[acid-jazz] Tool and being a DJ

From: Nathaniel Rahav (nat@rhythmlove.com)
Date: Sun Sep 01 2002 - 05:46:35 CEST

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    Hey all,

    a couple of remarks regarding recent threads.
    A few weeks ago, I took my 16 year old cousin to see a Tool show in
    Jersey, at Meadowlands Arena.
    I had never heard a single song by the band before this concert. My
    general impressions of the show were that, though musically not my style
    the band was definitely skilled. I felt that a lot of their sound was very
    reminiscent of early 70's late 60's rock a la Zeppelin and that was nice
    to hear instead of 90's "grunge" style. But the thing that really, really,
    REALLY impressed me about the concert was the visuals. Incredible,
    incredible, astounding, unbelieveable lighting and imagery, both on the
    videos which were in sync with the songs, and with these giant murals that
    were the backdrop behind the stage. Heavily psychedelic and I just
    couldnt stop looking at them!

    Anyway, i have nothing else to say about Tool, just that I saw their
    concert and it was pretty good. I think a lot of valid opinions have been
    made about why Tool is a pretty respectable band and why it often does not
    make sense to play their music in the middle of a set of the kind of music
    we like to discuss.

    But I wanted to say one thing about the everlasting saga between the DJ
    and the crowd. We have all witnessed some very outrageous music requests
    which make us laugh inside, or out loud, or sometimes even offend us. See
    the archives for a
    funny story I once shared with the list about some Colombians who wanted
    to hear me, the DJ, play for them the most god awful mixed CD, and how
    they had a great time once I put it on!
     
    What we have to keep in mind is that music is entirely contextual,
    and that as a DJ part of your purpose is to connect with the audience,
    and not to live in a bubble or a vacuum of your own music.
    When we make a choice as a DJ to play in a certain situation, we have to
    know what to expect, and that is one of the things that comes
    with experience. We will know that when we're going to play in a random
    bar that it would be a good idea to bring some songs that everybody knows.
    When we find ourselves in a situation where the crowd is not enjoying the
    music, we become as frustrated as they, if not more.
    I keep a rule to myself that I will not play songs which I personally do
    not like. But there are plenty of times when I've played music which has
    suprised the pants off of people who know me and the music I normally
    play!

    There is great virtue in building your own setting, where you know your
    crowd, and you know that your crowd is coming to hear "your music" .. But
    that takes an incredible amount of work! Once you have such a setting,
    it's a wonderful and strong "bubble" which you share with lots of other
    inhabitants... and if someone steps into that bubble and makes a fool of
    themselves, it's a laughing matter.
    But many other times, it doesnt hurt to try and understand where that
    person is coming from when they come up to you and ask for something
    and how your can bring them into your bubble. Because as a DJ, you need to
    connect!
    Like Lynne's request for hip hop while she was playing Run DMC. Probably
    that person wanted to hear some "Urban" style music (the kind Bob Davis
    despises, and which I have problems with as well). Maybe it wouldnt hurt
    to play "One More Chance" then back it with DeBarge's "Stay with Me", and
    *then* move on back to some Main Source or JB's or some Blackbyrds
    :)

    Sometimes the request has nothing to do with your music but with the
    requester's ego, and their need to flex it to you in some way. In those
    cases, there aint nothing to it but to smile !

    Anyway, here are some of my recent acquisitions :

    * today a woman was selling her record collection on the street - 4 for a
    dollar - mostly fusion jazz. Unfortunately I got there kinda late, but
    here are 8 nuggets i picked up for a smooth 2 dollars:
    - Stan Clarke: "Children of Forever" from 1972... nice fusion with vocals
    and scats from Dee Dee Bridgewater
    - Ramsey Lewis: "funky Serenity"
    - John McLaughlin: "Extrapolation"
    - Eddie Harris: "The Genius of ..."
    - Ramsey Lewis: "Love Notes"
    - El Chicano: self titled ... some nice post-santana latin rock
    - Mingus: "Me Myself and Eye" ... didnt listen to it yet, but theres a 30
    minute track on it called "Three worlds of Drums" !! hot damn!
    - Billy Cobham: "Life and Times"

    hey, for 2 bucks, you cant go wrong! I'm listening to the Chicano record
    right now, and this song "Cha Chita" is a dope downtempo latin lounge
    masterpiece!!!

    Here are a couple of 12"s that are rocking my world:
    - Kaori - Good Life rmx on Disorient
    I cant believe I havent seen this track mentioned on the list ! it came
    out a few months ago, and it's a BLAZING jazz remix of the house classic
    Good Life.. absolutely ballistic!

    - Trouble Man - The Essence - on Far Out
    Far out is really on a roll these days, with some dope ass jazz breakbeat
    12"s.. this one is from last year I guess, but it's really fresh. The new
    Troubleman 12" is also great... both tracks need to be played the whole
    way through, around 3 am, to a sweaty mass of heads on a dope sound system
    for maximum pressure. They have that late night kinda feel.

    - Sepia - Hatari - on Life Line records
    Straight from Japan, in the US as a domestic record via Cisco, this b-side
    has a beautiful space jazz vibe in 6/8 which mixes nice into uptempo
    house jazz records

    - Dom um Rumao - Lake of Perseverance (Opaque Rmx) - on Head To Toe (irma)
    This has got to be the most ridiculous track I have heard in a long time.
    On the level of the zero db remix of Samba do Gringo Paulista. Maximum
    pressure! literally, ridiculous. I have no other way to describe it.

    Peace All

    Nat



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