euphoria ∞ melancholia: a playlist by Jakob Bouchal

Jakob Bouchal is a DJ and music lover based in Vienna, Austria. We have invited him to introduce his playlist “euphoria ∞ melancholia“, describing a feeling that you might have already experienced…

There are times and places where the continuous repetition and the raw force of cold, robotic techno tracks easily suck me into their realm for hours and hours on end. Similarly, the bright and warm grooves of house music can keep me dancing night and day. Electronic dance music is, without any doubt, first and foremost associated with parties – with endless nights in buzzing clubs, with times of euphoria and ecstasy. Both as a DJ and as a listener, however, the tracks that I’ve always been most interested in were not the ones with the hardest-hitting peaks or the funkiest basslines. In a genre where the maximum has become the standard, the tracks that really stand out, for me, are the ones that go a lot deeper.  

Both as a DJ and as a listener, the tracks that I’ve always been most interested in were not the ones with the hardest-hitting peaks or the funkiest basslines.

They are gleaming with bliss and joy and rapture, weightlessly hurtling towards infinite euphoria – while at the same time, there seems to be the crushing weight of an eternal melancholia hanging over them. Encompassing the full pallet of emotions, they make you want to get up and jump about and dance – but they also leave a bitter sweet taste of pensiveness and gloom in your mouth.

And while overwhelming shudders of emotions run down your body, you want that track, that moment, that night, to never stop.

It’s the lurking presence of darkness that makes them shine even brighter, and where these extreme opposites are condensed into the tight space of a single track, they complement and fuel each other, melting into something entirely new: that unparalleled magical feeling of goosebumps and sudden sensations of excitement, making the hair on the back of your neck stand up – and while overwhelming shudders of emotions run down your body, you want that track, that moment, that night, to never stop.

“euphoria ∞ melancholia” is a collection of dance music dedicated to this exact feeling, a playlist for those who like their rave with a pinch of melancholia, a soundtrack for times when the world is kind of coming apart at the seams but you just can’t stop dancing. I will update it from time to time, so feel free to subscribe.

“euphoria ∞ melancholia” is a soundtrack for times when the world is kind of coming apart at the seams but you just can’t stop dancing.

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