James Hype

[IdleRich]

D££_Old man shouts at cloud I know.... and fair enough he is good at buggering around with loops and breakdowns and fx on top of scratches etc but it always surprises me in EDM (sorry i mean house) how much that malarkey trumps music. I'm probably misled by the highlight clips I see uploaded but it seems like most of the time it really is Darude - Sandstorm (but with a different bass line) that is getting rinsed.

I must have mentioned this before cos I found it totally fascinating, but some while back I saw this amazing video with EDM megastar Laidback Luke giving an actual lecture on how to DJ. I guess it's been taken down cos I've often tried to watch it again but simply cannot find it.

Anyway, like I say, it's an actual lecture in what looks like the huge tiered lecture halls I sat in in the first year of my degree, but the seat are filled with people who have paid to sit at the feet of LL not cool not J and he's customised the desk to contain his dj set up.

And he explains plus demonstrates his philosophy to the crowd. For a loooong time. And it is really interesting. But for me the part that stuck out way more than everything he did say, all the stuff about techniques and making sure your mixes are super tight, and being one hundred percent prepared on the equipment so you don't freeze etc etc is how little time he spends talking about tune selection, it's very much an afterthought and he suggests that he is a dangerously out of control maverick because there are some tunes in the beatport top 100 he doesn't play (note, it's not the same as playing tunes that aren't in it, he just doesn't play the whole thing).

 

[0bleak]

I don't know who any of these people are besides seeing the name Laidback Luke before somewhere.
I guess it's a blessing/curse of being old and only be interested in various niches.

 

[IdleRich]

And what I'm getting from that plus all the EDM clips I've seen, plus what I've read about people actually getting dissatisfied about the same tracks and the same loops and the same samples being used again and again is a sense that this scene is less about music... or at least less about tunes or new tunes than any other music scene in history. It really seems to be the vocal hook from Get Your Freak On (or from one of the others on a short list of equivalent bangers) on top of a different beat also selected from the list of poptastic smashers, and then the breakdown from another.

I just really get the impression that there is an approved list of, let's say one hundred cos that's a nice round number, absolute dancefloor mashers (and I do mean that, they're all tunes you'd happily tap your toe to but with the beats preposterously beefed up so they are totally out of proportion. Penelope Pitstop with He-Man's muscles - and then Pop-Eye's muscles on top of them) that have all been given a re-rub so they all have that same bright shiny boingy feel to them, and then the DJs play exquisite corpse with them, mixing and matching all the parts to generate the possible combinations.

 

[shakahislop]

there's an aspect of this stuff which is about people performing 'being in a state of euphoria' which i think about all the time

 

[IdleRich]

I don't know who any of these people are besides seeing the name Laidback Luke before somewhere.
I guess it's a blessing/curse of being old and only be interested in various niches.

But that's another weird thing, I don't know anybody who knows who these people are, never mind likes them or has gone to one of their shows, even though I know loads of people of all ages all round the world who are really into going out dancing. How can that be, does this scene exist kinda parallel to dance music as we know it or what? I mean I don't even think there are venues in Portugal of the size you see in these video's. I just don't understand how this happens or works or exists.

 

[IdleRich]

there's an aspect of this stuff which is about people performing 'being in a state of euphoria' which i think about all the time

Do you think that with this? From the clips I see looks more like a fist pumping mosh pit with no euphoria involved, fake or involved.

The crowd always looks too crushed together to dance which sort of defeats the object of dance music but maybe it isn't like that all the way through who knows.

Or are you talking about the DJ rather than the crowd? I hate this weird thing with exaggerated movements that you see all the time now which might be what you mean, DJ-ing for tiktok I guess.

 

[0bleak]

But that's another weird thing, I don't know anybody who knows who these people are, never mind likes them or has gone to one of their shows, even though I know loads of people of all ages all round the world who are really into going out dancing. How can that be, does this scene exist kinda parallel to dance music as we know it or what? I mean I don't even think there are venues in Portugal of the size you see in these video's. I just don't understand how this happens or works or exists.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about the Shpongle live video I saw with the massive band, stage show and props. It's totally weird and foreign to me. https://www.dissensus.com/threads/17720/

I've also been noticing lately that a "level down" is also massively popular. I look at some of those Boiler Room and HOR videos and they have hundreds of thousands to millions of views! Totally incomprehensible to me especially when you think of how many of these DJs and sets there are, and it doesn't seem to be thinning the audiences to have so much available all of the time.
That comment I made way above about James Hype where I said "at least he kept his shirt on" was from watching some Yousuke Yukimatsu videos the other night - I'm utterly amazed how popular his videos are (no diss - I find some of his stuff interesting - especially the Bedouin Voyager mix he did, but that's a bit more tame than what I normally hear from him). I also appreciate when he mixes another layer on top of his t-shirt like a long-sleeve button down - the build up is just too much - especially when he has to start at the cuffs. He's a real pro - always prepared and being smart enough to keep the cuffs buttoned until it's the right time.
All in love, Yousuke Yukimatsu! "You do you" as the saying goes.

 

[thirdform]

jeremy healy was reportedly paid 35k GBP for playing on nye when i was in london
and people in the scene back then were losing their damn minds over that shit, like
"WHY THE FUCK WOULD ANYONE PAY A DJ THAT MUCH MONEY??? WHAT THE FUCK COULD HE
POSSIBLY BE DOING THAT COULD BE WORTH THAT MUCH????".

nowadays, loads of folks (including James Hype) get at least that much per show and play
music so corny it makes Healy sound downright sublime:

Oh sure. it's just funny given craner was unable to remain militantly partisan during the dark days of 97-98. Turns out there were skeletons in his closet!

At least Padraig doesn't claim to be a tr00 sk00l junglist so his indiscretion for liking corona - rhythm of the night can be forgiven.

 

[thirdform]

this one is a banger though tbh.

Maybe a year before handbag, even a skeleton in the closets of Weatherall, Robinson etc.

We're all Italians!

 

[woops]

are you sure you're in the right thread here @thirdform

 

[IdleRich]

I just really get the impression that there is an approved list of, let's say one hundred cos that's a nice round number, absolute dancefloor mashers (and I do mean that, they're all tunes you'd happily tap your toe to but with the beats preposterously beefed up so they are totally out of proportion. Penelope Pitstop with He-Man's muscles - and then Pop-Eye's muscles on top of them) that have all been given a re-rub so they all have that same bright shiny boingy feel to them, and then the DJs play exquisite corpse with them, mixing and matching all the parts to generate the possible combinations.

This is such a contrast to the thing that is what interests about DJ-ing which is digging around and finding all this weird stuff that can work.

I think there's always a divide with DJ-ing - to what extent is about is about the tunes you play, and to what extent is it about how you play them. And I've always been way more interested in the first bit.... which is why it so depressing to see that in Laidback Luke's DJ-ing masterclass, tune selection barely merited a mention, and the idea of actually going out and looking for stuff never crossed his mind.

And I do get that before if you were a house DJ or something you could find some obscure rock b-side with just the right sound and fit in it into your set and blow people's minds cos noone would have a clue what it was. But of course that ain't happening now cos if a tune ain't compressed and side-chained and I dunno what else, basically machine-tooled for playing with all the other records that are the same, then it simply won't stand up in the set. So something has been lost there sadly.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

it's all hype... don't believe the hype...
he's his own hype man, etc.

Come back @Mr. Tea all is forgiven.

 

[shakahislop]

it's a bit tangential but related: almost no-one lives anywhere near a good club that's a good place to listen to tunes and almost no-one listens to sets on the radio and almost no-one goes digging the crates. like everything else people are mostly listening to 'dance' music on youtube and the dominant form on youtube is decks set up in front of the unrelenting stare of a camera. that's a recentish development from what i can tell. obviously when you get cameras involved the flailing body of the DJ becomes the focus.

as for the choons rich you'll know a lot better than me but isn't this a continuation of guetta tiesto etc? all this cheesy shit being put on on big outdoor stages. there's related threads like people watching the chemical brothers orbital and bicep at glastonbury, the whole US EDM megascene. i think i said before there's a big well financed properly capitalist venue called brooklyn mirage out in bushwick nestled among all the good clubs which exclusively puts on big stage $100 a ticket no room to dance shows and it sells out all the time.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

And what I'm getting from that plus all the EDM clips I've seen, plus what I've read about people actually getting dissatisfied about the same tracks and the same loops and the same samples being used again and again is a sense that this scene is less about music... or at least less about tunes or new tunes than any other music scene in history. It really seems to be the vocal hook from Get Your Freak On (or from one of the others on a short list of equivalent bangers) on top of a different beat also selected from the list of poptastic smashers, and then the breakdown from another.

I just really get the impression that there is an approved list of, let's say one hundred cos that's a nice round number, absolute dancefloor mashers (and I do mean that, they're all tunes you'd happily tap your toe to but with the beats preposterously beefed up so they are totally out of proportion. Penelope Pitstop with He-Man's muscles - and then Pop-Eye's muscles on top of them) that have all been given a re-rub so they all have that same bright shiny boingy feel to them, and then the DJs play exquisite corpse with them, mixing and matching all the parts to generate the possible combinations.

Sounds like a zone of fruitless intensification: the first step was realising that it was tactically superior to use tunes that were proven popular rather than find better tunes that somehow slipped through the net; the second step was having to outdo the competition who then had to ape the same winning strategy and now we're here with the only way out being coming up with a superior setlist of little know nuggets. Most jobbing DJs have to pick from pop tunes because they're playing to people who haven't expressed a genre preference so at least in genre specific DJing you know that anything with certain formal characteristics will be at least borderline acceptable.

 

[shakahislop]

Do you think that with this? From the clips I see looks more like a fist pumping mosh pit with no euphoria involved, fake or involved.

The crowd always looks too crushed together to dance which sort of defeats the object of dance music but maybe it isn't like that all the way through who knows.

Or are you talking about the DJ rather than the crowd? I hate this weird thing with exaggerated movements that you see all the time now which might be what you mean, DJ-ing for tiktok I guess.

i was really tired last night and hardly watched the video and was just pulling words out my arse (a bit like how mr tea puts pinecombs up his arse and how clinamenic puts conkers in his arse but in reverse). there is something there though, some really dominant thread particularly in the US where there is some kind of imagined aesthetic link between the club (particularly the techno club), dancing, the bacchanal, transcendence and euphoria. and you can see people in the audience for this kind of thing trying to use the music and the dj and the visuals to get to that state that they've seen in movies etc.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

The over-emoting DJ is the equivalent of the professional mourner - he's a better less inhibited you, whose superiority in emoting forgives your own efforts and lets you relax.

 

[IdleRich]

Sounds like a zone of fruitless intensification: the first step was realising that it was tactically superior to use tunes that were proven popular rather than find better tunes that somehow slipped through the net; the second step was having to outdo the competition who then had to ape the same winning strategy and now we're here with the only way out being coming up with a superior setlist of little know nuggets. Most jobbing DJs have to pick from pop tunes because they're playing to people who haven't expressed a genre preference so at least in genre specific DJing you know that anything with certain formal characteristics will be at least borderline acceptable.

Yeah, unless my impressions were totally wrong of course, I dunno did base them on a small number of short clips

 

[thirdform]

are you sure you're in the right thread here @thirdform

Listen to that Glam tune it slaps.

 

[wild greens]

I must have mentioned this before cos I found it totally fascinating, but some while back I saw this amazing video with EDM megastar Laidback Luke giving an actual lecture on how to DJ. I guess it's been taken down cos I've often tried to watch it again but simply cannot find it.

That part of it can be a good little hustle

People adjacent to my extended family in Ireland had a son who wanted to "be" a DJ and got done out of 5 grand for a course.

Can't hate on the graft

 

[IdleRich]

That part of it can be a good little hustle

People adjacent to my extended family in Ireland had a son who wanted to "be" a DJ and got done out of 5 grand for a course.

Can't hate on the graft

I assumed it was pretty expensive, can't blame em really he only trousers about ten million a year so things must be tough.