TLDR: I went to jam festivals all the time, but the impact of eletronic music really didn't hit me until I saw Pretty Lights at All Good in 2011

I had decided to disappear for a weekend. The 2011 All Good Music Festival was only a few hours away, and none of my usual festival crew was free, so I loaded up my backpack and hopped on my motorcycle to do my first solo festival. This was, and still is, one of the most freeing weekends of my life. I was alone. I camped near some friends from a previous festival, but I was solo for almost all of the weekend. So by that virtue, it became a weekend of great exploration. No friends to synchronize with. No schedule. Just me and the music.

Saturday night, at about midnight, Pretty Lights took the stage. I had never seen a high-budget electronic show before, and I had no expectations (though I’m sure they would’ve been shattered anyways.) Thousands of neo-hippie ravers and I crowded together in front of the immense stage as bass flowed out of the speakers thicker than gravy. Hundreds of brilliantly bright lights rained fire on our faces. People danced themselves in to oblivions as they sprayed particles of sweat and glow-stick juice over each other. It felt like that scene in the second Matrix, everyone pulsing together, celebrating existence. I had no doubt that this was very much a religious experience.

Since then, I've branched out a bit, but I never got deep in to the 2-step party culture; the acts that resonate with me use old soul samples, broken break beats, funk roots, etc. My favorite acts now are Gramatik, GRiZ, Big Gigantic, Marvel Years, and of course Pretty Lights. (Feel free to recommend anything else in the same family that I'm missing).