Saying Goodbye to Monstercat (what else is there)
Monstercat brought me to EDM in late middle/early high school and is basically my ONLY reference point for "EDM" or even "electronic music" as a whole. That + nightcore/S3RL/early 2010s scene kid rave music (which I was too young to truly grasp the appeal of). Most of what I listened to on mcat was from the color-coded era too, so I ended up learning most of my genre names from there, with drum n bass and hard dance (happy hardcore in particular) being my favorites. It was also how I found Puppet (favorite music artist) even though he went from doing indie dance with them to doing his own thing (iykyk).
Well, I've been reading up about the history of electronic music on my own time just cause I find music history fascinating (I'm a classical/jazz trombonist) and it's made me realize that there's so much more out there. I think we all know the joke about the obnoxious amount of subgenres but if you actually have time to do a deep dive it's really cool to see and you end up with a lot of good music that's not so "mainstream." Which, don't get me wrong I do like catchy stuff but electro-pop (and its sphere of influence) gets tiring eventually. Part of my issue with Monstercat, actually.
I'm also about to move from the US to Germany for graduate school and they have a big techno scene. I've always loved hardcore, but I didn't even realize "techno" was a genre; I thought "techno music" meant "electronic music." So now I need to find some techno to listen to and explore more there. I also need to get back into hard dance as a whole cause I like basically anything upbeat/energetic and FAST. Speedcore and extratone and whatever is a little bit too much for me, but I do really like when artists push the tempo and give it an extra strong PULSE.
I guess my question is: what else is out there? I've been slowly drifting away from Monstercat and I've started following individual artists instead. The Silk Acquisition made me feel like it's getting too corporate/consolidated so I hung on for the 10th anniversary and then quit. (I actually drew fanart of Monstercat on a color wheel with all the genre colors.) This was 5 years ago and I've felt weirdly lost ever since. I've dabbled in stuff like eurobeat/older happy hardcore and have been getting into more Asian-influenced stuff recently, but I think I need to start finding European stuff since I'll be in Germany.
If anyone has any artist recommendations or advice on how to curate my algorithm I'd really appreciate it! Both Spotify and YT Music make it hard to actually "discover" new music (especially when you've been listening to the same shit for years) so in that aspect I'm looking mainly for specific songs and artists, but also I really want to learn about various subgenres as well (specifically hardcore/hard dance, drum n bass, and electro swing). Particularly history but also what sets them apart from each other in terms of sound.
Also I'm an introvert loser who has never been to a live concert (except in classical/jazz settings) and I need to get out of my shell and go to an event. I would like to go to an actual rave/underground party but that also makes me nervous cause idk what it's like. So any advice for that (especially in Germany/Europe) is greatly appreciated.
...
tdlr: give me recommendations (other than Monstercat). Give me names and subgenres (including niche subgenres). Advice on IRL raving is also greatly appreciated.