An Existential Post About Relevancy

[Electric_Head]

B The problem I kept having was I wanted to play warm up sets, slower, deeper more romantic stuff. But few promoters are going to pay for travel, fee and accomodation for dj's to play the warm up slot.

This everyday.
I went from playing every wknd to 2000 ppl to never playing basically because I was choosing to make myself smile over a crowd.
It slowly develops to the point where ppl can actually respect what you are doing.
But that doesn't mean I got booked to play warm-up sets.

I'm still pushing my way into parties to play the warm-up set because I feel I can push the sound more now than before.
If that makes sense.

[Mad_EP]

B The problem I kept having was I wanted to play warm up sets, slower, deeper more romantic stuff. But few promoters are going to pay for travel, fee and accomodation for dj's to play the warm up slot.

This everyday.
I went from playing every wknd to 2000 ppl to never playing basically because I was choosing to make myself smile over a crowd.
It slowly develops to the point where ppl can actually respect what you are doing.
But that doesn't mean I got booked to play warm-up sets.

I'm still pushing my way into parties to play the warm-up set because I feel I can push the sound more now than before.
If that makes sense.

^^^
this.


It is funny how playing what you want/what you feel can do. In my case, I have the respect of many of my favorite artists. The downside is, promoters/labels/etc have a harder time with it.

Case 1) - I opened for iconAclass last year (the current project of mc Dalek - aka DÄLEK)... and he was so blown away by what I did that not only did he want to tour with me, but he wanted to OPEN for me cos he was now on a Boom-Bap vibe... and wanted me to continue on a wild ride that would go deep into the experimentalism. The result? I got signed to his booking agent the same night. But I haven't been booked since. The agent loves me - but a lot of promoters don't "get" what I do and don't know how to sell it... even though the reality is - I have KILLED everywhere I have played and almost never leave without several encores being demanded by the crowd.

Case 2) - Sub.FM. I've been on the station for several years now- and something that I am very proud of. It is a great station with open minds... but I like to push that envelope even further. Whistla brought me on board cos I did an experimental bass vibe that was different. The upside is that after several years, I now have carte blanche to play whatever I want. And these days - it goes from unreleased dubs to dusty soul to industrial noise to whatever. The downside, I'll probably never be able to get a more palatable slot than my 12am-2am time slot. I am getting older and would like to have a more socialable time slot... but to really push the boundaries as far as I want, I have to take certain timeslots.


We all have our choices... what we do with them is up to us.

[Electric_Head]

Respect for that MadEP.

I still get asked to play PsyTrance every now and then because of my past endeavors.
The beauty is that the promoter knows what I'm going to do and doesn't limit me in anyway because of the past and how I pushed the sound and changed the dancefloor for the better.

Now I make a point of going from 165bmp and drop it half time into some psychedelic drone bass.
The looks are priceless but the number of people that just keep jamming and comment afterward on the quality of the tunes.
I would however love to be able to be involved in parties that allow creativity in music.
The only problem with that is the massive amount of total crap out there that some ppl try to push.
But I'm sure the same could be said for me.

For each his own I guess.

[titchbit]

Case 2) - Sub.FM. I've been on the station for several years now- and something that I am very proud of. It is a great station with open minds... but I like to push that envelope even further. Whistla brought me on board cos I did an experimental bass vibe that was different. The upside is that after several years, I now have carte blanche to play whatever I want. And these days - it goes from unreleased dubs to dusty soul to industrial noise to whatever. The downside, I'll probably never be able to get a more palatable slot than my 12am-2am time slot. I am getting older and would like to have a more socialable time slot... but to really push the boundaries as far as I want, I have to take certain timeslots.


We all have our choices... what we do with them is up to us.

Life is all about tradeoffs/sacrifices, and drawing the line between what is acceptable for you to do and what isn't.

And that's not just with music.

[fragments]

In the brief time I DJd I only ever played what I wanted to play. And I always told promoters this upfront and gave them an approx. set list a week before the event. Probably why I'm not a DJ anymore, lol.

But I ended up doing lots of diverse gigs, not just raves/parties. My favorite was a series of "live painting" shows where artists painted on stage and then auctioned off the still wet paintings at the end of the night.

[Sharmaji]

Couple of thoughts:

-- music being "work" ain't a bad thing at all- madEP, myself, and at least few others from dsf:p make a loving making music full-time. I count myself among the lucky ones to be able to do so.

-- making dance music that is an expression of yourself is, in most cases, a non-bottomless well. There are only so many Richie Hawtins in the world.

--not everyone is an "artist." Plenty of folks, myself included, are more talented at helping others achieve their goals. Even in performance- I'd rather sit in the back and keep the band right as fuck, and let the person who's amazing at being in the limelight be that.

--wanna be successful? Write a ton of music and maintain a good network of folks who want to hear it. Want to stay relevant? Keep writing, keep growing your network and keep expanding what you write. The infatuation w heavy, 140bpm dance music is on the wane- so where do you go from there?

--releases are great yardsticks on your career, but serve little in the way of end goals. I'm still very proud of the release I did with Pete bubonic and crew all those years ago; while the release continues to be lovely, the doors it helped open were fantastic.

[Icetickle]

Couple of thoughts:

-- music being "work" ain't a bad thing at all- madEP, myself, and at least few others from dsf:p make a loving making music full-time. I count myself among the lucky ones to be able to do so.

-- making dance music that is an expression of yourself is, in most cases, a non-bottomless well. There are only so many Richie Hawtins in the world.

--not everyone is an "artist." Plenty of folks, myself included, are more talented at helping others achieve their goals. Even in performance- I'd rather sit in the back and keep the band right as fuck, and let the person who's amazing at being in the limelight be that.

--wanna be successful? Write a ton of music and maintain a good network of folks who want to hear it. Want to stay relevant? Keep writing, keep growing your network and keep expanding what you write. The infatuation w heavy, 140bpm dance music is on the wane- so where do you go from there?

--releases are great yardsticks on your career, but serve little in the way of end goals. I'm still very proud of the release I did with Pete bubonic and crew all those years ago; while the release continues to be lovely, the doors it helped open were fantastic.

Soundcloud

You rock man!

EDIT:

Soundcloud

[Devilsindub]

I was in a band previous to the one I'm in now, for 5 years. It was the most poppy wannabe heavy shit ever and no one enjoyed it after the 2nd year. With that being said, writing stuff that means something to you is important if you want to maintain a career with your original tracks. I have a new project now, and I am thrilled on how it is turning out. Our first album was written and recorded by me and my really good friend, and was definitely from the heart. I know that years later I will still enjoy listening to it. Also, I think playing stuff that actually means something to you stands out in a live performance. If you get in to it, most likely your audience will.