Some would credit Europe with this thing we call electronic dance music by pointing back to the pioneering work of Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder and Can. They would be half right: Contemporary electronic dance music, like blues, rock and jazz, is a progeny of the interplay between black and white music. (See Juan Atkins, Frankie Knuckles and Moby). And so, for many years New York was the club capital of DJ culture, and Southern California was its backyard playground.
But Europe has, in recent times, exacted a swift revenge on the world's dance floors. Berlin, Barcelona and Ibiza, Spain have surpassed New York, Miami and Chicago as clubbing's premier map points. And early techno and electronic dance artists such as Germany's Sven Vath, Booka Shade and DJ T – some of them beyond their 40s — have come back with a vengeance, adding that lost ingredient of early European electronic – soul – to their teutonic groove boxes.
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After decades of being a Frankfurt mainstay DJ T paired up with fellow DJ acts Booka Shade and M.A.N.D.Y. to create the Get Physical
label in the early '00s. It's been one of the hottest homes of EDM in
recent years, one of the reasons why Europe is on top. The Get Physical
sound pairs the bouncy depth of black house music with the razor-sharp
melodic edge of European synthesis. The result is a lava-lamp-bubbly
style that is sometimes dark, sometimes uplifting, always groovy. Catch
the European comeback Tuesday when DJ T spins at Focus.
Focus presents DJ T Tuesday at Focus at Tapas, 4253 Martingale Way, Newport Beach. 18+. Tickets $7.50 in advance. Info: focus-oc.com.
