Best DJs You've Seen Lately/Ever Seen

Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Who are the DJs around nowadays who are capable of blowing your mind or lifting your spirits? I dunno if its just cos I'm as jaded as fuck but I haven't seen that many in recent years who have had that effect.

I'd also like to know who are the best DJs you've ever seen live and maybe even get some links to sets if you've got any. Lately I've been thinking about getting back into mixing and its got me thinking about the art of DJing. Is DJing a dying art, what with the rise of producer-first DJs?

One of my favourite DJs (based on seeing him play twice - once at FWD, once in Bristol) is Martyn - both times I saw him he wasn't afraid to play big anthems like ''Deep Inside'' ''Who's Afraid of Detroit?'' ''Gabrielle'' ''At Les'' etc. alongside the deeper tunes and I dunno how he did it but he made me inordinately excited and loved-up both times I saw him (the second time I was blitzed on MDMA but that's been the case with other DJs who haven't done much for me).

I guess I haven't really been ''into'' a DJ since the days of dubstep, when I worshipped the ground Mala/Loefah and Youngsta stood with a spliff hanging out of their mouths on. Before that was Drum N Bass - Randall and Bailey, DJ Friction playing a classics set on Valve and a three hour LTJ Bukem set in Serbia (the only DJ I've seen, in D&B anyway, who really ''took me on a journey'' to use that old cliche). I'm sure there are plenty of sets I'm forgetting now - I guess Marcell Dettmann in Bristol absolutely killed me. I suppose the context surrounding the DJ is very important - i.e. Dettmann there was a full crowd, a dark club, good drugs etc.
 
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paolo

Mechanical phantoms
I like DJs who cover a lot of styles in their sets. The best set I saw last year was by Hieroglyphic Being, who plays all sorts of stuff. Optimo can also be relied upon to jump between genres a lot but smoothly
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
the opening dj played hard, hard bass and juke with all kinds of gameboy bells and whistles and intensity pushed to 12. I was like oh man...

and then Rashad came on.

the energy of the entire room instantly changed. it was unmistakable and everyone felt it together: the real party starts now.
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
also saw Guy Called Gerald do a very satisfying afternoon after hours set last weekend of deep UK house... all velvety sub bass and subtle Afro percussion elements on every single tune. bliss at 5pm
 
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minikomi

pu1.pu2.wav.noi
Have never seen him live (living in Japan and all..) but if this boiler room set is any indication.. DJ EZ

 
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datwun

Well-known member
minikomi: oi oi! Another dissensus person living in Japan! Whereabouts are you based?

I was actually gonna say that two of my most impressive experiences lately have been Japanese DJs - Seiho: mostly plays his own productions - blissful, slightly Lucky Me/Numbers/Rusty-esq colourful neon synths with hardcore rave piano stabs and pitched up diva vocals over trap and footwork beats.
His tunes are good fun, but more than that it's the energy he brings to his sets. Can't find a great video but this will do:
Wears mental super stylish japanese clothes and jumps up and down like a mad man, going properly #ham, singing along to everything, playing live rave piano, slowing things down to halftime and pitching them up again. good shit.

The other one's I'm into are Part 2 Sound:
Tokyo's best purveyors of future ragga. Mix everything from dub, dancehall to house, garage, grime, jungle, footwork, anything with a ragga edge basically. Selection's on point and half of their tracks are Part 2 Style exclusives. Absolutely tear up a rave.

I've not seen enough deep tech in a rave to comment though I reckon Lance Morgan and Aaron Verone are up there in terms of best DJing. There wasn't really a single jackin DJ I rated as a selector TBH tho, though the tunes were so good it barely mattered.
 
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grave

Well-known member
I haven't seen Surgeon in a while, but he was consistently the best DJ (in any genre) I've seen.
 
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minikomi

pu1.pu2.wav.noi
datwun said:
minikomi: oi oi! Another dissensus person living in Japan! Whereabouts are you based?
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Tokyo!

Got to say, I've yet to see Part2Style on point.. both times I've seen them, they seemed terribly bored or pissed off with the crowd. Rewinding when they thought it deserved it, not in any response to crowd hype.. I love their sound '& want to agree but unfortunately haven't seen it come together yet :confused:
 
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datwun

Well-known member
minikomi said:
Tokyo!

Got to say, I've yet to see Part2Style on point.. both times I've seen them, they seemed terribly bored or pissed off with the crowd. Rewinding when they thought it deserved it, not in any response to crowd hype.. I love their sound '& want to agree but unfortunately haven't seen it come together yet :confused:
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Really! Me too we should hang yo~

Interesting, I've only ever seen them tear it up! The fat guy just has that look on his face constantly, that's his vibe lol. I like it because he gives off the perfect impression of being a mix between like, samurai and rasta elder. Actually thought their wheelups were one of my favorite things about them, like, doing them without changing facial expression, very unique style. That said, I have been known to wheel things up on "internal request" lol, so maybe I'm being forgiving...
 
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C

continuum

smugpolice
Seen Lately - Majesty at Home, Club 65, London
https://soundcloud.com/majestydj001/majesty-live-recording-home
Still reeling from this whole night but especially Majesty's set which was really deep and didn't contain a lot of anthems. Listening back to the recording it seemed different to what I actually experienced on the night. Have listened back to the recording 4-5 times now and looking forward to more.

Ever Seen - The first one which springs to mind is Randall at Helter Skelter, Sanctuary, Milton Keynes in 94 or 95. I was only 16 or 17 and would have been about the third or fourth rave I'd been to at The Sanctuary. A load of us went from school and had some really sticky speed we'd got about a week before and were saving. We were all really hyped up for it and Randall's set (which was relatively early) coincided with the speed taking effect on us. We were all down the front going mad and I particularly remember hearing MA2 - Hearing Is Believing Remix for the first time and being blown away.
 
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denoir

Well-known member
Yeah, Rashad & Spinn = always on point. I don't normally listen to juke but totally loved their set both times I saw them, masters of their craft.

All time favs - Karizma!!, Theo Parrish, Omar S...Dam Funk is not the greatest technically (would be unfair to criticize his beatmatching skills since he plays predominantely 80s boogie funk & house) but his sets are always vibezy. I'm a big fan of early/mid 90s Bukem & Conrad, was lucky enough to catch them at Logical Progression 17th anniversary which was all about 1992-1995 hardcore & jungle, got to big up Fabio & Marky for their sets too (both wicked djs even though Im not really into their new school dnb selection).
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
never seen him live but dj q is the best dj i´ve heard. haven´t watched that vid yet and look forward to it, but his MOS shows have been incredible. less technically flashy but actually better than even EZ imo.
 
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denoir

Well-known member
Rudewhy said:
I could happily never see EZ again. His selection has become so predictable, partly I think because he is known for those 'Pure Garage' tracks that he has to play up to that, people go to see him expecting to hear Sia - Little Man, 'Baby' (DJ Pacman - All I Won't Do Instrumental), Wookie - Battle etc etc etc. I just think he could be so much more interesting given that he must have practically every Garage, Grime, Bassline, Funky & Jackin track/remix/mash-up ever made sitting on his computer. His January 2010 set at Rinse vs FWD>> at Matter is worth tracking down for something a bit more interesting, if you're used to Viper hosting/shouting shit at the crowd, which is fully jokes at points: "I've got your drinks tokens man, that's not your dough", "I see the gun shots mate I've got a bullet proof vest on, I'm alrite mate", "Dubstep should have been called Bassline House really, there's a lot of Bass in Dubstep" being highlights. Obviously if you've never seen him live before you're going to be blown away by any set of his and that is something to be admired. Also I am basing this on his 2 Boiler Room sets and the more recent sets I've caught of him at Deviation Carnival Afterparty 2013 & Urban Nerds 2014 (although his set at Butterz in 2012 was really good). Maybe it's better catching him in an environment like Sidewinder but I doubt he's as fun as Q is live
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Agreed. EZ tends to play it safe, which is a real pity, cuz hes got the skills & the tunes to regularly update his selection in an interesting way. The vinyl mid90s section of the 3,5h Boiler Room set was something else, would defo like to see him play more new school as well, not just Cause & Affect here and there.

Booked DJ Q (along with Preditah) for my upcoming club night in Prague, thx dissensians for making me even more excited :D
 
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HanlowSound

Member
Really agree with the EZ comments, such an incredible dj and after seeing him for the first time in 2012 I would have put him up top but his live sets are just a bit too samey. Found his live mixed fabriclive cd incredible (nice typical EZ use of a cdj as an instrument) and his kiss fm shows are still incredible.

To put a spanner in the works, Skream.

Not even in the dubstep days when I saw him and he was very very good. But the last show of his 2012 skreamizm tour at the warehouse project in manchester. Incredible mixing and like a comment said before 3+ hours of such a range, dubstep classics of his and everything to old artwork+DMZ all the way to classic house like 'deep inside' to more experimental and even some joy division and some great arctic monkeys use.
 
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rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
what's a great DJ Q set? I like him, but more as a producer weirdly than dj.

rashad's first FWD appearance was one of the best things ive seen, though maybe more for the occasion and 'never heard this in a club before' aspect than what he was doing, not that he was bad of course.

i remember kode 9 doing a set at house party somewhere in south london (IIRC) that was pretty brilliant. i think it was just when old uk garage was starting to get dipped into by people again.
 
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David_M

-
Rudewhy said:
I could happily never see EZ again. His selection has become so predictable, partly I think because he is known for those 'Pure Garage' tracks that he has to play up to that, people go to see him expecting to hear Sia - Little Man, 'Baby' (DJ Pacman - All I Won't Do Instrumental), Wookie - Battle etc etc etc. I just think he could be so much more interesting given that he must have practically every Garage, Grime, Bassline, Funky & Jackin track/remix/mash-up ever made sitting on his computer. His January 2010 set at Rinse vs FWD>> at Matter is worth tracking down for something a bit more interesting, if you're used to Viper hosting/shouting shit at the crowd, which is fully jokes at points: "I've got your drinks tokens man, that's not your dough", "I see the gun shots mate I've got a bullet proof vest on, I'm alrite mate", "Dubstep should have been called Bassline House really, there's a lot of Bass in Dubstep" being highlights. Obviously if you've never seen him live before you're going to be blown away by any set of his and that is something to be admired. Also I am basing this on his 2 Boiler Room sets and the more recent sets I've caught of him at Deviation Carnival Afterparty 2013 & Urban Nerds 2014 (although his set at Butterz in 2012 was really good). Maybe it's better catching him in an environment like Sidewinder but I doubt he's as fun as Q is live
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I haven't seen him live in ages, and admittedly I haven't tuned into his show in a while, but his Kiss FM show used to be loaded with fresh and (to me) exciting new UK garage and bassline-ish beats that I wouldn't have heard anywhere else otherwise. Mixed with his usual craft and often one or two mc's.

If you're basing this off his Boiler Room sets, I think it was actually very clever to do a recreation of his classic sets there, since it opened the door to a lot of people in Europe who didn't know who he is and what he did. I know a lot of my dj friends down here in Spain won't shut up about this up-and-coming dj called EZ who is the shit and plays all these poppy beats that I will probably be into (sigh)
 
Elijah

Elijah

Butterz
Go to one of DJ EZ's all night sets if you doubt him.

Saw him do 10 hours at Fabric in 2012 and it was deep.

The reason why people like me prefer DJ EZ to most other Garage DJs is because most of the others lean on contemporary house when playing out now whereas EZ gets into the Grime heavy with tunes from Preditah, Royal-T, Flava D, Spooky etc being centre pieces of his current sets.
 
S

said

Active member
denoir said:
Agreed. EZ tends to play it safe, which is a real pity, cuz hes got the skills & the tunes to regularly update his selection in an interesting way. The vinyl mid90s section of the 3,5h Boiler Room set was something else, would defo like to see him play more new school as well, not just Cause & Affect here and there.

Booked DJ Q (along with Preditah) for my upcoming club night in Prague, thx dissensians for making me even more excited :D
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denoir, how long have you been doing a night in prague? about 4 summers ago i was in prague and attempted to see marcus nasty play somewhere, only to arrive and find that he'd missed his flight. the night was run by an english guy who i chatted to for a while... wonder if it was you?

in answer to the question, saw omar-s in vienna couple of weekends back. was even more excellent than i'd anticipated it being.
 
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