Oh Messy Life #17: Decks on the beach
Plus, a Proper Chune courtesy Remi Wolf
Welcome to Human Pursuits, the column that features need-to-know names and stories in media and other creative spaces. Today, I’m sharing an excerpt from my piece, ‘Decks on the Beach’, which appears in
’s forthcoming zine, (available now) as well as some updates from Friends of the Newsletter.On a summer night, you might see them.
DJs. Many of them men. Most under the age of 25.
They emerge from beachside parking lots in New Balances and University of British Columbia t-shirts. They are wired for sound, their hands clasped around folding tables and rented subwoofers, old MacBooks and loose batteries. USBs burn a hole in their pockets.
They are the next generation of selectors. Nightlife nomads. Where they go the party presumably follows.
If you haven’t already noticed, EDM is everywhere. Inside the dimly lit clubs and festival tents it’s known for decades, sure. But also out there. The real world. High-intensity workout classes and corporate retreats, beer-soaked frat houses, and the windows of passing Audis.
Embraced by a coalition of true believers – office drones and meme-stonkers, straight-A students and 365 party gurls, to name a few – it has become the soundtrack for many facets of post-pandemic life, the invisible thread connecting Molly water nights to “rise and grind” mornings.
Though still dwarfed by the perpetual supernovas of pop, rap, and rock, the twin stars of techno and EDM are nevertheless shining brighter than ever, attracting enough young fans to make some Redditors on r/DJs ask: “How come everyone is a DJ all of a sudden?”
The answer is, of course, anyone’s guess. But there’s a strong argument for increased access. Both in terms of technology (search Facebook Marketplace for used CDJs; you’ll see what I mean) and setting.
While the 2000s and 2010s saw dance music mostly confined to raves and nightclubs, in 2024, a growing group of industry darlings, including acts like Fred Again, Rüfüs Du Sol, and Peggy Gou are presenting their music in a new context, foregoing the formal structure of nightclubs and festivals in favour of free shows in urban and natural settings.
And so why not the beach?
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Oh Messy Life
$88,900: That’s how much somebody paid for Chappell Roan’s "HOT TO GO!" music video and stage-worn costume yesterday at the Give A Frock LA auction, organized by the amazing Lindsey Hartman, to help those affected by the L.A. wildfires. Read my conversation with Lindsey HERE.
Don’t mind the Gap.
has had a big couple of weeks. He’s featured in a new series “celebrating artists within the Gap community,” and he just dropped the first episode of the SubwayTakes podcast. It features comedian Hasan Minhaj.
If you’ve followed Pursuits for a while, you know
is on a legendary run. Pitchfork agrees. They’ve tapped her to write weekly columns. Oh, and she just interviewed Bladee. At his home, no less!I wanna chat with George. But I guess it’s okay that Robby Kelly did it first. Related: I feel like we’re overdue for some news from The 1975…
- and Mark Hoppus are hitting the road to promote Mark’s new book, FAHRENHEIT-182. No Canadian dates announced yet, but American readers can buy tickets HERE.
And the one and only Kim Taylor Bennett has a new gig as Executive Interview Producer over at the Zach Sang Show. She writes:
I'm having a blast working with Zach and the team. It feels so good to go back to my roots working on a show that welcomes not just artists and musicians to the couch, but also actors, directors, comedians, big personalities, people with interesting stories doing cool shit. The team is small, but mighty, and crucially, nimble — that's a really welcome shift. Plus the pace of it all: three shows a week! LFG!
Proper Chune
Remi Wolf is really popular. And yet it feels like she’s occupying the air space just below the stratosphere. A song like “Soup” is an absolute smash numbers-wise (22,000,000+ streams and counting on Spotify as of writing), and yet she hasn’t hit that “So-big-they-play-her-on-Canadian-radio” level. Am I crazy? Maybe! Anyway, I think “Alone in Miami” is underrated. Big chorus, even bigger bridge. For reasons I can’t explain, the melody reminds me of Our Lady Peace.