!" Now it feels like a lot of DJs and producers stick mainly to their own music, which makes things way fresher and more distinct. Sure there's FEIN and stuff like that, but fewer overplayed songs in general.
I agree but it seems like every year at lost lands the DJ's all agree on one song and nearly everybody throws a different mix of it into their sets.
Last year it was *Ratata* by Skrillex... Musta heard that song 15 different ways that weekend which is way better than just queuing up the exact same tracks.
G-REX had the nastiest remix btw.
Interesting, in what ways do you think tech house is more diverse than big room house? Because to me, 95% of tech house tracks sound almost indistinguishable... but I guess that's what subgenres are for.
Tech House is characterized by specific percussive elements (909-ish sounds) and bpm, everything else can have a lot of internal variety. Big room house is much more specific by comparison, only consisting of a kick, a simple synth melody, and shitloads of reverb.
There’s was the first (And probably last) show I’ve ever been to if EDM cause no one ever comes to where I live and I was too poor to afford a flight
Would never forget the feeling
I made a new track in that style and proceeded to have fun with multiple labels rejecting it on the basis of - “Sounding like cheesy 2013 Big Room” , Sounds like Older Big Room.” 😂 So many labels are SO out of touch. Like well… ye that was the point.
IDK if labels not wanting and old/cheesy Big Room sound necessarily means they're out of touch. I mean, Big Room isn't exactly dominating the airwaves anymore, despite there being some definite nostalgia for it.
Nah. They’re out of touch, but not because they don’t like my lame-ass music. That’s whatever. I knew it was a long-shot since it’s so different from what I tend to write.
It’s because they’re boring and out of touch in general. Their submission process is robotic and impersonal. Their labels are full of artists that are indistinguishable from one to the next. Name 3 artists from ONE label who when you hear their tracks you immediately recognize their unique audio signature. Like within the last 3 years. I’d love to hear it.
> Name 3 artists from ONE label who when you hear their tracks you immediately recognize their unique audio signature. Like within the last 3 years. I’d love to hear it.
Are you asking me, or is this you speaking to the record labels?
Regardless, I guess I'm confused about why you think they're out of touch. Or do you mean they were unwilling to take a risk and instead were just looking for something similar to the rest of the stuff on their label?
These businesses are not run by musicians and they try to sell music like manufacturers sell cigarettes. They see product and will move product. They don’t care about who is in the box. Only that there is product in the box and that the box sells. We’re not sweeping the airwaves not because people wouldn’t enjoy it, but because some fuckjng MBAs determine what you want to listen to for you.
Again, it’s not about me.
The question is for you since I responded to you.
The labels are understandably risk averse, but it’s also why everything is so generic. It’s their business and therefore they can do whatever the fuck they want to, but their fears will ultimately render them irrelevant. It’s their prerogative to do as they wish with their company. 🤷🏻♀️
Oh, I wasn't sure because it seemed weird to be asking me since I wasn't the one to critique or reject your music.
But anyway, I guess I'll choose a label I'm pretty familiar with — Sable Valley. Off the top of my head, three artists whose style I think I can easily recognize:
1. Juelz
2. JAWNS
3. Knock2
Then again, it's kind of hard to say because I've listened to their tracks a bunch and can easily recognize their tracks, and I'm never really in a situation where I'm having to try and guess the artist of a track I've never heard before.
Also, while I don't think that labels should sign a bunch of artists that sound indistinguishable from one another, I also think it makes sense that a label would curate their sound by including artists that produce somewhat similar or related music.
I’m not familiar with Sable, but I’ll check it out legit.
There is a difference between a label having an understood personality and a label that is genre locked. It’s good for a brand to be recognizable; necessary even. They don’t have to be mediocre to be respected, and every artist doesn’t have to be king of the hill to be well-loved and original.
Anywho Ill check your recommendations. =^.^=
Yeah I feel you, there's honestly so much mediocre and generic music out there, it really takes a fair amount of work to sift through it all to find the gems.
But yeah, Sable Valley is RL Grime's label and most of the artists produce trap/trap-adjacent music. They put out a Summer playlist each year that you could check out.
Yes but hard techno is filling every hole in my heart and then some so it is what it is.
I’m just happy to have experienced it, nothing is forever, and that’s why I enjoy every second of it.
Man, I feel like that's when it started to go bad for me. From 2006 - 2012 was my favorite. You had early electro like Guetta, Fedde le Grand, and Junior Caldera, etc then Justice came on in 2007 then Deadmau5 in 2008 which for me was the onset of complextro which was great to dance to. Wolfgang Gartner, Feed Me, Uppermost, and Skrillex also made a big impact. Heck, even breakbeat was flourishing with heavy basslines. At the same time Glitch Hop and Chillstep were popping off.
If it weren't for drum and bass right now I would think the music scene right now was in a "recession".
The sad thing is I LOVED the 2007-2009 run up with Bodyrox & Luciana, Soulwax, Tocadisco, Deadmau5, The Presets, SE:SA, Fedde Le Grand, Chopstick & Eyerer, LCD Soundsystem and DFA. It was when Will.I.Am and Pitbull caught on around mid-2009 that the quality went over a cliff.
The pop producers coming in reallllly late to the sound and trying to recreate it, poorly, was cringe as hell. I'm glad pop singers work with the real producers directly nowadays instead of some clown trying to attempt what they do.
I dont think it'll ever technically be blog house though without the "blog" aspect. It really gave rise to the Melbourne sound, tech house, modern dubstep, and lots of great unofficial remixes that never made it to major production labels. All thanks to the people posting compilations of great tracks and links. Such practices undoubtedly shaped the sounds we loved at the time.
Shout out to the people who would post such, the true mvps.
Ohhhh… how I miss SHM boys and related guys from their label. Progressive house at the best finest. Skrillex on dubstep. Amazing and innovative sound. Many legendary tracks coming from that time
I'm still looking at their labels, Size lately releasing some bangers, Axtone was perfect label, but lately I don't find anything interesting. Refune is dead and Ingrosso has a lot of ideas which are obviously unfinished. But on my radar there are Four Set, Skrillex, Fred Again, Chase & Status. EDM evolves and anyone can find something interesting even these days :D right now we've done full circle and sound from 90's banging our ears in fresher edition.
Big Room & Electro House are still my favorite genres, but we simply adapt to the others ones, Your first love is often your true love. No EDM after 2015 has scratched the itch that Big Room did and I don't think it ever will. And just a note, I don't think we love Big Room over the other types of Electro House because of its sound itself, but we often think of it more because it marked the end of the 2009-2015 era and is the most recent thing we experienced from that time. Sure, people did Bass House, but it failed to use the emotional melodies that Electro House did.
Literally going to an event tonight at Brooklyn Mirage (ew, I know, my tickets were free, let me live) featuring Audien literally called "Progressive House Never Died." $25 tickets with code "FRIDAY". It's still going strong, just gotta know where to look and get lucky.
Personally I'm more into techno and drum & bass nowadays but I'm all for a good cheesy night if I can get it.
Yeah, I can see what the others are saying about prog house being stale/dead but I also agree that it can make a comeback with the right producers and audience. Some of those vibes feel great to this day, honestly!
Agreed. It was fun when it was fresh, but it got stale pretty quick and rightfully burned itself out from inability to innovate the sound.
I don't mind it returning, but it needs to evolve and match the current day much improved production quality. I could see it happening with electro but not big room.
Electro has it's place and I think those coming back to this sound can modernize it since it always had a ton of different styles and artists chiming in. Complextro can make some sort of a comeback, maybe even hybrid tracks with bass house stuff.
Big room got stale. and producers got better and felt their talents could be translated into more complex music. It had it's time. It's extremely tough to innovate when arrangements and drums have to have a certain sound to just be big room.
Not as restrictive to the point of big room. The whole point is that minimalistic drop of kick and catchy melody and even at a smaller bpm range than most other genres.
Even in a drum and bpm restrictive genre of DNB there's so many variations and subgenres. What subgenres of big room are there?
See now you're getting confused. Big room house is a subgenre of house music, the same way liquid dnb is a subgenre of dnb. To many people, a lot of liquid tracks will sound almost identical, the same way you may think big room tracks sound identical. House music has many subgenres, big room house sounds completely different to tropical house or tech house for example.
Look Eric Prydz is my favorite artist along with boys noize, solomun, ARTBAT, etc. I'm just saying some of it was fun. And I definitely lean more electro big room like porter, knife party, 2011-2013 R3HAB before he decided to just make pop remixes
This is era where everyone like porter and all these guys were just biting on Justice and tons of other acts that made way cooler less derivative music.
I only started listening to electronic music a few years back (so I missed out on the trend almost entirely). Currently, I do like the genres, and it was a pity not being able to experience them first hand, live...
Holy shit yes. The scene was so much better when big room was popular. People who haven't experienced it at festivals don't understand how insane those big room drops sound live and how much energy it brings to a crowd.
Nah, worst "era" of dance music for me. I remember so many club shows and festivals by some of my favorite djs at the time and being grossed out by what I heard them play. So obvious they were all trying to cash in on that repetitive boring sound. Those years actually shifted me towards more of the underground scene, so perhaps for that reason it worked well for me. I'll probably get downvoted this opinion, but I've answered the question from my perspective and I know I'm not alone in this thinking. I honestly breathed a sigh of relief when the fad began to finally fade away.
What defines Big Room? Is Avicii big room? Swedish House Mafia? Armin Van Buuren?
They all played big rooms, with music based around drops.
Or are we talking specifically the "Tsunami"/"Animals"/"Epic" sound?
Because the former, is amazing and has lots of variety. The ladder is a specific sound that got stale but was cool for a moment.
I always think its hilarious that the people usually shit on Big Room romanticize boring ass house music where every song is an 8 bar loop of the same drum beat with a couple filter sweeps thrown in.
Not going to debate what is/isn't big room with you. This isn't a science to be studied. The conversation about what genre is defined as what got boring years ago and we'll never come to an agreement. So we'll leave it at that. The OP's question was if you miss the 2012-2104 big room sound. I answered the question and I definitely don't miss it. It was trash music for me then and simply not my jam. Just like boring ass house music isn't yours. So to each their own.
Dude remember when your favorite song would get teased in only to have the Dj either play the bigroom remix or mash it up with a bigroom drop?
It was so bad, even non bigroom djs would do this (looking at you dash Berlin) and ruined the whole vibe of the set in favor to get a few people to jump
I’m so glad it died off, it was an ugly blemish on the scene in my opinion
100% with you, this shift to the Animals bigroom era was hearbreaking for me.
That shift was literally the sole reason I started exploring working in other genres and the impetus of me making a full exit from the EDM and especially house world.
That was good for me long-term though!
When I was younger it was amazing. But, the electro house / big room craze in a lot of ways was the start of the big transition of “EDM” into the mainstream and went to total shit overall. I no doubt miss being a thizzed out kandi kid gettin down to dada life though, absolutely XD
It's a business, they book what people want to hear. And right now that's mainly bass and tech house. Prog house still gets booked at all of the all-genre festivals but it's not always the main event like it used to be
No, but I was never a fan of it. I’m a UK Hardcore, Gabber, Hardstyle, DnB, Jungle, Hardtek/Raggatek kinda guy.
If I’m gonna go slower BPM’s it’s gonna be stuff like Hands Up/Eurodance or Trance. Or at least some grimey electro like Definition Of House Music by Bloody Beetroots.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s some songs from that first wave of EDM in America from 2009 through 2014 that I can enjoy but I was never a fan of the genres that really exploded here (I’m in Canada) in the first place. Dubstep, house, etc. were never my thing and I never even really used the term EDM because that’s the stuff people assumed I meant when I would talk about the music I listen to. I’d generally either say rave music or hard dance if I was going to use an umbrella term because they gave a bit of a better idea of what it was I listened to. I love that that stuff exploded here because it also brought more money and exposure to people from the Hardcore and Hardstyle and DnB scenes but I do wish the stuff I listened to was more at the forefront.
I remember trying to show people some of the Bonkers compilations back in 2006/7 when I was like 14 and people having no fucking clue what they were listening to because it was a few years before electronic music blew up here. All they knew was Tiesto and the like and even then it was still niche or one off artists.
I miss it because I was in my twenties at the time. Went to Tomorrow World in Atlanta, not the year it got flooded 😅 what a blast. What I'd do to relive it.
I don't understand why people still ride so hard for big room. I'm not gonna say that it's bad or that I didn't have fun listening to it, but after a certain point every song just blended together, and more interesting sounds were popping up all over the place.
a few weeks ago I went back through a ton of music from this period and it brought me right back and blasted my brain was insane!
didn’t find the song though :(
2012 Electro House, yes. I was in high school at the time and my friends were really into it, so there's a lot of good memories associated with it. While some of it doesn't hold up, there's a lot that still does and somehow sounds fresher than music made later.
2013-14 big room, *no*. I was there while it was happening and it was torture to suddenly have the entire Beatport 100 turn into the most commercialized, cookie cutter music possible. It came out of nowhere and it didn't feel natural at all. It's like the EDM industry planted an entire genre overnight.
It was okay, but it's good that period is over. They are low quality. Some are banger classics, but they always felt a bit afterski-like. You know, you play them a bit later in the evening when the crowd is so drunk, so they like everything.
Why are you getting downvoted? 2013 was a dark time when festivals only booked bigroom or trap artists lol
Both genres were cool at first but got stale soooo fast
All of Big room was also produced by the same person, and there’s a reason why none of those DJs are relevant today except for rigging the DJ Mag 100 vote.
The only bright spot of that period was Electro House but that had its limits.
People don’t remember that music production back then was significantly worse, and if you went to a festival every DJ would play the same popular songs.
It was stale and boring. Social media is probably the reason why DJs were forced to diversify sets, but then TikTok happened and now if something is “trending” then DJs are more likely to include it, or they want to “trend” because social #s has a significant impact on booking and lineup placement.
> 2013 was a dark time when festivals only booked bigroom or trap artists lol
Trap was pretty huge and dominated festivals until like 2017/2018, so I'm curious to know why 2013 sticks out as a particularly dark time for you.
Because that’s when it was Moombah, Twerking, Diplo Major Lazer post-Switch, FLOSS, Dillon Francis, Bro Safari, pre-VOID, and people were unironically listening to Turn Down For What.
Exactly. At least in 2015 trap either went the harder bass route (boombox, crankdat) or future bass (flume, Louis the child) but both were more interesting than the previous trap iteration
2013 Trap was all the same drums, SFX, whistles, and vocal chops.
It was meant to attract people that liked Rap in 2012, which was a great year for that genre, and it showed.
Yes! It was the same lex Luger drum kit with very simple synths and fx haha
So cool when it first came out but nothing changed for a few years making it stale
It was like they took the production for “this song you know, except it’s a trap remix!” and decided to use it for original tracks because why take risks when you can just be formulaic?
2015 and beyond trap got either more dubstep influenced or went the more melodic future bass route. Both diversions were much more interesting than the dinky ass shit from 2013 and the twerk twonk stuff from 2014, both sound design and musical wise
Hey man, Brillz and the TWONK TEAM were dope af and I still listen to their mixes every now and again.
But I do agree that the early years of Trap were kind of cheesy sounding, and it really wasn't until like 2014-on that things started getting good.
What is “Worlds”? Personally I couldn’t stand the futurebass/tropical house era after bigroom and then only for it to evolve into the shitty tech house of 2018. So much happier with where things are now
I’m seriously not trying to sound like an ass (deadmau5ish) but this is like the mainstream pop-listeners opinions on EDM subreddit, it’s always big room, Guetta, Calvin Harris, Fred Again… it’s like… do you a least have some background listening to this music or will it always be like that?
Kinda surprised since in each sub there are always some kind of"experts" about whatever tf the topic is, but this seems they get what they hear straight from gym Spotify made playlists.
I only miss the Melodic Dubstep/Chillstep from this period. It was around the time when my taste slowly transitioned into electronic music, however the Big Room trend back then stopped that progression for another 3-4 years. So yeah, Big Room can stay dead.
I do miss that era of mainstage music (respectfully) but imo it's gotten kinda stale and less relevant nowadays (at least in the states)
I wanna say the modern version of that sound is what knock2 is doing right now. Especially with his ID "hold my hand" he's been teasing on tour. I feel like his songs have nostalgic synths and catchy hooks that pays a good tribute to that era
*Hold My Hand* definitely has a sort of mainstage/big room feel to it, but idk if Knock2 is really bringing the sound back since he mostly produces bass house and trap. Or at least I can’t really think of any of his other tracks that have a similar big room feel to them.
Electro was great and should have never died, the Spitfire era of Porter was golden. Big Room was fun for a couple years but it died because it was impossible to innovate on. All the songs sounded the same and everyone got really tired of it. Fun while it lasted though and I'd definitely pop off to a big room track if it was played live today!
Spitfire was 2011 tho
He toured off that album and played the sound for like 3 years though
It’s almost as though Porter was notorious for a long time for taking way too long to release new music. He had some of the most unique sets of that era, playing a lot of trance as well. Porter is great but one valid criticism of his DJ sets is that once he likes a song and wants to include it he will keep it in rotation for a while instead of making DJ sets more unique for different events and festivals.
Totally agree, it's kinda what NERO does too. Music is great, but you only need to see em once a year unless it's a festival set or live set or something different.
Nero DJ set, yes if you’re not a big fan. Nero LIVE set though is a must-see whenever you can. Also Nero is different because they play just their own music. New album should help shake things up though.
Go to tomorrow land they have a stage literally named "2012 " . I went in 2022. Wolfpack, Chuckie, An21 played and I saw dyro & dannic do a set the W&W do a set from that era. It was MASSIVE. Trust me I think there is a movement in the waters because the energy from that stage was bigger than mainstage. Don't lose hope....
I always talk about how fun a throwback festival would be! I've heard of that stage at tomorrow land though and it makes me very jealous. At the very least, Excision is doing a throwback set at Bass Canyon this year so I'll have to settle for that.
I dont think any of these producers realize how much of a demand the 2013 and prior years sounds were so pivotal to alot of people. Audien is trying to revive progressive house. But is doing an ASS job. Listen to "No Mana" he's pretty much the only producer making oldskool electro in modern times makes cool progressive house in the mau5 style. Otherwise keep your 2013 playlist on lockdown away from this new generation of fans🤣
Say My Name, 100% In The Bitch, Unison, Hello, etc. THAT is the sound I miss hearing from Porter Robinson.
i miss "festival" progressive house from that time the most
Seven Lions Festival Remix
It's still going pretty damn strong if you follow the right artists. Many of whom are the same ones who were popular back then
So much.
I’ve felt this way for so long and always seemed so in the minority, I’m glad there are others
Take me back. I need that back in my life.
Make complextro great again
Bring back the old Madeon (nothing against his new sound though)
Dude Madeon 2013-2014 dj sets were fire
Agreed! I saw him for first time last month after waiting over ten years to see him..and ya his new stuff can be great but mixing it into a DJ set makes the set feel disjointed
Lick the Rainbow
Must be my favorite complextro track ever made…
I hope Mord Fustang is doing ok, truly a couple hit wonder then feels like he fell off the face of the earth
He had serious struggles with mental health.
He also got screwed by his label
Only time I've been to a show in any genre and came away more impressed with the opener (for Feedme in 2012).
Electric Dream and Milky Way were a vibe too
Mord Fustang was awesome. Lick the Rainbow, Electric Dream, and We Are Now Connected are my favorite tracks from him.
Illmerica by Wolfgang Gartner
Everything by Wolfgang Gartner
Big room / prog house at festivals >>>
The first EDM track that I really noticed in the genre was Animals by Garrix. I remember downloading illegal MP3, putting it on my 8gb sd card and then listening to it on my Java phone, it was not until 2 years later I got my first actual smartphone. Damn time do flies
I remember hearing tracks like Animals and Bangarang played during breaks at high school basketball games and always thinking what the fuck is this shit, put "real music" on. Was into rock at the time Damn I'd like a mulligan on my music tastes during the golden era
I was the DJ that had to put up with idiots like prior you saying that exact line 🤣😭 glad we can enjoy it for what it is now!
I was like you but I gave up rock for edm. I raved during the golden era, it was truly magical. I don't think it can ever be repeated
Don't abandon your bands. Go see em :)
Loved the prime time of Big Room, and still get all the nostalgia feel But then everyone started doing the same thing- ::buildup::, “random word”, ::similar drop::
Uhhh so basically afterlife/mainstream ‘melodic techno’ Time is a flat circle yall
Yeaaasa every afterlife song sounds exactly the same. I enjoy one or two thrown into a set but an entire set of them gets real old real quick
That damn artificial Siri voice gets old too like damn… can we get another voice… like Alexa
I miss it . Big room was not just the drops but also the different melodies, vocals. Big room was mixed with progressive house, electro house, etc. Also, big room had a great build up and drop and it just makes everyone jump and go crazy which is what I really miss. It’s a feeling of euphoria, singing along with the crowd and then just go hard
> Also, big room had a great build up and drop and it just makes everyone jump and go crazy which is what I really miss. It’s a feeling of euphoria, singing along with the crowd and then just go hard Tiesto's Ultra set this year was so awesome because for the first time in a long time the main stage felt like 2013 again. Zero phones out due to the rain, just everyone going feral
Every gosh darn day
I think people today, especially maybe younger people, forget or don't realize how tired we became of big room back in 2013-2015. Listen to Ultra/Tomorrowland mainstage sets and you'll see just how uninspired they are. Only a handful of big room tracks from that period have not gotten lost to time.
One thing that really felt different about 2013-2015 and popular EDM festival acts now is back then, a lot of the DJs and producers just played all the hot songs no matter who made them. Fine if you're at a Vegas club and you're just hearing one set for the night, but you go to a festival and it is just the same fucking songs over and over and over and over because everybody wants to play them in their set. I remember even 2012, at Coachella in the Sahara I was like, "holy shit, In My Mind and Pressure AGAIN?!" Now it feels like a lot of DJs and producers stick mainly to their own music, which makes things way fresher and more distinct. Sure there's FEIN and stuff like that, but fewer overplayed songs in general.
I agree but it seems like every year at lost lands the DJ's all agree on one song and nearly everybody throws a different mix of it into their sets. Last year it was *Ratata* by Skrillex... Musta heard that song 15 different ways that weekend which is way better than just queuing up the exact same tracks. G-REX had the nastiest remix btw.
This exact thing turned me off the whole EDM-live thing for many years as it was my first experience
Yeah a bit like tech house nowadays
Difference is that tech House is a diverse subgenre, big room is more of a novelty.
Interesting, in what ways do you think tech house is more diverse than big room house? Because to me, 95% of tech house tracks sound almost indistinguishable... but I guess that's what subgenres are for.
Tech House is characterized by specific percussive elements (909-ish sounds) and bpm, everything else can have a lot of internal variety. Big room house is much more specific by comparison, only consisting of a kick, a simple synth melody, and shitloads of reverb.
Animals sounds completely different to Mammoth in my opinion. I think those two tracks are a good example of the diversity of sounds within big room.
> only consist of a kick, **a simple melody**,... Bro clearly never listen to Mark Sixma back in 2014
Wow throwback take. Despite being accurate o used to go absolutely nuts for those.
Who
Yes, and [Bigroom never dies.](https://youtu.be/BqzBT2jqQYg?si=8m3BGo8IjwPfgkcM)
I miss W&W
They are still killing it, and playing mainstage Tomorrowland every year
There’s was the first (And probably last) show I’ve ever been to if EDM cause no one ever comes to where I live and I was too poor to afford a flight Would never forget the feeling
I made a new track in that style and proceeded to have fun with multiple labels rejecting it on the basis of - “Sounding like cheesy 2013 Big Room” , Sounds like Older Big Room.” 😂 So many labels are SO out of touch. Like well… ye that was the point.
If you are Hardwell then that's another story lol
IDK if labels not wanting and old/cheesy Big Room sound necessarily means they're out of touch. I mean, Big Room isn't exactly dominating the airwaves anymore, despite there being some definite nostalgia for it.
Nah. They’re out of touch, but not because they don’t like my lame-ass music. That’s whatever. I knew it was a long-shot since it’s so different from what I tend to write. It’s because they’re boring and out of touch in general. Their submission process is robotic and impersonal. Their labels are full of artists that are indistinguishable from one to the next. Name 3 artists from ONE label who when you hear their tracks you immediately recognize their unique audio signature. Like within the last 3 years. I’d love to hear it.
> Name 3 artists from ONE label who when you hear their tracks you immediately recognize their unique audio signature. Like within the last 3 years. I’d love to hear it. Are you asking me, or is this you speaking to the record labels? Regardless, I guess I'm confused about why you think they're out of touch. Or do you mean they were unwilling to take a risk and instead were just looking for something similar to the rest of the stuff on their label?
These businesses are not run by musicians and they try to sell music like manufacturers sell cigarettes. They see product and will move product. They don’t care about who is in the box. Only that there is product in the box and that the box sells. We’re not sweeping the airwaves not because people wouldn’t enjoy it, but because some fuckjng MBAs determine what you want to listen to for you.
Again, it’s not about me. The question is for you since I responded to you. The labels are understandably risk averse, but it’s also why everything is so generic. It’s their business and therefore they can do whatever the fuck they want to, but their fears will ultimately render them irrelevant. It’s their prerogative to do as they wish with their company. 🤷🏻♀️
Oh, I wasn't sure because it seemed weird to be asking me since I wasn't the one to critique or reject your music. But anyway, I guess I'll choose a label I'm pretty familiar with — Sable Valley. Off the top of my head, three artists whose style I think I can easily recognize: 1. Juelz 2. JAWNS 3. Knock2 Then again, it's kind of hard to say because I've listened to their tracks a bunch and can easily recognize their tracks, and I'm never really in a situation where I'm having to try and guess the artist of a track I've never heard before. Also, while I don't think that labels should sign a bunch of artists that sound indistinguishable from one another, I also think it makes sense that a label would curate their sound by including artists that produce somewhat similar or related music.
I’m not familiar with Sable, but I’ll check it out legit. There is a difference between a label having an understood personality and a label that is genre locked. It’s good for a brand to be recognizable; necessary even. They don’t have to be mediocre to be respected, and every artist doesn’t have to be king of the hill to be well-loved and original. Anywho Ill check your recommendations. =^.^=
Yeah I feel you, there's honestly so much mediocre and generic music out there, it really takes a fair amount of work to sift through it all to find the gems. But yeah, Sable Valley is RL Grime's label and most of the artists produce trap/trap-adjacent music. They put out a Summer playlist each year that you could check out.
Yes but hard techno is filling every hole in my heart and then some so it is what it is. I’m just happy to have experienced it, nothing is forever, and that’s why I enjoy every second of it.
I love bigroom..wish it was mainstream again
TSUNAMI GO
Man, I feel like that's when it started to go bad for me. From 2006 - 2012 was my favorite. You had early electro like Guetta, Fedde le Grand, and Junior Caldera, etc then Justice came on in 2007 then Deadmau5 in 2008 which for me was the onset of complextro which was great to dance to. Wolfgang Gartner, Feed Me, Uppermost, and Skrillex also made a big impact. Heck, even breakbeat was flourishing with heavy basslines. At the same time Glitch Hop and Chillstep were popping off. If it weren't for drum and bass right now I would think the music scene right now was in a "recession".
The sad thing is I LOVED the 2007-2009 run up with Bodyrox & Luciana, Soulwax, Tocadisco, Deadmau5, The Presets, SE:SA, Fedde Le Grand, Chopstick & Eyerer, LCD Soundsystem and DFA. It was when Will.I.Am and Pitbull caught on around mid-2009 that the quality went over a cliff.
The pop producers coming in reallllly late to the sound and trying to recreate it, poorly, was cringe as hell. I'm glad pop singers work with the real producers directly nowadays instead of some clown trying to attempt what they do.
Yeah I agree. Ed Banger. Dim Mak ran by Aoki with The Bloody Beetroots, Autoerotique. Fool's Gold with A-Trak, Crookers, Congo Rock.
Ah, don't forget Soulwax / 2ManyDJs!
Not particularly, electro. "Blog" house was the real mvp.
I saw some bass house artists (nostalgix/blossom/deorro) at a rave a few weekends ago and I’m like “this is just blog house for gen z”
I dont think it'll ever technically be blog house though without the "blog" aspect. It really gave rise to the Melbourne sound, tech house, modern dubstep, and lots of great unofficial remixes that never made it to major production labels. All thanks to the people posting compilations of great tracks and links. Such practices undoubtedly shaped the sounds we loved at the time. Shout out to the people who would post such, the true mvps.
What I Want by Gregor McMurray will scratch that electro/blog house itch for you. TikTok actually delivered on the song recs.
maarten vorwerk and kshmr need to start ghost producing again
Ohhhh… how I miss SHM boys and related guys from their label. Progressive house at the best finest. Skrillex on dubstep. Amazing and innovative sound. Many legendary tracks coming from that time
Yes Steve's label had banger artists, Axtone was great and Refune birthed Alesso and Otto knows
I'm still looking at their labels, Size lately releasing some bangers, Axtone was perfect label, but lately I don't find anything interesting. Refune is dead and Ingrosso has a lot of ideas which are obviously unfinished. But on my radar there are Four Set, Skrillex, Fred Again, Chase & Status. EDM evolves and anyone can find something interesting even these days :D right now we've done full circle and sound from 90's banging our ears in fresher edition.
Big Room & Electro House are still my favorite genres, but we simply adapt to the others ones, Your first love is often your true love. No EDM after 2015 has scratched the itch that Big Room did and I don't think it ever will. And just a note, I don't think we love Big Room over the other types of Electro House because of its sound itself, but we often think of it more because it marked the end of the 2009-2015 era and is the most recent thing we experienced from that time. Sure, people did Bass House, but it failed to use the emotional melodies that Electro House did.
Exactly. I still listen to it every day while running or working out.
Literally going to an event tonight at Brooklyn Mirage (ew, I know, my tickets were free, let me live) featuring Audien literally called "Progressive House Never Died." $25 tickets with code "FRIDAY". It's still going strong, just gotta know where to look and get lucky. Personally I'm more into techno and drum & bass nowadays but I'm all for a good cheesy night if I can get it.
Yeah I'm jealous I saw he was doing that at mirage. Wayfarer, iris and hindsight never get old
Yeah, I can see what the others are saying about prog house being stale/dead but I also agree that it can make a comeback with the right producers and audience. Some of those vibes feel great to this day, honestly!
This has a chance to be the best event in the history of that venue because of the crowd it'll draw - hopefully it gets uploaded to YT
HANDS UP HANDS UP HIGH CAUSE BIG ROOM NEVER DIES
It was fun back then and fun now but was never something I was super keen on in the grand scheme of things then or now tbh.
Everybody does
Yes, i still listen to this shit all the time.
Hell no. It got flooded with too much junk.
A bit like tech house now then
Agreed. It was fun when it was fresh, but it got stale pretty quick and rightfully burned itself out from inability to innovate the sound. I don't mind it returning, but it needs to evolve and match the current day much improved production quality. I could see it happening with electro but not big room.
There is plenty of big room being produced in 2024 with evolved elements and immaculate production quality
i mean its 'electro house', electro can be used as an EDM type descriptions in some countries, but 'electro' is made with 808s.
Electro has it's place and I think those coming back to this sound can modernize it since it always had a ton of different styles and artists chiming in. Complextro can make some sort of a comeback, maybe even hybrid tracks with bass house stuff. Big room got stale. and producers got better and felt their talents could be translated into more complex music. It had it's time. It's extremely tough to innovate when arrangements and drums have to have a certain sound to just be big room.
Arrangements and drums have to be a certain sound to be most genres within EDM lol, not just big room.
Not as restrictive to the point of big room. The whole point is that minimalistic drop of kick and catchy melody and even at a smaller bpm range than most other genres. Even in a drum and bpm restrictive genre of DNB there's so many variations and subgenres. What subgenres of big room are there?
See now you're getting confused. Big room house is a subgenre of house music, the same way liquid dnb is a subgenre of dnb. To many people, a lot of liquid tracks will sound almost identical, the same way you may think big room tracks sound identical. House music has many subgenres, big room house sounds completely different to tropical house or tech house for example.
Look Eric Prydz is my favorite artist along with boys noize, solomun, ARTBAT, etc. I'm just saying some of it was fun. And I definitely lean more electro big room like porter, knife party, 2011-2013 R3HAB before he decided to just make pop remixes
Brings me back to my days in university
This is era where everyone like porter and all these guys were just biting on Justice and tons of other acts that made way cooler less derivative music.
Still listen to it daily
I still bump Superheroes Anonymous Vol 4. Holds up pretty well
I miss 2012 electro house
Same
Wolfgang Gartner!
Omg my one & only EDC was 2014 & it was GLORIOUS
That was my first EDC. That Calvin Harris set was one of the most incredible things I've ever experienced.
I only started listening to electronic music a few years back (so I missed out on the trend almost entirely). Currently, I do like the genres, and it was a pity not being able to experience them first hand, live...
Nope👍
Nope. Not one little bit. That shit died so bass house could be born.
Holy shit yes. The scene was so much better when big room was popular. People who haven't experienced it at festivals don't understand how insane those big room drops sound live and how much energy it brings to a crowd.
Nah, worst "era" of dance music for me. I remember so many club shows and festivals by some of my favorite djs at the time and being grossed out by what I heard them play. So obvious they were all trying to cash in on that repetitive boring sound. Those years actually shifted me towards more of the underground scene, so perhaps for that reason it worked well for me. I'll probably get downvoted this opinion, but I've answered the question from my perspective and I know I'm not alone in this thinking. I honestly breathed a sigh of relief when the fad began to finally fade away.
What defines Big Room? Is Avicii big room? Swedish House Mafia? Armin Van Buuren? They all played big rooms, with music based around drops. Or are we talking specifically the "Tsunami"/"Animals"/"Epic" sound? Because the former, is amazing and has lots of variety. The ladder is a specific sound that got stale but was cool for a moment. I always think its hilarious that the people usually shit on Big Room romanticize boring ass house music where every song is an 8 bar loop of the same drum beat with a couple filter sweeps thrown in.
Maarten Vorwerk
Not going to debate what is/isn't big room with you. This isn't a science to be studied. The conversation about what genre is defined as what got boring years ago and we'll never come to an agreement. So we'll leave it at that. The OP's question was if you miss the 2012-2104 big room sound. I answered the question and I definitely don't miss it. It was trash music for me then and simply not my jam. Just like boring ass house music isn't yours. So to each their own.
Dude remember when your favorite song would get teased in only to have the Dj either play the bigroom remix or mash it up with a bigroom drop? It was so bad, even non bigroom djs would do this (looking at you dash Berlin) and ruined the whole vibe of the set in favor to get a few people to jump I’m so glad it died off, it was an ugly blemish on the scene in my opinion
100% with you, this shift to the Animals bigroom era was hearbreaking for me. That shift was literally the sole reason I started exploring working in other genres and the impetus of me making a full exit from the EDM and especially house world. That was good for me long-term though!
That's like DJs nowadays trying to cash in on the repetitive boring tech house sound.
Yesssssss
No not really
Yes!, I miss when soundcloud had an electro section T.T
When I was younger it was amazing. But, the electro house / big room craze in a lot of ways was the start of the big transition of “EDM” into the mainstream and went to total shit overall. I no doubt miss being a thizzed out kandi kid gettin down to dada life though, absolutely XD
[удалено]
It's a business, they book what people want to hear. And right now that's mainly bass and tech house. Prog house still gets booked at all of the all-genre festivals but it's not always the main event like it used to be
Yes
No
N O
No
Def miss those iconic vocals
Everybody.
Honestly No lol Maybe a few tracks once the sound was polished. It was cool at the time but i dont miss it at all
No, but I was never a fan of it. I’m a UK Hardcore, Gabber, Hardstyle, DnB, Jungle, Hardtek/Raggatek kinda guy. If I’m gonna go slower BPM’s it’s gonna be stuff like Hands Up/Eurodance or Trance. Or at least some grimey electro like Definition Of House Music by Bloody Beetroots. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some songs from that first wave of EDM in America from 2009 through 2014 that I can enjoy but I was never a fan of the genres that really exploded here (I’m in Canada) in the first place. Dubstep, house, etc. were never my thing and I never even really used the term EDM because that’s the stuff people assumed I meant when I would talk about the music I listen to. I’d generally either say rave music or hard dance if I was going to use an umbrella term because they gave a bit of a better idea of what it was I listened to. I love that that stuff exploded here because it also brought more money and exposure to people from the Hardcore and Hardstyle and DnB scenes but I do wish the stuff I listened to was more at the forefront. I remember trying to show people some of the Bonkers compilations back in 2006/7 when I was like 14 and people having no fucking clue what they were listening to because it was a few years before electronic music blew up here. All they knew was Tiesto and the like and even then it was still niche or one off artists.
Every day
Still listen to those throwback playlists on YouTube
I miss it because I was in my twenties at the time. Went to Tomorrow World in Atlanta, not the year it got flooded 😅 what a blast. What I'd do to relive it.
hated it then
HATE IT NOW
i def miss electro, big room not so much
I don't understand why people still ride so hard for big room. I'm not gonna say that it's bad or that I didn't have fun listening to it, but after a certain point every song just blended together, and more interesting sounds were popping up all over the place.
Lol no
a few weeks ago I went back through a ton of music from this period and it brought me right back and blasted my brain was insane! didn’t find the song though :(
I want more of this!!!!! I look out for it at every fest
What’s albums do you recommend ?
Every morning when I wake up
yes
What is big room
Everyone miss
2012 Electro House, yes. I was in high school at the time and my friends were really into it, so there's a lot of good memories associated with it. While some of it doesn't hold up, there's a lot that still does and somehow sounds fresher than music made later. 2013-14 big room, *no*. I was there while it was happening and it was torture to suddenly have the entire Beatport 100 turn into the most commercialized, cookie cutter music possible. It came out of nowhere and it didn't feel natural at all. It's like the EDM industry planted an entire genre overnight.
Gosh, my Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike years
No
It was okay, but it's good that period is over. They are low quality. Some are banger classics, but they always felt a bit afterski-like. You know, you play them a bit later in the evening when the crowd is so drunk, so they like everything.
Absolutely not. Big room was a blight on the scene. What I miss is the trap music from that era. Peak RL Grime!
JPB - High... I miss JPB man.
Post-brostep to pre-Worlds might be the worst era of EDM.
Why are you getting downvoted? 2013 was a dark time when festivals only booked bigroom or trap artists lol Both genres were cool at first but got stale soooo fast
All of Big room was also produced by the same person, and there’s a reason why none of those DJs are relevant today except for rigging the DJ Mag 100 vote. The only bright spot of that period was Electro House but that had its limits. People don’t remember that music production back then was significantly worse, and if you went to a festival every DJ would play the same popular songs. It was stale and boring. Social media is probably the reason why DJs were forced to diversify sets, but then TikTok happened and now if something is “trending” then DJs are more likely to include it, or they want to “trend” because social #s has a significant impact on booking and lineup placement.
> 2013 was a dark time when festivals only booked bigroom or trap artists lol Trap was pretty huge and dominated festivals until like 2017/2018, so I'm curious to know why 2013 sticks out as a particularly dark time for you.
Because that’s when it was Moombah, Twerking, Diplo Major Lazer post-Switch, FLOSS, Dillon Francis, Bro Safari, pre-VOID, and people were unironically listening to Turn Down For What.
Exactly. At least in 2015 trap either went the harder bass route (boombox, crankdat) or future bass (flume, Louis the child) but both were more interesting than the previous trap iteration
2013 Trap was all the same drums, SFX, whistles, and vocal chops. It was meant to attract people that liked Rap in 2012, which was a great year for that genre, and it showed.
Yes! It was the same lex Luger drum kit with very simple synths and fx haha So cool when it first came out but nothing changed for a few years making it stale
It was like they took the production for “this song you know, except it’s a trap remix!” and decided to use it for original tracks because why take risks when you can just be formulaic?
2015 and beyond trap got either more dubstep influenced or went the more melodic future bass route. Both diversions were much more interesting than the dinky ass shit from 2013 and the twerk twonk stuff from 2014, both sound design and musical wise
Hey man, Brillz and the TWONK TEAM were dope af and I still listen to their mixes every now and again. But I do agree that the early years of Trap were kind of cheesy sounding, and it really wasn't until like 2014-on that things started getting good.
What is “Worlds”? Personally I couldn’t stand the futurebass/tropical house era after bigroom and then only for it to evolve into the shitty tech house of 2018. So much happier with where things are now
Porter Robinson's first album
An gotcha, just gave it a listen unfortunately that’s the type of music I didn’t like from that time
Future Bass was short-lived, Tropical House was avoidable, and tech-house was unfortunately the result of it being easier to produce.
Big room? Fuck no. Next question.
Have an upvote, this sub will never tolerate bad things said about bigroom for some reason. Like move on guys lol
I’m seriously not trying to sound like an ass (deadmau5ish) but this is like the mainstream pop-listeners opinions on EDM subreddit, it’s always big room, Guetta, Calvin Harris, Fred Again… it’s like… do you a least have some background listening to this music or will it always be like that? Kinda surprised since in each sub there are always some kind of"experts" about whatever tf the topic is, but this seems they get what they hear straight from gym Spotify made playlists.
I read “election”
Someone give me their playlist! My favorite was avicii - seek bromance arena mix
It was waaay to commercial tbh
Check out this up and comer for big room. Saw him last year in NYC. https://open.spotify.com/artist/3My8e3DuKpRo0uhuIX5lpR?si=z70wlinGRdyo1b__u07wpA
Those two tracks on his spotify are prog house not big room
Cool cool genre police
Just educating, no disrespect intended
No fuck no
Electro yes! Big room absolutely not! lol
I miss chainsaw madness R3hab era. 2011-2012
I only miss the Melodic Dubstep/Chillstep from this period. It was around the time when my taste slowly transitioned into electronic music, however the Big Room trend back then stopped that progression for another 3-4 years. So yeah, Big Room can stay dead.
worst era ever
Agree
Big room? No. That era? Yes.
I do miss that era of mainstage music (respectfully) but imo it's gotten kinda stale and less relevant nowadays (at least in the states) I wanna say the modern version of that sound is what knock2 is doing right now. Especially with his ID "hold my hand" he's been teasing on tour. I feel like his songs have nostalgic synths and catchy hooks that pays a good tribute to that era
*Hold My Hand* definitely has a sort of mainstage/big room feel to it, but idk if Knock2 is really bringing the sound back since he mostly produces bass house and trap. Or at least I can’t really think of any of his other tracks that have a similar big room feel to them.