Within the past 10 years a music style known as EDM or electronic dance music (can also be referred to as club music), has grown in popularity through artists like Daft Punk, Skrillex, David Guetta, Deadmau5, and Aviici. This style of music is mostly created through the use of electronic equipment and played by DJ’s as opposed to the standard musical instruments. Sometimes these acts will have other artists come in and sing over the tracks they produce thus creating more of a song feel rather than just electronic music.
I’m not into EDM. Never was. LCD Soundsystem might be the only group I like and listen to that’s even close to what you would consider EDM. Last summer though I heard a song that was so catchy and so unlike other club music that I didn’t even realize it was by a DJ type artist. The song was called “Cheap Sunglasses” and it was by a band or should I say artist called RAC.
Formed in 2006, RAC used to stand for Remix Artist Collective. It was an indie project started by Andre Allen Anjos where him and a few others would remix indie songs into something more danceable. Sounds kind of like EDM but not the case. Unlike club music, the remixes created a “unique aesthetic based around emotion and nuance”. To me that means there’s a more whimsical, flowing vibe. RAC created remixed songs by plenty of indie artists including Lana Del Rey, Tegan and Sara, The Shins, Foster the People, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, etc. (the list goes on and on). Nowadays RAC is just RAC and has become Anjos’ solo project. In 2014 RAC released an album called Strangers which uses original compositions and features other artists singing on many of the tracks.
This year RAC is playing Coachella and it’s a set that I’m highly anticipating. I’ve downloaded several other RAC songs besides “Cheap Sunglasses”. I really dig all of them. I tried to purchase the album locally but it was unavailable. I’ll probably end up buying it online. It’s that good. A lot of the songs remind me of something I’d listen to while cruising the California coastline. The sound really is more indie than electronic though. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed it so much without ever realizing that RAC wasn’t a band. Even after I found out, it didn’t turn me away. I have a feeling the Coachella set is going to be so fun and upbeat. I even think my cousin who is more of a Pitbull fan than anything indie rock is going to love it. I guess you can say that RAC is probably the closest I’ll get to liking EDM, but that’s fine by me.
Song recommendations:
1. “Cheap Sunglasses” (feat. Matthew Koma)
2. “Hollywood” (feat. Penguin Prison)
3. “Repeating Motion” (feat. Karl Kling)
4. “Let Go” (feat. Kele & MNDR)
5. “405” (feat. YACHT)
6. “Hard to Hold” (feat. Tegan and Sara)
The Spentertainic Source 