RA.100 - Richie Hawtin

[miroslav]

This set is good in spots, but mostly blah...far from consistently great. If you think this is great, I have a whole series of sets to share with you that demonstrate what the right groove and flow can really do for a mix...hell, even starting with some of Hawtin's own DE9 series stuff. Hawtin still has his moments, but he's more miss than hit for me than he used to be...as is the entire Minus label.

True true......but mixing loops with loops creates one BIG LOOP......now what do you do with that to make it interesting...oh and while you're trying to make it interesting....you get STUCK in that LOOP...and this is where the loopatitus/boredom kicks in.......

FACT: If you need toys to make tracks more interesting, maybe you should play more interesting music. A great track shouldn't need bullshit effects and samplers over the top.

I've never quite bought the whole "live remixing in a DJ set" argument... as is hinted at with other posts, a lot of the time a track is designed to played from start to finish, and whilst it's awesome for people to do their own edits and such, once you take it to the point where you are just looping little bits of tracks and combining them in to one new track, I think a lot of the time it might be technically impressive, but not actually work as well on the dancefloor. To me it seems that what someone like Zabiela (yeah, not very mnml, but an awesome DJ!) is doing with effects is awesome, he's fucking up the tracks but not losing the flow (well, most of the time anyway..) and not pretending that he is reinventing DJ'ing.

bingo to all three of you. It really needed to be said. THANK YOU.

It's remarkable to me the amount of high-tech PA sets I hear that are just dull, insipid, and tiresome from a musical perspective. Yes it's "minimal" (or whatever you want to call it) and loop-based in nature, but it is still music - and the good DJ understands this and leverages those musical aspects as any true musician would. I find it distressing and ironic that the more "advanced" we get in terms of tracks, digital capabilities, gadgets, etc. the more I see DJs regressing in their musicality and stumbling into pure mediocrity.

DJ community at large: FOR GOD'S SAKE, WAKE THE F UP and stop letting your worship of the "high tech" make you foresake the fundamentals of what makes for good musicality, flow, and feel!! I'm getting sick and tired of this BS...forest being lost for the trees...

YO YOU HAWTIN? LMAO THIS IS RIDICULOUS! ONLINE SKAMA BULLSHIT! IT WOULD BE FRESH IF WE COULD BE WISE ASSES IN PERSON! HOLLA AT THE WYTE MONKEY, BRONX ROCK! HAWTIN IS GOD!

You're part of the problem.

[shypht]

And people need to stop letting nostalgia for the past blind them from possibilities of the future.

Yeah, what some DJs can still pull off just using Vinyl + a mixer can be mind blowing. But allot of these newer technologies are just that - NEW. It will take time, practice and experimentation to let them live up to their full potential and really shine. Do you think DJ's were pulling off stuff like Ricardo can years ago when DJ culture & the electronic music scene was just starting to form?

Stuff like DE9: Transitions excite me about the possibility of DJing/mixing/etc and what technology can allow musicians to do. That mix has a great flow / build / progression and is a very interesting and engaging mix IMO.

The RA set - while not "zomg amazing and mindblowing!", has some pretty solid moments, all around I really enjoy it and can see how it is very much 'experimenting' to try out new ideas and see what's working and whats not working. Parts of this mix work, parts of it done, some parts are really great, some parts a bit "meh".

It's easy to stick to a 'tried and true' formula, put out another mix that sounds like his last 'amazing' mix and not try anything new. I'd rather hear some new things along the way - even if it results in a few flops.

[tdmusic]

Yeah, what some DJs can still pull off just using Vinyl + a mixer can be mind blowing. But allot of these newer technologies are just that - NEW. It will take time, practice and experimentation to let them live up to their full potential and really shine. Do you think DJ's were pulling off stuff like Ricardo can years ago when DJ culture & the electronic music scene was just starting to form?

Stuff like DE9: Transitions excite me about the possibility of DJing/mixing/etc and what technology can allow musicians to do. That mix has a great flow / build / progression and is a very interesting and engaging mix IMO.

yeah, you are totally right. i suppose i was getting more at the hype created around richie using traktor, i'm all for laptop dj'ing being pulled off right (it's what i play around with, after all), and i'm all for experimentation and moving forward, i think seeing ricardo just made me feel kinda nostalgic

i agree with you on the podcast, i listened again and it's got some pretty cool moments, and i don't really know any of the tracks he's used so i couldn't comment on exactly how much "live remixing" vs "normal dj'ing" is going on. de9:transitions is one of my fave mix cd's also

so i suppose i've kind of blown my own post out of the water a bit.. lol

[tdmusic]

right on, and indeed, Zabiela rules, seen him two times and he really does amazing things with "just" cdj's en efx from pioneer. A lot more impressive then some Ableton "see mum pitching with no hands" set, I can tell you...

but i do also agree with this - i know the whole "ableton is cheating" argument is ever so played out, but being familiar with the technology, seeing someone spin an averagely good set on ableton doing nothing much else than the odd ping pong delay/redux effect just isn't as exciting as seeing someone like zabiela push the equipment to it's limits, or a dj spinning just vinyls, but locking you into an awesome groove for x hours.

now, seeing someone spin with a laptop and a controller and do some incredible things to the music is just as exciting.. i think just from past experience, i struggle to think of many (purely) laptop dj's i've seen who've really done anything that impressive. but like you say, we're really just beginning to experiment with the technology.

god, i've read this argument on a thousand forums already so i'll shut up. the podcast is quite good. end of.

[elAntonio]

[minimalwyte]

miroslav, lmao. if only you could tell me im part of the problem standing next to me. your the problem dude. hawtin is the best, imma true fan. why cant i say that? dont you have a favorite dj. i dont dj or produce. but i know good musik. its funny that hawtin has 6 pages so far of ppl hating on him an d disagreeing with eachother about his musik or what he plays. lol, sh!t is ridiculous. that should tell you something. by the time this ends it'll be like 100 pages of ppl saying yo hawtin sucks, no wait hawtins the best....lmao. fuckin dumb. whatever he's doin, puttin a thousand loops together, playin whole tracks, snappin his fingers, what comes outta his system is fuckin dope. it sounds different to me. i like alot of other ppl, but always look forward to hearing him spin and dancin to his sh!t. waitin for him to come back to nyc. been close to a year now. everyone has there moments when they dont play great or fall off. i have some hawtin live sets that arent that great, but he'll smoke you haters....lol

[minimalwyte]

HAWTINS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOSERS!!!!!!!!!!!!! FIND SOMETHING BETTER TO DO!

[minimalwyte]

CLOSER TO THE EDIT IS BETTER THAN TRANSITIONS! THE 2ND ONE IS THE BEST. sh!t IS FUCKIN DOPE! TRANSITIONS DIDNT DO MUCH FOR ME. DONT PLAY IT MUCH.