I'm not a fan of posting negative comments,
but an event I witnessed last night has made
me make an exception:
Background #1: The UK's Dave Clarke was in
Halifax a couple of months back and did a stellar
effects-heavy set. He scratched, used doubles,
did tricks, used effects between tracks, used effects
on tracks that were playing together, used effects
on tracks that were playing solo. His set had dynamics,
people danced from start to finish of the set, and people
were incredibly enthusiastic before, during, and after his
set.
Background #2: I've been lucky to see quite a few
DJs in my time (since 1987 when I moved from listening to
records to recording and DJing it as well)--from top
professionals to many novices--including novices who are
in the midst of their first set--ever. Was proud to be a member of
the judging panel at Halifax's 1st, 2nd, and last year's
(ie 3rd) DJ Olympics (and, boy oh boy, you've not
been tested till you've been asked to listen to 16 DJs
play back to back sets for 20 minutes each--and judge 'em! :))
Anyway...
Last night's event: I'll state for the record that I am
not a fan of DJ Spooky's writing or his recorded music,
but I am one to listen to everything and aimed to approach
his appearance last night--here in Halifax at our yearly Jazz
Festival--with open eyes, er, ears. The cover for DJ Spooky's
set was $15, quite pricey (actually, the most expensive at the
Jazz Fest) compared to other out of town acts which were in
the $10 to $12 range (none at $15), but, regardless, I REALLY
wanted to come away from his set thinking "damn, I'm into his
DJing, if nothing else". I E. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt
all the way.
Now here's why Dave Clarke was mentioned in Background
#1: In interviews DJ Spooky did this week with 2 local papers,
he made much of the fact that he was going to give an (I'm para-
phrasing here, not quoting from memory) "artistic journey, not
a simple DJ set". That said, I was expecting sound collage/turntablism,
a combination thereof; regardless, something stellar.
I was right up at the front and saw that Spooky had the same
set up as Dave Clarke (two turntables, a Pioneer mixer--don't know
the model name, but it is the one with literally TONS of effects), plus
he also had two CD players.
Here is his set-list:
1. effects
2. played a bass track I couldn't ID
3. record ended, he did some effects
4. played Cronic Tronic featuring Shado--
"King Of Bass" (on Detroit's Direct Beat)
5. record ended, he did some effects
6. played "Rockafeller Skank" by Fatboy Slim (I kid
you not; it was "right about now, the funk soul
brother, check it out now, the funk soul brother...")
7. record ended, he did some effects
8. played a drum n bass track I couldn't ID
9. record ended, he did some effects
I left at this point (he had been on for 30 minutes and
had played 4 songs in full) because I just couldn't take it
anymore. A) His set had absolutely no dynamics; at
the point I left (see 9 above), he had some bass looping
that was going on and on and getting aurally painful. B)
He seemed completely unaware of it (i e he was really into
his set, smiling, dancing around, pointing to the decks, etc),
but if there was one word to describe his set (or the 30 minutes
that I heard), it was OFF (and deservedly in capitals). People
cheered and cheered before he started, they were primed and
ready to have an "experience", but few danced, none cheered,
and most stood around wondering what the heck was going on.
And not because he was doing something (in his words) "artistic",
but because he was doing a straight DJ set and it was horrible.
DJ Spooky had been saying in the press that he was going to go beyond
"simply playing records", but what he did was just that--simply
play records--and badly at that that. Everything he did was off:
he attempted a beat mix between the beat tracks, but in each case
it was horribly trainwrecking, so it was like he chose to do effects
between tracks instead of mixing (and the DJ on before him did
a good job, so I'm sure it wasn't the setup or the sound). His
EQing was off, all of his tricks were off (dropouts, chops, transforms,
scratches, etc), and it just sounded like someone said to him "hey,
never djed before? no problem, just play records and use this mixer
to do lots of effects between the tracks. nuthin' to it". His use of
effects
was just *noise*, there was no sculpting of sound (as Dave Clarke
did many a time during his set) or sense that DJ Spooky had control
or knew what he was doing. It was painful to listen to. And not in
the Merzbow/Whitehouse/etc sense of testing our hearing vs pain
thresholds, but painful in the "this is horribly done" sense! Many in
the
crowd went to see DJ Spooky because of his "artistic" angle (and
he does mention this, so it makes sense that people would do so),
and thus many in the crowd weren't the same type of people who
saw Dave Clarke or would be up on turntablism/etc. But I was
super disappointed that so many paid $15 last night to see someone
who sounded like it was his first time between a mixing system, and
that they might come away thinking that what DJ Spooky did was art!
Dave Clarke and Mix Master Mike put together sets artistically,
so it's not like DJ Spooky can claim an excuse. In the end, I'm hoping
that many of those people will come to see Detroit's Claude Young
when he plays here this coming July 20th so they can see that,
despite what DJ Spooky says in the press, judging from last night,
he doesn't dj "art", he is just a mediocre DJ who is being booked
on the basis of his writing and/or music-making. If I were judging the
two, Dave Clarke would have gotten a 95% for his techno set here
recently, and DJ Spooky would have gotten a 5% (and I'm not
exagerrating here by using 5%; at the last DJ Olympics, there were
a number of DJs who I scored 5 points out of 60; I'm hard to please
but I treat everyone the same and fairly :)) for his electro/drum n bass
set last night.
My question after all this blather: was last night an atypical DJ
Spooky
set, or is he truly someone who shouldn't be DJing?
Thanks. Andrew Duke
--
Cognition/Andrew Duke's In The Mix
mailto:cognition@techno.ca
http://techno.ca/cognition
1096 Queen St #123 Halifax NS Canada B3H 2R9
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