This just in: beatmatching is cool again

[dj_soo]

http://www.trackitdown.net/news/101118.html

The Village Voice suggested the rise of new rave is prompting a resurgence of beat-matching DJs on New York’s cutting edge alternative-electro scene this week, in a lengthy feature called ‘The Return Of Rave’.

“Breaking news: DJs are mixing again! Matching beats,” Trish Romano trumpeted, going on to eulogise Denny Le Nimh's one year old weekly ‘rave-meets-rock party’ Ruff Club as the epicenter of the trend.

"I think it's catching on, mixing, it's definitely the way the music is going as well,” DJ/ co-promoter Le Nimh confirmed.

“A lot of these rock bands are being remixed by house, techno, and electro producers. Justice and Ed Banger records-that sound, that French harder house sound-a lot of the jukebox DJs are starting to play that, and noticing that dance music doesn't sound as good when you don't mix it. Dance music is the new dance music,” he told the Voice.

Fellow New York scenester, Bank DJ/promoter Larry Tee agreed, saying ‘If you want to manipulate a crowd into a frenzy, I think beat-matching is an important tool. However, having long beat-matched mixes can be a real bore if you are staying in one format all night. Who can tell if the record has changed? Nobody except DJ fanatics,” he laughed.

“I definitely do think that non-beat matching has contributed greatly to the change of sounds in the last couple of years,” Larry added. “Denny Le Nimh is one of my favourite DJs here locally and though he champions beat-matching, he switches music formats all the time and isn’t afraid of a quick-cut,” he told Skrufff.

London new rave man-about-town Jim Warboy (who promotes All You Can Eat and DJs extensively) told Skrufff he ‘probably beat-matches more than ‘a lot of the new DJs around me but I don't consider myself a better or worse DJ because of that.’

“Largely through house, techno, and trance, many DJs started to consider beat matching the main technical skill and they operated with a misplaced superiority which left them wide open to be challenged, especially when the music in their genres hit a stalemate around the end of the 90s,” Jim suggested.

“New DJs came along with fresher ideas and helped to break their hold on things by introducing a lot more diversity in rhythms and tempos. Sometimes it's impossible to beat match when the tempos are wide apart, so different skills need to be employed to help make the transition feel right.”

Pointing out that many London new rave DJs automatically beat-match with computer programs like Ableton Live, he also pointed out that many clubbers prefer radio edit vocal based tracks with melodies over ‘8 minute Mogadon mixes, though admitted some DJs remain better than others.

“The general standard of DJing on London’s new scene is weak technically but it's much more about having the right energy in your mixes - a good blend of genres, ideas, tempos etc. Eclectic styles are much more important now than beat matching,” he continued.

“And yes, some of the new DJs dismiss beat matching altogether but my experience has shown me that it's largely those DJs that actually can't beat match, who say that. By and large, I don’t think it's a conscious choice not to do it, it's invariably just laziness and lack of ability,” he told Skrufff.

London new rave icon Niyi admitted he remains less than obsessed with seamless mixing though pointed out ‘listen to early dance music, it was anything but slick’.

“When I first started DJing I made a point of not mixing. A kinda’ middle finger up to exactly these kind of people who might worship technical skill, but have no taste whatsoever,” he continued.

“And I’ve never heard of that term ‘jukebox DJ’, other than in that Village Voice article,” he continued, “It just sounds like someone who is a bit scared of something they have no control over. The whole approach to dance music is changing- and a few people are going to get left behind with their 4 minute intros. Life is too short!”

http://www.myspace.com/warboy (Jim Warboy

http://myspace.com/NAMALEELOVESPOP (DJ niyi)

http://www.thehotpink.com/nyc.html (Ruff Club, New York)

http://www.larrytee.com (Larry)

Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)

[nabs]

quite the read!

[mekim]

there's a huge difference between someone skilled at cutting and beatmatching the odd track and someone who just switches from song to song.

fuck i hate hipster dj's.

[-evil-duerr-]

i look at creating a dj set in the same way I look at creating any other artwork, like a painting.

beatmatching isn't anything more than a "brush stroke". All dj's should know how to do it, but it's not what makes a set great.

it's all about the track selection. Creating a journey, an adventure using sound. Invoking a multitude of emotions and response by using fun, fresh, nostalgiac, and surprising songs/sounds.

[dj_soo]

Originally Posted by mekim

there's a huge difference between someone skilled at cutting and beatmatching the odd track and someone who just switches from song to song.

fuck i hate hipster dj's.

I hate hipsters period.

I'm absolutely disgusted that the baltimore club/east coast crunk/mashup style scene is infested with hipsters in this city. Love the music, but i refuse to attend a lot of the shows due to the annoyingness of the people that attend.

Any scene where one of the tenants of being "cool" involves being a complete and utter asshole is trash in my books.

[dj_soo]

Originally Posted by -evil-duerr-

i look at creating a dj set in the same way I look at creating any other artwork, like a painting.

beatmatching isn't anything more than a "brush stroke". All dj's should know how to do it, but it's not what makes a set great.

it's all about the track selection. Creating a journey, an adventure using sound. Invoking a multitude of emotions and response by using fun, fresh, nostalgiac, and surprising songs/sounds.

beatmatching is a basic "brush stroke" though - you don't need to do it every mix, but I've always thought it's something everyone should know if they want to call themselves a DJ. It's definitely over-emphasized in the rave/electronic scene (considering most of those djs will rarely ever break out of one bpm let alone on sub-genre), but it's defintiely should be considered one of the fundamentals.

Otherwise, why even bother with turntables? Just sit there with your ipod/laptop and drag-n-drop tunes into your playlist...

[mekim]

Originally Posted by dj_soo

Any scene where one of the tenants of being "cool" involves being a complete and utter asshole is trash in my books.

damn, didn't realize i'd fit in that easily.

[dj_soo]

Originally Posted by mekim

damn, didn't realize i'd fit in that easily.

iwas going to say: "fnk not withstanding"

[ffa]

HAHAHAHHA! this is an awesome read! Laughing my a$$ off :-)

-f.

[Kraig]

We should add programming to this list as well.

[dabbler]

Originally Posted by mekim

fuck i hate hipster's.

fixed

[mekim]

i can sum up the only good thing about hipsters by quoting a line from slug (atmosphere)

Originally Posted by slug

and I do believe in God cuz I keep comin across all these fine women with low self esteem, you know what I mean.

[rawb]

ARE YOU SERIOUS? THE MAJORITY OF BALTIMORE CLUB IS SO BAD THAT IT SEEMS FITTING THAT ONLY PEOPLE WITH STUPID HAIR AND ALLOVER PRINT HOODIES LIKE IT

Originally Posted by dj_soo

I hate hipsters period.

I'm absolutely disgusted that the baltimore club/east coast crunk/mashup style scene is infested with hipsters in this city. Love the music, but i refuse to attend a lot of the shows due to the annoyingness of the people that attend.

Any scene where one of the tenants of being "cool" involves being a complete and utter asshole is trash in my books.

[dj_soo]

something about the anorexic boys in tight jeans and mop-top cuts with suit jackets makes me want to beat them up and steal their lunch money.

[mapleleaf4ever]

Interesting stuff.

[dj_soo]

Originally Posted by rawb

ARE YOU SERIOUS? THE MAJORITY OF BALTIMORE CLUB IS SO BAD THAT IT SEEMS FITTING THAT ONLY PEOPLE WITH STUPID HAIR AND ALLOVER PRINT HOODIES LIKE IT

meh - like anything else, it's gotten 1000% stupider since it got more popular, but I still want to see guys like low-b, diplo, or Cosmo Baker throwdown without getting shoved around by angry hipsters who are only there cause My Gay Husband told them b-more is the cool shit.

[rawb]

I AGREE, BUT THE LAST TIME I SAW LOW-B I JUST WANTED TO GO HOME. I JUST CANT HANDLE A WHOLE SET OF THE SAME HORN SAMPLE, SAME DRUMS, SAME SHIT MAKING ME WANT TO NAP. FOR ME IT HAS TO BE MIXED IN WITH SOMETHING ELSE.

DIPLO IS ON SOME CRACK WITH THE WHOLE FAVELA/BALTIMORE STUFF, LUCKILY THE NEW MIA STUFF IVE HEARD HASN'T BEEN TAINTED. ITS WEIRD THAT HE PUTS OUT ALL OF THIS HORRIBLE MUSIC ON MAD DECENT LATELY, YET LIVE HE ISN'T THAT BAD, MAYBE HE MIXES IT IN REALLY CAREFULLY.

THE BEST (THE BEST!) SHIT IS ALL THESE HIPSTERS (WHO ARE ALL EX-RAVERS ANYWAYS) THROWING ALL OF THESE PARTIES WHERE IF YOU END UP AT ONE YOU'RE LIKE "HEY WHAT THE FUCK IM AT A RAVE RIGHT NOW, 100%"

LIKE DJ, PEOPLE WITH THEIR HANDS IN THE AIR, GOING INSANE FOR SOME FRENCH-FILTER HOUSE, ALL NIGHT PARTIES. STRAIGHT UP REGRESSION TO 5 YEARS AGO FOR MOST OF THESE KIDS.

[dj_soo]

^ personally, I'm defntiely feeling that balle funk stuff - it's like miami bass meets reggaeton meets crunk.

Like anything though, it sounds great when you drop a track or 2 in the mix, it gets dreadfully dull if that's all you're hearing for 2 hours straight. Same goes for b-more stuff - love to hear it mixed with a ton of good shit, but i couldn't sit through 4 hours of straight sloppy beat/sample chopping, poorly mastered bass tones, and over-used think breaks.

I think it's funny cause I honestly think that ex-ravers only makes up a small percentage of the vancouver hipster scene and the rest have been doing nothing but talking shit about raves for the last couple years - yet they're all raving it up every weekend and the columbia or whatever shithole of a bar the hipsters party at nowadays...

I guess it's cool cause they think they're being ironic or some shit.

[rawb]

YEAH HOW COME EVERY TIME I GO OUT TO ONE OF THESE NIGHTS I FEEL LIKE I AM GOING TO GET BITTEN BY A RACCOON INSIDE THE BAR.

YOU KNOW WHATS COOLER THAN BEING IRONIC, ACTUALLY HAVING AN OPINION. IN CONVERSATIONS IT'S LIKE TWO PEOPLE BAITING EACH OTHER TO SAY THAT THEY LIKE SOMETHING, JUST SO THE SECOND PERSON CAN SAY "IT SUCKS" AND CLAIM SUPERIORITY.

IT'S SO VAPID.

THEN AGAIN, I JUST END UP STANDING AROUND THINKING IM BETTER THAN EVERYONE THERE, WHICH I GUESS MEANS IM NOT HELPING.

HOW DO YOU BREAK OUT OF A EVERYTHING IS COOL/NOTHING IS COOL MUSIC PARADOX

[Goodfellow]

that's all I can really seem to picture everytime rawb talks in caps

[FeelGood]

rawb loves to front his yellow grill from time to time.

[obtuse]

something about the anorexic boys in tight jeans and mop-top cuts with suit jackets makes me want to beat them up and steal their lunch money.

Me And Soo Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story, except for maybe the anorexic part.)

Random thoughts on the article:

• A lot of the local hipster DJs have been relatively competent, beat-matching wise, for a while (Jason, Trevor Risk, The Devros, etc.)
• Beatmatching vs. not is kind of a strawman; quick vs. long mixes is a better distinction, but even that's limited by genre constraints anyways (e.g. nobody plays disco Digweed/Tenaglia-style, for instance.)
• The last London DJ they interviewed was kind of a knob (ZOMG I DONT BEATMATCH ITS FRO BORING LOSARS LOLS I CAME OUT OF A TIME CAPSULE FROM 2002), and was straight up wrong about a good deal of early, influential dance music DJing, period (The Wizard? Richie Rich? T-1000/FFWD? All the Chicago guys?)
• I was on a couple of mailing lists with Tricia Romano, and she got booted for being obnoxious and vapid.

Re: the local HIPSTARS: most of those guys are like Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Total pricks half the time, and then randomly really nice, for no apparent reason.

Re: baile/b-more: fun stuff in small doses-- I like the ghetto lofi/cut-up approach of b-more, especially-- but I probably couldn't listen to more than 30 mins of Tittsworth/Spank Rock/whomever without wanting to beat them senseless with 2 Live Crew records.

Glyn

[obtuse]

HOW DO YOU BREAK OUT OF A EVERYTHING IS COOL/NOTHING IS COOL MUSIC PARADOX

T RAWB I AM STUCK INSIDE A EVERYTHING IS COOL/NOTHING IS COOL MUSIC PARADOX FACTORY, SEND HELP PLS.

GLYN

[dj_soo]

^ no doubt that some of the DJs in the hipster scene are great DJs - it's more the crowd that I can't stand. I paid $15 to see Assault and got fed up with the crowd and went home before he even started playing. Maybe I'm just too old to understand the coolness of it all..

[cubed]

Originally Posted by obtuse

but I probably couldn't listen to more than 30 mins of Tittsworth/Spank Rock/whomever without wanting to beat them senseless with 2 Live Crew records.

sorry glyn, but that just HAD to be quoted.