Tuesday, April 23, 2013

All original sets.

OK, so this may cause some debate, but personally, I hate hearing "all original" sets.  Probably my biggest reason is that every douche that does it decides it's best to get on the mic after every tune drops to let us all know.  Some may even go so far as to tell you a brief story, such as, "I was on a plane for 12 hours and made this" or "This one samples my cat on the harmonica".  Who gives a shit?!  Just play the music and make us dance monkey.  If I wanted a detailed play by play, I'll just read your overinflated bio, or watch your poorly produced mini documentary.

Now to be fair, not every DJ who plays all originals is a douche, but if you are guilty of the aforementioned accusation, then well, the shoe fits.  I don't mind if every so often one of my favorite DJs plays only his/her original tracks, (shit, bands do it right?) but they better at the least have a very eclectic catalogue of diverse music and a large quantity to choose from.  If they only play the same 20 songs at every show, and those 20 tracks all sound the same, why would I want to see them more than twice a year at most?

Let's admit it, watching a DJ can be pretty boring.  Live bands are so much more engaging, with the singing, live instruments and what have you. So for a DJ to just play the prerecorded music they've made, that you've already listened to 50 times, really isn't that amazing or engaging now is it?  With that being said, why wouldn't you sprinkle in some new shit that someone else made like DJs are supposed to do, or at least traditionally were expected to.

I'm not hating on producers, I just think that if the worlds of Producer and DJ are merging, or have already merged I should say, then why not respect the craft of the DJ?  It's like DJs who produce shitty tracks just to get more gigs.  It doesn't, or shouldn't work like that.  If you want to be a performer these days, you should be a master of production, as well as a skilled DJ.

You know what is really tripping me out lately?  The amount of producers that are starting to hate on DJs that don't produce, or even hating on producers that don't play all original sets.  Do you have any idea how boring clubs would be if all DJs merely played their own tracks?  It would be a nightmare.  Can you imagine if there were no more selectors?  There is a reason the crate digging DJ has stood the test of time.  It is because people want to hear a cluster of the best songs that someone can offer.

There is not a single producer who has a 100% solid library of their works that I feel would blow my mind for 90 minutes.  Seriously, when you scan through the average album, there are usually only 4 out of 12 tracks that you really enjoy.  6 out of 12 is considered an amazing album in my opinion, so why would I want to hear all the mediocre ones I don't like in the club?  Producers should just pick their best ones, and fill in the gaps with the best from other producers.

I mean don't they get all the freshest unreleased tunes if they are all friends with each other anyhow?  Why wouldn't you want to drop those tunes live?  I know producers don't have time to dig for tunes since producing is so time consuming, and they tour a lot, but if you get tracks falling in your lap, you have no excuse.

If you are a big headliner name, and go to a major city twice a year, your next set should be at least 50% new material that you didn't play the last time.  That means you should be producing at least 3 solid tracks a month, which isn't the case with many of these performers, plus they sometimes play 3 or 4 times a year in those major cities.  There is nothing more heart wrenching than being disappointed or bored by a DJ you really love.  That is how many producers burn themselves out in certain markets, and sometimes lose a big fan base.  Over saturation is bad enough because you will devalue yourself, but it makes it even worse if you become predictable and people already know what songs you are going to play.  It could potentially ruin you.

Stay original by not staying original.

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