“It’s like— it’s like a flow, man. A flow through all of us, together.”

Together. More than anything, that’s what EDM is about: bringing people together.

And right now, I feel pretty alone. Turns out, EDM isn’t too popular in California. When I blast some Zomboy or some Jack U from my dorm room, the people stopping by my door aren’t just there with a plea to turn the music down, but also with disheartening questions such as “Can you play something else?” or “Are those robots farting?” or, more commonly, “What the hell is that?”

These reactions are harsh differences from back home in Chicago. It never mattered who had the AUX cord— I could have been driven home by a random Uber driver, yet I’m confident that the both of us would be bobbing our heads in unison to some fire EDM if I asked him to put on some music. EDM was the genre of our area (besides country, ugh), and many people attended the numerous concerts and festivals in the city when they had the chance.

The thing is, EDM is more than just music. Personally, I never say “PLUR”— in my eyes, the acronym, which stands for “peace, love, unity, and respect,” has become worn of any true meaning and is usually used to mock EDM and rave culture.

But PLUR does hint at the right idea. Everything about EDM is meant to transcend our differences as people and connect us on a more visceral plane as human beings. Take the characteristic drop. At a music festival, the drop is incredibly powerful, and I don’t mean just in terms of the bass. The DJ builds a massive amount of energy up and upon the drop, everyone in the crowd releases that energy at the same time— in that moment, everyone is united under the music and elation. In that moment, you forget yourself and you forget that the people around you are different than you are, because all that matters is the energy flowing through every soul in the crowd.

The drugs and the visibly expressed sexuality are part of the experience, too. I’m not promoting either, but both make sense in a festival environment. Drugs are part of any concert you go to, no matter the genre, but in the case of EDM festivals, they are a more potent form of connecting with the unifying energy of acceptance. Drugs like Molly, shrooms, or acid are choice options because they open the mind and promote empathy, so mixed with the already unifying music, they allow people to connect with each other on a deeper level.

It’s all about that deeper level of connection, and an elevated expression of sexually caters towards that. Humans are by nature extremely sexual, and yet the preservation of a society demands that we detach from that sexuality, uniting us in a different manner by directing our focus to working, helping others, and societal innovation. But EDM and festivals allow people to let go of that responsibility, to be united on a personal plane, and to express themselves more openly. This is not to say that people impulsively pursue their sexual desires— the “respect” part of PLUR resonates with the EDM environment, and people inherently understand that the sexuality has to be respected as much as it is expressed.

EDM brings more than just music. It is an introduction to a different way of living and a different way of thinking. And I hope that I can find a group of people here in California that share those ideals, eventually. Because I’m getting kinda tired of thinking of my favorite drops as robots farting.