Following the announcement of Kygo as this fall’s WILD headliner, Senior Cadenza Editor Mark Matousek and Music Editor Kendall Carroll react to Social Programming Board’s selection:

Much of modern electronic dance music (EDM) centers around percussion and volume, particularly the increasing tempos followed by brief pauses that lead into atomic blasts of sub-bass known as “drops.” The music is built for condensed spaces and crowds ready to shed inhibition. These conventions can induce ecstatic states due to the physical exertion they urge and the endorphins they set loose.

The thing is, unless the entire audience is willing to accept the costs of experiencing this music in close quarters (trampled feet, elbows to the head, etc.), a psychic division will prevent this collective euphoria. At festivals and concerts geared toward aggressive dance music, stage separation and ticket prices encourage self-segregation. You don’t pay $80 to see Skrillex unless you want to rage.

Due to the breadth of musical tastes at Wash. U., WILD is not the forum for sonic extremes. It’s best to find artists with crossover appeal, whatever musical form that appeal takes.

Kygo plays to the middle more than his peers. His background as a piano player manifests itself in songs that emphasize lilting melodies more than percussive cracks. Kygo often programs his synthesizers to resemble pan flutes and steel drums, instruments that evoke tropical warmth. His tempos, which rest a few notches below the frantic pace of his contemporaries, further encourage a mellowed bliss.

Kygo may not turn the heads of those who are not invested in EDM, but he twists the genre’s tropes enough to resist anonymity. Perhaps more importantly, he’s unlikely to produce the violently negative reactions that accompanied Wolfgang Gartner and Chance the Rapper when they performed at WILD’s fall 2012 and 2013 iterations, respectively.

When trying to please an entire student body in various states of intoxication, that’s all you can ask for. –Mark Matousek

I’ll be honest in saying that when I was told the fall WILD artist my first reaction was “Kygo who?” But after some musical cramming, I caught up on the 24-year-old Norwegian DJ’s career. I’m torn between being intrigued by the creative remixes and disappointed in losing the performance aspect of WILD.

However, for the other side of the music scene, Magic Man is more of the traditional WILD act. The band has more of a pop-rock feel, with enough electronic undertones to tie them to the main act. It is a definitely a different feel from past WILDs to have a DJ as the headliner, but for the plenty of students who see the event as more of a dance party than an actual concert, Kygo might be the perfect choice. -Kendall Carroll