It’s Really Hard To Write About Dance Music

But we should still write about it…right?

Part 1: What it’s like to decide to go to an event, and, pregaming.

It’s thursday, and my feet hurt from delivering mail. I’m starting to lose track of what exactly is interesting about me, I guess the garden, I really didn’t do much there, honestly once I got the plants to a certain size they just kinda grew on their own. But I have a friend coming to town this weekend. All the way from New York City. I love to show the city of Montréal off, I want anyone who comes here—especially from places like New York—to know that we are a cool ass place and I’m still a cool guy who can hang.

Luckily, MUTEK is on, and playing an event with a DJ that I’ve heard the name of (Ben UFO). I even listened to his Resident Advisor mix. Not like, one of the ones I put on repeat, but I listened to it. One of the other names on the event is Rival Consoles, who I have paid to see perform on his own as a cool electronic concert. The event is like $70, which is kinda nuts, but because of a promo from the organizers (homegrown harvest) it’s only $58. Justifiable, in that “eh fuck it, we ball” kind of way. Especially when there’s friends in town. My roommate D had some friends who were already going, and we’re even able to convince my other roommate C to come out and have fun for once. So, over the next day and a half, we commit to spending the big bucks to Go To An Event on Saturday Night.

There’s a lot of things that threaten the night. D went out the night before to the same venue, the vibes were not great. Homegrown Harvest has gone from being a fresh debutante on the scene to an outfit that perhaps seems a bit “too legit”. There are claims it may even be “OVER”. My texts to M from New York make it clear we’re gonna do separate pre-games… I myself am feeling hungover, depressed. My hips hurt, I’ve got a headache, I’ve been trying out “do I have long COVID or something” in my head as an intrusive thought to obsess over. But somehow, that turns around.

After a couple failed disco nap attempts, I put on a song I learned to love at a DJ Set a few years ago. My roommates come back from a walk with the dog “oh, we getting the party started”. D’s got a modded Wii, they picked up some beers, things are looking up. Sometimes, there is nothing funnier in the entire universe than having three beers and playing Nintendo games aimed at children. Once you have cried laughing at yourself meekly saying “send me send me” to request a pass in Super Mario Strikers, the night has already been made. If there’s a takeaway from this here ramble, this is it. When you’re going to a rave, try to have had a fun and nice night before you even leave the house.

What I’m trying to chip away at here, dear reader, is a writing problem that has been prickling me for the last year. Electronic dance music is a huge part of my life, and this isn’t the case for everyone. It’s also a tricky thing to write about, indeed, I have thought: “by thinking about writing about this, I’m not living in the moment! I’m missing the point!” So here’s my first attempt to capture a fragment of what that experience is like. Bug me to write more of these, and let me know if the style is too scattered.