Noncompliant (aka Lisa, formerly DJ Shiva) is on Reddit today, as midwest techno finally gets its own AMA (“ask me anything”). No hype, no nonsense – just real talk about honest questions producers and DJs face.
On funk:
If it moves my booty (of which I have a lot) then that’s how I gauge the funk of it. I tend a lot toward more bouncy things because that’s the kinda grooves I grew up on. This is an intangible that I don’t know how to explain, I just know when it’s there, if that makes sense.
Techno has definitely seen the resurgence in breakbeats and electro and I am 100% HERE. FOR. IT.
On how to do music on the go (trains, planes, and automobiles) but still stay hands-on:
Oh I struggle with this too. I have found I DEFINITELY prefer hands-on stuff, hence all the hardware.
That said, I don’t always have access to it all, and I am still trying to figure this out for myself. I bought an iPad and some cool apps (Patterning, Elastic Drums, Moog Model 15, and a few others) and have been trying to use that on the road. At some point I might get the Korg NanoKEY Studio to go with that too.
I think the key really is to look at the portable studio stuff as a scratchpad where you mess around, get some cool beats or synth sounds going, and not necessarily a time/place where you have to FINISH tunes. Take the cool stuff you do back to the main studio and finish it up there.
tl;dr It’s fun to muck around on the plane or at a cafe or whatever, but that’s not the place to focus on finishing your music. Use it as a fun experimental time w/ no pressure involved. 🙂
…
Patterning 2 is freaking awesome.
I have been dabbling with Ableton Link too, so I can come home and either dump the stems (Patterning exports to Ableton) or I can just jam along with the iPad and Ableton and all the gear. 🙂
This all raises an interesting question, though – we could certainly help you ask artists questions you’d like to know, and maybe even moderate (and provide a better rich interface) a little beyond Reddit. So ideas welcome.
And this should all be an illustration of why we need moderated spaces for discussion. Killing comments on sites where comments are out of control – good. Creating reasonable discussion, and fighting to create spaces where non-male DJs are free of harassment – better.
But you know, all of this is an excellent excuse to run Lisa’s recent mix:
https://soundcloud.com/djmag/podcast-100-noncompliant
Tracks – and thanks, Lisa, for track lists, always.
John Heckle – Landing Gear [Chiwax]
Lewski – ‘Folkloric Human’ [Wolfskuil]
Shaun J Wright & Alinka – ‘Time For Action’ [Jackathon Jams]
Bernard Badie – ‘Earth Shattering’ [Jupiter4]
Dar Embarks – ‘Verldsrymden’ [Acid Camp]
Kirk Degiorgio – ‘Burning Stone (Petter B Remix)’ [On Edge Society]
Juxta Position – ‘Stepping’ [Figure]
Kristian Heikkila – ‘Hardware’ [Joiku]
Moteka – ‘Space Nation’ (Jeroen Search Remix) [Skryptom]
Developer – ‘Torn Apart’ [Eclectic Limited]
Greenjack – ‘Metropoly’ [IAMT]
Kloves – ‘Clash’ [FLASH]
Rommek – ‘Grintstone’ [Blueprint]
Concentrate – ‘Move Off (Forest People Replant)’ [Translucent]
Lars Huisman – ‘High Voltage’ [Bipolar Disorder]
The Advent – ‘Bad Boy (Planetary Assault Systems Remix)’ [Internal]
I was going to quote something from the interview that accompanied this in DJ Mag, but the problem is I agree with 100% of it. Yeah, I’m biased. So you can just read the whole thing – it gets into politics and activism and music and everything:
DJ Mag Podcast 100: Noncompliant
https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/noncompliant [worth checking her two podcast appearances there, too, as well as – meatspace appearances!]