Rock DJ: why there's more to modern dance culture than technical skill
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Version 0 of 1. Currently doing the viral rounds is the video below, entitled 'What DJs do these days'. It follows EDM megastars Steve Aoki, Laidback Luke and Sander van Doorn as they perform in Miami, and annotates it with captions reading statements such as "touching the knobs and shaking head". Reading on mobile? Click here for video On the one hand, the video is funny, particularly when van Doorn begins to have a particular fascination for a certain knob. It's worth skewering the cliches of performing DJs: here, for example, it's the obsessive and theatrical tweaking of EQ, the "wait for it" raised finger and the come-children-unto-me arm reach. But there are a lot of problems with the video's snarky outlook, and its virality is worrying. The title betrays the crushing nostalgia for misremembered good old days that is a constant part of dance culture, and it would be a shame if people thought that this is as artistic as the craft currently gets. There are plenty of DJs from Ben UFO to DJ EZ who continue to use decks as a stunning creative tool – not in a fussy turntablist way, but as a method for simultaneously reshaping music and inducing mania. Worse still is that it holds DJs to the same standards as rock musicians. You might say that with EDM artists it's a fair comparison, because they're changing the dynamic of dance away from circular communality to a front-facing staged event. In many ways they should be judged by the same criteria: technical ability, musicality and showmanship. Other DJs agree, and are angered by their apparent laziness. DJ Sneak wrote "they are NOT DJS > they are part of the "Circus" and products of their Environment. They'll go away when the PROMOTERS stop booking them." Just as when EDM star Deadmau5 said "we all hit play", admitting that elements of dance artists' live shows and DJ sets are preprogrammed, there has been a backlash from other artists who do attempt to further the craft, improvise, and take risks. While risk-taking can lead to mixes of swoon-inducing originality, both artists and audiences ultimately misunderstand dance if they try to apply the rockist fetish for technical skill onto DJs. If Aoki et al are playing flat, generic tracks, criticise them for that, but the manner in which they craft a set shouldn't matter if it's moving a crowd. Take Powell, or Hieroglyphic Being, or Madteo – their sets are full of shunted mixes and 'mistakes', and yet there's a through line and an energy that steamrollers mere slickness. The brief, alienating period where DJs were disappearing behind a laptop running Ableton mixing software have happily gone, and DJing needs a base level of technicality to work. But the causal link between dexterity and artistry is dangerous, and plays into the trend for merely watching DJs (and their visuals) rather than dancing to them. A good DJ is the medium rather than the message – and if the message is strong enough, it's OK to just press play. |