DJ Z-Trip article "DJs should bring back the danger"
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  1. #1
    Tech Wizard
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    Default DJ Z-Trip article "DJs should bring back the danger"

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    I recently played at Coachella and eighty percent of DJs were just playing songs, not playing with the songs. Or they were just playing pre-mixes of songs, which is totally counter to the culture I grew up with and respect and admire. Not to knock them, they were cool, the crowd was cool, everyone was cool with it, but it’s just not what gets me inspired.

    It’s getting harder to see DJs up there mixing it live in front of you. I miss that. I used to get inspired when I saw DJs play. I still do, but it’s becoming less and less. A lot more DJs are pre-planning their sets or doing premade mixes. It’s becoming more about the production of the show and the spectacle rather than the skills of the DJ. You can do both, but a lot of people choose not to.

    I equate it to you like this. You wouldn’t see The Black Keys playing a live concert and midway through their set they start crowd-surfing but their music is still playing. Then when they come back on-stage the next song is on. It doesn’t happen that way. You wouldn’t see that and, if you did, they would lose all their fans. In electronic music there is a grey area.

    People like Deadmau5 say, “I just pushed some buttons” or “It’s super easy to DJ, I can do it in a few hours with a laptop”. I understand where he is coming from and don’t want to knock him. He has his hustle going on, but I clearly come from a different world and I have to rep where I come from.

    I am inspired by innovators like Grandmaster Flash and Jazzy Jeff. They would perform and they were clearly doing the work. You could see and hear it in real time and recognise there was the ability to fuck up. When you are on a highwire fifty storeys up and there’s no net, it changes the stakes: if you fall, you die. If there’s a net and you fall, you get to try again. That’s what’s going on today. People are performing with a net.

    For me, the bigger the risk, the bigger the game. I can’t help but have more respect and admiration for people who do that. Today, people like Craze and A-Trak and Jazzy Jeff (still to this day), I am blown away by.

    To take it a step further, people can be not DJing in the classical sense, but still be up there doing work. Guys like Bassnectar and Skrillex are not what I consider to be traditional DJing, but they are still performing and putting it together. Meanwhile, other people go up and hit play, bring people on stage and throw out beach balls. I don’t knock that hustle, but I can’t really back it. In a way, it’s taking away from what everyone built before me, as well as the work that I put in and my contemporaries are still trying to build.

    The technology debate boils down to the user. Technology is not at fault – it’s on the user. If you have the chance, utilise it. Use the equipment – we all have access to it, but do you want to take a shortcut in your performance? Just playing songs you made in the studio doesn’t do anything for me. If you are going to push buttons, push a thousand buttons, not four.

    It’s also a little bit on the crowd. The crowd needs to get educated on what’s going on. Not to fault them – they just want to have a good time – but it would be great if there was a connection or education in the process. If you’re 19 and you’re at your first show and the artist is playing on a laptop and you’re not paying attention, you might think, “This guy is cool, the music is cool, the lights are cool, I’m drinking my first beer.” There are flames and lights and girls. There’s also less chance you’re going to be like, “Holy shit, he was making that beat up there.”

    It’s a bit of smoke and mirrors, Wizard of Oz stuff. I would like to see more skills and taking away of the veil, so the audience understands the performance element. Then that 19-year-old might be like, “Wow, the person onstage can actually do it live.”


    http://www.inthemix.com.au/features/...ack_the_danger

  2. #2
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  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by zykill View Post
    Quote

    I recently played at Coachella and eighty percent of DJs were just playing songs, not playing with the songs. Or they were just playing pre-mixes of songs, which is totally counter to the culture I grew up with and respect and admire. Not to knock them, they were cool, the crowd was cool, everyone was cool with it, but it’s just not what gets me inspired.

    It’s getting harder to see DJs up there mixing it live in front of you. I miss that. I used to get inspired when I saw DJs play. I still do, but it’s becoming less and less. A lot more DJs are pre-planning their sets or doing premade mixes. It’s becoming more about the production of the show and the spectacle rather than the skills of the DJ. You can do both, but a lot of people choose not to.

    I equate it to you like this. You wouldn’t see The Black Keys playing a live concert and midway through their set they start crowd-surfing but their music is still playing. Then when they come back on-stage the next song is on. It doesn’t happen that way. You wouldn’t see that and, if you did, they would lose all their fans. In electronic music there is a grey area.

    People like Deadmau5 say, “I just pushed some buttons” or “It’s super easy to DJ, I can do it in a few hours with a laptop”. I understand where he is coming from and don’t want to knock him. He has his hustle going on, but I clearly come from a different world and I have to rep where I come from.

    I am inspired by innovators like Grandmaster Flash and Jazzy Jeff. They would perform and they were clearly doing the work. You could see and hear it in real time and recognise there was the ability to fuck up. When you are on a highwire fifty storeys up and there’s no net, it changes the stakes: if you fall, you die. If there’s a net and you fall, you get to try again. That’s what’s going on today. People are performing with a net.

    For me, the bigger the risk, the bigger the game. I can’t help but have more respect and admiration for people who do that. Today, people like Craze and A-Trak and Jazzy Jeff (still to this day), I am blown away by.

    To take it a step further, people can be not DJing in the classical sense, but still be up there doing work. Guys like Bassnectar and Skrillex are not what I consider to be traditional DJing, but they are still performing and putting it together. Meanwhile, other people go up and hit play, bring people on stage and throw out beach balls. I don’t knock that hustle, but I can’t really back it. In a way, it’s taking away from what everyone built before me, as well as the work that I put in and my contemporaries are still trying to build.

    The technology debate boils down to the user. Technology is not at fault – it’s on the user. If you have the chance, utilise it. Use the equipment – we all have access to it, but do you want to take a shortcut in your performance? Just playing songs you made in the studio doesn’t do anything for me. If you are going to push buttons, push a thousand buttons, not four.

    It’s also a little bit on the crowd. The crowd needs to get educated on what’s going on. Not to fault them – they just want to have a good time – but it would be great if there was a connection or education in the process. If you’re 19 and you’re at your first show and the artist is playing on a laptop and you’re not paying attention, you might think, “This guy is cool, the music is cool, the lights are cool, I’m drinking my first beer.” There are flames and lights and girls. There’s also less chance you’re going to be like, “Holy shit, he was making that beat up there.”

    It’s a bit of smoke and mirrors, Wizard of Oz stuff. I would like to see more skills and taking away of the veil, so the audience understands the performance element. Then that 19-year-old might be like, “Wow, the person onstage can actually do it live.”


    http://www.inthemix.com.au/features/...ack_the_danger
    GOD BLESS Z-TRIP ! ! !. this man is truly one of my idols and one of my biggest influences. he's a true party rocker and a genius in his own right. i wish more guys like him would stand up and ell him like it is and continue to be true to the art.
    http://www.soundcloud.com/durtyjerzy609 Numark TTX1's, Rane TTM57SL, SSL, Novation Dicers, Abelton Live 8, Akai APC 20, Akai MPD18, Alesis M1 520's
    I'm all that and then some, tall dark and handsome

  4. #4
    Tech Guru AllDay's Avatar
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    I feel the same way, I have some buddies over here who call themselves dj.. But all they have is ableton premixed with a set.

    Its lame really.

  5. #5
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    the way i see it, if there is no chance of messing up or being creative in the moment then why not just hook up an Ipod? about the same thing
    If you don't have haters, you're not doing it right

  6. #6

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    z-trip has embraced technology, like alot of us have (its why were all on this forum) but he's never stepped away from his roots, and thats where our beloved passion has gone, the industry has made it all to easy for anyone to step up and be a dj... at some point were gunna have to be like dj babu (turntablist) or moldover (controllerist) so i think for now on, im gunna be called durty jerzy tha performist what ya think about that?
    http://www.soundcloud.com/durtyjerzy609 Numark TTX1's, Rane TTM57SL, SSL, Novation Dicers, Abelton Live 8, Akai APC 20, Akai MPD18, Alesis M1 520's
    I'm all that and then some, tall dark and handsome

  7. #7
    Tech Wizard
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    Default And you are?

    Quote Originally Posted by ThinkAboutIt View Post
    Z-Trip's opinion is much more valid than some vienna dudes American-Guy-reply. You should study one of Z's sets (if you are able)...

    Servus Toy

  8. #8
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    People need to stop worrying about big lazy pop star DJ's and just listen to the guys that are doing it right. Every genre of music has its fakes when it reaches the height of its popularity just ignore it. The quality underground stuff will always be pumping

  9. #9
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    ___________________
    Quote Originally Posted by earl panda View Post
    i´ll quote you in 5 years and we both will have a good laugh while we are at this awsome dj battle on mars trying to finally beat the damned 1000 armed alien squid "dj squid master". his routines are sick!

  10. #10

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    I just came minutes ago from a jam where I had to play very unknown funk songs on bass and then on drums. Was fun, totally unexpected stuff, people were dancing. Yes, DJs should take similar risks as it's fun for both the players and the audience.

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