I nonetheless vividly keep in mind after I heard the music that might ceaselessly information my journey into the world of digital dance music.
It was someday within the winter of 2010 after I was driving residence from work, listening to BPM on SiriusXM Radio. As I drove down acquainted streets again to my house, an unfamiliar but uplifting observe began, and the melody all of us would be taught to cherish kicked in. I used to be immediately hooked.
As you will have guessed, the observe was Avicii “Ranges.” I didn’t realize it on the time, nevertheless it in the end kickstarted my deep love for progressive home music.
The style at the moment dominated the mainstage, with visionaries like Avicii, Alesso, Swedish Home Mafia and Martin Garrix pushing its boundaries by way of hovering sounds that made us really feel, made us join—that made us, us. Nevertheless, many would argue that model of uplifting progressive home took a backseat to different sub-genres since its golden period of the early- to mid-2010s.
The query stays: The place did it go?
The stateside EDM increase after 2010 noticed sub-genres creating and spreading like wildfire as listeners’ tastes developed, serving to propel rave tradition into the mainstream. However the e book of progressive started to collect mud on the shelf for roughly a decade as genres like bass home, lure and future bass swelled.
However as issues usually do in life, historical past finds a means of repeating itself. Today, it could really feel like progressive home is “again,” nevertheless it by no means left—and it is beginning to recapture the identical pageant glory.
Look no additional than Audien and his “Progressive Home By no means Died” sequence, which is starting to evolve right into a full-fledged motion. The famend producer, who’s gearing as much as launch his first album in six years, has persistently preserved and flown the flag of progressive home as one in every of its key fashionable voices.
“Progressive home was my old flame,” Audien tells EDM.com. “It’s the style that made me fall in love with dance music within the first place.”
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“There’s only a degree of emotion in progressive home that’s laborious to search out elsewhere,” Audien continues. “The melodies, the construct, the discharge—it’s music that truly feels one thing. I believe lots of people nonetheless crave that connection, even when they don’t all the time know how one can put it into phrases. That’s why I’ve caught with all of it these years. It’s timeless.”
Many different influential digital artists are following Audien’s lead. After an enormous efficiency on the inaugural EDC Thailand pageant in January, The Chainsmokers mentioned they’re “quadrupling down on progressive home” and channeling the euphoric roots of their early sound.
The identical goes for the legendary Swedish Home Mafia, whose current single, “Wait So Lengthy,” is fueling rumors of a brand new album harkening again to their classic progressive home sound.
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There is no query progressive home has come off the bookshelf. The mud has been disregarded and the plenty are all studying once more. However why the resurgence?
One core motive, after all, is nostalgia. Lots of as we speak’s younger stars grew up listening to progressive home legends, and similar to us, the style transports them proper again to the early days of their journey.
Now so greater than ever, the EDM group thrives on kinship, and progressive home represents a dream all of us share: to attach over a shared love of the music that first impressed us.
For Audien, it is essential to pay homage to that golden period whereas pushing the style ahead in sudden, future-facing methods.
“For me it is about staying rooted in what made these early data particular—emotional chords, sturdy songwriting, actual storytelling—whereas giving it a contemporary lens,” he explains. “I’m continually experimenting with new sounds, working with completely different vocalists, and making an attempt issues that really feel contemporary. There’s undoubtedly a high quality line between nostalgia and evolution, however that’s what retains it thrilling. I need to honor the previous with out getting caught in it.”
