From cognition Sent Sun, Jul 9th 2000, 12:44
From cognition Sent Sun, Jul 9th 2000, 12:44
I'm not a fan of posting negative comments, but an event I witnessed last night has made me make an exception: Background #1: The UK's Dave Clarke was in Halifax a couple of months back and did a stellar effects-heavy set. He scratched, used doubles, did tricks, used effects between tracks, used effects on tracks that were playing together, used effects on tracks that were playing solo. His set had dynamics, people danced from start to finish of the set, and people were incredibly enthusiastic before, during, and after his set. Background #2: I've been lucky to see quite a few DJs in my time (since 1987 when I moved from listening to records to recording and DJing it as well)--from top professionals to many novices--including novices who are in the midst of their first set--ever. Was proud to be a member of the judging panel at Halifax's 1st, 2nd, and last year's (ie 3rd) DJ Olympics (and, boy oh boy, you've not been tested till you've been asked to listen to 16 DJs play back to back sets for 20 minutes each--and judge 'em! :)) Anyway... Last night's event: I'll state for the record that I am not a fan of DJ Spooky's writing or his recorded music, but I am one to listen to everything and aimed to approach his appearance last night--here in Halifax at our yearly Jazz Festival--with open eyes, er, ears. The cover for DJ Spooky's set was $15, quite pricey (actually, the most expensive at the Jazz Fest) compared to other out of town acts which were in the $10 to $12 range (none at $15), but, regardless, I REALLY wanted to come away from his set thinking "damn, I'm into his DJing, if nothing else". I E. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt all the way. Now here's why Dave Clarke was mentioned in Background #1: In interviews DJ Spooky did this week with 2 local papers, he made much of the fact that he was going to give an (I'm para- phrasing here, not quoting from memory) "artistic journey, not a simple DJ set". That said, I was expecting sound collage/turntablism, a combination thereof; regardless, something stellar. I was right up at the front and saw that Spooky had the same set up as Dave Clarke (two turntables, a Pioneer mixer--don't know the model name, but it is the one with literally TONS of effects), plus he also had two CD players. Here is his set-list: 1. effects 2. played a bass track I couldn't ID 3. record ended, he did some effects 4. played Cronic Tronic featuring Shado-- "King Of Bass" (on Detroit's Direct Beat) 5. record ended, he did some effects 6. played "Rockafeller Skank" by Fatboy Slim (I kid you not; it was "right about now, the funk soul brother, check it out now, the funk soul brother...") 7. record ended, he did some effects 8. played a drum n bass track I couldn't ID 9. record ended, he did some effects I left at this point (he had been on for 30 minutes and had played 4 songs in full) because I just couldn't take it anymore. A) His set had absolutely no dynamics; at the point I left (see 9 above), he had some bass looping that was going on and on and getting aurally painful. B) He seemed completely unaware of it (i e he was really into his set, smiling, dancing around, pointing to the decks, etc), but if there was one word to describe his set (or the 30 minutes that I heard), it was OFF (and deservedly in capitals). People cheered and cheered before he started, they were primed and ready to have an "experience", but few danced, none cheered, and most stood around wondering what the heck was going on. And not because he was doing something (in his words) "artistic", but because he was doing a straight DJ set and it was horrible. DJ Spooky had been saying in the press that he was going to go beyond "simply playing records", but what he did was just that--simply play records--and badly at that that. Everything he did was off: he attempted a beat mix between the beat tracks, but in each case it was horribly trainwrecking, so it was like he chose to do effects between tracks instead of mixing (and the DJ on before him did a good job, so I'm sure it wasn't the setup or the sound). His EQing was off, all of his tricks were off (dropouts, chops, transforms, scratches, etc), and it just sounded like someone said to him "hey, never djed before? no problem, just play records and use this mixer to do lots of effects between the tracks. nuthin' to it". His use of effects was just *noise*, there was no sculpting of sound (as Dave Clarke did many a time during his set) or sense that DJ Spooky had control or knew what he was doing. It was painful to listen to. And not in the Merzbow/Whitehouse/etc sense of testing our hearing vs pain thresholds, but painful in the "this is horribly done" sense! Many in the crowd went to see DJ Spooky because of his "artistic" angle (and he does mention this, so it makes sense that people would do so), and thus many in the crowd weren't the same type of people who saw Dave Clarke or would be up on turntablism/etc. But I was super disappointed that so many paid $15 last night to see someone who sounded like it was his first time between a mixing system, and that they might come away thinking that what DJ Spooky did was art! Dave Clarke and Mix Master Mike put together sets artistically, so it's not like DJ Spooky can claim an excuse. In the end, I'm hoping that many of those people will come to see Detroit's Claude Young when he plays here this coming July 20th so they can see that, despite what DJ Spooky says in the press, judging from last night, he doesn't dj "art", he is just a mediocre DJ who is being booked on the basis of his writing and/or music-making. If I were judging the two, Dave Clarke would have gotten a 95% for his techno set here recently, and DJ Spooky would have gotten a 5% (and I'm not exagerrating here by using 5%; at the last DJ Olympics, there were a number of DJs who I scored 5 points out of 60; I'm hard to please but I treat everyone the same and fairly :)) for his electro/drum n bass set last night. My question after all this blather: was last night an atypical DJ Spooky set, or is he truly someone who shouldn't be DJing? Thanks. Andrew Duke -- Cognition/Andrew Duke's In The Mix mailto:xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xx http://techno.ca/cognition 1096 Queen St #123 Halifax NS Canada B3H 2R9