90s rave music is back

“We actually discovered and started to encourage this community through North American trends and realized that a lot of producers are outside of the UK and other parts of the world and the internet is a good bridge, it comes back. really to how global it is. trend is, ”says Ronny Ho, head of dance and electronics development at Spotify.

Another marker of the global reach that rave culture is gaining is found in the small pockets of rave communities that are springing up among young people in different parts of the world. For example, in Nigeria, rave culture finds its place. There’s Sweat It Out, a monthly rave party hosted in Lagos by a group of ravers that is meant to be an accommodating party scene for all young Nigerians.

“We have a non-discriminatory door policy, we mainly focus on the idea of ​​’free space’, and ‘zero stalkerst ”, explains one of the organizers of Sweat It Out, Ebi Atte. “Electronic music is deeply rooted in black and Latino gay culture,” he explains. New York in the ’80s and’ 90s, which were havens for the ostracized. We will forever remain true to the roots of the demographics of the people who have contributed so much to this music and its subculture, ”he explains.

So what is it that inspires the global renaissance around rave music and rave culture in general? UK-based music journalist Nicolas-Tyrell Scott believes the re-emergence of the ’90s aesthetic is a powerful influencing factor. “I think ’90s rave music is gaining popularity among Gen Z because of the broader nostalgia trend at play in popular music and culture,” he says. in the 90s it crossed genre boundaries in abundance and was again influenced by that of today’s music, the fusion of sounds. “

For Negative Gemini, who is currently working on her debut album which will contain mostly rave sounds, the most exciting part of the climb is knowing that her sound won’t be out of place. “I’ve been to parties and it’s just jungle music and kids don’t care. I kind of feel like it’s a nostalgia for dance music and how it was positive and melodic and beautiful and I think it all comes down to that, ”she says.

However, other EDM experts aren’t entirely convinced that this is a rebirth as much as a different iteration of a subculture that never really died. “I don’t know if this is a rebirth in itself,” says Andrew Ryce, music editor at electronic dance magazine. Resident advisor. “I think Gen Z are just more tuned in to what’s going on and more open to other kinds of music, that they naturally gravitate towards electronic music and rave culture.”

Andrew also explains that rave culture changes in detail depending on the generations that interact with it. “In my experience, young people don’t necessarily try to fuck themselves or take drugs at raves the same way as previous generations. I know a lot of young ravers who love music and don’t even drink, let alone “party”. They want loud music and a collective experience, which is also understandable coming from a generation raised on smartphones and the Internet, ”Andrew shares.

In recent times, however, rave music is also creating a generation of artists who define their own sounds without permission or need for industry validation. For example, the 20-year-old British musician pinkpantheres describes her sound as new-nostalgic, while Nia, a 21-year-old British artist, describes it as “the lo-fi jungle or retro-futurism”. This gender distinction allows a group of creatives who are unafraid to chart their own course and change the rules about who can enter the music industry, and how that entry occurs, what in it. case, does not imply any access control.

“I think it goes back to what rave culture is known for,” Ronny says, “[which is] disrupt the norm and stand up for what you believe in and go against the grain. “