Talking more about how K-Pop has affected the Korean Dance Music scene, we talk to Edgar Sounds.
Edgar is the head of the largest DJ Academy in Korea "BeatOne DJ Lab". He also produces for DJ Korea (Records) and is a resident DJ of Libertine. Having released his first single in 2017, Edgar has gone on to play around Asia in countries such as Japan, China and Taiwan.
ADM: How did you get started and how did you get to where you are now?
E: When I thought about having the chance of expressing and sharing feelings through my music, DJing was an attractive job. Along with the feedback from people who were working in the scene that were positive, it pushed me to go pro. I've been a DJ since 2004, having participated in many of festivals and clubs’ events with House Music.
After starting my own music label, I eventually got signed with DJ KOREA RECORDS. Now I have run my own DJ academy for 8 years and play regularly at Libertine as a Resident DJ. Libertine, being one of the top 3 clubs in Korea have been extremely supportive of my activity as an Aritste as well as as a DJ.
ADM: What do you think about how receptive people are to Korean music that isn't K-pop?
E: I think the word “K-Pop” seems to be used only in foreign countries. It isn't used in Korea. Koreans don’t classify K-Pop as a specific genre, but they seem to itemise K-Pop a little bit from others.
Idol music forms a certain layer of fans and there’s a certain demand for them. The music industry has to pursue the demand. With that said a large portion of the Korean Music Industry belongs to Idol Music.
Recently there has been a change though, talented producers have begun to pop up and deliver their music to people easily with the development of SNS (Social Networking System) platforms.
People want a variety of music. While many well produced tracks have disappeared without having any chance to be delivered to people in the past, these days everybody can have a chance to deliver their music. The age of self searching and listening to music consumers has come for the media through all these new platforms.
ADM: Do you think that there's enough space as a Korean Producer in Korea for music that isn't K-Pop?
E: The success of the artists like SHAUN with “Way Back Home”, shows the changes. Besides him many talented producers are slowly being discovered as well. Recently, there are many positive changes for Korean producers even though, Idol group music still have a large portion of the music source market, but the space of Korean producers has widened a little bit, not nearly enough though, but I believe there will be more space in future.
ADM: Would you say K-Pop might be restrictive in the way your own music can be distributed and marketed?
E: I don’t want my music to be put into ‘K-Pop’. That being said I don’t have any negative thinking about K-Pop, but I just don’t want my music to be classified into any title having any images without genre.
ADM: Who would you suggest our readers listen to right now?
E: There are many good producers in Korea, but I recommend Steve Wu, FIXL, and Junkilla, because they are making pop music that we talk about in this interview.
Their music is full of their own flavour, they are also very active as DJs and Producers in Korea, and slowly moving to the world stage.
Another reason of my recommendation is that they make music with English lyrics, so I think the readers of this magazine can easily be connect with their music.
You can find Edgar Sounds at these social media links
In the meantime if you'd like to tell us about any new movements in a neighbourhood near you, you can contact us via email here.