Q: For me dance/beat music is just primal, visceral - it bypasses my conscious mind and taps directly into something deep within me that responds directly to the rhythm. Yes! About 10 years ago, I was at University of Colorado at Boulder--in a Jazz Appreciation class--in an auditorium with about 250 other students. I was djing for about a year when a shaman came up on stage with a djembe like drum and began thumping out a steady tribal rhythm at approximately 120bpm, close to house music speed. Within a few moments he was gracefully explaining entrancement over the PA sys- tem. It was like a guided meditation, but he was simply teach- ing us the theory of entrancement. After about 20 minutes, he abruptly ended his lecture, stopped drumming, and snapped his fingers signaling that it was over. Immediately, everyone in the class began looking around the room at each other in complete disbelief - we had all just awoken from the same trance. I'll never forget the vibe in there - how we were all so completely unified by this mans rhythms and words. I don't think I ever fully came out of that trance - it's been a mission ever since to take audiences on a similar ride.


Q: Some people have to express the music physical- ly, they have to make their body and its movements reflect the music. For me it’s more of a mental thing. It’s like walking meditation for me. It seems that those people who feel it feel it in the same, deep spiritual way. Those who don't ... maybe they are tuned in to a differ- ent beat. I think when we open our selves up to a greater conscious- ness, we realize that it channels through us how ever it wants - that we are not in control. To each his own but House is definitely a spiritual thing. In it, there are pieces of every musical genre and that speaks heavily of its universal appeal. So, while it goes from being bouncy, dirty, deep, tribal, and funky, it can be really meditative and entrancing. This makes it really unifying and I think most of its participants feel its cohesive nature and welcome the unifying vibe. It's sung and spoken about a lot in the songs.


Q: One of the things I've always loved about pure elec- tronic music is that it comes straight from the mind. Since you don't need the physical skills to express the sounds you have in your head through an instru- ment you are only limited by your imagination and the amount of time you are willing to spend tinkering with a synthesizer.


Photo: Matthew Fitzgerald 32 Healthy Hippie Magazine | September October 2010


I love computers and synths and I also like making sounds on random objects. The machines are cool because they allow us to make geometrically perfect sounds and music. When every single note in the song has been mathematically calcu- lated and placed right down to the nano-second, the music itself becomes a form of electricity - and it can shock and buzz you.


Q: As a result of that mathematical precision we get beats that are far more precise than a human drummer could ever think about doing, yet the music itself, espe- cially the kind specifically for dancing, really needs the human touch of a DJ to come alive. Agreed. If anything, I purposefully push the perfect music off. I throw beats off tempo then back on track because it just sounds cooler and it's fun and it creates an energy that we're all at sea - we're on the same boat, cruising full sail, and it's gonna get choppy, so hang on tight.


Q: Hearing a mistake really does make people feel a bond with the DJ because they know there’s a person in there, not a computer. The human element is key - I'm not in this to escape, I'm in this to indulge and get funky with people. I don't really enjoy electronic music that sounds overly electronic - I just don't connect with it.


Q: It’s a bit odd how there’s this interplay between per- fection and imperfection. A human DJ playing live music can’t do it because the live musicians can never keep a steady beat – no matter how great they are. But the electronic, “perfect” music lacks something that only a human DJ can provide.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49