Archive for the 'Music' Category
The Great Debate: Media
With the 2012 National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show this weekend, I'm reminded many times of the endless debate that the technological progress in DJ equipment has brought. If any of you have been following the advancements over the years, you'll of course notice how much the laptop has become a mandatory part of most DJ setups, and even analog media (vinyl records and CDs) being pushed out for digital media (MP3, Flac, WAV, etc.). On top of that, midi controls have now become even more widespread and it's pretty clear they will push CD players and vinyl turntables out.
Probably from the birth of the CDJ, I've been hearing this debate to death. Even more now with the advent of digital technology and software-based DJing. I can't go one week without seeing a Facebook posting, YouTube video, or blog entry from someone lamenting on how DJing has taken a nosedive because of the decay of analog vinyl or the onslaught of software and midi.
Steve Angello and his Dance Valley set
It's been the talk of the internet for the last week. I first heard through Patrick Wayne when he posted the video link on Facebook. Others chimed in, mainly DJs, about a recent set Steve Angello played at the massive Dance Valley event in the Netherlands. While the video has been removed from YouTube, a Netherlands-based video site still has the footage here.
As you can see, Angello is playing without headphones, dancing around, doing "Jesus poses" and any DJ can even hear blends happening when the man wasn't even on the decks. You can clearly see the controversy here as what appears to be a big and expensive headliner is doing what popstars have when they lip sync performances.
Ohmygawd, it's time for the DJ Mag Top 100 again?
I first saw it mentioned on Facebook, then Twitter, then an email in my inbox, now on message boards. It's that time of the year again. DJ Magazine is polling and gathering votes for their annual Top 100 DJs list, and I can already foresee the drama.
This entry today is a bit of a rant, a rant not on the list or the results that usually occur, but of the rampant childish stupidity I see every year when it comes to this list. Let's have a look at what's been happening year after year.
Getting back into Tech House
So you're probably looking at the title and wonder how I could be "getting back" into tech house, a subgenre of dance music that has been around for many years. In all actuality, the sound and I have been more in a love-hate affair. Only now with a gig I played in Europe do I finally understand tech house and why it's so appealing to many DJs and clubbers.
Do DJs hate popular music?
The other week, I ran into a female colleague who hit me with an interesting story and question. She had gone out clubbing and decided to make a request to the DJ. The DJ told her that her request, a very popular tune, wasn't the kind of music they played in that club.
This isn't the first time she ran into this issue. My colleague is the type of person who would go into a club that's playing house or techno and ask if the DJ could play some popular music like Britney Spears or Black-Eyed Peas. Now I know most of you reading this are groaning with the "not one of those people" thoughts, but she asked me a question that brought on this discussion:
"Why do DJs hate popular music so much?"
RIP: Darryl Pandy
This morning, I woke up into my usual "waking up" regimen of checking email, social media, blogs, etc. on my iPhone. To my shock, I saw postings and messages that legendary house music singer Darryl Pandy died. At first I wondered if it was a hoax, but according to 5Chicago.com, Farley Jackmaster Funk posted on his own Facebook profile this morning the sad news.
Digging around the internet, I found that Darryl had been suffering with health problems for many years, and had been in and out of the hospital lately. His death came as a shock to many simply because outside of his work, many do not know much about the man himself.
