Here’s one about a DJ who toured Australia. The occasion was
the DJ Producer
(read the comments behind that link to get an idea of what many hardcore techno
gabber types think of him) and while musical instrument-playing purists may
argue one particular old chestnut — that to play pre-recorded music is not a
‘proper’ gig — this was a monster occasion in every sense other than the fact
that there weren’t a bunch of people on a stage playing stringed instruments.
On the other hand, it was a club venue (Inflation), so I’m counting it as a
Memorable Club Moment.
The DJ Producer smashes Melbourne
The DJ Producer. Not actually in Melbourne in this photo.
Pic: Discogs.com
There are a couple of reasons why this night remains
memorable, despite the grandiose volume of alcohol consumed and the fact that
it occurred almost10 years ago.
In 2007 (yes, it was that long ago) I had kind of started to
get into hardcore techno, gabber and breakcore. I had genuine dreams of DJing
this kind of music at actual club nights and (perhaps somewhat naively) I made
a point of purchasing a whole bunch of this music on vinyl. I was determined to
somehow be the real deal, whatever that was, and, as this still the
pre-streaming-everything or even pre-everything-is-on-YouTube era (remember,
YouTube only started in 2005), I refused to torrent download any music. I would
build up my Totally Awesome DJ Collection one record at a time, learning Mad DJ
Skillz with each new acquisition. Because vinyl records.
As a direct consequence, my general knowledge and understanding
of gabber and hardcore techno remained extremely limited. Specifically, what I
knew of gabber and hardcore was mostly on the relatively few vinyl records in
my collection, which usually got listened to while actually DJing in my bedroom
— in other words, only two thirds of each record would actually be heard, since
the rest of them had to be cued up. On the other hand, I had an unsurpassed
knowledge of all the first 32 bars of some bangin’ electronic tunes.
As a mid-20-something on my first full-time income, any lack
of common sense was made up for with boundless belief and enthusiasm. And since
I actually owned releases by at least three of the people on the bill, I felt I
had totally found my calling.
Why was it so great and memorable?
It’s a terribly clichéd pursuit in post-show accounts to
rattle off DJ names and smother each one with slightly different but
otherwise indistinguishable dollops of saccharine adulation. Instead, I’ll list
the acts I had looked forward to seeing and explain what was truly great about each
one.
PaulBlackout
Yes, PaulBlackout is
apparently the correct spelling (as compared to Paul Blackout).
He plays heavy and dark drum n’ bass — and at this gig it
was like nothing I’d ever heard before. I’d never been to a drum n’ bass night,
let alone a hardcore techno gabber night, and here was a guy who played the former
while not shying away from the latter.
It was on this occasion that I discovered that drum n’ bass
— when it’s good — is wonderful owing to the fact that it’s bizarrely
accessible. If you want to dance, anyone can move at whatever speed works for
them — and if you add an entire new level of crashing heaviness on top of it is
becomes music that anyone can headbang and mosh to, at whatever speed works for
them. I’m a metal head at heart (and so is Paul apparently) and this was unequivocally
an immensely heavy set.
Mark N (i.e. Mark Newlands)
Mark happened to be the person that sold me most of my vinyl
and I can genuinely say that, if asked, I never got a bad recommendation. I’d
seen him play two or three times prior and came to realise that no two sets
were ever the same.
What got played was what someone else at a later and
unrelated show once described (are you following me?) as “the definition of
breakcore”. No doubt Mark would cringe at such an epithet (and possibly say something
acerbic), so allow me to clarify first.
The conversation I’m referring to occurred on another
occasion with someone I met, at another venue, after a breakcore gig at which Mark
happened it play. At one time, after talking about music we liked, this person mentioned
how breakcore at its best was when everything got thrown into one ugly mix —
techno, drum n’ bass, hip hop, pop mashups, ‘humorous’ samples, turntablism,
and everything else.
And that is what got played. Savage, dark and heavy drum n’ bass one moment, rave-speed hip hop the next, dropped on
top of something filthy and nasty and terrible doing near 190bpm if not more,
and many other things in between.
The DJ Producer
Up until I attended this gig, most of the industrial music I’d
seen played out relied heavily on the audience knowing how and when everything
went together. These 4 on the floor dance tunes generally had a start, a middle
bit, and something at the end to tell you what to do next. Not so with the DJ
Producer.
It was hard. It was fast. It was intense, crazy, and it took
heavy music to a whole new depth I never realised could be reached. There were
breaks, there were thunderous passages of fist-bashing techno, there were
moments where it was toned down just long enough to let you catch your breath,
before it resumed once more at full attack speed.
This was electronic music and it was heavy like I’d never
known. And when it was over I clapped and cheered with the rest of the
audience, breathless and sweating from such a roaring set. I was overjoyed that
I’d found something that spoke to me so darkly, yet I was also saddened, for “heavy”
for me would never quite be the same.
So this is what this music is really about, I thought.
Then some time afterwards, I was told, on good authority,
that the DJ Producer’s set was comparatively tame.
Wow.
- Previous awesome club moment #1
- Next awesome club moment #3
