The footage of EDC 2014 and Tomorrowland always invoke a sense of excitement in ravers hearts. For some of us though, those events are out of reach. For those of us living in Kansas though, we have Dancefestopia, and Dancefestopia is awesome.
Don't believe me? Check out this video teaser for last year's Dancefestopia.
Dancefestopia is in Kansas City, which for most of us is a relatively short drive. It is a 3 day festival with onstage performances non-stop. There will be 3 stages and with the way acts are set up it is possible to see all 35 of the headliners and majority of the other 40 or so acts that will perform during the festival: and most importantly there will be access to showers this year! Which if you've never been to a festival seems like an odd thing to be excited about... but trust me you, and anyone near your tent will be more than happy about it.
Here are a couple of pictures from Dancefestopia and also this years line up of performers.
The first step of joining the EDM/rave culture is to identify which sub genre's of EDM you prefer. This is especially important in EDM. There are approximately 12 sub-genre's of EDM and those have 6-12 sub genre's of their own. Though many songs and mixes fall into multiple sub genres and the "sub-sub-genre's" in many cases are difficult to distinguish from each other. There are distinct pillars though in the EDM genre in which. Below are my three favorite sub genre's that also serve a great inductions into the EDM music scene.
1. House
House is one of the most popular genre's in EDM. House Music was born in the backyard of the midwest in chicago. Heavy use of 4/4 beats and drum machines. House, in the simplest terms, is dance music. It has a lot of disco and pop influences and the samples used in house music draw from any generation of music; from old school big band swing music, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Paula Abdul, etc. I always recommend House to newcomers asking about EDM, it has a wide variety and is probably the best representation for EDM.
Recommended DJ's
Avicii
Daft Punk
Kaskade
David Guetta
Dimitri & Vegas
Examples of House
2. Dubstep
Dubstep is not one of my favorite sub genre's I actually do not like majority of the genre's music. It is however, an excellent genre for those new to EDM and there are admittedly quite a few musical gems in the genre. It incorporates a lot of other genre's into its style; break beats, and drum & bass styles. I joke about it being the "gateway genre" because a lot of my friends into the EDM scene started by listening to Dubstep.
Recommended Dj's
Skrillex
Adventure Club
Flux Pavilion
Zeds Dead
BassNectar
Examples of Dubstep
3. Trap
Trap is my favorite form of EDM, it is not a genre for the faint of heart. The drum and bass kits are very heavy, and the vocals in the songs are often aggressive. . It originated as a form of southern hip hop that was extremely violent. As EDM Dj's moved into the genre it's focus shifted. It still incorporates many hip hop influences. If you like it loud and in your face this genre is definitely the one for you.
