“Where do you get your music from?” is a question I am often
asked. Of course the answer is that it comes from a wide variety of sources:
hearing other DJ’s play stuff, being sent it by friendly labels,
recommendations from mates and of course DJ music websites. My favoured three DJ
websites are the omnipresent Beatport, distinguished Traxsource and delightfully
underground Juno Download.
I tend to bounce between these three as to my mind, they
seem to have slightly different priorities. Beatport is fairly Eurocentric
which gives greater access to some of the most inventive techno out there. Traxsource
is more US-centric which means they host such genres as Sweet Soul, Latin Afro
and the more recently emerged Afro House. Juno champions the truly underground
and also hosts a comprehensive Balearic section.
I have DJ’d digitally for many years using Traktor Pro as my
means of delivery. More recently a number of DJ’s have tried to convince me to
convert to Pioneer’s Record Box software so I could travel from gig to gig with
little more than a memory stick and a set of cans. Yet I continue to lug around
my Traktor controllers and a computer!
Maybe in part my preference is because I’m pretty familiar
with computers but more importantly, I’m familiar with the concept of databases.
What excites me about Traktor Pro are not the brightly illuminated buttons, its
wealth of special effects or ergonomic design but rather that, at its core, it
is a very flexible database.
Back in the days of Vinyl, DJ’s didn’t need a database as
the weight of the vinyl provided a limit as to how much music could be carried
to a gig. Records were identified not just by the name on the central label but
often by the colour of the sleeve and, as most self respecting DJ would carry
with them a selection of almost identical white labels, record identification
sometimes rested on such subtleties as a mark, rip or wrinkle on the cardboard
sleeve that would set it apart from the rest.
I have known many a Dj who could rifle through a couple of
hundred records in their boxes or bags and immediately recognise a track from
the sliver of cardboard that was visible.
As soon as DJ’s started moving over to CD’s the identification
process became more tricky as many of the CD’s were their own rips so had no
label other than some often indecipherable scribblings to go by. Because the
physical weight was no longer a restraining factor many DJ’s soon adapted to
carrying larger quantities of music with them.
The more “librarian” amongst them took to hand writing track
listings to place in the pouch beside the CD while others continued to rely on
their personal data base of memory — such as, “I remember playing that
particular track at the party I played two years ago in a forest in Germany”.
Sure enough a quick scrabble through the slightly tatty folder of CD’s would no
doubt reveal one with a handwritten scribble readings something like, “Sunrise
Forest Set”
I embraced digital DJing with enthusiasm because it enabled
me to carry an ever expanding library of tunes with me (currently around 7,000)
which meant that theoretically I could, if I wanted to, begin playing Reggae or
Funk and stay there for a number of hours. In practice I never do this as I
think I have a short attention span. Or more probably it’s because I was raised
on a diet of Frank Zappa who, with his band of virtuoso musicians, would switch
from one genre to another in the blink of an eye.
Traktor Pro thoughtfully offers the possibility of uploading
album artwork to assist with the search but there is a big difference between
tiny thumbnail images and the visual familiarity one can develop with a track
by regularly handling its cover as you pull it out of the bag and carefully
remove the vinyl from it.
Of course just like iTunes (which is also a database) Traktor
Pro provides a wealth of categories that can be used to describe a track which
is only limited by how many you can fit to the width of your screen. Title and
artist get filled straight away but then there is the tricky bit of genre
classification.
I must have collected well over a thousand tracks which I
had designated ‘House’ when I realised that this wasn’t going to cut it and so began
adding words to the genres such as ‘Jazz’, ‘Tribal’, ‘Deep’ etc. But it wasn’t too long before I realised that this
also had its limitations in describing the detailed nuances of a track so I began
inventing my own genres such as “Mad Latin”, “Wonky Keys” and ‘Clockwork
Electro’.
I also started half-heartedly adding descriptions in the
Comments column. Here too I found that again the limits of vocabulary in trying
to describe Dance music fell short. It’s surprising how quickly one can build
up a collection in which many tracks fit the description of “Deep and kicking
with great break”.
So my next step was to listen very carefully to a track and
try to think what emotion it evoked in me. Did it have a sense of potential or
gradual awakening or was it blissful and phased or chilled with vibrant tones?
I realised that with a single search window the whole of the Traktor Pro database
is completely searchable so it is no longer important for me to memorise the
name of the track or artist but rather search for the words which it evoked in
me. This also means that you can move away from the constraints of beat
matching and start to mix using emotions and moods.
DJ music websites are also, at their heart, just databases.
Of course when you visit these sites you might not arrive with any criteria to
search for other than “recently released” or “best-selling tracks of the moment”.
In most cases you will probably just select a genre and dive in.
They all feature a general search bar which will take you
through the whole database if you are looking for something specific. Sometimes
I have found it fun to type titles based on a feeling I am hunting for, such as
‘tribal Latin’ or ‘deep piano’ and such random searches can often take you off
on an excursion with no map.
I do hope the lovely people at Juno won’t mind me saying
that while their site is probably the least slick of the three I mentioned
above it is my personal favourite because it offers much more flexible search
criteria. For example, all three sites provide
their current best-selling Top 100 but Juno allows one to not simply rely on
what is selling most but to make your own mind up what is of interest by
searching new releases over a period of one to eight weeks. It also allows you
to search the best-selling tracks over the same definable period.
When I used to buy a lot of vinyl my main outlet was the
wonderful Piccadilly Records in Manchester. They helpfully provide a weekly
staff selection with helpful reviews. Juno.com was also one of my favoured
sources of vinyl before I moved on to their sister site Junodownloads.com. Both of the Juno sites also provide helpful reviews
and comments to some but not all of their tracks.
I suspect that some of these reviews might well be heavily flavoured
by press material but in my mind I would like to think that amidst the bustle
of Juno and Piccadilly Records offices there is a huddle of eloquent music fans
who attempt the impossible: describing what music sounds like in words. Some of
these are both eloquent and entertaining so I thought I would share some of the
gems I have come across recently.
"Dope High is an itchy, Kenny Dope kinda tune
boasting a totally swung-out percussion and a militant groove for the DJ's.”
Not quite sure what “itchy” means in musical terms but it attracted my
attention.
“Constructed from clipped drums, a shuffling rhythm
and features the kind of wide-eyed, jazz-tinged keys that you'd associate with
classic Prescription releases”. I had to check this track just because I loved
the term “wide-eyed, jazz-tinged keys”.
“From the surging machine disco of Oklo Gabon's
"City Gym" and the undulating alien funk of Comeme man Sano's
"Duraco", to the Ket-addled wonkiness of Golden Teacher's trippy
"What Time Is It?" I certainly know what they mean by “Ket-addled
wonkiness” not because I am an experienced user of ketamine but because I have
witnessed its detrimental effect of its “wonkiness” on the dance floor.
"Don't Want The Regular" is a hazy twist on
slo-mo broken beat, all dreamy and just the right amount of abstract”. I bought
this track largely because I agreed with the review that it had “just the right amount of abstract”. God forbid there should be too much abstract.
Of course all this eloquence in
describing music is a bit like trying to describe the taste of chocolate;
no matter how good the description there is no substitute for eating the
chocolate. However, I applaud music journalists and reviewers at making such
valiant attempts and will continue to try to develop my own eloquence otherwise
I am destined to lose some of my gems in the dusty corners of my Traktor Pro database.
Postscript.
Periodically a musical phrase or style enters
the musical vocabulary that launches or influence a whole genre of music. One
such element was something that came to be termed the Amen Break. If you aren’t
already familiar with this as a concept you definitely will be as a sound and I
strongly recommend this short documentary to enlighten you.
