Chad Vasquez, aka Discognition, is a bona-fide rising star in the melodic house scene.
His release on Magnetic Magazine Recordings, “De Leon“, has been in our heads non-stop since its debut a few weeks ago, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to say that we are huge Discognition fans here at Magnetic. His ability to create both laid-back and dance-floor ready tracks with ease and his knack for atmosphere and groove are both second to none. Plus, he’s been playing some seriously incredible live events lately in the Denver, Colorado area.
We wanted to sit down with him one more time and get his input on the music industry as a whole. As an artist with endless musical talent, several releases on prolific labels like Monstercat Silk and Purified, and numerous huge shows on the horizon, it’s clear that he has some insight that we could all benefit from.
Why do you think it’s important for artists to focus on developing their own sound rather than chasing trends?
Dance music is very saturated these days for better or for worse. Due to the lower barrier for entry there’s so much music being made and uploaded to every platform imaginable. With the emergence of Splice, it’s more important than EVER to be doing your own thing. Whether that be with sound design, drum design, or the chord progressions you use, there are so many opportunities to do your own thing.
Carving your own path might sound counter intuitive due to how a lot of labels operate. “Sorry, great tune but it doesn’t fit our vibe.” or “We enjoyed this, but not sure how it fits with our catalogue.” are all common responses when submitting to labels, but you can do your own thing WITHIN a certain “sound” if done well, and that’s what really gets a label’s attention.
Chasing a trend is the best way to make sure your music is mostly forgettable, because it’s inevitable that everyone else is going to do it too, because it’s the “quickest” way to get results. Think of all the artists you look up to and admire, they all have tracks that you almost instantly know it’s theirs without even having to check. You can follow the crowd, but you’ll never do it better than the one who started that crowd.
Why do you think some artists become trendsetters while others just follow trends?
Perseverance and contentment are factors but community and experience I think are the ultimate factors here. If finding your sound is part 1, enjoying your sound because YOU want to make it is part 2. Part 3 is building a community or experience around that sound. I think Anyma/Tale of Us is a prime example of this. That sound was very unique to them, and they were the only ones doing it. They created this whole experience around the sound and the entire ‘Afterlife’ vibe attracted tons of people.
If they had decided to follow someone else, that sound may have never been created, and we may not even have Afterlife as it is today. That’s where perseverance comes in, you have to keep doing your own thing, your own sound and build your own community around it. Once that happens, people start to notice, “Oh this is different, I like this is”. I think there is no better time to be setting your own trend as dance music has become over commercialized and people seek the underground out once more.
As stated above, people chase trends simply because they are trying to capitalize on someone else’s sound and success. Some to a larger extent than others. This isn’t ALWAYS true obviously but you can always do your own thing while paying homage to a sound that has inspired you.
Where do you think the future of electronic music is heading?
The future of electronic music is heading back underground. Festivals are great but things are getting too expensive for people to go to. The festival scene can be wonderful and playing those stages is something we all aspire to do, but it has also created an over commercialized environment whereas dance music was once this niche thing that a minority of music lovers enjoyed. Now, you hear it on the radio in some form or another, your grandmother knows what ‘EDM’ is, and you can’t go to a ‘RAVE’ without people killing your vibe with their phones or taking 100 photos to get the perfect one for instagram. I think a lot of people will move on to the next big thing while the underground scene of dance music will thrive once again. The current problem here, is that monopolistic promoters make it very hard for independent venues to operate in a lot of scenes around the US, so even this can be tough for people who want to throw their own show or experience.
The post Discognition’s Thoughts on Trends and the Future of Electronic Music appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.