Sat, 28 Feb 2009
Art of the DJ
No mistake, there is an art to it for sure and the
good ones are not only technically skilled in their
handling of equipment and media but in their handling
of their audiences.
But! For someone coming from the indy end of rock,
it's still all vaguely a bit incomprehensible - I
mean, for a start, all this anxiety to please stuff -
what's that about?! That's a different universe, like
being in something as unspeakable as a wedding band or
being a cocktail bar jazz doofus. The wedding band guys
will tell you that they make a whole lot of money and
you know they have skill but still, it seems awfully
like peddling your ass in a low rent part of town...
and where peddling your ass isn't, you know, your
thing exactly.
I was at a techno party not long ago and what struck
me was how safe and mannered it all was - mid tempo
scratchings with slow developments and not too much in
the way of surprises. After a certain hour it seemed
most anyone would dance to this in a vaguely self
absorbed and contained way. Well, OK, why not? Some
people like playing endless games of scrabble as well.
But don't get me wrong - I don't miss bloody
mosh pits at all, and I don't miss nihilism all that
much either except as a momentary thing where, in a
pinpoint flash of light, the body danced outside
itself, outside pain, happiness, and the reality of a
shitty relationship or whatever - or maybe for an
instant it was a celebration of that shittiness...
which is a small affirmation of life itself in a kind
of a way - a sort of update of the maudlin country
song - a variation on the Blues.
Or to put it another way, in an undrugged and
unalcoholed state it was all kind of, well, boring.
And it was somehow more boring for the fact that this
music was second-hand, was not being produced in the
minute even though aspects of it were being altered
in the minute in sometimes fairly crass ways. How
about an inspired DJ that hits every minute, and the crowd,
with some kind of joyful epiphany? Well, that's an
artist and there aren't many of them.
So, what then? Just check out real bands from time
to time. That's all I suggest. (thunderfinger)
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pre Dec 04 reviews are here
