[Dynagroove] Yet more on the detroit tip

[Joel Pryde]

The question I've been asking myself ever since i got to la has been not
"why isn't there a detroit/techno scene here?" but "why do house dj's play
nothing but house here?".  LA is home to some of the most amazingly talented
and totally unimaginative djs I've ever heard.  Almost every night I go out
I hear a flawlessly mixed set that contains a subset of the same 100 or so
records that seem to be in current rotation.  I realize that there is a lot
of competition among djs/promoters here and they want to pack the dancefloor
but it saddens me to see so many djs turn there back on whole worlds of
music.

There really doesn't HAVE to be a techno scene.  I've been in cities that
have them (philly, pittsburgh, cleveland) but they are extrememely rare.
Usually they only occur when the partying population is young and still
filled with the DIY spirit of rave culture.  House and trance predominate
whenever there is a commercial influence (ie. clubs, alcohol, etc) in the
electronic music scene.  This is not necessarily a bad thing (there is a
hell of a lot more to do here on any given night than in pittsburgh) but it
does make djs have to cater to the current whims of a clubbing population
that is concerned more with drinking a couple of beers and mingling on the
dance floor for 3-4 hours instead of pounding themselves silly all night to
banging techno.   But really, all of this doesn't matter because...

THERE IS NO REASON YOU HOUSE DJ'S CAN'T SPIN DETROIT!  For god's sakes, it
almost is house!  If you can mix and have decent selection then the crowd
will follow you into strange and uncharted territories.  That is your job as
a dj.  Pick up some records from recloose, sean deason, kenny larkin, eddie
"flashin" fowlkes and tell me you can't make them work in your set.  If you
can't manage that then try some metro area, john tejada or the reverant
detroit grand pubahs.  If you can't manage that you should hang up your
headphones, because your not doing anything that 10 other dj's aren't doing
and, worse, you are turning your back on one of house's roots.

Tired of the same 4/4,
jP

p.s.  $5/funk was rad.  thank you vinyltribe.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Amy" <amy at reelhouse.net>
To: <dynagroove at reelhouse.net>
Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 5:51 PM
Subject: [Dynagroove] no audience?


> Quoting Scott Findley <scottfindl at earthlink.net>:
>
> > not so!
> >
> > shakir did a couple of shows out here w/ john tejada.. probablly like 2
> > years ago
>
>
> How interesting.  I certainly NEVER heard a word about that party.
>
> Also, Zack mentioned Rolando... he actually played out here about 4 years
ago,
> but of course I only heard about it AFTERward.
>
> The hard part about bringing Detroit DJs out here is that so many of them
play
> techno, and really there is no techno "scene" (I hate that word, but you
know
> what I mean) out here... there is a group that likes to pretend they
listen to
> 'techno" but really it's just trance in disguise.
>
> Perhaps part of the reason that so few people show up to see these Techno
DJs
> is twofold:
>
> 1)  There really doesn't seem to be nearly as many Techno lovers in LA as
house
> lovers, jungle lovers, trance lovers, etc..., so there just isn't the
> "audience" for those artists
>
> OR
>
> 2) perhaps there are plenty of techno lovers, but there really doesn't
seem to
> be a CENTRALIZED techno "community" in LA, (i.e. a  "scene").  So when
techno
> artists do come to town, promoters have no "central" techno parties to go
> promote them at...the techno lovers are not as easily reached...
>
> I know of many people who seem to be interested in techno... perhaps y'all
> should get TOGETHER and talk...
>
> Just a thought... I like my musical world as diverse as possible.  Don't
you?
>
> On that note, I am SOOOOOOO far out of the D&B circuit that i don't know
if one
> even exists in LA any more.  If any of you dynagroovers can suggest
upcoming
> d&b or two-step nights, please email me privately.
>
> Thanks,
> Amy
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________
> Dynagroove at reelhouse.net
> http://mistress.reelhouse.net/mailman/listinfo/dynagroove
>
> Archives Available at:
> http://mistress.lavirtual.net/pipermail/dynagroove/
>
> Brought to you by Reelhouse Network
> http://www.reelhouse.net
>