I apologize for the length of this post but I remembered this post eluna
made to the 313 list last week and thought it could help out our little DJ
discussion.
peace
Dale
______________________________________
At 10:25 AM 2/4/96 -0500, eluna wrote:
quoted 105 lines it's less about detroit vs. euro altho it seems to be generally true that
>it's less about detroit vs. euro altho it seems to be generally true that
>detroit (and american) djs do more tricks. this is definitley not always
>true, but it's true enough that there's probably some reasons worth
>looking into. but what makes a good dj?
>
>dunno about UR 33, i don't have that in front of me so i cant remember
>which one that is, but i will say that judging dj skill must be prefaced
>by a discussion about the following issues before any kind of real
>assessment can be made (this also glosses over the issue of musical taste):
>
>- tricks:
> - skill in excecution
> - ambition
> - subtlety
> - appropriateness
>
>- track selection:
> - appropriateness of mix
> - versatility
>
>- building style:
> - ability to build
> - length of mixes
>
>- crowd-interaction:
> - ability to ride the crowd
> - playing crowd-pleasing records (or crowd-annoying if that's the point)
>
>- "star" quality
>
>let me explain further and give examples of most of the above.
>
>- tricks.
>as far as skill in excecution, jeff mills is one of the best i've
>seen. he is super-tight and can excecute some amazing feats with nary a
>glitch. however, claude young wins in the ambition department. he is
>not always appropiate, tho; sometimes it's in the wrong environment and
>sometimes it doesn't work at all, so that's something else to consider.
>titonton also gets props for being overly-ambitious; even if it doesn't
>always work he gets props from me for trying. but as far as subtlety of
>tricks, i'd say bileebob wins there. he does do a LOT of tricks, but
>they are so little and unobtrusive, and so TIGHT, that they become a
>seamless part of his sets.
>
>- track selection.
>sometimes a dj will mix two records that simply do not work, so a
>sensitivity is necessary to sculpt a real set out of music. one example
>of a great selector is mike huckaby. he doesnt do hardly any tricks but
>he just plays slammin record after slammin record, no flash at all.
>actually, dave angel wins in the no-frills dj department; his skill is in
>just playing amazing music with as little "show" as possible. another
>example is juan atkins. his mixes are usually sloppy as hell but his
>selecion is so good (classics mixed with new stuff), that no one could
>ever accuse juan of being a "bad" dj. he plays to educate, not to show off.
>versatility must also be considered. if a dj can take you from
>house, to traxx, to hardtraxx, to jungle, to trip hop (like my own sets
>try in vain to do ;), then you have a damn good dj on your hands.
>
>- building style.
>sometimes djs are good at playing long-ass sets. if they can pull it off
>and still sound good then that's a good sign. i have yet to hear a great
>marathon dj, as i was unimpressed by laurent garnier (i was bored after
>an hour), and have yet to hear a good long set by richie (i usually like
>his shorter sets better) but i'm sure there's someone out there. i think
>derrick may comes closest. now, as far as length of mixes go, it's
>another important consideration. if a dj has everything else going for
>them but just cant keep a mix going, that's a severe limitation. i
>admire a dj that can keep a record on for like 10 minutes. winner for me
>in that category would be paul johnson who doesnt even look at the tables
>(he must have his bpm's written down ;) or dave hollands who (it is
>rumored) played a plastikman song on one table, kept it going, and mixed
>3 songs in and out of it for a nice 20-minute plastikman megamix.
>
>- crowd interaction:
>some djs may be great but don't even look at the crowd at all. some are
>exhibitionists who are just getting off at being stared at. but if you
>take over after someone who's begun building a wave for you and you can't
>keep it going, you suck. paris and bileebob do a great job of taking
>the crowd on a trip, and their genuine love for the music and each other
>really rubs off on crowds. shake is good at interacting with the crown
>altho he plays it off real cool. he pulls out a lot of old shit to make
>people happy (not that he's a sellout!). best i've seen at really
>getting the crowd into it is probably boris or gene farris from
>chicago..these guys jump around like maniacs and it's fun as hell.
>then there's the dadaist impulse to annoy the crowd, exemplified by
>aphex twin's non-spinning and anyone who plays gabber. ;)
>
>- "star" quality.
>derrick may's ego was sooo big when i saw him in october, that it
>ballooned up and swallowed the entire crowd. now THAT was special.
>infortunately it can work to your detriment, like the time keoki would
>not fly to columbus because his plane ticket was not first class. what a
>fuckin ninny. also, there's the "dj as an important historical figure"
>issue, people like afrika bambaataa who, altho he plays reggae now, you
>can't HELP but respect (juan also has this quality); they can't do no
>wrong if you know what i mean...
>
>i'm not sure this is so list-appropriate, but this "dj style" thing is
>something i've been thinking about for a while and just thought i'd begin
>to work out. there's probably a lot of other shit i could say but i'll
>leave it unfinished for now.
>
>thanks for reading, anyone else got any ideas?
>++
>e d