The definitive story of rave culture today, from the author of Altered State.
In the 90s, dance music was the euphoric, utopian frontier of youth culture. But what does it mean to people around the world today?
In Detroit, techno is helping the city heal its economic wounds.
In Berlin, idealists are battling the corporatisation of nightlife.
In Ibiza, the superstar DJs of the 1990s play to economy-class travellers.
In Vegas, popstars like Skrillex play scattershot EDM to a new teen audience.
In South Africa, deep house is soundtracking the 'Apartheid After-Party'.
In the south of France, illegal 'teknivals' pit local police against thousands of ravers.
In Israel, Jews and Arabs dance side by side to psytrance by the Sea of Galilee.
In Shanghai, promoters put on branded nights and talk about market share.
In Dubai, unlikely dance music scenes spring up like oases in a desert.
And in New York, gay nights are still holding out against the forces of sanitisation.
Around the world, rave culture set off an explosion of creativity, generating countless new musical forms, from hip-hop and house to dubstep and grime. But in a quarter-century it has gone from the subculture to the mainstream, and every year it seems closer to reflecting our consumerist era.
In Rave On, Matthew Collin crosses the globe to tell the story of where electronic music has come from and where it is going - and whether it will survive its own success.
About the Author
Matthew Collin is the author of Altered State, the definitive story of acid house and rave culture in Britain. He has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse, and as editor for i-D magazine, the Time Out website, the Big Issue and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. He has also written for many newspapers and magazines, including the Wire, Guardian, Observer, Mixmag and Mojo.
Industry Reviews
Part history lesson, part vibrant dance-floor travelogue, Collin's smart geographical survey shows how club culture mutates and adapts, its meaning changing between Detroit, Durban and the conspicuously consuming Dubai ... Between those repetitive beats, there's still a world of possibility. -- Victoria Segal * Sunday Times *
Ten x-rays of dance culture in ten global hotspots that lovingly trace the history of each locale's sound through its DJs, promoters and proponents ... Both scholarly and intimate ... Collin's quest is never short of illuminating ... fascinating -- Kitty Empire * Observer *
Praise for Altered State:
'At last somebody has written the real history of the last ten years, and written it with such wit, verve, empathy and profound intelligence. I can't recommend this marvellous piece of work enough. -- Irvine Welsh
Altered State remains the definitive story of the last decade's love affair with MDMA and mucking about in fields just off the M25 * Q *
The first book to forensically document the acid house explosion ... written with the authority of the first-hander * Mixmag *
Altered State is not just timely; it was crying out to be written * Independent *
Matthew Collin has a reporter's eye, a critic's erudition and a fan's passion -- Dorian Lynskey, author of 33 Revolutions Per Minute
A timely deconstruction of the interests and influences shaping international dance music - but with all the fun left in ... both an intoxicating field trip and a well-argued word to the wise on (not) selling out. -- Robert Bound * Monocle *
Rave On describes in fascinating detail how electronic music scenes bubble up in places that are in the depths of poverty, despair or unrest. The Detroit and Berlin chapters are particularly powerful... Collin's descriptions of Berlin's superclub Berghain today are particularly wonderful -- Jude Rogers * New Statesman *
