WTF, UMF Livestream

[gravatrax]

So I was watching the UMF Livestream, I'm not really sure what I was hoping to get out of it, most of the lineup I really didn't care for to begin with. However one particular thing caught my attentino and that was the "trap" duo known as Flosstradamus putting on what appeared to be prerecorded set. It was totally despicable. Their laptop was in sleep mode and one of the guys was fiddling with the cue nob while he wasn't even fucking wearing any headphones. Also his Novation Launchpad WASNT EVEN TURNED on. Look, I like all sorts of electronic music from old school dubstep, to house, to techno, to the new stuff or whatever the hell you want to call it, but this is where it crosses the line for me, faking it like this. Did anyone else catch sight of this? And what are you're thoughts on this? In the least they should not have the audacity to label themself as DJs or Performers.

How these Flosstradamus retards are still in the game is BEYOND me.


For starters they ripped off of some guys' hardstyle music without providing ANY credit whatsoever and then go butthurt when they were called out for it. They also promptly remove and block anyone who calls them out for this over social networks. These guys are fake as fuck and are an embarrassment to electronic music, old and new alike, luckily though people who don't even know anything about production are stating to wake up to this.

[djrobyn]

when i saw them in berlin they did an "ableton set". so yeah, basicially it's all premixed and mashed together at home and all you have to do is press play. but i think only djs themselves or music nerds are getting upset about it. the rest just wants to party and does not care if someone is doing it all "live" with vinyl or just putting his ipod on.

[gravatrax]

Well I mean I know a few people who use Ableton, and there are even some artists big and small that really get creative with it, but yeah that's just bullshit lol. I have indeed been to enough shows to take note that most of the kids there are simply "fans". In order to really have an appreciation (and even abhoration, sp?) of certain artists being a producer (such as I, or at-least aspiring producer), or a DJ really helps. I didn't actually read the article but I saw an article somewhere that stated that 90% of electronic music fans think the artist is performing all of this live, this of course is rarely the case.

Flosstradamus' butt buddy Baauer is also pretty terrible too, yet they're both blowing up



In this video he is basically dragging the clips into an ableton channel and then just mixing them together there is not beat matching or anything involved, pretty bad imo. I know this is music that we get fucked up on some form of drug and start dancing to but jesus christ people should expect a little bit more out of the artists they pay to see.

Oh well there's always going to be that gap between fan and artist in any scene when it comes to music.

[syrup]

why were you watching UMF stream in the first place?

but yeah, fuck flosstradamus basically


edit: i wonder if even that mixer is turned on

[gravatrax]

Curiosity honestly , something to do, could have spent the time working on music or actually becoming a decent dj. For the 6 minutes I saw them the bassnectar and crookers set were ok. Rusko was pretty horrible too, god what the fuck happened to him :C

[Muncey]

TBF its the only way some people can get their music out there.. some people produce music and are pretty oblivious to DJing, then they blow up and promoters want to book them to play. A 'live' or premixed set is pretty much their only option, I remember seeing Dusky ages ago and I think they done an ableton set.. they attempted to experiment with it but I don't think they were too confident so didn't do all that much. You could tell they were trying though, I'm sure they're probably onto CDJs or Serato by now, if not I assume they've upped their ableton game.

I have zero respect for stnuc like that though, don't jump around like you're the dogs bollocks when you're using a mixer thats not even turned on. They'll probably never attempt to learn how to DJ because they don't need to.

Its nothing new in music though, singers have been touring and lip syncing for years.. if they can get paid the same for doing very, very little work because the crowd are too backwards to realise then they will.

[SignalRecon]

Now, I know that this is a potentially dangerous position to take on this thread but.. when you go see Flosstradamus, you are not going to see DMC champions known for their DJ skills.. you are going to see producers right? So if you are going to see them for their productions what does it matter if they dont DJ it.. they still made the music right?

Lets say you were all hyped up for a DJ craze turntablism set and you showed to him pressing play on ableton, yea I can understand that would be a bit disappointing, but Floss aren't even marketed as DJ's..and I mean, what are they supposed to do? Learn to DJ at a DMC level before they do any shows because people who dont produce as well as them but use CDJ's think thats not what real dj badmen do?

You have to understand they just exploded out of nowhere and started getting booked everywhere so they should have just not taken any bookings and release free tunes instead? ..Because this trapstyle thing is gona last forever like popstep?

**Edit: Obviously I understand there is a difference between lining up your tunes in ableton, playing the automations and effects, working the fades + triggering the clips on time VS simply pressing play on a hour long track and pretending to turn the mic level knob on sweeps.. which is what i think you guys are mainly cheesed about (apart that you hate trapstyle too lol)

[syrup]

the problem lies in them pretending to mix (poorly) and wanking their egos doing that, acting like they're the hot shit. it's a fucking joke
put down a 'PRERECORDED ABLETON SET + JUMPING AROUND AND TWISTING RANDOM KNOBS ON MIXER (LIVE)' on the flyer and i won't say a word.
I'd have more respect if they plugged in their ipod and played for that.

don't even get me started on their productions...

[SignalRecon]

the problem lies in them pretending to mix (poorly) and wanking their egos doing that, acting like they're the hot shit. it's a fucking joke
put down a 'PRERECORDED ABLETON SET + JUMPING AROUND AND TWISTING RANDOM KNOBS ON MIXER (LIVE)' on the flyer and i won't say a word.
I'd have more respect if they plugged in their ipod and played for that.

don't even get me started on their productions...

Yea you're right on that, let's start on their production tho (lol) .. They used some hardstyle midi files yea, but they are still very able producers.. all their songs sound mint production-wise. Their sound design is nice for the style they are going for, agreed they may not be the most outstanding musicians if they can't write their own chords but there is alot more to production then just writing.

[Muncey]

Now, I know that this is a potentially dangerous position to take on this thread but.. when you go see Flosstradamus, you are not going to see DMC champions known for their DJ skills.. you are going to see producers right? So if you are going to see them for their productions what does it matter if they dont DJ it.. they still made the music right?

There isn't just DMC champions and producers, theres this whole spectrum in between. That spectrum is filled with DJs and producer DJs who use 'sets' to play music they enjoy to like minded fans of the music.. in a nice flowing fashion, as well as a good way for producers do show off their work and labels to show off music coming out on their label. This way of getting music over to fans in a nice cohesive fashion is part of the package of dance music and it takes a lot of time and effort to do well.. thats why when jumped up pricks like that simply stick a prerecorded set on and jump around pretending to be the best DJs in the world people who appreciate the art of DJing get annoyed, its completely undermining to real DJs.

I'll go back to the lip syncing, you could say the same thing.. when you see a chart singer you aren't seeing a big opera performace you're seeing music someone has made, so who cares if they lip sync? Just like its undermining to real DJs its underminding to people who really can sing well live. But again due to the fact the general public are absolute morons they can get away with this.. and the more people that do it the more the general public see it as being normal.

Talent within live performing is falling rapidly and its becoming accepted too. Its why people can get away with DJ using virtual DJ and not feeling completely and utterly ashamed but pretend they're incrediblely talented DJs.

[SignalRecon]

Now, I know that this is a potentially dangerous position to take on this thread but.. when you go see Flosstradamus, you are not going to see DMC champions known for their DJ skills.. you are going to see producers right? So if you are going to see them for their productions what does it matter if they dont DJ it.. they still made the music right?

There isn't just DMC champions and producers, theres this whole spectrum in between. That spectrum is filled with DJs and producer DJs who use 'sets' to play music they enjoy to like minded fans of the music.. in a nice flowing fashion, as well as a good way for producers do show off their work and labels to show off music coming out on their label. This way of getting music over to fans in a nice cohesive fashion is part of the package of dance music and it takes a lot of time and effort to do well.. thats why when jumped up pricks like that simply stick a prerecorded set on and jump around pretending to be the best DJs in the world people who appreciate the art of DJing get annoyed, its completely undermining to real DJs.

You can do this with Live or Decks.. even CDJ's have a sync button. Would you argue that someone who organizes an artistically sound and flowing set like the one you described above within that spectrum as being less tasteful for automating a technical part of the process? (granted beat matching used to be part of the art as it was difficult to do by ear on tables and would add alot of merit to an outstanding selection for the mix and to an educated crowd added a tangible level of excitement, but now i feel its more about selection and going beyond the mix itself and adding in new elements which you are now free to do when not busy pitch bending tables).

[Muncey]

Beat matching is still part of the art, always will be. I don't wanna pay my hard earned money seeing someone prance around like a twat pretending to DJ.. its down to producers like this why its virtually impossible for normal DJs to get any good bookings anymore without having to have a portfolio of produced tunes.. whereas you can get booked and paid extremely good money for sets you've prerecorded with no portfolio or any kind of skill in the field of DJing.

Thats why Skrillex was in the top 20 DJs on DJ Mag when he still used a laptop to mix.

[SignalRecon]

Beat matching is still part of the art, always will be. I don't wanna pay my hard earned money seeing someone prance around like a twat pretending to DJ.. its down to producers like this why its virtually impossible for normal DJs to get any good bookings anymore without having to have a portfolio of produced tunes.. whereas you can get booked and paid extremely good money for sets you've prerecorded with no portfolio or any kind of skill in the field of DJing.

Thats why Skrillex was in the top 20 DJs on DJ Mag when he still used a laptop to mix.

Well, thats true but to be fair, to make tunes at the level where people will just book you and pay to mix on a laptop is easier said than done and requires a very elaborate skill set that is incredibly difficult to gain and takes years to master, so its not like they just picked up a DAW and got booked a week after, alot of these guys are decade(s) deep in production in various styles.

A local scene here (Toronto, Canada) that is still quite good on DJ'ing is the tech/minimal scene. I find the degree of "real" DJ appreciation varies alot between scenes and these guys have maintained a really good standard.

[Muncey]

Yeah production level, why should a production skill level give you the chance to make thousands doing something you're incapable of? How many incredibly technical DJs go to making tunes with presets and make loads of money doing it? Not many.

Sadly thats the world we live in nowadays! Like I said its not just dance music, loads of people make albums who're terrible performers or lip sync and just tour off the albums success for years because the standard of acceptable live performance is that shit nowadays you can do that.

[J_L_N]

[GoRiLLa_FiNGaH]

^^^ that is the funniest/most horrifying thing I have ever seen

[SignalRecon]

^ Nice find dude.. Wow......................................