stop the disco

My first exposure to underground dance music was as a small child watching breakdancers rock out to the sounds of Afrakia Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force on downtown street corners in the early 80s. Even as a kid I loved new wave dance music like the Art of Noise, New Order and OMD songs that I heard on pop radio and on MTV. In middle school, I listened to as much Information Society and Depeche Mode as I did rock bands like INXS and U2. When I started High School, an independent radio station went on the air in my home town. This was back when 'alternative' radio was exactly that – music you would never hear on Top-40 radio stations. In addition to playing college rock bands like the Lemmonheads and Sloan, they played a fair amount of electronica – anthems like "Something Good" by the Utah Saints, "Temple of Dreams" & "You're Going Insane" by Messiah, and "Charly" by The Prodigy. I was hooked. It wasn't long before the rave scene exploded into this country from the UK, and the floodgates of EDM opened. By the time I hit college, instrumental trance tracks by Paul van Dyk and Orbital could be heard on pop radio, and even Madanna and Cher were trying to get into the scene. These days I listen to a diverse mix of music. This blog catalogs some of my favorite trance, trip-hop, hip-hop and synthpop music. Enjoy.