|
Re: Re: Tiësto is one of the most underrated DJs on TA
| quote: | Originally posted by UWM
I just had to  at the thread title. I have nothing else to offer. |
And that was exactly the intention of the thread title.
Stir some shit up with trance history revisionism. Mission accomplished. 
Let me get this straight. I definitely think that in general, Tiësto has been way overrated since about the time he was crowned #1 in DJ Mag by the edm public majority back in 2002- the trance crackers. However, I have always thought that he has been overrated for precisely the wrong reasons: commercial success, cult to his celebrity persona, and the exploitation of his more accesible productions by an agressive marketing campaign.
I also acknowledge that since about 2003, most of his productions and livesets have been sub-par and uninspired. A few sets where he was definitely into the vibe of the party were decent, but nothing compared to the thoughtful sets and productions he came up with in his heyday (and including the set I posted in my first post).
But the truth is that he is also underrated in the snarky online trance cracker community and its main hubs such as TA due to wrong reasons as well. Too many newbies have come and gone, and the mainstream line of thought is that "Tiësto sucks now because his mixing skills suck".
I know that he used the whole cdr transition as an excuse, but is it really a valid excuse? No, I think he's trying to justify his lackluster performances that are actually due to artistic burnout caused by commercial success. Were his beatmatching skills any better before 2002? Just listen to his Sensation 2000 set and then answer the question. He has NEVER been a talented TECHNICAL mixer. But in fact, he has always been an extremely talented and creative MUSICAL mixer whenever he puts his heart to it, which frankly hasn't happened much in the last 3 or so years.
I don't like most trance tracks these days. I download new ASOT sets or the latest Ferry mix comp and they end up in my recycle bin because they all sound mainly dull and generic to me nowadays. Same as with most of the Tiësto sets I downloaded in the last two years. ISOS 4 sounded pretty uninspired to my ears as well. However, I know the man still has musical talent and he can rock a party like no one if he puts his heart into it....even if that is very rare nowadays.
| quote: | Originally posted by Jasperovitsj
Call it whatever you want man, but if any other DJ than Tiesto would mix like that, people would just say his mixing is crappy as hell. 
Heck, if I'd put a mix online here with that kind of mixing, people would be all over me saying that I needed to improve my beatmatching skills and that I mixed way too roughly, and they'd probably even say that my trackselection was too random and not very logical most times.
Face it, it's just because it's Tiesto that you're giving this kind of explanation and calling it innovative. And sure, the crowd might like it, but I (being a DJ myself) can't help getting shivers (in the bad sense of the word) whenever I hear him trainwrecking or clashing melodies...
And sure, his trackplacing may be innovative, but why on earth should that be an excuse for not being able to beatmatch those tracks that don't "belong" together?  |
I'm not a DJ but I have a degree in musicology, and that's the perspective I'm offering here.
I know that Tiësto's beatmatching skills are technically pretty bad to plain down horrible, and that someone like Armin van Buuren or my local trance DJ would take the same tracks and mix them together with the traditional smoothness and flow that you would expect.
Why I am defending Tiësto then? Because I know as a fact that he can create a better "trance narrative" with those tracks that would be musically more innovative and creative than those other trance DJs out there.
See, you people are saying that certain tracks "belong" together. That notion goes against the basic principles of post-modern art. Break off from structure and surprise me. That was what Tiësto did for me since the moment I ran into his music a good 8 years ago, and can still do better than anyone in the trance world (even if only in very rare occasions).
Another point I wanted to make was that frankly, DJing is no science and is a pretty accesible musical "instrument" when it comes to mixing dance music. When I want to appreciate a DJ with technical mastery and actual skills I listen to Mixmaster Mike and Qbert and Shadow and Z-Trip...turntablists, beat jugglers, crate diggers, and non-genre constrained turntable artists.
For dance music I want to listen to music that rocks my feet and takes me into a lineal journey of sonic contrasts. As much as I appreciate the technical ability of the likes of Zabiela, Sasha, Digweed, Richie Hawtin, Cristian Varela, PvD and other great edm mixers, I like them mainly for their ability to cronstruct an interesting ambiance of musical overtones by developing a narrative. Tiësto, from my perspective, deserves some recognition as an artist for his own musical displays of innovations in the past, as well as the rare sparks where he still does it and overshadows the other Dutch trance artists.
I would say something similar about someone like Danny Howells or James Holden, who may not be the greatest technical mixers either but have both been in the frontline of innovation and progress for their respective movements of edm as well.
|
