deadmau5 has a message for DJs: don’t just DJ.
here is what i dont get [Tumblr]
And we couldn’t agree more. For once, bless the mouse – and, give the man some credit, he has a sense of humor and self-deprecation. (That’s his image above, not ours.)
But keep reading – things are about to get cut-up surreal poetic in just a second.
Joel Zimmerman’s message has come a long way. Just back in 2012, he cynically suggested everyone on the scene was just “pushing play” and asked everyone to quit pretending already – fair, perhaps, but not entirely optimistic. And I gave him a hard time for it, because I though it was unfair to the people who were assembling live performances (deadmau5 walked back some of his original article and gave some credit to all y’all controllerists out there):
Deadmau5, Honest About His Own Press-Play Sets, Misses Out On “Scene”
Now, though, he’s saying something different: quit just playing CDs and actually jam live. Play a keyboard. Hook up some MIDI or OSC control. Do something. And sure enough, his own bio rejects the notion of CDs and emphasizes playing his own tracks (live PA style) and on-the-fly cutting and editing (though I’d have to research more what he’s actually doing).
It’s clearly a message the top of the EDM circuit needs to hear, and one the CDM readership would almost certainly endorse. I’d agree with every single word, except I do feel obligated to say I feel strongly that there’s a role for good mixing and selection, for DJs. And even if deadmau5 doesn’t want to be called a DJ, other people may be fine with it. On the other hand, people booked around a hit “banger” aren’t likely to surprise anyone with their subtle track selection, too much faking keyboard lines to the audience is obnoxious, and I frankly what deadmau5 is describing, absolutely, I agree – it’s horrific.
I agree – you and all your friends, probably, agree – so much so that under normal circumstances bringing all this would be boring. Except that this being deadmau5, eloquent troll for all electronic music everywhere on the Internet, it takes another turn. Okay, not only did deadmau5 run to the defense of the poor horses subjected to David Guetta’s nightmare-dystopian Pascha opening, but now this. (Yes, horses, the four-legged kind, though “objectification of women” or “Native American racism” could easily have been topics – that was a three-for-one Ibiza fail there.)
Here’s what I want: I want a t-shirt for each one of these phrases:
you show up to X shitfest, and play a CD.
STOP.
I AM CONFUSED.
Word.
are you or are you not a guy who can use a comupter to make music?
CDM has a new logo and redesign launching before summer is out. Now I have the phrase that will go on the back.
Alternatively, these:
WATCH MY HAND. IT GOES DOOT DOOT DOOT DOOT”
…
youre beyond a CD player.
And the best:
So you cant pllay a keyboard? COOL! ME NEITHER! MIDI bro.
…
OSC is the latest fuckin craze.
get your script on bitch.
Printed.
Framed.
throw down some smpte on another track to sync some tailored visuals too…
I swear I’m going to get motion back up, too.
Actually, as I’m playing this weekend, I’ve composed my own little poem, in the style of deadmau5. People ask me about my own story, so here it is.
I’m setting an egg timer and briefly pretending I don’t know how to type in the hopes that it will come out like a deadmau5 Tumblr rant.
so, im actually like this composer whatever in new york but i turn into this cdm blogger man.
and im making music im like fuckin aroung with abledong live and that whatever looping stretching thing with all the grain settings long aso i can play a modern dance performance in brooklyn that winds up going for like an hour and i want it to be all ambient.
im making waves. i rinse it. i shave it. shave it all off.
and then im suddenly in berlin and making techno because i went to barghain a few 2 many times and now i dont know i might just dj this weekend just in case people get borded of me lining up claps on my korg volca meeblip rig because you know i listen to some tracks some time and likke to dance san dso they sometimse want me to play the whole damn thing
i show up to club x, i show up to club y, i show up to club xy i really need a booking manager
i never pirated nothing its all nfr nfr nfr
so i get the d2 the native instruments thing maybe i play with stems that’s the new shit like four tracks of whatever so im doing something creative but thats not ready yet i dont no if native instruments is reading this far but yeah im down for some stems
i totally forgot what this was supposed to be about im stopping now.
now everyone in canada knows mu name
i am totally a guy who can use a comupter to make music because create digtial fockin music yo craz cats.
i cant believe i sat through a whole film yestrday that told me computers are shit computers totally arent shit did you hear from deamdouse people areplaying like cds for 200k something? dollars? whoa. i should get into edm. then i could afford a modular i dream of wires right now i can kind of mainly only afford those nfrs and my meeblp which im obligated to tell you is available now from dotcom.
i can totally play a keyboard which is good because if i couldn’t im not sure how id’ fix it with MIDI or osc or the 80s bro.
DANKE SHÖN DIR!
Okay.
That almost sort of worked. Not really.
I really do hope someone in EDM starts playing synth lines over top of their set or adds fireworks and singing ladies behind them or whatever the point of this rant actually was. Sounds good. I … probably won’t get to see it, assuming I do stay away from Electric Daisy Carnival.
But I think deadmau5 didn’t mean the whole IDM scene in general.