No music in this town..

[N - Jay]

Stevësto,

First of all, I don't have a disease called tracklistitis My tracks are based on own midnight research and what I like. Yes that research is also tracklists but also stripping down labels through discogs.

That video was not made by me but by a "groupie" who just likes the big hits like the intro song (Magic M) But I posted it because it was the only video I have of me performing etc. etc..

If you want to play songs people know? You've got to spin Spastik, Superfreak, Born Slippy and Jesus Loves The Acid (or other classics or you can spin cheesy electro house like EVERYBODY ELSE! I refuse to do that. So am I missing the bandwagon now? I won't get there because I don't spin electro house which is the same after the same after the same. It's not only minimal, it's the whole techno thing. With techno you can build and break your sets into parts. With simple house like mentioned before, you just mix in mix out and every track speaks for itself so there goes my love for djing... So it's not my thing.

Every track in electro house for example starts the same as a minimal/techno track. It comes out and is picked out by us the djs.
But when every weekend the cheesy djs spin those tracks, they will get familiar with the common partypeople. And as you know, there are more cheesy parties than quality parties. So the quality music stays behind for the common partypeople. So our music is being underappreciated.

How can you be different if you are like the rest? Play the hits everybody likes. Why don't you make your own hits? Get the people in front of you recognizing those fat tracks only you play... See Magic M.. No not everybody here knows that track like we do...

It's working here... More than 2 years ago it didn't. I found out that I should have some hits in my set (more than I ever did) but mix them with the underground fat ones so the balance is right for the common partypeople.

By the way, i'm not a minimal only dj. I just use it whenever I think it's the right moment.

Thanks for you tips. I could not listen to your youtube links (am at work) but will do when i get home.

Correct me if i'm wrong about your comments.

i had the same problem, minimal would clear the floor. hard to get people to come out to your small free/cheap events. then i figured it out, minimal is too underground to start off the night with and play the entire night nothing but minimal. if you have trouble getting people to come out to the good music, i have the answer for you because i figured it out.

PLAY OTHER STUFF BESIDES MINIMAL.

there is so much great party music that isnt minimal that i recommend you play to get things started. here is an example of how i move from max to min, i played almost this exact tracklist and lit the place up and stole the show, the person on before me was playing minimal tracklist extravaganza (another common problem you minimal djs out there have, tracklistitis, like that promotion video posted by n-jay above):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TYX58gmKcO8
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Edykp_tRqUc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PZtiblDbDEI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hy-GkSN7_-g

once you build a crowd, THEN you can play minimal. stop trying to force your music on people, you need to work with them, that's called djing. you dont start right out into the peak of dancefloor hypnotism with the most intense stripped down mindfuck music, and you dont try to half ass way by sticking in disguised prog like get physical and kompakt trying to hybrid the whole thing and make both crowds happy, you do it with variety. theres two types of djing as i see it, a dj who stretches his own tastes to accomodate other peoples tastes to make as many people happy by being a bit flexible and not being selfish by playing only what he/she likes but makes a few sacrifices by playing some things he/she is not completely into but everyone else is. the other type is a dj playing 100% what he/she is into, presented as an artistic expression, this is like the john digweeds and richie hawtins of the world. the problem is everyone wants to be the big top guys like the 2nd example and they jump right into that without learning how to do the 1st example.

[stevësto]

Stevësto,

First of all, I don't have a disease called tracklistitis My tracks are based on own midnight research and what I like. Yes that research is also tracklists but also stripping down labels through discogs.

That video was not made by me but by a "groupie" who just likes the big hits like the intro song (Magic M) But I posted it because it was the only video I have of me performing etc. etc..

If you want to play songs people know? You've got to spin Spastik, Superfreak, Born Slippy and Jesus Loves The Acid (or other classics or you can spin cheesy electro house like EVERYBODY ELSE! I refuse to do that. So am I missing the bandwagon now? I won't get there because I don't spin electro house which is the same after the same after the same. It's not only minimal, it's the whole techno thing. With techno you can build and break your sets into parts. With simple house like mentioned before, you just mix in mix out and every track speaks for itself so there goes my love for djing... So it's not my thing.

Every track in electro house for example starts the same as a minimal/techno track. It comes out and is picked out by us the djs.
But when every weekend the cheesy djs spin those tracks, they will get familiar with the common partypeople. And as you know, there are more cheesy parties than quality parties. So the quality music stays behind for the common partypeople. So our music is being underappreciated.

How can you be different if you are like the rest? Play the hits everybody likes. Why don't you make your own hits? Get the people in front of you recognizing those fat tracks only you play... See Magic M.. No not everybody here knows that track like we do...

It's working here... More than 2 years ago it didn't. I found out that I should have some hits in my set (more than I ever did) but mix them with the underground fat ones so the balance is right for the common partypeople.

By the way, i'm not a minimal only dj. I just use it whenever I think it's the right moment.

Thanks for you tips. I could not listen to your youtube links (am at work) but will do when i get home.

Correct me if i'm wrong about your comments.

sorry for the tracklistitis comment. sounds like you're already doing what i recommend for many, which is play with a variety and not just minimal. about not playing regular house or electro or tracks that "speak for themselves" not allowing any creative mixing by the dj ... this is true, those genres dont allow the felxibility of creativity in how they are mixed like minimal is, but, i have found that i cannot just play my favorite minimal tunes for most crowds, what works for me best is start with more accessible music, and gradually work towards the minimal. the first thing that comes to most people's minds when they hear "regular house" or "electro house" is cheese. not all of it is cheese! there is some good stuff out there that isnt minimal.

[Castronova]

the first thing that comes to most people's minds when they hear "regular house" or "electro house" is cheese. not all of it is cheese! there is some good stuff out there that isnt minimal.

I agree. There's tons of good electro house out there. The lines between electro house and progressive house can get pretty blurry, and there's lots of minimal that follows the same "progressions" as progressive house. I have no trouble easing people from electro house to minimal and back again if that's what's needed.

The day I get asked to leave the decks early because I can't read the crowd is the day I sell all my gear and get an office job.

[pantycontrol]

the first thing that comes to most people's minds when they hear "regular house" or "electro house" is cheese. not all of it is cheese! there is some good stuff out there that isnt minimal.

I agree. There's tons of good electro house out there. The lines between electro house and progressive house can get pretty blurry, and there's lots of minimal that follows the same "progressions" as progressive house. I have no trouble easing people from electro house to minimal and back again if that's what's needed.

The day I get asked to leave the decks early because I can't read the crowd is the day I sell all my gear and get an office job.

never give up.

[shypht]

the first thing that comes to most people's minds when they hear "regular house" or "electro house" is cheese. not all of it is cheese! there is some good stuff out there that isnt minimal.

I agree. There's tons of good electro house out there. The lines between electro house and progressive house can get pretty blurry, and there's lots of minimal that follows the same "progressions" as progressive house. I have no trouble easing people from electro house to minimal and back again if that's what's needed.

The day I get asked to leave the decks early because I can't read the crowd is the day I sell all my gear and get an office job.

My general thought on minimal is

- "Minimal takes elements that I like from other genres, and strips away all the crap I don't like"

I find that there are similarities between minimal, and just about every other genre - house, trance, psytrance, breaks, prog, electro, etc. Mind you, the parts that I dislike about other genres, are usually the hooks/catchy bits that other people like - cheesy vocals, bad lead synths, hooks, effects overload, etc.

Hell, quite a few of the Live PAs from Mutek seemed to be bordering on a circuit-house/prog type sound. (un)interestingly enough, the last psytrance party or two that I've been to, have also been playing stuff that sounds like Prog, and if you jump onto some psytrance forums - you'll see people bitching about the 'minimal takeover of psytrance'. *chuckle*

Point being, with careful track selecting / programming / mixing - you can use minimal as a bridge between many other genres of music. I think Shonky (of the few sets I've heard of him) actually does this pretty well.

Getting into minimal was a bit of a learning/discovery process for me, and wouldn't really expect *most* people to be instant win-overs after being exposed to a set of 100% straight-up minimal.

Usually, when I hear someone say 'You know, minimal is not all that bad', is when one of the bigger non-minimal DJs drop in a few well placed/timed minimal tracks into non-minimal sets.

[Der geile Ami]

since when was "minimal" a genre and not simply a descriptor of the approach to making music in existing genres?

[victorgonzales]

since when was "minimal" a genre and not simply a descriptor of the approach to making music in existing genres?

beatport said so.