A throwback to old disco from A-Trak and Armand Van Helden.
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The Red Bull Music Academy is an event that is located in various cities across the globe, and which gives participants an opportunity to network and explore different genres and ideas (with an emphasis on spinning and club culture). The roughly 60 hand picked participants include vocalists, DJs, MCs, musicians, studio engineer, and producers. The academy also provides lectures with big names like Cut Chemist, Waajeed, ?uestlove, Arthur Baker, DJ Premier, Architecture In Helsinki, A-Trak, and Benga. I recently discovered a bunch of these lectures on the RBMA website, some of them running as long as two hours. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re into some of the behind the scenes dirt and real gritty music history, this stuff’s great. I especially love this line from the ?uestlove bio… “?uestlove is a Quincy Jones for our times: a living link between the digital science of modern hip hop and the flesh-and-blood textures of vintage r ‘n’ b.” Also, J.Dilla love all over the place from Waajeed and ?uestlove. …more lectures here. The Red Bull Music Academy 2010 starts accepting applicants in May. Find more information here. I attended a Bloc Party DJ set that took place shortly after they finished playing to a sold out crowd on St.Patrick’s day. The set featured Matt Tong and Russell Lissack taking turns playing some new but mainly older dance and electro tracks on a CDJ setup.
DJing has become a popular medium for bands to take in the last few years. I’ve seen DJ sets by Chromeo, The Rapture, and Andrew W.K. The quality of these sets vary greatly. Andrew W.K performs often at Studio B (NYC) where he has become some sort of resident DJ. I hate being a hater, but him (and his friend making random sounds into a mic) are absolute shit. On the other hand, Chromeo (specifically Dave 1) puts on a decent, high energy performance (but this makes sense considering your brother is superstar DJ a-trak).
One of the biggest challenges for new or unknown DJs is figuring out the world of promoting, how to score gigs, and finding a fan base. But most bands already have success in these areas, and using your bands rep to score gigs at clubs during a tour seems like a rather easy (maybe even effortless) transition.
With all that being said, Bloc Party did an alright job. Not great – not amazing – just alright. Mixing was good, track selection – not so much. But I have to give them credit; finishing a live gig, and playing a 2 hour DJ set can’t be an easy task. Especially when you’re a novice DJ spinning right after a pro like three time DMC national champ Drastik.
Sometimes you should stick to what you do best. For Bloc Party, that’s probably their post-punk rifts, live shows, and being known as the guys that came out with the epic tracks on Silent Alarm (unless you’re into that whole Intimacy thing).
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