DJ Des

Album Review: Army of Mushrooms

After 2.5 years, Infected Mushroom has finally released their latest studio album, Army of Mushrooms.  Some very general notes about this 13-track LP:

• Long! Over 87 minutes.
• Varied genres.  However, there is a noticeable subset of dubstep.  Probably not a coincidence that this album is signed to Dim Mak.  Other genres include house and trance, all with that IM feel.
• This album got delayed a year because the concepts changed.  According to Duvdev, the final pressing is more eclectic than originally planned.  I’m not sure how I feel about pushing stuff back based on what’s being currently worked on.  See, CS people like me face a very similar problem when developing software.  If new features and stuff keep coming in, the tires spin in the mud.  I can only imagine this being worse in a situation that is purely creative, e.g. music.  However…

I really like the final product here.  Interestingly enough, there have been leaks of most of the tracks for a while now (live recordings from concerts and such), yet the final edits are saved for the album, keeping it fresh for impatient people like me ;).  Here are a few of my favorite tracks.

• The Pretender - It’s a cover of Foo Fighters.  Drum and Bass (and drumstep!) style, still very rockish.  With IM “Chorus B” instrumentals.  Trynot to headbang.
• Nothing to Say - true psystep.  145bpm.  Crazy sounds you’ve only dreamed of.  And perhaps their craziest build since Vicious Delicious.
• Wanted To - a unique take on dubstep.  Melodic, liquid, ethereal at times.  Wonderful vocals by Israeli indie-rock artist Maya Izacowitz and American Idol participant Ryan Starr.
• Never Mind - Do you like Wolfgang Gartner?  Would like it to be a little more psychedelic and funky?  Here you go.  There’s also a build to a half-time portion where the rise is composed of the exact same form as the pre-breakdown to Metallica’s One. 
• Drum n Bassa - alert, it’s not drum and bass, it’s trance leading to a dubstep drop, and then a trance second drop.  The first melodic build is amazing; no one knows how to do it better.  

I highly encourage you to listen to these tracks - they should all be up on youtube in their full, studio version glory.  The sounds are quite unique but they grow on you.  Trust me and enjoy.  

Pendulum into Knife Party, Nostagia, and Emotions

I know its not exactly new news, but it’s bittersweet for me to learn that Rob Swire is tabling Pendulum to make time for Knife Party.  A part of me is impressed and proud of the change he’s been able to make with band member Gareth McGrillen, a true testament to musical skill and the ability to pioneer the electronic genre.  However, at the same time I’m going to miss the music I’ve grown up with; what was cornerstone in shaping my true music tastes.

I don’t even remember the first time I started listening to Pendulum, but it was certainly the first drum and bass artist I listened to.  Going to London after high school and being a part of my first “rave” at (the now defunct club) The End was truly a memorable experience.  Seeing them last February live in New York was easily one of the best concerts I’ve been to, maybe falling just shy of Dirtyphonics (also drum and bass).  

But then again, I’d never have thought electronic music would have gotten this big.  Just 5-6 years ago, the closest people would get to touching electronic music was Cascada, and to the average teenager or college student she was a one hit wonder and no where close to mainstream.  There were closet Tiesto fans (back when he did trance, not this stuff) and maybe a spattering of cheesy eurodance songs that would filter their way onto dancefloors once in a blue moon.  Pop was still pop.  

In the same vein, my first mixes around that time were purely eurodance, 140 bpm and super niche.  No one would listen to them.  I actually wrote one of my supplemental Penn essays on the efforts (and failures) to get my music played in front of even the smallest of crowds.  I copied them to my laptop and still have them to this day, starting with DJ Desol8tor’s Megamix 1, a 7:52, 160kbps, slow cross-fading simple transition mix of 7 songs.  It’s a reminder of how far the music and I have come.  

Where are we now?  Knife Party has 296k likes on Facebook (Pendulum still has 6 times the likes, but benefits from seniority) and has landed performances at the greatest music festivals in the US, including Lolla and UMF.  I got out of throwing parties in suburban basements and now throw parties in frat house basements!  Oh and the restaurant/bar gigs are nice.  So is the money.  Times change.

But at the center of why I DJ is the music, and it’s really come full circle.  I’ve always said that there’s nothing better than hearing someone drunkenly yell “I fucking love this song.”  Now it’s so much better when I can truly say that too.

We’ve come a long way.  Here’s to many more years of great music. 

Downtown Restaurant/Bar Mistakes, then FYFO

A post-mortem of a wild wild fling DJing experience…

THURSDAY:  Dear downtown restuarant/bars that host college parties/mixers/semi-formals/etc.

There are a few logical ground rules that you should abide to that would make the experience much better for yourself and everyone in general.  The list…

1. Know the capacity.  Common sense right?  You already have staff at the door giving out wristbands.  Make sure they are keeping tally.  I understand you can’t turn away people who’ve bought “pre-sale” tickets to the event, so you need to be a little more careful with admitting the “at the door” people who are unaccounted in the head count.  Hint: This might involve communicating with the students checking in pre-sale members behind you.
2. Serve drinks in plastic cups.  Duh.
3. Cash bar on top of the cover?  What?  I actually put some of the blame this on bad negotiating/research skills on the group booking the event.  I understand bartenders hate open bars with college students, who tend to neglect to tip if the drinks are “free.”  Work that into the rental cost!  
4. Understand airflow.  Yes, when 200 people are jammed into your banquet room, it gets hot.  Crack your emergency exits or bring in some industrial fans.
5. If there’s a problem, communicate with the DJ.  Don’t just tell me what to do.  Regardless of who’s paying me, I’m actually more of your employee tonight than you realize.  If I have to stop playing people are going to want to know why.  You’re hurting your chances of getting a repeat customer and you’re hurting my performance.  

All of these things went wrong last night at Sigma’s downtown.  From 11:45-12:30am we RAGED hard in probably the best time I’ve had playing downtown; however, it got over the top (fire hazard?  Someone barfed at the bar?) and some people had to be kicked out.  They failed miserably at #1.  Again, I know it’s hard to judge when unaccounted people show up, but you have to communicate to them that, while you’d like to let them in, it’s best to wait instead of let everyone in and then kick them out after they’ve paid cover.

FRIDAY:  Fling Your Face Off, one of the dirtiest house parties you’ve (n)ever been to.  What happened?

1. Raged from midnight until the cops came at 2:30.  
2. Pause at 12:45 due to a basement water pipe break.  How did this happen?  Well, after a mix from Skrillex’s “Cinema” -> “Niggas in Paris” -> Cascada’s “Everytime We Touch,”  people turned the common room into a mosh pit.  The floor was basically in simple harmonic motion.  The piping running across the basement ceiling broke at the connection to the water heater due to the stress.  I had to singlehandedly deactivate the fire alarm (override code, 1234? no.  1111? yes) and turn off the main water line to prevent massive basement flooding.  You can have my card next time, it says profession DJ and handyman

Utter insanity.  Story for the ages.  But tonight I’m off; I’m going to see Figure at Electric Factory - it’s gonna be a paint party, except with drumstep.  Looks like I saved the best Fling for last.

Concert Bucket List Progress, Updated

• Pendulum
• Infected Mushroom
• Rusko
• Avicii
• Dirtyphonics
• Diplo and Major Lazer
• Dillon Francis
• Deadmau5
• Feed Me 

• Camo and Krooked
• The Prodigy
• Daft Punk
• Swedish House Mafia
• Document One

Spring Fling Floor Passes vs Capacity

• 740.  370 people were stamped this morning.  Each were allowed 2 tickets.
• 50.  This accounts for SPEC and all related Fling planning committees.
• 110.  This accounts for late release tickets and giveaways.

• The Electric Factory, one of Philadelphia’s largest venues, has a standing room only capacity (SROC) of 3000.  This was the venue for Deadmau5.  (wiki) 
• TLA, located in Old City, has a SROC of 1000 (wiki)
• Starlight Ballroom, a “best-kept secret” on the other side of vine street purportedly has a SROC of 1100, although I find this hard to believe.  (myspace)
• Union Transfer, Philly’s newest venue, only has a SROC of 600, but it’s “expandable”.  (r5productions)
• Ultra Music Festival has a “Carl Cox and Friends arena”, a ginormous pavilion with two stages, and estimated capacity of 10,000 people.  (mtv)

In conclusion, 800 is a low amount, but really not that low.  It’s near impossible to satisfy 10,000 undergrads with a high percentage turnout.  Pushing the stage back would help, but it would be at the cost of the bleacher seats, which would in any scenario still house the majority of concert-goers.  

Great concerts sell out early, and when you have a super-inflated subset of interested people, it’s going to be hard to make everyone happy.  Kudos to those who camped out and got floor tickets.  It’s really worth it, because in my opinion the floor tickets should be 60 dollars (not that I would pay that).

DJ Des tickets:  Section ED row 40 

Nightmare at Q

*not you Quentin Buckholz*

As a DJ, every group is different.  Each has their own dynamic, their own groove.  Granted, the clientele I play for usually are quite similar - college kids that love the mainstream dance pop.  But apart from music preferences, each has their own attitude.  Now I don’t do a port-mortem of every gig I do, but I will for this one as it was by far the worst experience of my life.

THE PLACE: Q BBQ and Tequila (2nd and Chestnut), my regular employer

THE CROWD:  Two separate groups from Nova, one being a dual bday party for two girls on the equestrian team.  Yeah.  I feel like I could almost stop here.

THE GRIPES against the DJ and the Venue…

• Requests.  I know its inevitable, and I’ve learn to deal.  On average, I’ll get 10 a night, and about 8 of the them are good choices that I would have played anyway or work well with the music.  Tonight, I probably had to listen to 40+ requests, half being god awful random tracks.  Frankly, I don’t think Nova has DJs.  I am not an iPod, I get paid to do what I do.  Deal with it.  
• Repeat Request Offenders.  Not only did multiple people request multiple songs, but they were bitchy about it.  Bitch, you better pray to God (they do that there I think) I even get to it tonight, I will not play it now, I will not play it next.  Just because I’m factored into your cost doesn’t make me your slave.  I don’t work for you, I work for the venue.  You are a guest.  Have some fucking respect and learn some manners.  You don’t like me?  I don’t like you.  Don’t come back.
• Spilling Drinks.  Not to say I haven’t ever spilled a drink in my life, but there was copious amounts of drink on the floor.  Grow up.  Everyone is over 21.  Act your age.  Karma kicked in here since Q recently had their floors waxed, so by midnight half the dance floor was a slick as fuck and girls were falling everywhere.
• General debauchery past the norm.  They were a classy bunch.  Trying to get out of closing tabs, pissing at the bar, breaking glasses, vomiting over the bathroom.  There was so much trash on the floor.  Unbelievable.

This was shameful.  And to top it off, there were chaperones there.  Basically, these “college students” were immature, spoiled brats with the mentality of a middle schooler running around with their parent’s Visa Black card.

I am currently shocked, offended, and frankly furious at what just happened.  It really puts things into perspective for me.  I feel like I take Penn for granted, and after close to four years I’ve grown accustomed to the atmosphere and general vibe of my peers.  I don’t like everyone here, but I’ve met enough quality individuals to not regret my college decision, and clearly I could have been in a worse situation.   So thank you Penn, I know I’m going to miss it here as soon as I leave.

Sputnikmusic.com and Biased Music Reviews.

So I happened upon this website after seeing it give Skrillex’s “Bangarang” and Feed Me’s “Escape From Electric Mountain” notably bad reviews, and in depth bad reviews at that.  Upon closer investigation, it seems like Sputnikmusic tries to be all encompassing with genre coverage, but I feel that they are a strong leaning rock/metal (which I have no problem with), and the review stinks of “I liked artist X’s old stuff” with a bit of “Sounds like Skrillex?  KILL IT WITH FIRE”.  All electronic music reviews are until the category of “other,” so this speaks volumes and is quite disappointing.  Personally, thought Bangarang was much better than “Scary Monsters…” and Feed Me’s recent one is also good, albeit very Deadmau5y, almost Skream-like with the amount of house and minimalism.  So here’s the rant…

I’m not being self-serving when I say that it’s very hard to be objective when you review albums and such, but it’s really the way reviews should lean.  I want a review to note similarities and FACTS about the music such as tempo, form, rhythm, motifs, style, tone, etc, so that the listener can pick up on it and form their own judgments.  Do this, and you will have a good review.  A review should be a reflection and a study instead of a bunch of reactionary word vomit.  Sure, a review is never 100% objective, but the writer should strive to make their reviews more than just base opinion.

This approach does not defeat the purpose of the review.  Although it focuses on objectivity, the reviewer can still make qualitative claims regarding the observations.  Through this approach and combined with proper contrasts and comparisons against other works, the reviewer can allow the reader to truly make the decision whether or not to listen to the tracks without needing to be coerced one way or the other.

Union Transfer

Finally got out to 10th and Spring Garden’s Union Transfer to see Dillon Francis.  This is probably the last main venue that I had yet to go to.  Yes, there are smaller, hipster-y venues left but reviewing them would not be in the spirit of it being hipster.  Also I haven’t been to any.  But I digress.

Union Transfer didn’t pat down or check ANYTHING on me; I could have walked in there with a variety of concealable weapons or firearms without them knowing.  Not a good feeling.  

Apart from this however, the venue is nicely set up.  It’s small and narrow with a U balcony.  In other words, imagine if the floor of the Electric Factory was shrunk and stretched lengthwise.  The sound was good.  Clean and loud without ruining detail.  The drinks were appropriately priced.

I liked it a lot, the crowd was pretty weak but that’s not the fault of the venue.  I definitely would come back again.

So this place is in a tie for second with Starlight Ballroom.  TLA keeps the number one spot in my book with its perfect size, sloping stage, balcony, and great location in old city.  Bringing in the fourth spot is Electric Factory and lastly The Troc.  

Something, Something, Awesome *review*

Dillon Francis drops a fresh EP on Valentines Day - three tracks, all moombahton.  Let’s discuss!

• Falling Up - just a solid Dillon Francis sound.  Perhaps the most “anticipated” track on this EP, the title aptly describes the swingy nature of this track.  Great syncopated buzz leads drives the the song throughout.  Super creative and overall just a great listen.
• Now Hear This - Perhaps the more melancholy track, Now Hear This is a deadmau5 sounding, chain-compressed track with housey builds and perhaps the most intense, dubby chorus section of all three songs.  
• Dill The Noise - Perhaps my favorite track on the EP, Dill the Noise is a perfect marriage between dubstep and moombahton.  Kill the Noise is great collab and features on a track that has unique drum patterns, crazy range, and perfect empty space that makes you want more.