As e-music suffers a slump, DJ collaborations are on the rise
The idea of the postmodern DJ star was generated as much from resonant pairings and collectives as it was from self-promoters. By the time DJ Keoki had helped coin the term "superstar DJ" in the mid-'90s, Louie Vega and Kenny Dope, Sasha and John Digweed, San Francisco's Hardkiss crew, the Wicked DJs, and Funky Tekno Tribe were already playing records side-by-side for thousands of fans at a time. Making and performing music, after all, has always been a sharing experience.
Just as rappers spun off from hip-hop DJs in the '80s, the increasing popularity of a new subculture in the late '90s had house and techno jocks coming into their own singular stardom. Sasha and Digweed played separately, members of Hardkiss went their own ways, and DJ Dan broke out of the Funky Tekno Tribe to become "America's favorite DJ," as URB magazine put it. But 9/11, ecstasy burnout, and a wartime economy put the brakes on the scene's growth; today, raves have all but ceased, clubgoing throngs have thinned out, and e-music labels and distributors (the latest being Studio Distribution) have been going under.
Jocks are starting to team up again, realizing that, commercially and creatively, two (or more) is better than one. DJ Dan, for example, recently paired with trance star Christopher Lawrence for a national DJ tour. Progressive-house queen Sandra Collins recently joined forces with VJ king Vello Virkhaus to collaborate on music and video in a club-performance series they've titled "Interference." (Their next "Interference" event is scheduled for March 24 at Crobar in Miami, during that city's dance music conferences.) As Collins explains, she can spin audio and video on Pioneer DVX DVD decks while Virkhaus adds layers of images on top, including live-camera shots of her handiwork on the video turntables.
"It has been our goal to incorporate ideas from past art movements and bring the static images to life in a remixed way," Collins says. "We have also been experimenting with color and mood, in relation to the audience experience."
Focusing on audio explorations, DJs known as the Scumfrog, D:Fuse, and Skribble recently formed a disc-spinning supergroup called DJs Are Alive! (Myspace.com/djsarealive). The act was born last summer while the three waited for roadies to work out production kinks at the World Party festival in Dallas. As the trio downed shots of tequila and dreamed of a better way to perform dance music, they agreed that DJing had become pretty predictable.
"The myth of the skill that a DJ has is gone, because everyone in the audience has their own set of turntables," says the Scumfrog, a.k.a. Jesse Houk. "Mixing two records is to DJing today what playing a heavy-metal lick on your guitar was in the '80s."
Backstage at the Texas event, the combination of liquid courage and sound-system problems that ate into their time slots inspired the DJs to combine their shortened sets into one mishmash, and DJs Are Alive! was ... aliiiive!
"We're like, 'You know what, instead of doing 45 minutes each, let's go out on stage and jam together, with Skribble and D:Fuse doing live drums and me doing live vocals,'" says Houk. "It was so much fun, it lingered in our heads, and we decided to do something more serious."
The troupe now has vocalist Kristin W. and techno producer Static Revenger in the mix and has turned out its first single, the bombastic, loopy house number "Gimme Some Love." The quintet, which will perform March 21 at Miami club Mansion, is hoping to record some sets for a live album.
"It's really nice to be a part of a collective where not everything rests on your own shoulders, and you get to share things with your peers," says Houk. "It gets lonely out there as a DJ, doing everything by yourself."
Indeed, says Australian progressive-house spinner Phil K., who's been collaborating with countryman and producer Luke Chable for the last five years. However, they've only recently turned their home-studio sessions into something more than a 12-inch single: Their first full-length CD, Because We Can, is ready for a May 2 release via the Global Underground label. (The pair will wield laptops and turntables for an April 10 Monday Social performance at Nacional in Hollywood.) The album is an e-music opus complete with ambient interludes, string-fueled crescendos, and rock-steady breakbeats. Chable can play keyboards, and they have six computers between them for sequencing and making beats. The only rule is that all the music has to be made with both DJs in the room. None of this trading rough tracks via e-mail stuff.
"Technically," says Phil K., "I can make a record, but it's very sterile for me to be in a room by myself with this machine. For me, it's all about cracking jokes and having people around."
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