I know there are people out there who say that the electronic-based forms of music (EDM, techno, house) fall under one large umbrella and don’t contribute anything to music as a whole.

I have friends ask me numerous times when I’m listening to a prog-house tune, “Are you listening to a dubstep song?” and “It all sounds the same to me.”

There is no real feeling, unless you’re a raver or mosher on some illicit drug or a sorority girl on a Thursday night holding her drink high and splashing the people around her.

I don’t do any drugs, party, nor am I a member of Greek life, but I appreciate electro-based music.

Not the top 40 varieties like those David Guetta has been manufacturing for the past three years, but the underground European-based ones that you can only experience at a large scale festival like Creamfields or Coachella.

One on my list is Calvin Harris.

Most people know Calvin as the mastermind behind Rihanna’s biggest single to date, “We Found Love,” but I am fonder of his 2011 single, “Feel So Close.”

The song is only comprised of four lines which most people who heard the song would simply dismiss it as some lazy attempt at best.

The lyrics can be interpreted in so many ways and when I hear that guitar-driven house beat over top, I feel like I could do anything.

It’s just one of those songs that make you extremely happy when you hear it on the radio (not the messy faux-step remixes, but the original).

If you watch the music video, you should know what I’m talking about.

Another is Avicii’s “Silhouettes.”

Unlike Calvin Harris whose sound can be easily passed off as too mainstream, Avicii creates straight up endorphin-releasing house music that even pop artists like Flo Rida and Leona Lewis wanted to get their paws on it.

With his first hit “Levels,” he seemed to focus on churning out a tune that everyone could identify with and just flail around to.

Then he stopped trying to please the public and all created one of my favorite songs of the year, “Silhouettes,” which contains a dissertation’s worth of sound.

You seem to discover something new with each listen.

I’ll close by saying this: EDM has a lot more to offer than just a mindless night on the town if you know where to look and who to listen to.