Derrick May

http://www.techno.de/mixmag/interviews/DerrickMay2.html

Nice quick read. Derrick has a point re: the reliance on chemicals to enjoy music.

I agree.. I truly think that the rise in drug culture has basically helped music get worse in many cases/genres. It's almost a cliche to say stuff like 'it isn't like it used to be' but the reality is, it really isn't. Rarely does a modern house record (with the broad 'funky' tag) sound remotely as funky as almost any record from '96. Production technology aside, I really think the appreciation of quality music (a subjective thing if ever there was one) has become less important in the path to getting your rocks off on a night out when you can just make almost anything sound great through other means.

I kind of agree, but for me a lot of modern dnace music has no soul and no story to tell - i.e. there's no reason to connect to a track.

Correct. So, people get out of it so they can enjoy it - shouldn't we be looking at the DJs who're often plain lazy in the search for the x-factor tunes (in itself a subjective thing)? Finding records is an artform in itself - being able to feel what a record would sound like loud and amongst other tunes. Big tune DJs almost ignore this and focus primarily on how big each tune is by itself - something guys like Humphries, Levan, May, Tenaglia etc think completely differently about if you listen to their sets. In their space an individual track is only a small cog in the set which, if taken away, they seamlessly replace it with another. No one tune makes any difference in their set.

Exactly

Exactly #2

exactly 3#. Just dont think dj"s dig/search as much as they used to. I am not making any statements as the article covers it very well and have moved from the haters lounge ages ago and on some other shit right now. ( love digging /searching for records, its the second best part of playing records..

Absolutely. I chatted about this with Greg recently (hope he doesn't mind me talking about it) and we agreed that the hunt is a major part of it, a big passion and something which actually has quite a skill to it. Whether it be big-hunts at Groovy or spending ages listening through tunes for hours and hours on Juno/Beatport etc the main thing is the time invested and wisdom in picking out the ones which will matter. There is simply no way to become what I would consider a good DJ by cutting corners like buying charts of your favourite DJs.

It intrigues me how many times I've found some obscure track by total fluke on some B-side or obscure shop only and thought wow, my new secret weapon only to find out much later that like-minded people also played it whether it be Greg or Francois K. Almost as if the hunt itself steers people of similar mindset to similar corners.. Something I don't think you can ever fluke upon through buying a top ten chart or played by Roger S.

The disparity in what I'd call great DJs and those who merely aim to please in whatever manner gets them work (and glory, blowjobs or whatever) in this respect is huge and getting bigger by the year. And I think it explains why, even after all these years, guys like FK, May, Tenaglia, Humphries etc still can't be touched by the new school.

I just read an interview with Simon Dunmore from Defected which I don't rate that highly as a label generally. One of his answers is quite relevant to this...

I blame loop based production software, people worshipping the dj rather than the dancefloor,
and too much chomping.

yawn.
old guys moaning aboout how it was better in the old days....
1996 was 13yrs ago Rob.
Its exactly like and aging hippy saying in 1982 that everything should be like 1969.
Time to move on.

People like Luciano and Ricardo Villalobos manage to make the new `souless boring shit' sound alive and kicking. It depends on how you play it. The rules have changed for djing, long well shaped `journey' sets don't work so good with the modern thing. Listen to Luciano sets, he just cuts in when he feels like itt with banging or slow tunes, no rhyme or rason and its gives hhis sets drama

Oh and here we go with the 'my taste's better than yours' argument.
Ya just gotta find what moves you and go with it. And if ya dont like..turn it off or go home.

That isn't what it's about tho. There are great records made daily. It is the craft of the majority in terms of how they go about their way and how little people recognise the difference between great, nice and mediocre records and DJing - especially because they're subjective things. However, people who have an innate knowledge and history but who still embrace playing new tunes etc can see how some of the craft has been lost along the way, more-rather never learned by a new wave of DJs.

So far as the rules have changed and "the long well shaped `journey' sets don't work so good with the modern thing" goes - that's crap. They work as good as ever, if not better - we just have fewer chances to experience them because of the increase in big-tune short sets - which has happened because of ignorance/misguided thinking, not because it is better at all.

It is no small wonder why, when they do a "Bevan/Greg 6 hour set" night, these happen to be the best nights in town. Far better than a party with four guys playing 90 minutes each.

Luciano/Villalobos are shining examples of what can be achieved if you ignore big-city trends and do your own thing with passion. NZ should be ripe for this kind of thing but, instead, a culture of perpetuating heavy push-market with little actual musical/quality merit.

Mean to say...

thats not what i was saying in any way shape or form.
The Monkees weren't quite so relevent 13yrs later eh.

Its different now, like it should be. Whether thats goood or bad isn't for us to decide, work with what ya got and shape it into something great

i guess it is still 13yrs ago.

Finding out about a good record after it's gone out of press is the saddest thing.....it's not so much the fact that you'll now have to pay so much for it, money's not that much of an object (this only applies to vinyl), it's finding someone who's willing to part with their copy.

Did you knbow the Dead C's Sun stabbed EP has been released with yet another version of DR503.... on 12" vinyl - it was originally a 7"

I figure most of you wouldn't but I'm here to help

what has this to do with derrick may and other points in this htread?

Nothing, nothing at all

the Sun Stabbed EP came out in 1988 making it 21 years old and Derrcick fucking May has probably never heard it nor played it in a set (it would add drama like a pig fucking a chicken in a china shop)

stick that in ya fucking set Mr May

*this post was brought to you by the ever enlightening light bulb and office computer*

I agree. And part of what being a great DJ now means, more than ever, top DJs simply wont tell people the name of their special tunes... Technology won the first round on that - allowing almost anything to be tracked down in seconds - so guys like Digweed, Cox, May, Tenaglia etc have just gone through their collection and found (and/or made edits) of tunes so no-one can bite their style - least not someone who's music history only goes back as far as when Kazaa was big.

Being different but still relevant (and able to rock) is not about any individual record or genre - as May would surely agree - but about being something and not merely a me too, something which I get the distinct impression is the blind aim of most DJs out there. And it all starts with a passion for music which I truly believe isn't even on the radar of many DJs (some who are even quite popular).

word

i dunno, most of the djs i talk to have a massive love of music just not much depth.

Like the fallacy of `the freshest music', mostly its the newest songs in exactly the same style they have beeen playing for 10yrs

I would like to see Luciano play 3 hour warm-up set for Derrick May. Shit hot. With Jesse Ryder on the D-floor Heath Davis on the bar!

At Splore.

Yeah, woooo

in the olden days when weekends were spent trawling through dirty bins at real groovy I was sooo poor I calud only justify buying a 12" if both the a & b sides were awesome - at the time I lamented my inability to buy immense amounts of tunage but in retrospect it served me well. It insured that i never played anything shit cos I hadnt bought any. A classic illustration of a) when more options are not necessarily better than less and b) "the role of the DJ is to locate the true classics" (aquote from some legend dj the name of who I can not recall).

I agree. Been there too.


Ditto.

Thats a pity