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my mindless rant about Max Grahams awesome set at Pachita
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| Excess |
posted it in reddit.com/r/trance: http://www.reddit.com/r/trance/comm...ate_the_art_of/ for those of you who reddit :p
| quote: | I make my way to a ton of trance and other electronic dance music events in New York City, and consider myself fairly experienced as a DJ/have some production releases under my belt. I only preface this write-up with said information to let you know that I'm very much out of the honeymoon phase of my relationship with electronic dance music nightlife. I used to go out and be absolutely obsessed with who I'd be seeing that night, digging up old live sets and listening through their discography in pre-game excitement. Eventually, that excitement dwindled because most acts will play the same tracklist world-wide and checking out their sets would only ruin their performance for me. Beyond that, I'd later be going out simply to spend time with familiar faces, or, for the purposes of networking and promoting.
I've become less and less impressed with the music I'd hear when attending the shows of even some of my favorite producers and DJs. As a DJ myself, I know the attention span of crowds is hard to keep and so I understand why plenty of DJs opt to play a set full of face-melting big room house tracks or popular vocal tunes. This is what I've come to expect, even from guys like Markus Schulz in the instances where he's playing a shorter set (granted, when he's given 6+ hours he's always an awesome performance to check out). It's still somewhat disappointing that I'm rarely intrigued by most live sets.
I have to say New York City is pretty spoiled when it comes to its resident DJs who know how to throw down: Zack Roth and Brad Miller for example always play musically awesome sets at any given time and of course the east coast trance all stars such as Eco, Breakfast and Mike Saint Jules who always remind me there are still trance DJs who can take us on a journey. Still, I had pretty much given up the idea of hearing any more well-developed sets on the fly from international DJs - right up until Max Graham took over the decks at Pachita in NYC after Alex MORPH's set.
Before I go into Mr. Graham's set, and why it was so awesome, I have to say that Pachita isn't exactly the standard EDM venue. It's more of a lounge area with a DJ booth and dance floor, and the sound system is exponentially weaker than Pacha's main room. This, as you can imagine, drastically impacts a DJs performance as even the heaviest of tracks pushed to their limits can sound toned down or weak.
When Max took over the decks, the entire atmosphere of Pachita underwent a drastic change and almost immediately, people were no longer jumping up and down or making hearts with their hands. Nobody was standing in awe of his presence. Still, the dance floor didn't clear with his first track which had just the right amount of techno influence. What I always hope for in a night out happened in a matter of minutes: DJ worship ended and appreciation of the musical journey began.
From that point on, it was EXACTLY how I remember some of my earlier clubbing experiences. I was dancing in the crowd, facing my group of friends and not the DJ. Almost everyone in attendance was doing the same - exactly how it should be. Any time I'd glance at the DJ, he wasn't posing or holding his hands up acting as the clubs puppet master. It wasn't a show based on stage presence, like I've come to expect. He let his set do the talking, and paid close attention to his crowd.
From driving, drum-heavy techno tracks to a hand full of trancier tunes (plus everything in between, constantly changing and evolving with each song), not once did I feel this set was forced. It was entirely appropriate for the venue, very much represented his work and sound as a trance producer and head of a record label, and still kept adjusting to the crowd to keep us moving. His tracklist was clearly not predetermined, or he knew in advance just how to play to his listeners.
Whatever the case may be, I thought Graham's set was flawless, and I'm glad there's still well known producers out there who can keep a crowd moving while still promoting their own sound and avoid playing the latest beatport top10
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TL;DR: - Lots of DJs play the same set across the globe and/or fill their track list with choon after choon, no real journey - Max Graham was really impressive - I suck at organizing thoughts, sorry if this is a whole lot of nothing. |
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| Excess |
rep as well...thanks. :D
btw, we are on too many of the same internet mediums |
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| Armitage350 |
| After the first two songs had played, I knew we were in for a treat for him... loved his set. |
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| a.l.d.i. |
| Santos, maybe now you will understand why some of us are mean on these boards. we only respect talent. It's our gift and our curse : ) |
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