i was there when it was the golden era of EDM.

i remember the time when EDM was the rage. every guy i know listened to tomorrowland mixes. during christmas and easter, guys used to stack up boxes and play EDM tracks while everybody played at the beach and the sea. there was a time when people used to argue over whether spinnin’ records or revealed recordings were the best.

i think i accidentally got introduced to edm in 2013 or something, when a friend gave me a usb full of tracks from axwell, swedish house mafia, afrojack, david guetta etc. (he also introduced me to linkin park. )

and in search of more songs, i found this website called songspw or something. it doesn’t exist anymore. i chose this website because it was the only website that provided 128kbps MP3s, plus good metadata and artworks. i remember, i had to recharge a 5-day 150mb pack for 29 rupees, which would last me a day max, because i will be downloading all these tracks in a jiffy. and my internet speed was 20kb/s, for real. so a single song would take like half an hour to download. i used to be so crazy about EDM, i would wait for DJ Mag to release their Top 100 DJs list or something like that.

there was this another website called songslover or something, but they basically pasted their name all over the artwork and the metadata, and it was a big no-no for me. i like clean artworks, and i indeed had a collection of them in my SD card. i was using windows, so i used mp3tag to clean up artworks and metadata, and even make custom artworks for youtube rips and IDs (unreleased tracks).

i think people know about hardwell through spaceman or the bella ciao song, but i was introduced to him through this track called “eclipse”, from the “united we are” album, and it was a sick banger. i had never something like that, it was so different. well, the whole album was unique and very favorite to me. and that’s how i got to know about revealed recordings and the artists related to it: kaaze, and the likes.

don diablo, another personal favorite. i still rock his “on my mind”, such an energizing track. and his “forever” album is just.. chef’s kiss. and he got a lot of innocent sounding tracks like “stay awake”, “where we started”. listen to don diablo if you need a serious uplift, guy is the master.

“payback” by dimitri vangelis & wyman x steve angello was when progressive house peaked. it’s my most favorite EDM track of all time.

speaking of steve angello, i loved his “wild youth” album: “wasted love”, “stockholm skies”. he’s a very unique artist.

dyro’s remix of axwell’s “centre of the universe” is a favorite of mine. sebastian ingrosso’s “reload” too.

swedish house mafia, oh man, another gem: “save the world”, “don’t you worry child”, etc. (idk about the new ones, didn’t bother to listen.)

i got to know about matisse & sadko from their remix of m3ox’s “beating of my heart” featuring heidrun. that track was part of SHM’s “until now (deluxe edition)”, or so i think. since them, i have loved matisse & sadko: dragon, break through the silence (both featured by martin garrix). forever is a personal favorite.

martin garrix. most of his tracks sound the same, but i love his “mistaken”, featuring alex aris and tom taped? i don’t remember. and “spotless”. “WIEE” is a fun one. “pizza”, sounds generic but i love it.

today i learnt W&W is responsible for the spinning cat meme track lmao. but i love them for the track: “the one”. i LOVE it.

steve aoki is another unique artist. i love his style and he has all these cool collabs, with linkin park, alok, crankdat. he even got neil degrasse tyson & bill nye! (in noble gas). man, i carried his neon future i, ii, iii, iv around like trophies. steve aoki is soooooo cool.

sick individuals is, damn man, i love them for the raw and intense sounds. sick individuals is easily in my top 10. personal favorite.

RIP avicii. true, stories, tim. levels, silhouettes, all those gems. RIP.

eric prydz’s opus, i still play em during workouts. it’s just so intense. and his “call on me”. and “nopus”. love em.

david guetta’s “nothing but the beat”, “nothing but the beat 2.0”, “listen”. he got em all: touching tracks, fun tracks, intense tracks. i love his tracks with akon, flo rida, nicki minaj, bebe rexha. they all just blend well. david guetta and sia is a really GOOD combination. stuff like “the alphabeat”, “she wolf”, “titanium”, oh my god.

i hold tritonal close to my heart. tritonal is so unique sounding. same with nicky romero, so unique.

deadmau5’s strobe, monophobia, his tracks with kaskade (kx5 and the rest), he’s just different. guy is his own genre. and with the release of “where’s the drop?”, he’s practically at the top of his game. 100/10 recommend “where’s the drop”.

cheat codes’ “i love it”, “balenciaga”: i visit em once in a year.

lost frequencies got this remix of dimitri vegas & like mike’s “hey baby”. it’s so simple, i love it.

alesso had these amazing touching tracks: “heroes”, “remedy”, “take my breath away”. i love alesso. such a unique artist.

alpharock is kinda not that known, and i think obscure?, but there’s this track called “the new normal”. oh man, i love it.

breathe carolina, another hidden gem. they got this track “can’t take it”, featuring bassjackers and cade, oh my god, just the best. and their stuff with dropgun and kaleena zanders. favorites of all time.

dropgun has his very unique sound. nothing can replace dropgun.

not really a great fan of armin van buuren’s trance-y tracks, but he got some really good ones: “i need you”, “heading up high”, “strong ones”, “gotta be love”.

afrojack, where i started from. the bangers with pitbull, “ten feet tall”… afrojack is the OG. sometimes i wonder where he is.

quintino is versatile. his “unbroken” with yves v is one of my favorite EDM music videos: two police officers helping the poor in the day and partying hard at night. pretty unbelievable for a story, but i like it.

reez and kshmr released this remixed version of bassjackers’ “savior” and it’s just so… raw. one of the best.

vicetone is another artist who has developed his own style. he even got a track called “hope” featuring barack obama! actually, it was a track with obama’s speeches from his presidential campaign ig. i don’t care about politics, the song is top tier.

dimitri vegas & like mike’s “mammoth” is one of my earliest EDM tracks, and i still love it. wasn’t much of a fan of their mainstream tracks, but man, i loved their IDs. sometimes i think why didn’t they released their IDs.

mike williams is the king of future bounce imo. his “jetlag” with brooks is easily in my top 10 favorites.

i don’t care about marshmello’s mainstream tracks, but i loved his joytime albums. he is real nice.

r3hab, deorro, jay hardway, brooks, tommy trash, nervo, alok, meduza, kream, tiesto, lucas & steve, benny bennassi, kshmr, radiology, moti, galantis, oliver heldens, zedd, sander van doorn, ummet ozcan, so many others.

i feel grateful to God, because my childhood was fun because of EDM. thank you God and thank you DJs.