Dissensus Best of 2011 Discussion

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
the 'never play the same tracks twice' approach is cool, but i dont think i would have heard or gotten into a lot of tracks i love if djs didnt play them regularly. only airing them once or twice has a militant fwd looking impetus that i like (its what pirate radio is all about really), but also seems a bit too exclusive, and if we are already in a somewhat disposable age, im not sure that really goes against it. obv loads of djs rinse the same anthems over and over, but theres plenty of tracks that take a bit more time to get into, and to get noticed, that benefit from repeated exposure. even a track like request line, i remember hearing it on that youngsta mix cd, but it wasnt really til grime djs played it again and again, that it hooked me. im also just annoyed cos theres plenty of tracks i vividly remember from sets but still have no idea who they were made by or what theyre called lol.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Anyone who admires the writing of Tim Finney should really check this ILX thread out. His 101 best pop tunes of the year, complete with write ups and youtube links. Better than anything you'll read
on any online magazine or blog, easy.

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=90355#unread

Thanks for this. I also liked how he was into Get Physical and Kompakt as much as he was into dancehall. Only problem is his writing is so good that the tracks themselves sometimes fail to live up to it!

But Shox-Strung Out is a monster. Sounds like the post-punk of funky.
 
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FairiesWearBoots

Well-known member
the 'never play the same tracks twice' approach is cool, but i dont think i would have heard or gotten into a lot of tracks i love if djs didnt play them regularly. only airing them once or twice has a militant fwd looking impetus that i like (its what pirate radio is all about really), but also seems a bit too exclusive, and if we are already in a somewhat disposable age, im not sure that really goes against it. obv loads of djs rinse the same anthems over and over, but theres plenty of tracks that take a bit more time to get into, and to get noticed, that benefit from repeated exposure. even a track like request line, i remember hearing it on that youngsta mix cd, but it wasnt really til grime djs played it again and again, that it hooked me. im also just annoyed cos theres plenty of tracks i vividly remember from sets but still have no idea who they were made by or what theyre called lol.

100%

this scene needs to promote tunes to grow the sound - this doesnt happen so much these days, this is how dnb grew, garage etc

im not realy thinking about much older tunes but current ones that should get pushed harder
 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
maybe djs get sent too much music, i dont know, but tracks that dont scream out 'rewind' instantly can also become popular, or at least, deserve a solid second tier billing, rather than being forgotten about. but this only happens through longer support. it seems like djs just do each show to zip through the new tracks theyre sent before the next onslaught.
 
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UFO over easy

online mahjong
for sure there is a balance to be struck. the biggest tunes i played for the first time last year were up on youtube by the end of the show though
 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
does it matter if its on youtube? i know id rather hear a tune on radio in a mix than just a rip on youtube. theres tons of rips on youtube of tracks that will never be coming out. or do people on the internet say a track is old or played out if its in youtube? (maybe they do)
 

UFO over easy

online mahjong
me too, but if its between playing something people might not know and giving airtime to an 'exclusive' which has 20,000 youtube hits then on radio i'll go for the former
 

Tentative Andy

I'm in the Meal Deal
the 'never play the same tracks twice' approach is cool, but i dont think i would have heard or gotten into a lot of tracks i love if djs didnt play them regularly. only airing them once or twice has a militant fwd looking impetus that i like (its what pirate radio is all about really), but also seems a bit too exclusive, and if we are already in a somewhat disposable age, im not sure that really goes against it. obv loads of djs rinse the same anthems over and over, but theres plenty of tracks that take a bit more time to get into, and to get noticed, that benefit from repeated exposure. even a track like request line, i remember hearing it on that youngsta mix cd, but it wasnt really til grime djs played it again and again, that it hooked me. im also just annoyed cos theres plenty of tracks i vividly remember from sets but still have no idea who they were made by or what theyre called lol.

Yeah I basically agree with this: obviously a good flow of new tunes are the lifeblood of any style or scene, and it does feel like a waste when DJs are happy to just bash out established anthems and not much else, but like you say a lot of new tunes are worth giving consistent play to over a period of time, to make people aware of them and to allow listeners to get accustomed to them.
Also if you have a regular radio show (or a club residency for that matter) and you're playing close to a totally different set of tunes every time then your sets will have no consistency - listeners will have no idea what to expect and it can almost seem like as a DJ you don't stand for anything in particular.

Sick Boy had a nice post a while back where has was basically saying that when the primary way DJs got tunes was buy cutting dubplates and/or buying the vinyl if and when it finally came out, the money you had to justify spending on a tune forged a kind of commitment to choose the best and then give it strong support over a period of time (this maybe fits with what Elijah was saying about how used to enjoy going to see a DJ in the hope of hearing specific tunes which only they or a small number of people had).
Whereas now if you're primarily getting tunes through producers sending you mp3s (often a high volume of them), there's a lower threshold to you giving a tune 1 or 2 spins (and this is a good thing, don't get me wrong) but perhaps a higher threshold to a tune standing out to you enough to get heavy support.

But I guess what we're talking about here is less about DJs digging out old favorite tunes (which I have mixed feeling about, some people do it well, some do it really badly) and more just DJs being happy to exist at least in part in 'the now' of a given scene, in addition to moving towards the future or next level or what-have-you.
 

Tentative Andy

I'm in the Meal Deal
Oops, just noticed that while I was collecting my thoughts there about 3 or 4 people had already said the same thing :eek:

Away to read Tim's list now - I really do appreciate his writing, the only thing I'd say is that I wish he'd push his work into other formats beyond just posts on ILX (as good as they are!) - if not a book then at least more articles in magazines and websites, more blogging etc. I know he works full-time but yeah, he deserves a bigger presence.
 

luka

Well-known member
i actually disagree. im glad he doesnt. its one of the reasons hes better than evryone else. besides which he is a very rich laywer, why would he want to peddle articles to shit magazines?
 

UFO over easy

online mahjong
Also if you have a regular radio show (or a club residency for that matter) and you're playing close to a totally different set of tunes every time then your sets will have no consistency - listeners will have no idea what to expect and it can almost seem like as a DJ you don't stand for anything in particular.

only if you're a bad DJ. focus isn't the same as peddling the same stuff every set. that's an attitude pretty much exclusive to hcc-related music, not at all true of other dance scenes
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
i just assumed he's posting in stages, prob took a lot of work, and if he is a rich lawyer as Luka says (never knew his true identity before), then 101 song descriptions at once is asking a lot. Re the format he posts in, i did used to like getphysical.blogspot/skykicking a lot.

@Andy, re Shox, do you not think that it could go in that direction tho? This is way more interesting to me than most funky I've heard of late, has the potential to go almost industrial sounding.

Also, this is interesting, re Sneakbo-The Wave, which was an Ill Blu instrumental as said, "And the beat here is a monster, its inheritance from uk funky the absolutism of the rigid synth arpeggios, whose minor deviations from the stomping 4X4 kick create in themselves a kind of syncopation that utterly contradicts the tune's resemblance to pop-trance. This of course is the great secret of uk funky - the way in which syncopation forms a governing principle not tied down to any particular rhythmic manifestation - and what makes tunes like "The Wave" (and before it Dotstar's "Ransom") most exciting is how they imagine a way-out for the plodding tranciness (or alternatively deadening dubstep facsimiles) of uk urban pop"
Interesting idea, with caveat that the kick isn't 4/4, which is part of what creates the syncopation in itself.
 
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outraygeous

Well-known member
The battering of tunes is good for DJs as well as it will sort out your future bookings. Look at the jungle line ups, they are pretty much the same as they were ages ago.

Same with garage raves. Same DJs, same tunes. People love it and go which is the important factor
 

Local Authority

bitch city
Room 1.

I'm the motivation. Cocaine. Powder. Footcrab Footcrab f f f Foot Crab Foot Crab WORK THEM W W WORK THEM WORK MY DJ LIVE IN THE PLACE FALL FOR ME SERVE FALL FOR ME FALL FOR ME.

TOO MUCH TOO MUCH TOO MUCH TOO MUCH
 

Tentative Andy

I'm in the Meal Deal
@Andy, re Shox, do you not think that it could go in that direction tho? This is way more interesting to me than most funky I've heard of late, has the potential to go almost industrial sounding.

Hmmm, maybe. I think there are some producers who have leanings towards that direction, but I'm not certain how much enthusiasm there is for it from the audience, so I'm not sure if it will gain much traction. When you mentioned industrial sounding* these were a couple of UKF tunes from last year that came to mind, dunno if you've heard them -
The Lil Silva remix of Merel by French Fries (part of this EP):
http://www.junodownload.com/products/laquisha-ep/1693553-02/
and Avalanche by Aramac, which was given away as a free download:


*NB I am totally not an expert on industrial though (but do love my post-punk).
 
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rrrivero

Well-known member
UKF is really not a good acronym to have for uk funky. My heart skipped a beat when I saw "UKF" and "Lil Silva" in the same post, I thought he started making tear-out midrangey dubstep tunes
 
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