The Quarantrain started out as an idea by a few people getting together after Club Quarantine by Dave Dresden on his stream @gabrielanddresden on Twitch. That much of the story has been told far and wide. So how has this affected what we’ve done since?
On our travels with the Quarantrain we’ve seen many things. Some are probably left buried deep in the vods of Twitch. But among those are various DJs that have played a wide variety of genres. In the beginning there was a feeling of experimentation, that all genres were as good as any other. As one of the original team, I myself have very broad and fuzzy definitions of genres anyway, so I tend to be open to variety.
At the start of CQ After Hours we had already been sitting in Dave’s living room for 6-10 hours a night for a full month. At times it felt like we had been hanging out with him in a way. Though the majority of us all didn’t have a depth of knowledge about genres we had met through that music we had in common, and Dave Dresden’s admittedly rather loose definitions.
Dave Dresden has played a variety music over the months, especially towards the beginning of his quarantine sets. As an Anjuna artist it was somewhat of a surprise when he ventured beyond that specific sound. Of course he has gone through a lot of the Anjuna music, his own included. He’s also played a variety of trance, some house, melodic techno, and the outskirts of other techno flavors.
Getting into the after hours as we wandered Twitch looking for music at all times of night, we discovered that the links we knew of were limited. So we have often gone to streams way outside the norm for most of us.
Through ‘trial by fire’ we discovered some things:
- We have a group that has amazingly diverse taste.
- Theres always at least a few that totally love any genre.
- Our group even when a stream is outside their taste is wonderfully supportive.
- While there is support for a wide range of genres, taken to extremes will begin to wander off to more comfortable areas.
- There are some few DJs that can take you on a path from your genre, way outside, and back again while keeping it fun the whole way. ..but they are rare.
At some point these common reference points we have with our friends became obvious, and that isn’t a bad thing. We began this journey by gathering together our diverse tastes and deciding on a destination most of us enjoyed. Its that combination of tastes which has enjoyed success, and we’ve grown our audience around. This isn’t to say there is any room for elitism when guiding others to music. Tastes vary by person, and even over time within the same person.
Our group does have a tendency towards trance, although but its definitely not a strict limitation. Old or new, melodic or progressive, uplifting or Euphoric, Anjuna or otherwise. Beyond that though we happily hang out in adjacent genres too from EDM, Hard Trance, House, chill, electro, to techno of various styles.
Hardcore, DNB, hard techno, psy and trap, have some adherents as well. Over time we’ll have to see if we can stretch our wings and give a taste of that now and again. For now with the Quarantrain group specifically those have been too far outside our norm for regular visits. the our group interested. On rare occasion we have run into streamers that were so entertaining on their own that people stayed for them and had a good time. ..thats hard to find. That said there are some amazing streamers in all of these genres, and supporting their kindness and energy is definitely a goal.
I guess thats where we are with genres. We dont limit ourselves to particular ones. Theres great music in almost all of them. We’re growing in knowledge and experience and as we get better at describing genres to each other and then we can better communicate what we want to share with each other. Its not a limitation, but a tool to describe.
So on we go in our mission to find the best examples.. the hidden gems.. those who have been streaming for years but not noticed.. those who have fun and we can have fun with. Thats what its all about.
Mystixa