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live act vs dj set


Lepton

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I was thinking about a scene without any live acts only dj's/producers like in techno,...

I find a dj set way more interessting than a live act. If I would be an artist I would not release my music but only dj and play my unreleased tracks. Nowadays the crowd doesn't really demand highly skillfull dj's since we don't have a real dj culture like all the other scenes only live act culture wich I regrett. I'm a wrong? How will this (only dj's) affect the scene? What do you think/prefer?

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Well, I like them both. I see your point for liking dj set better than live act cause dj set can be more variable and different where live act follows the same formula you present as an artist. But the fact is that there isn't any big difference in playing both things cause live act only adds some synth playing in enriching the song but the fact is that even your music you have to play from some medium and can't interpret on the spot, unless you are Juno Reactor or Shpongle. In the principle, you can make more colorful, rich night by playing dj set but I quite like live act cause you have feeling of compatibility and liquidity...

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I seriously doubt that you would get any gigs if you did not release any music. But your right. Psy do not really have a tradition of skilled DJ's (there are a few though) and that's why you need releases in the psy scene since 99% are artist pretending to be Dj's ;) People want to see the artists they like play as DJ's but without releases those artists would not be known and therefore not get any DJ gigs. Its' quite simple even though I think the scene could use more Dj's that actually play out of pure pleasure instead of artists Dj'ing to promote their own tracks (I do that too). But when music sell so bad these days artists need some sort of alternative income = DJíng.

 

I prefer Dj sets too (played by Dj's that know what they do) simply because live acts most of the time break the flow in the parties. But these days it seem more important to have some hot shot artists on stage than to give people a long good flowing journey. 1 - 2 hour DJ sets also dont cut it. Too many DJ's will also break the flow. 1 - 2 DJ's playing long sets is the ultimate way of doing it. And believe me people would love it. If only the organisers dared to try it ;)

 

But at festivals it's a different thing. Then I think it's cool to mix live and DJ's as long as the live acts get their acts together and try to give people a little extra than what most artists/bands seem to be able to these days.

 

I seriously think 99% of all artists should go back to the studio and figure out how to make a interesting live set. 1 or 2 guys twisting some knobs on a mixer/synth dont strike me as being interesting ;) If they don't know how to make it more interesting (hint: talent, creativity and actually being able to play a instrument) then they should stay home or at least admit that it's a playback show.

 

I have decided NOT to play live until the time when I can deliver a gig that will entertain people and when I have figured out how to budget musicians into the live gig.

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I seriously doubt that you would get any gigs if you did not release any music. But your right. Psy do not really have a tradition of skilled DJ's (there are a few though) and that's why you need releases in the psy scene since 99% are artist pretending to be Dj's ;)  People want to see the artists they like play as DJ's but without releases those artists would not be known and therefore not get any DJ gigs.

 

 

True. I see it like in the techno scene dj's = producers. Eventually if you only dj you won't get that many gigs unless you are way to good to be ingored. But at least every producer would also be a dj. Won't this affect the music (how it is made) and the whole story telling (how it is played) during the party?

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True. I see it like in the techno scene dj's = producers. Eventually if you only dj you won't get that many gigs unless you are way to good to be ingored. But at least every producer would also be a dj. But won't this affect the music after some time and maby the whole story telling during the party?

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I do believe it can be a dead end for artists if they start to make music based on crowd reaction or based on how they DJ. Artists should in my opinion not care about those things and make music that comes from their hearts. This way the music stay creative, fresh and honest.

 

And on the other hand I would love to see more Dj's that aren't artists. I believe they would be more open to experimenting simply because they would not have to care so much about sales of their music (or what's left of it).

 

A good reference is the House scene where you actually can make it as a DJ without being an artists. But even here most Dj's end up in the roles as remixers and/or producers.

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I prefer Dj sets too (played by Dj's that know what they do) simply because live acts most of the time break the flow in the parties. But these days it seem more important to have some hot shot artists on stage than to give people a long good flowing journey. 1 - 2 hour DJ sets also dont cut it. Too many DJ's will also break the flow. 1 - 2 DJ's playing long sets is the ultimate way of doing it. And believe me people would love it. If only the organisers dared to try it

My view exactly. My perfect party would be with only dj's(good ones), and then give them about 4 hours to make the musical journey.

 

I think that in the older days it was more common that the dj's got time to create a nice journey for the audience. In more recent years it has gotten to be more focused on getting the live acts, take for example the fullmoon festival lineup this year.

 

One thing though, it isnt enough to get dj's, they have to understand how you make a set. Most dj's these days are simply banging the same 'in' tracks, with no thought to how the sets should progress, it happends often that I hear the same track being played 2-4 times during the same party but by different dj's.

 

To name a few that I(yes me, not you so no flaming) consider being able to deliver sets that are a journey in music are for example James Moroe, Jean Borelli just to name a few.

 

-Peace

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I was thinking about a scene without any live acts only dj's/producers like in techno,...

 

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You're wrong. What about Speedy J, The 65D Mavericks or Takaaki Itoh? Great techno live acts.

 

I like live acts and dj sets but a skilled dj kicks ass even more than a live act imo. And as i said in other topic, it's a pitty that in psy scene people don't really demand highly skillful dj's but i respect it as a special feature of this scene.

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I seriously think 99% of all artists should go back to the studio and figure out how to make a interesting live set. 1 or 2 guys twisting some knobs on a mixer/synth dont strike me as being interesting ;)  If they don't know how to make it more interesting (hint: talent, creativity and actually being able to play a instrument) then they should stay home or at least admit that it's a playback show.

 

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I totally agree. The only real live act (in strict sense i mean) i've seen in my life it's HILIGHT TRIBE. This guys are absolutely amazing imo, how can you make such great electronic music just with instruments (no hardware and no software) like bass, guitar, drums (ok, hybrid drumset but...), percussion, didgeridoo, berimbao, jew harp, etc, and drive it as a dj set???. Five musicians and 3 hours of non stop live linking the tracks with jams. Incredible.
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