Those of us who are actually fans of electronic music know that EDM is pretty much dead, but as always, Hollywood moves at the pace of an old turtle. It’s only now, in the summer of 2015 that an EDMopic is hitting theaters and we couldn’t be more excited. While many have decried this film as an “inaccurate” and an “insult to DJ culture” and “a vehicle for man candy,” we think those haters are dead wrong. After viewing the trailer multiple times, we think writer/director Max Joseph (he of Catfish fame), Zac Efron (he of Disney fame), and model/actress Emily Ratajkowski (she of “Blurred Lines” fame) totally, completely, and heartedly nail all that is EDM culture. Based on said trailer alone, here is how we know “We Are Your Friends” is completely right about EDM.
Having only one hit track actually can lead to a successful career.
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If that last few years in EDM have taught us anything, it’s that all you need is one viral sensation of a tune to cement your name atop festival lineups, get a label deal, make a shit ton of money, and play your own tracks from the main-stage of Ultra, alongside fucking Usher… or if you’re less lucky, American Idol.
The quality of your headphones is very unimportant.
Do you see this image? What do you see? Do you see headphones? Yes, but you also see guns. Zac Efron has guns. Which is good for him, because he also has shitty headphones. In 90% of the trailer Yung Zac totes a clunky, tattered, pair of cans—he even goes for a little jog with them (and his guns)! Does any DJ go jogging wearing over the ear studio headphones? No. You can get a perfectly good pair of brand new headphones for less then a hundred bucks, but that doesn’t really matter because most EDM DJs are just pushing buttons on a pre-programmed set. Headphones (like those biceps!) are is just another accessory meant to distract us from the fact that they’re doing absolutely nothing on stage.
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125 BPM is not a warm-up BPM but who fucking cares?
Pro tip: if you’re a new DJ, don’t warm up a room at 125 BPM. If you want to start chill or your set time is at a trying 3PM, let your tunes flow in the space between 110-118. That’s the realm of chillness right there. But if you want to be an EDM DJ, fuck the chillness. Go to any festival like Ultra or Tomorrowland, walk to the main stage, and you’ll witness the DJ playing peak-hour, face-melting big-room house a good ten hours before actual peak hour. This also goes for every single pool party in Las Vegas, frat parties, bar mitzvahs, and other opportunities for fist-pumping. Warm-up sets are a lost art. They’re also for losers. DJ Zac Efron is no loser!
Women aren’t people, they’re just bodies.
We have touched on this subject before. We Are Your Friends is a movie about dudes as much as it is about DJs. As the lone female star, Emily Ratajkowski, plays a woman in EDM and therefore doesn’t need to be a real character. She can just be a model who stands around as eye candy and waves her hands in the air when someone puts cheap headphones on her beautifully-haired head. Rather than tell the story of a woman actually working in EDM (or any woman, really) this movie sticks to the script with female bodies serving as beautiful receptacles of untz-infused misogyny.
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DJ fights are lame, pointless, and confusing.
Are these DJs fighting or getting more deep-house field recordings?? When it comes to DJ beef, the stakes are notoriously low. How many ridiculous spats have we seen over the years? Deadmau5 vs Hilton. Deadmau5 vs Krewella. Deadmau5 vs THUMP. The list goes on. Troxler and Aoki. Gary Richards and Pasquale Rotella. What are all these rich guys bitching about anyway? Everyone who makes dance music seems to always be moaning about something (see DJs Complaining). Still, when the music is loud and the alcohol is flowing, the tensions are high and passions are about as regulated as the level of MDMA in your local dealer’s ecstasy stash. Can’t we all just be friends?
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