Soundtrack in my head:  Moby, “Porcelain”

In case anyone’s curious as to what I spin when I DJ, here’s what I did the other night:

·    Saint Etienne, “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”
·    Sugar Hill Gang, “Rapper’s Delight”
·    Deee-Lite, “Electric Shock”
·    Madonna, “Ray of Light”
·    Gregory Peck (reggae artist, not the late actor) “Pocoman Jam”
·    Transglobal Underground, “Templehead”
·    United Future Organization, “On Est Ensemble Sans Se Parler – L.O.V.E.)
·    Danielle Dax, “Tomorrow Never Knows”
·    Pop Will Eat Itself, “Bulletproof”
·    Thievery Corporation, “Truth and Rights”
·    Moby, “Porcelain”
·    Bowery Electric, “Fear of Flying”
·    Stereo MC’s, “Connected”
·    tobyMac, “Love Is In The House”
·    Chapterhouse, “Pearl”

I know I omitted a few songs and this might not be the exact order.

The guy who’d trained me to DJ said it was by far my best performance thus far.  I was very surprised—I felt like I was struggling in the middle. At one point I saw the dance floor emptier than I’d ever seen it, until I managed to lure them back with the Danielle Dax cover of the Beatles’ tune.  But then again, I imagine that tests like these help develop DJ’s.  

The other thing I found interesting is that people noticed and commented on songs as if I’d played them for the first time, but in reality, it’s not the first time these people have heard me play some of those songs.  What I think is happening is that I’m becoming better at mixing up the songs so that they stand out more from each other.  For example, I’ve noticed that when I load my CD tracks onto my computer player and put the songs in random order, I hear certain songs differently than I would if they were a part of a string of tracks by the same group.  

If I absolutely have to describe my style, I could say that I play modern dance tracks from the 90s and 2000s with 60’s and early 70’s influences such as jazz, lounge music, psychedelic rock, and reggae.  Left to my own devices, I’d probably play things that are moodier and reflective.  But the people on the dance floor like my higher energy stuff, and so I toss them “Rapper’s Delight,” Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” and a few other classics like that--because they’ll just devour it.

I’m also realizing as I look at this song list that it’s too heavily weighted towards the 90s.  I do have a lot from the 2000s in my collection, and a lot I’ve downloaded recently.  I just don’t know them as well and I need to listen to them more so that I can mix them into my sets.  But no one seems to be complaining right now.

So what is it that I really know about DJ’ing?  Hard to say. I’ve got my ears and my trick bag of CD’s that I bring to the event.  The dance floor teaches me the rest.