[Yosi Horikawa performing live at Sub-Culture last Saturday at The Shelter] My life changed last Saturday night. Maybe it was the bass, maybe it was something else, but Yosi Horikawa’s set accomplished something very difficult to pull off in a club -- a new sound. Pitting the digital world against nature, his strange blend of very un-dance music was able to captivate a packed Saturday audience for over two hours. Usually I’m not into pure laptop sampled sets however the fact that Yosi spent time and effort traveling the forests of Japan doing field recordings for his music made it that much more enjoyable. [Kim Laughton's installation at Yosi Horikawa's show] Like it or not, mainstream dance music, which has recently fallen under the name EDM, has replaced mainstream rock stars. Basically EDM just means pop music for chk chk chk boom boom folks. In the 50s & 60s innovation and accessibility of electronic instruments like amplified guitars, bass, and mics caused a creative explosion across the world. By the 70s much of this was homogenized into stadium rock culture that focused more on filling seats than creativity. Punk and about twenty other subgenres of music spawned as an antithesis of this new corporate music model. Maybe this cycle is just natural. It seems we are in a similar situation with the past 10-20 years of computer based music equipment giving common people the tools to create new types of sounds like Techno, Drum ‘n Bass, House, Down Tempo, Soundscapes, F. Jazz, etc. My personal opinion the best way to combat cheesy EDM is to either create or support its antithesis, specifically kids like Yosi. However some of the youth are more brazen and this weekend marks the first "Anti-EDM" festival, which is giving that very literal punk rock middle finger to corporate EDM. Even though I won’t be there (since I’m about 15 years too old for the Mansion club) I tip my hat to you kids and wish you luck fighting the man. By pure chance we are lucky enough to have a few imported acts in town that represent the antithesis to corporate dance music and I’m going to share some tunes from such artists. Stand strong anti-EDM brothers, your fight might be ridiculous but hey you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have it.

Brandt Brauer Frick

Daniel Brandt, Jan Brauer, and Paul Frick are three classically trained musicians who perform under the name Brandt Brauer Frick. They're at Lola on Friday. This is another act that uses samples in a complex live set that also features live drums and keyboards. On top of field recordings from nature they use a variety of instruments to create unique samples which are then carefully sequenced to play along with live. Not an easy feat. They played Shanghai a couple years ago and blew the place away -- it was literally live acoustic techno. Playing both big name festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury along with various jazz festivals shows you the range of these talented boys from the Rhine. Although this Friday is only a DJ set I would imagine they will be playing mostly their own material so I highly suggest you give it a whirl. Brandt Brauer Frick - "Bop"

Untold

is another dark electro artist who goes by the name Untold. Representing the unfriendly heavy and raw side of the sound, Jack Dunning produces a special blend of drum n’ bass, techno, and industrial. James is also co-owner of the widely respected label Hemlock Recordings along with partner Andy Spencer. Since 2008 they have released classics from the likes of James Blake, Ramadanman (Pearson Sound), Fantastic Mr Fox, Cosmin TRG, and Randomer. Dunning has a taste for the tougher side of techno and electro and he recently started a new label project titled Pennyroyal (another toxic plant -- like hemlock), which intends to be the darkest kid on the electro block. If you’re looking for deep heavy underground techno then save up your pennies and head down to Shelter Saturday. Untold – "Black Light Spiral"

Horse Meat Disco

Spawned in a London leather daddy club ten years ago, the Horse Meat Disco collective made it ok for the world to feel funky again. At first their success was limited to the gay clubs but later gained widespread fame for their lively disco DJ sets and compilation releases. Playing a combination of rare, unheard tracks from the 70s & 80s mixed in with more familiar bangers, one of the unique tools in their arsenal is extending a track to seem to go on for 15-20 minutes by bringing in & out other songs. Every Sunday in London they pack out hundreds of kids hungry for filthy Italo disco bangers with drag queens, twinks, bears, fag-hags, and everyone under the rainbow sun. Horse Meat Disco plays Saturday at local queer hotspot 390. Here's a banger off their new comp/mix IV. Opal – "Aint No Way" Literally this week has more music then one town can hold with the JZ Festival, the Top 100 DJs Festival, plus all the various local and international gigs around town. Not a bad time to be in Shanghai. ***