The State of Our Scene

There are times when we all sit back and think about the many obstacles DJs, ranging from the bedroom to the main stages, must deal with throughout our musicultural journey.

Self described as a 'producer/remixer/singer/songwriter,' Detroit native Aaron-Carl tunes into an ongoing case of the jades that I believe many DJs here in the USA unnecessarily have to deal with.

In his post, State of the Scene, on his blog The Revelations of Aaron-Carl, AC makes three powerful observations about other scenes that I know resonate with some local DJs that have struggled to make a living as artists.

"Promoters actually stick together
and support each other's events."
I find this to be mostly true in the few Latin American countries I have visited and played. People who listen to electronic music have a natural kinship given all the mainstream media stronghold on taste. This is a worldwide phenomenon and to think that promoters wouldn't coordinate efforts because of their ego is a shame.

A couple times, I have seen almost completely unknown foreign DJs booked and being professionally treated in countries you wouldn't expect to see much of a scene, definitely not like Miami or Detroit (which are so full of these pissing contests, it's ridiculous). We need to communicate more with each other. In music, I firmly believe in the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

"The DJs/Entertainment are
RESPECTED for their craft."
Many times clubbers who aren't familiar with the work of a DJ tend to think that anyone can do it. If so, please, be my guest and take a shot at it. This isn't rocket science, mind you, but to think that you can just walk in and spin a tight set without spending quite a bit of time looking for music or learning some mixing techniques, well that's just silly.

I also find that in South Florida, where I currently live, not that many people have a musical background, especially promoters. I blame this on handicapped and closing arts and letters high school programs throughout the state, but I am leaving that one for another post, in another blog, on another day.

AC speaks of DJs getting paid their Fee instead of the 'you take the door, we take the bar' bullshit so many of us have to endure. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I was paid a fee and not given some excuse about "slow nights" or "do this for free exposure." He adds,

"It's a fucking shame that some of Detroit's LEGENDARY DJs and artists
can't even make a decent living from their music. Superstar by night, meat
carver by day. The same one who rocked it out @ the club last night is the same
one you're cursing out at the local drive-thru..."

Why the fuck are WE (in Detroit)
running around, acting like we deservetop notch talent, but we bitch abouthaving to pay more than $5 dollarsfor a cover charge?
Tell me about it! Lets just say you are a promoter. Your venue is medium sized, maybe 400-500 capacity. you want to bring a medium level headliner that costs well into the four figures. Do the math: full capacity at $5 a head, you have $2500 to cover expenses!? that won't even cover the main DJ, not even considering guest lists, insurance, equipment, sound engineer, marketing, and all the other expenses that come with doing events. Oh and of course, your pay for all the hours you spent working on it.

So what do you do? you get sponsorships. And what do they do? they dictate exactly how the event goes. It is after all, their money. So you end up screwing a couple DJs over by underpaying them.

There is hope. People worldwide are beginning to understand what it takes to have a healthy scene.

I am glad to hear artists like Aaron-Carl reaching out, actively mobilizing a scene that has given the world so much pleasure. Detroit is one of those cities where it all began, and its influences you can find in so many mixes and nightclubs worldwide.

Will American cities be left biting the dust like their housing market? I hope not, but unless everyone works together, artists promoters and fans included, the end will come and you will forever be stuck with shit music.

The Last Music Resource You Will Ever Need

Database technology can work to help us find new music, events, and people. Last.fm is among the most popular new-edge programs that merge Internet radio with music recommendation services. Most of the site is free, but as usual a couple perks come with spending less than $10 a month, mostly intel for the heavy researcher.

A user signs-up by installing an application on their computer that records what music that user is playing. Then, through the process of collaborative filtering, it finds similar users and genres for the user. They call it scrobbling.

Last.fm's 'about us' section couldn't say it better:

Last.fm taps the wisdom of the crowds, leveraging each user's musical profile to make personalised recommendations, connect users who share similar tastes, provide custom radio streams, and much more.

You will meet people based on how their taste relates to your own or to whatever you search for. I tried tripping up the system with the most obscure artists I could think of, but I got several recommendations hitting the bullseye every time.

Raindeer

We were soaked for hours warming up eating shishkebabs and dancing. Many walks of life united under the swaying palm trees and water blankets. Ultra Music Festival was a fierce two-day storm.

The powerful speakers were felt over a mile away and many happy people were dancing, eating, drinking, screaming, thrashing, dreaming, and most of all, smiling. We don't get many electronic festivals in South Florida. The hunger for more was there with many people going to after-parties at the many venues scattered throughout Miami.

"I felt like a raindeer in an eight lane

rainy muddy highway,

lights all around me,

fast paced traffic

dodging my welcoming gaze."

There was trash and mud everywhere resembling humanity's over-consumption taking tolls on the environment. Thankfully though, I imagine large crews did the cleanup on Sunday. South Florida is far from "leaving no trace behind."

There were tents with different themes, the House Arena, Amnesia Ibiza, the Eco-Village, Contagious Musiq, and of course the Main Stage. The big shots played for thousands, and the niche genres got their piece of the pie as well.

Some complained it was too crowded. Others wanted the festival to last a week. I think two days is more than enough given that there are so many other things going on.

Bottom line: I can't wait for the next one!

So Many Parties, So Little Time: the Dilemma

Who has the time to drive around the city looking for a good party? Trainspotters. The rest of us depend on these people to filter out the garbage from the treasure. The objective of these people or organizations is to obtain information about music, similar to how a stock broker observes the market.

Partying is not an unfamiliar concept to the South Floridian. Miami is very well known the world over with its gorgeous sub-tropical settings, cosmopolitan cuisine, and headliner performances. Electronic music is not the exception.

So many parties, so little time: the dilemma. Look in places where trainspotters work. The first and simple location is The Miami Herald events calendar. However, dance music enthusiasts might have a hard time finding what they want within the limits of their short attention spans, yours truly included.

This brings us to the daily updated listings of CoolJunkie catering to a class of yuppie-esque city types. Fasion, dance, alternative rock, you name it, they probably have something interesting you can attend.

Trainspotters have a credit system with their audience. If they deliver good quality information, they therefore have good credit. If not, their effectiveness and livelyhood will be at stake.

Tresor Records

Tresor is one of the most influential names in electronic music, specifically of the techno flavors. Their history is closely tied to the Deutsche Wiedervereinigung, the unification of Germany in 1990. Tresor is both a nightclub and a record label. While the nightclub eventually closed in 2005, the label is still running strong.

• Founder: Dimitri Hegemann (1991)
• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Genre: Techno, Deep House, Hard House and Techno, Electro, Minimal, Breaks, Experimental, and many more.
• Label Relations: Indie label; Parent label: Interfisch; Sub-label: Supremat
• Discography
• Official Webpage
• Myspace
• Online Shops: TresorBerlin, Juno

The best electronic producers and DJs the world over have in some form been involved with Tresor including Matthew Herbert, Jeff Mills, Daniel Bell, Stewart Walker, Drexciya, Robert Hood, among others.

"Tresor Berlin: The Vault & the Electronic Frontier" directed by Mike Andrawis, documents the trials and tribulations of those involved with the label/club until its closure. However, there is talk of opening in a new location sometime in 2007.

Psynews

Psynews caters to psychedelic electronic music reviews. Several bloggers from around the world describe these pictoresque soundscapes in great detail. Some of the more interesting people here include abasio, pr0fane, DeathPosture, RAH, among others.

Many trainspotters turn to this site looking for gems to decorate their collections. I have met many DJs, artists, and label 'executives' through this site, but most of all, I love most of the reviews.

The music making section is quite informative from a ground-up standpoint, and discussions about equipment and engineering techniques come daily. However, I feel that the parties & travel section is too underdeveloped to the point of being useless.

I have noticed that traffic in this site has dwindled the past year. I attribute this to a scene that is in a recession now. Dark Psy was huge for some time, but now the artists and DJs are moving in a new direction. Hopefully it will go back to the warm analog Goa Trance, but wishful thinking gets me nowhere.

Note that although this is an internet medium, the notion of downloading music while disregarding copyright laws is heavily frowned upon. Swearing exists, but directly assaulting other users is prohibited.