Four Things #15
Four Things #15..
Welcome back to Four Things. A special hello to my newest subscribers, glad to have you along for the ride. This is a bit of a special edition of the newsletter, as all Things have to do with mixing and recording DJ sets. Nothing too pretentious but a collection of thoughts and observations, and of course, some good mixes. Feedback is very much appreciated!
Couple quick notes, tomorrow 3024 is launching two new t-shirts via Everpress, check those out here. There is a brand new record coming on the label by the amazing Yak, peep here. I will put up pre-orders on Bandcamp for that EP very soon. Also, we have Mor Elian and Barker at Good Room NYC on March 13th, Anunaku and Debonair on April 17th and just announced a label night at Panoramabar with a massive line up! Hope to see you there.
Let's get to the Things. If you enjoy reading this news letter, feel free to pass on the link to your friends, or check out the archive right here https://tinyletter.com/Martyn-Deykers.
Martyn
March 9, 2020
FIRST THING: ON RECORDING MIXES
This edition of Four Things is entirely dedicated to "the recorded mix". Throughout the years, the recorded mix has had many different iterations, different meanings, purposes, for the artists making them and the people listening to them. When I started going out to clubs there were mixtapes (actual tapes), often demos DJs made to give to promoters and friends to get gigs. There were recordings of live DJ sets, a copy of a really great Jeff Mills set used to do the rounds in Eindhoven back in the day, recorded out of the PA by the sound guy from the local club. A special 'genre' I should mention is the tape-pack, usually 4 to 6 tapes in a plastic sleeve that featured recordings of big raves like Telepathy or Amnesia, for punters that wanted to relive the experience. Cassettes turned into CD-R's, but the purpose of the mixes were mostly the same. Then there were commercially released mixed CD's by big name DJ's - some of the early ones were great (see below), and several legendary mix-series deserve to be mentioned (fabric, DJ-Kicks, Berghain). Quite quickly though, the genre also produced plenty of very basic sounding mixes, produced to capitalize on those electronic artists who didn't make actual music, but did have successful DJ careers.
In the mid-00's, everything changed with the introduction of SoundCloud and other digital platforms. Initially, these platforms would host already existing recordings but soon the "mixtape" reinvented itself as a "genre" with more musical possibilities, and open to a wider range of artists and listeners. It's easy to forget that a lot of people can only consume electronic music online since not every city has club culture. Mixes are perhaps a perfect blend between musical creativity and a club experience. Online mix- and podcast-series are doing a great job curating and promoting artists and providing room for innovation (Fact, Truants, Wax Treatment, Ilian Tape, RA, the list goes on) This expansion of reach is not to be downplayed. Ben UFO b2b Joy O at XOYO on SoundCloud currently has 61000 plays, even lesser known underground artists reach 10k in plays on their mixes. You would need to find out how many unique listens those are holds but only very popular tape packs or early 2010 Mix-CD's would reach those kinds of numbers.
For the longest time I saw recording a mix as recording a demo, to get gigs or to preview music I had forthcoming on the label. But younger artists perceive mixes as more of an art form, an actual medium in itself without another purpose. Something you put a lot of work into (and lose nights of sleep over) before you even start the recording. It probably has to do with the way I consumed mixes when I started DJ'ing and the way people consume mixes now. The level of mixing and curating is also incredibly high at the moment, which I think is very exciting. Before you go all Boomer on me, as I am (fashionably) ten years late to this party, I do see a lot of creative possibilities in recording mixes that I did not see earlier. In fact, I think spending more time on looking for music and how to put it together into a mix that tells you a story makes you a much better live DJ as well. My recent sets have definitely benefited from more focused "R&D" at home for mixes, whereas (with almost 25 years of DJ experience) I just would not habitually mix for a couple hours in preparation of a gig anymore. Besides, there is no better feeling than being energized by exploring music and finding new ways to enjoy it.
I did three mixes this year, and found the process quite enjoyable whereas I used to hate making mixes at home because I was having a hard time imagining a club environment. One for Ilian Tape's podcast series on SoundCloud received some nice feedback - made me feel like I'm on the right track. You can check it here. I've recorded a longer mix for Dimensions (online next week) where I spent time figuring out a direction, and highlighting new artists I'm into. Then I did a 1hr drum 'n bass mix for Metalheadz' RinseFM show that will be broadcast soon but you can peep here. Features a new track by me as well. Just wanted to shout Dj Voices, Shy Eyez, Josey Rebelle and Erosie for the inspiration and fresh perspectives!
SECOND THING: TALKING TO MICHAELANGELO MATOS
Mixes and live recordings of DJ gigs feature prominently in Michaelangelo Matos' book "The Underground is Massive" (a benchmark piece of electronic music writing). It's safe to say Matos is a bit of connoisseur on the subject, having collected and analyzed thousands of mixes from the early 90s to present. I asked him a few questions about the subject:
1. Hi Michaelangelo! How would you describe in short the evolution of the mix from the basic mixed cassette or live recording off the PA to almost an entirely new 'genre' of online Soundcloud mixes and radio mixes ?
I am a mix connoisseur, but the timeline has two distinct periods. When I was primarily writing record reviews, which I did from the late 90s until about 2010, most of the sets I was listening to were official releases. The balance began shifting in 2007, when I discovered RA and Fact Magazine and their podcasts, as well as a general rise in web-available DJ sets. (This was still pre-SoundCloud.) What I came to realize in 2009, when dance music sounded like the only interesting thing I was paying attention to, was that mixes were starting to say more to me than albums were. They were evolving quickly, in real time. That year, I wrote something for the Baltimore City Paper, now long offline, about several of those mixes, and it was the first time in a while I felt like I was writing about what I really cared about again.
The Underground Is Massive, my book, began gestating in early 2011, and when I began to work on it, I decided to start downloading DJ sets related to the parties I was writing about. I went though Rave Archive, the U.S. site whose sets and zines are now housed on Archive.org, and started DLing things. I did similarly with several other DJ mix repositories online. Again, most of these had existed well before SoundCloud. It was a lot of chasing dead links just to see what might be there. I listened to hundreds of these while writing the book. Finally, I had an excuse!
So the web was already crawling with DJ sets from the past long before there was a SoundCloud or Mixcloud, or a Mixes DB or 1001 Tracklists, to collate or facilitate ease of use. But clearly the c. 2005-06 rise of podcasting generally, and the RA Podcast in 2006 in particular, that eased the shift. Not to mention Rinse FM et al.’s allowing near-instant downloads of shows.
2. Online mixes seem increasingly important for a DJ career, sometimes even boosting online presence more than real life gigging. What are positive and negative aspects of these developments in your opinion?
The positives are obviously that the DJ mix is now a normalized format, if still a largely fugitive one. Nobody blinks when you say you’re listening to DJ sets; it’s still more specialized than listening to albums or individual songs, but not unreasonably so. They’re free and widely available, so no excuses.
The negatives are the increased churn—not just in number of sets vs. availability of ear time, but the insistence that we always be looking for new DJs when, hey, the DJs we already know are, in many cases, continuing to do good work. It pushes people out who deserve another look and pushes people in who aren’t ready yet.
3. What is the influence of social platforms such as Soundcloud/Mixcloud on the mixtape genre?
SC changed everything, period.
4. What are some of the mix worm holes you have been exploring recently? Anything we should be checking out / digging in to ?
Late last fall I realized that listening to mixes all the time was not giving me a lot of pleasure, owing in part to the above-mentioned churn and in part to maaaaayyyyyyybe dance music, per se, not being very interesting at the moment. (I said maybe.) I’ve been listening less frequently but still checking things out, and that more relaxed approach has been working well. I’m feeling the need to dive in again, and already was before you asked me these Q’s. That’s the logic of online life—you need breaks to stay sane.
(Mr. Matos just finished an epic (I don't like to use that word lightly) new book called "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year", forthcoming on Da Capo late 2020)
THIRD THING: STACEY PULLEN'S DJ KICKS
A highly influential mix for me personally is Stacey Pullen's contribution to !K7's "Dj Kicks" series. It was one of the first commercially released mix-cd's I heard that was not just good for the tracks, but was extremely compelling to listen to for the mixing and editing. The sleeve notes explain the mix was recorded as a live (vinyl) DJ mix by Stacey and then "digitally edited" afterwards. The mix is from 1996 so instead of an easy Ableton job I am guessing Stacey went into the studio with a Protools tech to add reverb, delays, and phasing. He also added Blade Runner dialogue in some of the breakdowns which is never a wrong thing. The pacing is purposefully high as the sleeve notes also explain it's quite hard to get into the groove when not at a club. I tracked down every record on this mix, but none of them sound as vibrant and fresh as the way Stacey drops them on here. Wulf-N-Bear's "Raptures of the Deep" emerges on the mix as a funky bassline pallette cleanser before it morphs into the wacky "Alpha Beta Gamma" by Buckfunk 3000, but when I laid down $40 for "Raptures.." on Discogs I ended up with quite a disappointing dragging house track of 9 minutes long :) That's the power of the DJ! You can listen to this techno masterpiece in full on Youtube
FOURTH THING: JOSEY FOR THE FACE
The relative ease of recording and publishing mixes on SoundCloud has perhaps diminished its artistic impact a bit, with so much on offer, but it also provides opportunities for creatives to come up with unique approaches to the medium. One of my favorite examples of this is Josey Rebelle's mix for the relaunch of The Face Magazine in April of 2019. She approached the mix as a very personal statement of "London-ness" in both musical and political terms, something you would record for your best friend, but it's out there for thousands of us to enjoy. I wonder if any of the previous, physical mix formats would lend themselves for such a micro-macro approach. What I love so much about this mix is how "London" it is musically, she plays songs that signify the musical melting pot of the city, but, and this is important, without ever reaching for any sort of classic or cliché, nor going for the very tired and I would say outdated hardcore continuum tropes. Selecting music by Marc Mac, The Specials and London Posse, Josey highlights those who are the actual fabric of London's music culture, the driving forces behind the scenes rather than its more well known stars. A lot of other music on the mix doesn't even come from London but still perfectly pinpoints that beautiful contrast between powerful and melancholic, fierce and loose, warm and rainy.. Check it.