Artist Spotlight: Andrew Rayel

For some time, I have been meaning to write this raving review about how much I love Andrew Rayel.  But just like everything else of mere importance in my life, I had said I would do it “tomorrow”.  Before I knew it, “tomorrow” became eternal and 6 months later I still find myself justifying “tomorrow”.  Well “tomorrow” is today and I finally have a new review.  Andrew Rayel has long been on my list of djs to watch and he has quickly made a name for himself with Armada music and even taking part in the big ASOT festivals (650 and 600).  His trance is exactly what I need in my life; exactly what we ALL need in life.  Not many of his original tracks are vocal but he tends to remix a lot of vocal tracks (beautifully, I might add).  What I love most about his music is I feel that it truly speaks to the heart.  As much as I love a song that you can sing along to, his music sings directly to you without the distraction of having to pay attention to lyrics.  I can feel the emotion in all of his music and rather than happy, upbeat trance, I like that its a little dark and sometimes sad (but in a beautiful way of course).  On top of that, his dark tunes will definitely make you dance your ass off if you are listening to one of his sets.  Because of the rise in popularity of all EDM genres and the influx of new DJs and producers,  its hard to find originality these days.  For the most part, a lot of the stuff sounds the same.  All the producers make music that sounds the same and all the DJs seem to use to same songs (I’m basing this off of all the Ultra sets I listened to).  However, I feel like Andrew Rayel has stayed original and is truly a legendary trance producer.  He doesn’t produce mindless party tunes, he really digs deep and elicits an emotional response with his music.  Below are my 3 favorite tracks by him.  I hope you enjoy and love hims just as much as I do:

The Arizona rave scene revisited: Should it still cease to exist?

Due to my rising yet still pretty irrelevant blogging “fame” (or infamy), I have decided to revisit an old topic I touched upon because so many people had their panties up in a bunch about my opinion on the Arizona rave scene.  The reality of the situation here is that said article was written two years ago.  Even more, I haven’t been to Arizona, or the United States, for a year now.  Does all this sudden hate make me rethink what I said about Arizona? For about 2.5 seconds, yes.  Does the Arizona rave scene still suck? Probably.  Sorry I’m not old enough to be considered an old-school raver.  In my eyes I am, and since this is my writing and thoughts, I could give a shit who thinks I know tons or know absolutely nothing about the rave scene.  “Rave scene” is just something that should cease to be in everybody’s vocabulary, seeing as it is now open to the public and there is no underground, word-of-mouth aspect that used to make it so exciting for me when I was in high school.  Everything that I once knew about this culture has died and has been reborn in order to appeal to mass audiences and bring in an insurmountable cash flow.  I would like to point out that the production value as well as the talent is out of this world once you venture into the mainstream events that now qualify as “raves”.  I mean no disrespect to promoters or production companies that throw these events.  I fully understand the amount of money it takes to break even for one of these events, let alone make a sizable profit.  I just think that its unfortunate the types of people that attend these events.  The vibe and the crowd is totally different than it was when I was just a wee raver.  The new crowd and “scene” makes me feel uncomfortable (or at least that’s what I remember from years ago when I began noticing the changes).  When I used to go to raves when I was younger, it was in order to escape the high school bullshit I had to go through with a caste system that was designed by teenagers.  A caste system is shit, but a caste system designed by teenagers?? Get me the fuck out ASAP.  I could finally go to a place where there was no system like that and it felt that I just fit in with everyone.  One thing I’ve noticed about life in general, is that all good things truly do come to an end.  What I got to experience in my life at underground raves with no headliners was better than anything I could ask for.  I think raves in Arizona are shit. Raves in general are not what they used to be and I think being stuck in a venue with drugged up high school kids sucks.  So what, big deal. No amount of people telling me I’m stupid, uneducated, or just plain wrong is going to get me to change my mind.  If I feel like bitching about something I’ll do it, this is my ‘blog’ and I didn’t ask you to read this.  If you wanna read my writing, great.  If you want to comment on my writing, even better.  If you disagree with me, think I’m the dumbest twat to walk this earth, and I just absolutely repulse you, that’s wonderful, thanks for the feedback. My heart truly aches for what my once treasured scene has turned into.  I will never get the same feelings I did from the small more intimate events and in my opinion that has what has made me feel like the scene sucks.  Anybody want to take a jab at me? Take your best shot……………..