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AVB teaching how to spin in Maxim (pg. 5)
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| Sykonee |
Maxim's music spin-off mag, Blender, has a little article each month where they ask top jocks and EDM producers what's in their record bags and why. Here's a few samples:
Air:
Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
"The best electronic musicians right now are hip-hop guys. outkast do the opposite of what we do, and that's what we like."
Grace Jones - Living My Life
"I think this is a masterpiece. I don't understand how this girl can be so pretty and sing so well. She seems to be into voodoo."
Eddie Harris - The Electrifying Eddie Harris
"When classic instruments meet electronic ones, it's very cool. For me, in jazz there was Eddie Harris; in rock there was Iggy Pop."
Bob Dylan - Greatest Hits
"The guitar chords are wonderful. What I like about Dylan is that he seems to be in a bad mood all the time, and also very bitchy!"
Sasha:
Grand National - Killing The National Habit
"The perfect summer album for driving with the stereo on full volume. it's inspired by bands I grew up listening to: the Police, Talk Talk."
Peven Everett - Studio Confessions
"A modern music journey difficult to classify. It jumps among soul, house, hip-hop, funk, Latino. His voice feels like Marvin Gaye's."
Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour
"This really has a Fleetwood Mac feel - I've admired Fleetwood Mac since I was a kid. Delays' singer has an amazing falsetto."
Ulrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place
"Beautiful electronic music with Cocteau Twins and Slowdive influences by an amazing German producer."
Tiesto:
Size Triple DDD - Nobody Listens To Techno
"THey sample Eminem's 'Without Me' and prove him wrong. I love to watch the crowd go beserk."
Paris & Healey - Ripped/Deep Throat
"This is a big, uplifting tune for the peak of the night. People go nuts for it. It was released by Plastic Fantastic, my favorite record store in London."
Chris B - Flast Minute Flight
"I play this when the night is still young and fresh. You can feel the tension building and everybody getting excited. Watch the vibe pickup."
Dave Graham - Dirty Sticky Floors (Junkie XL Remix)
"It's my good friend Junkie XL's fantastic remix with fresh new sounds. It's guaranteed to get everybody going. An epic!"
They've had Felix, Timo Maas, Faithless, & Kid Koala, amongst many others, contribute to this little article, yet I haven't seen Armin crop up at all. Guess he isn't all that popular here after all. |
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| Radagast |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Isn't he the DJ for the Beastie Boys? He's a pretty wicked turntablist, especially on "Three MCs and one DJ". I doubt he can mix tracks very well though. |
Yeah and I doubt Jeff Gordon can drive Volvos very well. |
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| TheTornado |
pick up mix master mike's 'spin psycle' mix for a proper mix cd from him... i have a live set of his from back in september, it is very good
also, he mixes different beats for the beasties when they play live. he adds so much to the show |
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| miamitranceman |
| quote: | Originally posted by idoru
Some, like myself, will argue that exposure is only good to a certain extent. ;) |
You're gonna have to support that statement. It is true that the U.S. is way behind in EDM. I don't argue with that. However, having trance influences creep their way into popular American media like Maxim, however slightly, is one step to educate/familiarize unknowing Americans about all the EDM scene has to offer. Why wouldn't that be a good thing?
Good debate going. Lookin' forward to a response. |
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| idoru |
| quote: | Originally posted by miamitranceman
You're gonna have to support that statement. It is true that the U.S. is way behind in EDM. I don't argue with that. However, having trance influences creep their way into popular American media like Maxim, however slightly, is one step to educate/familiarize unknowing Americans about all the EDM scene has to offer. Why wouldn't that be a good thing?
Good debate going. Lookin' forward to a response. |
I agree that it's nice to give Americans an idea of what Trance really is. The scene is small over here which is nice, because you don't get hundreds of thousands of kiddies going to clubs just because "It's cool," or, "Hey, I heard this Tiësto guy on the radio, so I have to go." It provides for a better, more intimate experience with the DJs, rather than being squished like a sardine-can with kids who don't know anything about the music.
In addition, Maxim is a very popular magazine. Armin van Buuren, while good at mixing, is not the person to be doing an article on how to mix and/or scratch. This gives the impression that Trance DJs are Gods at what they do, that they are the technical wizards of their time. They're not, and Maxim readers are going to get the wrong impression. People like Sasha, Digweed, Zabiela, and anyone else who truly knows how to blend tunes together and scratch should be the ones being interviewed. |
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| eRRaTiK |
| ^^ thank goodness they didn't get #1 to do the article. |
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| beats and beeps |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sykonee
Kid Koala |
Quoted.
I love that guy. |
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| Radagast |
| quote: | Originally posted by miamitranceman
It is true that the U.S. is way behind in EDM. |
What? In what way? |
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| miamitranceman |
| quote: | Originally posted by idoru
In addition, Maxim is a very popular magazine. Armin van Buuren, while good at mixing, is not the person to be doing an article on how to mix and/or scratch. This gives the impression that Trance DJs are Gods at what they do, that they are the technical wizards of their time. They're not, and Maxim readers are going to get the wrong impression. People like Sasha, Digweed, Zabiela, and anyone else who truly knows how to blend tunes together and scratch should be the ones being interviewed. |
Totally agree that Armin is not the best to interview for scratching, but, nevertheless, I'm glad that more Americans will now know of him.
I don't agree with readers thinking he's god though. That's kinda an exaggeration. And even if they think his skills are great from reading the article...so what? |
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| miamitranceman |
| quote: | Originally posted by Radagast
What? In what way? |
What I meant was I think it's safe to say that most people here have never heard of whom we would consider more "well-known" DJ's (Tiesto, Armin, PVD, etc. save for maybe Oakie), unlike in Europe. :) |
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| idoru |
| quote: | Originally posted by miamitranceman
And even if they think his skills are great from reading the article...so what? |
Because it's where the popularity-effect occurs. The article is sure to mention how famous he is, and possibly reference Armin's status in the DJ Mag poll. This is going to make the already-popular DJs even more popular, and will only support the artists going, "Well, a lot of people like me, so I'm not going to put much soul into my music because it will earn me money," similar to what the many radio shows have done (keep in mind that I'm not referring to just Armin, but rather the scene itself). This article only perpetuates the growing mediocrity that we're seeing in the scene today, where the masses refuse to find un-played music that, for 90% of the time, is much better than what the popular DJs play.
Like I said, it is nice to see the American culture getting a little taste of true EDM, but it comes with a negative side, too. |
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| miamitranceman |
Naw, I get you. I just feel like the popularity effect is given more credit than it deserves. There's always gonna be "the" most popular DJ's even if new DJ's are given more playtime. I think if the track is "good" enough then the artist will get recognized.
Look at the top 30 (even all 100) DJ's on DJ Mag's 2004 list. As we all know, this list essentially shows which DJ's are most popular, not necessarily the "best", however you wanna define that. Now think of how many producers had arguably great success in the past year with origianl tracks and/or remixes who are not on the list. There's a lot of talent out there but it takes time to climb the ranks. If it's not Tiesto, PVD, Armin at 1,2, and 3, it's gonna be someone else. Their position on the chart, to me, doesn't correlate with the so-called "mediocrity" plaguing the scene right now.
The great thing about introducing American's to the "big names" first is that it has a better chance of getting them into EDM. Then, they can go off like we do and discover the un-played stuff. It's harder to hook people on the "little guys" straight up. |
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