[Dynagroove] Re: I am going to start some trouble...

[Will Yardley]

I've been trying to stay out of this thread, but I guess I'll speak
up now.... I'm a little hesitant to disrespect pretty much anyone
who's getting paid more money than I am to play records in front of
people... it's true that people aren't always successful for the
"right" reasons, but almost all of the people mentioned in this thread
have been doing what they're doing for a long time, and have almost
all EARNED the respect that they currently enjoy.  Everyone has their
on nights and off-nights.

Do I have my personal opinions about some DJs I think are over
/ underrated? For sure - anyone who knows me probably knows
this. However I'm going to try not to get sucked into discussing these
personal preferences on the list, especially the negative ones.

Since I don't think anyone else said it in this thread, I will repeat my
opinion that Jonathan Lastra is way underrated, and that people should
book him more. And I suck for not going last time someone booked him,
but someone bring back John Acquaviva.

Anyway, responding to multiple messages... extremely long rants below.

On Tue, Jun 22, 2004 at 07:25:19PM -0700, Lucas Dodson wrote:

> We can start with house..

> Juan Nunez he has some great tracks but wouldn't you too if you were
> part owner of WAX.. heard this guy trainwreck so many times.
> 
> Scott K. Really a nice guy but do I have to go any further...please
> buy new records or do something..oh yeah beat matching is necessary.

First of all, I think it's kind of uncool to disrespect people who are
on this list (well other than Cade... he deserves it for starting this
thread). I mean props for being honest, I guess.... but try to imagine
how you'd feel if I started a thread about how overrated and horrible
Lucas Dodson is.

Anyway, Juan... all I can say is that I almost never hear him play where
there aren't at least a few songs that make my ears pick up or where I
have to go ask him "what's this song". Overall I have heard him play
some really good sets and some sets that I wasn't so into - but there's
always at least something there for me -- and since I'm a pretty picky
bastard, that's saying a lot.

I've already expressed my feelings about the "beat matching" thing. I do
think that it's different for someone like François K. who has been
around for a billion years and CAN beat match but chooses not to...
anyway, I'm not totally into the tyranny of beat matching, but it does
kinda suck when people try to beat match, but trainwreck every mix.

There are some people who can pull off NOT beat matching very nicely
(David Mancuso comes to mind), and I don't think there's anything wrong
with that. Also, I think I'm less picky than some people... some tracks
are deceptively hard to beatmatch, and I'd personally rather hear good
music than good mixing any day of the week (though of course both is
usually best).

On Tue, Jun 22, 2004 at 06:59:07AM -0700, Cade wrote:
 
> Eric Davenport    -  Someone knock on this guys door and let him know
> that breaks were mid 90s.  He claims house but the house he plays is
> just dull.  No funk, no bump, and like a techno-breaks edge that I
> despise.

I haven't heard him play in years, but the CDs I've heard that are
recent don't really interest me much... however my complaint was more
that there wasn't *enough* breaky stuff - sounded like boring crappy
house to me.... I definitely respect this guy, but I'm not really into
the stuff he's doing these days (production or DJing).

On Wed, Jun 23, 2004 at 10:30:47AM -0700, D. F. Bacon wrote:

> I'll agree with the person whomever said that Derrick is a totally
> different person in Los Angeles.  I have seen him play in SF, and in
> Miami and I found his sets in both places to be quite a bit more
> interesting than that stuff he plays in big rooms in LA.

I haven't heard him a lot of times / places in the past 6 or 7 years,
but I think the same may be true of Mark Farina to some degree... I
think a lot of DJs may "dumb it down" a little for LA crowds.

Are there people who are great producers / bad DJs (or vice versa)? YES.
I have mixed feelings about whether these people should (get booked /
put out records, respectively). But it's not totally fair to expect
people to be great at both - some (lucky) people are, but a lot aren't.
Both things can be huge time / money / energy drains.

Another truth is that some DJs may feel that they are "expected" to play
a certain type of sound, and they may have found that when they try to
branch out from that too much, the crowds aren't feeling it... or on the
flip side, they may be completely uninterested in the sound that they're
originally known for, and may be playing completely different stuff now
(leading some people to say "so-and-so sucks now").

The other unfortunate truth is that when promoters book a lot of these
"overrated" DJs (and I'm not going to comment on whether or not I think
they're actually overrated), people show up... and when they book
someone a little more interesting / take risks, they generally don't get
a good crowd. I think that's why we see Heather, Mark Farina, and other
DJs so much.

Bottom line, I think supporting talent you like / respect is the best
way to deal with this... think someone's overrated? Well don't f'n go
see them play. Think someone's underrated and totally rocks? Go see them
play when someone finally books them - and convince all your friends to
go too.

I try not to think too much about whether someone mixes well or not,
whether they've played the same tracks a billion times before, or
whatever. All of these things *may* mean that someone sucks - but I
think the end result is what counts... is the person making me want to
dance? Is the person making everyone else in the room want to dance?
That's kind of the point.

Lastly, to be honest, I don't see how starting a thread like this ON
PURPOSE is really constructive; even though Cade tried to keep it
light-hearted, and even made fun of himself a little, I don't really see
what talking about all this negative stuff accomplishes - and I'm
generally a pretty negative person myself. I think that trashing people
who are on this list or who are likely to read it is especially uncool.

-- 
"Since when is skepticism un-American?
Dissent's not treason but they talk like it's the same..."
(Sleater-Kinney - "Combat Rock")