French techno savant Mike Levy aka Gesaffelstein has cut down America’s commercial dance ideology in a recent interview with the Huffington Post referring to ‘EDM’ as “dance music, but in the worst way’. The comment came amidst a US tour with the Zone label owner playing a number of live shows to promote the release of his recent debut album ‘Aleph’ (stream). He explains the difference between Europes crowd and that in the US;

“I have the feeling that [in the U.S.] they don’t really grant a big difference between Daft Punk, David Guetta and me, “In the U.S., it’s ‘EDM’ because it’s electronic. But it’s not the same — if I play in Europe at a festival, I know for sure that I will not play at the same stage as David Guetta. It’s totally different, and the crowd too. Most of the time when I play in Europe, I’ll play in an alternative festival, with a rock band, a hip-hop group or even just an electronic festival with only European techno. For us, in France, ‘EDM’ is not ‘electronic’ — it’s just dance music, but in the worst way. There is nothing electronic, there is nothing techno, there is nothing house. It’s just not the same music.”

The French have always been regarded as purists who are content with playing to their own trends and sounds – from the original electro artists such as Kavinsky, Justice and Feadz (new album ‘Instant Alpha’ on the way) as promoted by Ed Banger back in 2007 and onwards to the revival of  Daft Punk. They refuse to want to jump in line with the commercial and often boring ‘EDM’ business.

Head to any festival and the highlights are those NOT playing the same hits… and for that we have the utmost respect for them.

For fans of Gesaffesltein he’ll be back in Australia early next year to play Future Music Festival alongside Deadmau5, Kaskade, Knife Party and more.

source: Huffington Post