raer records and the DJ
Soulhawk
3,197 Posts
Is playing rare & exclusive records actually important in djing?while there are certain 'scenes'( i.e northern soul) based around playing impossible to get tunes... generally most clubgoers can't tell the difference between a quality dollar bin joint & a multi-hundred dollar rarity...so is playing third guitar 'baby don't cry' instead of James Brown just down to the snobbery & vanity of the DJ?curious to hear what others might think...---
Comments
In my experience rare equals
Pfft. Played-out. MAybe if it was the other Third Guitar...
K.
on a related note i was djing in williamsburg this weekend and i stepped out to go to the atm and right on the wall next to the atm, which was outdoors, was a soulstrut sticker! so it's very possible strutters are making appearances...
My friend has built a loyal following to a party of "Tropical Funk" (african, caribbean, Latin, Brazilian, reggae, calypso, etc) - people who come often might recognize a tune here or there, but in all likelihood they don't know who it is or where it's from...only that it slams! 350 people consistently through the door each month, 14 foot mono speaker stack, old hotel venue, no attitudes.
K.
snob
oh, I don't disagree - it's become pretty generic... just trying to name something easy.
the thing about 'baby don't cry' is that it is a known rarity - if you play it, hipper crowds will recognize it & also recognize that it is rare.
so playing it appeals to both the vanity of the dj and the crowd.
no attitudes? I highly doubt that.
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I think the difference might be just location. There has never been, and I doubt there ever will be, a sucessful night here that featured anything remotely rare. You can get away with it here and there in a set, but you better have an escape plan ready in case it fails.
I've seen in work in other markets, just never here.
this is my philosophy as well.
baby don't cry is also an excellent funk 45 however.
it's also a really good song. people will like it regardless. it's funny how everyone asks what james brown song it is, though.
There are so many different levels of DJs and clubs (not to mention completely different scenes that play out in a variety of clubs and venues)that it is almost impossible to get an answer to questions like that.
For ME, at the club I regularly do a saturday a month, playing raer stuff is accepted without question early in the evening but once folks start dancing steady the juggling act consists of dropping stuff people THINK they've heard before with the classics and sure shots. And actually, I don't think anything that I play on these dance nights would qualify as raer to anyone here, but a lot of soul and club stuff I play would be pretty obscure to the demographic that is generally at this club on a Saturday night(strictly 25-35 year olds, 75% white, 25% evryone else)so I don't get bored.
When we do the jazz nights at the same club on Wednesdays, it's raer mixed with well known stuff all the time, if it's good stuff we play it regardless of if it is known or not or raer or not. I prefer to bring reissues of the raerer stuff as long as it sounds great, just cuz I don't like lugging $300 records across town.
I imagine that there are DJs out there who have audiences that consist of 80% other DJs and real headz and for whom the actual records and everything are an integral part of the scene, the same way that with Northern Soul types in the US place emphasis on OG 45s and smart retro fashions. Every scene has it's unwritten rules, and the more specific the crowd, the more constrictive those rules become. For some DJs that works well, and for others it doesn't.
I remember one soul night I was at years ago...it was Dante & Courtland in one corner spinning their raer 45's versus some other dude in the opposite corner playing dead-obvious hits from his iPod. Now, this wasn't a "record collector" crowd - it was just the usual hipsters out for a good time, with a 50% female ratio. However, more than one person I talked to said they didn't like the iPod guy. Why? Because it's nice to hear the hits every now and then, but his set was way too predictable, as if he just turned on the oldies station and let it roll.
K- s____n is very established in toronto, seemingly in mtl as well. canada is definitely more open than the states in that respect as well. different cultures there which may allow for tastier night to jump off. canada sort of rules in this respect (bar vancouver)
I would say that most hipsters want to be in an environment that at least feels 'exclusive'... that means they want to hear shit that they don't know.
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IT's the same way with theings I sell - i don't put stuff on my list that I'm not into....that Trini disco 45 I traded you, being one them.
K.
In the olden days, I always made sure to bring a few esoteric pieces in the event that a few Djs/music snobs were in teh crowd. But seriosuly, the last few times I played out, people were shocked to see records at all.
but those are folks who are not interested in heartfelt music anyway...more about the thing to have as opposed to something to feel.
and are some of the least fun gigs. a bunch of people going nuts over Heatwave is a much better memory than the night Joe Cool gave me thumbs up on Lover and A Friend
serato seems anti-thetical to the type of crowd that actually cares about hearing rare records spun.
with top-40 hiphop / 80's retro djs it's a different thing I guess.
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No. What's Serato?
K.
so even when you are playing lee fields, they think it is james brown and will dance.
hipsters want to feel cool, though they don't like everything they don't know. most hate on reggae.
...especially if they're old enough to remember records themselves. Me and my friend John DJed at a Betty LaVette show recently, standing in the middle of the floor spinning the little bitty 7" records with the great big holes, and we got a lot of long stares and nostalgic double-takes just based on that alone.
This can't possibly be correct!
really?
must be an anti-hippie thing.
I can understand that I guess...but I still like reggae( as long as it's rare...).
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