Jockeying for Position:
What’s The Deal With DJs?
Travis Reyes Aka smallwonder
The all-knowing Wikipedia describes a DJ as a person who selects and plays prerecorded music for an audience. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that that particular definition might not be the whole story behind what DJs do. Of course, Wikipedia delves into more DJ functions than just the general definition, but why take their word for it?
I took it upon myself to sit down with a few DJ types; local guys who, in
some way, shape or form, get on a stage and pump out music for people to
consume to without using traditional instruments.
Before I get too immersed in my “findings,” I want to prattle
on for a second about the motivation for this article. When gathering the
live music schedules from various venues, both local and across the state,
I see DJ shows scattered in from time to time. Suffice to say, I’ve
been a little curious about what these DJs do at their shows.
Are they just putting on records? Is there a guy on stage in a white tuxedo
with a sweet red cumberbund encouraging all the ladies to hit the dance
floor? Is there a girl up there scratching records and dropping jaws? In
short—what the hell are these DJs doing?
Is the music jungle? House? Trance? Break beat? Techno? Are they battle
DJs? Club or house? WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!
Surely there must be a way to label this music. After all, what are we without
our labels?
From what I can tell, that they all seem to be doing something a little
different, while sharing some common threads in their art form. Perhaps
more than any other modern music style, DJs have benefitted from advances
in technology. New software has taken the medium beyond the limitations
of just a crate full of records, two turntables and a microphone (hehe).
I will admit that unfortunately, I didn’t really get to watch any
local DJs in action prior to the writing of this article. While I understand
the incredible lameness implied by my laziness, at least it gives me a sense
of distance from my subjects, perhaps enhancing my objectivity. Plus, there
are some killer reruns of Frasier on late at night.
Though relatively small in number, the local DJs that play out regularly
are covering a lot of musical ground in terms of their approach and style.
Some are more concerned with keeping the dancers happy while others are
consumed with creating new, original sounds and expanding people’s
sonic horizons.
Travis Reyes, aka smallwonder, probably doesn’t love the fact that
I end up badgering him regularly for music insight and info, but as a local
booking agent, record store employee, soundman and DJ, he’s got his
ear to the ground a little more than most. Once again, Reyes let me pick
his brain for a story, helping a brother get some perspective. Thanks Travis.
Perhaps what some people might consider “traditional” at this
stage, smallwonder loves to rock the party that rocks the party, playing
self-described “disco funk” that makes the kids move and groove
without a lot of fancy scratching and whatnot. According to Reyes, the rave
scene that existed at the now defucnt Rafters and occasionally Geno’s
is gone, yielding more creative DJ styles.
“Trance music kind of died when people started analyzing dance music,”
said Reyes.
In their place, people such as DJ Piss, UnpredictaBull, Patrick Ferrell,
Floand Human Pippi Armstrong have entered the fray.
Human Pippi Armstrong
“Nowadays, people aren’t using the term DJ anymore, but they
have that kind of style,” said Bullfrog, aka UnpredictaBull. Not wanting
to be automatically stereotyped, Bullfrog prefers to simply leave the DJ
part off of his stage name. “I don’t want that attitude,”
said Bullfrog. “I don’t want to be associated with that club
scene."
“The first question people ask you is ‘what do you spin?’
It’s almost like jazz now, like a genre of music.”
UnpredictaBull’s jazz reference is on the money. Like jazz, the early
forms of DJed music were almost always to make people dance. When jazz reached
it’s commercial zenith, however, the players turned inwards, looking
for new sounds and forms of expression. Suddenly the most popular dance
music in the country became undanceable, much like more progressive forms
of electronically-based music.
For an act such as Human Pippi Armstrong, the turntable is only one instrument
in the arsenal. Samplers and midi keyboards provide the majority of the
sonic coloring while the turntable keeps the beat. Lush and layered keyboard
masterpieces drone on, featuring layer upon layer of sounds that converge
on the listener.
UnpredictaBull
Both Flo and UnpredictaBull rely heavily on the support of lap top computers
in both live and recorded settings. Archiving mixes, scratching, sampling—computers
are figuring heavily into the modern DJ mix. Programs such as Reason and
Scratch LIVE make the impossible seem rediculously easy—I mean, you
can scratch without turntables!
I could be totally off base here, but it appears that the whole technology
thing is sending DJed and turntable-based music into a whole new realm of
possibilities. Unfortunatley, all these incredible advances and stylistic
risks aren’t necessarily translating into an abundance of live gigs
for DJs.
According to UnpredictaBull and others, most booking agents aren’t
keen on hosting something without some “real instruments” involved,
especially if the music is going to get some asses shaking, the perception
being that people are not interested in paying to see somebody play records
on a stage.
“Unfortunately, there’s such a misconception with DJs and that
can mean anything in the world,” said Matt Johnston, booking agent
for the Boone Saloon. Johnston noted that many DJs don’t possess recordings
that accurately represent their talent, making it difficult to book them
for live shows.
There are signs of life, however, as local venues are slowly warming to
the idea of music fans digging progressive electronic music as an art form,
particularly in the live setting. After a long-suffering stretch as the
DJ for 80s Night, Flo is currently hosting a “Funk & Lounge”
session every Wednesday night at The Library.
Perhaps more than any other venue, Black Cat has provided opportunities
for the local crop of DJs to ply their trade on a regular basis as well
as hosting semi-regular dance parties with DJs Piss and smallwonder behind
the tables.
On Friday, May 25, Boone Saloon will host a local turntable summit of sorts
as UnpredictaBull, Human Pippi Armstrong, DJ Piss and Patrick Ferrell. For
those looking to find out what local electronic and turntable-based music
is all about, this show will be the perfect crash course.
I don’t pretend to have drawn any major conclusions from my look at
local DJ culture. There are no definites about the type of music being made,
nor the people that the music is being made for. However, what I do know
for sure is that a group of highly creative people are stepping away from
the guitar-bass-drum formula and applying their energies in ways to make
people listen and think without the help of a convenient label.
For some, the job of a DJ still revolves around the dance floor while others
pour over old records of all kinds in search of that perfect sound or that
forgotten song. Still, the new breed of electronic musician has no boundaries,
only the ones that they are willing to set, when making music.
Related Links
Human Pippi Armstrong's Myspace page