We’ve been writing a lot of blog posts about our trip down to Miami for the Winter Music Conference. It was an incredible, action-packed experience, so it’s taking us some time to give you the whole scoop 
One of the highlights of the trip for me was actually having a sitdown with Andy Horsfield, the founder of Global Underground.
To paint the picture for you, it was Wednesday night, and Global Underground was throwing a killer party at Mynt Lounge. The headlining acts were Nic Fanciulli and Darren Emerson. From 10pm to 1am, this party was invite only and open bar – not a bad combination if you’re "invited" (which I was, fortunately).
I’m one of the first people into the club (along with a friend of mine named Willy). After getting in, I made my way to the bar for a drink…along the way I tell the club manager that I’m the CEO of Resonant Vibes, and I’d like to have a chat with Andy Horsfield so that I can write a blog post about it. Shortly afterward, Willy (my makeshift cameraman) and I make our way back to the VIP area to have a chat with Andy.
I was actually quite excited about chatting with Andy. In my humble opinion, Global Underground is the best electronic music CD series of all time – bar none! Furthermore, Global Underground provided my gateway into the realm of electronic music – it was Oakenfold’s New York CDs in particular that did it.
I didn’t try to get a verbatim record of my chat with Andy. I wanted to keep it more informal and to really enjoy the chat. I started off asking him about his early days. He told me that he was from Newcastle (like my man Sam) and that he was into electronic music in the 80s. As an entrepreneur myself, I wanted to hear about the genesis and growth of Global Underground.
There’s a track on disc one of Oakey’s GU CD that I’ve always liked, and I’ve listened to it a few times recently. It’s called "Paradise," and it’s by Miro. (For those who don’t know the track, I’ve posted it below so you can check it out.)
In my humble opinion, I’d have to vote for disc 2 of John Digweed’s Sydney Global Underground release as the best electronic music mix ever released on CD. There are so many other CDs that re-wired my brain, but I can’t think of any that did the job like this one. It’s hard to say what sets this CD apart for me, but I think it comes down to an incomparable originality and sense of pure, unorthodox creativity. As Diggers builds his way through this mix – especially the first seven tracks – you don’t have the feeling that you’re listening to a sequence of songs…you feel like you’re listening to an organic electronic composition unfold.
As I started getting into electronic music, I felt like it fit nicely with my tendency to shun the commercial stuff. As I kept hitting the clubs and finding new DJs, I had the sense that what I was listening to was "underground." It’s funny now to look back on the evolution of my conception of what is "commercial" in the context of electronic music. In the past several years, my involvement in Resonant Vibes has given me a different perspective on things. RV has exposed me to a bunch of new DJs and artists – from the most famous to the up-and-coming. I started thinking about the idea of "what is commercial" because I recently took a liking to Max Graham’s July 16 Essential Mix. I realized that I was generally a little less open to the Essential Mixes – even though there have been some amazing ones – because I felt like they could sometimes be on the commercial side. As much as I have a distaste for the idea of sheepishly following the mainstream, I am also wary of becoming so fixated on non-commercial sounds that I miss out on or undervalue respectable music.
