CJ Holden

At first I would like to know who do you mean with “Underground DJs”? The term “underground” has been used so losely recently, that it became just another anti-EDM catchphrase. For me, a REAL underground DJ, is someone who spins at (more or less) illegal parties, is probably known by a small part of their local scene and who plays sounds that are so far out that Beatport wouldn’t even touch them with a 10 1/2 foot pole.

Of course within the Disco Sucks Anti-EDM movement, super popular DJs and Producer like Green Velvet or DJ Sneak, who are in the biz for decades, are huge household names, release their tracks as Beatport or iTunes exclusive and play on every mainfloor from Berlin to Ibiza, wave the underground banner, simply because they don’t play EDM. Which is Bullshit, IMO.

Are popular EDM DJs talented: Some of them definitely are! Guetta started out when there was nothing else than Vinyl, so did Laidback Luke. A-Trak is one the most talented scratch DJs ever and Deadmau5 does some pretty innovative things. Basically what I’m saying is: Just because it’s EDM, it’s not automatically bad. There are super talented DJs who just happen to like and play this kind of music, just like there are boring and untalented “underground” DJs en masse.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by CJ Holden.

One of the characters I had in mind for my movie, was a female DJ who has the right talent, but didn’t get any big bookings until she started to spin topless and in full body paint.

I like the period piece idea, btw. I give it 10 more years, before studios really make movies about this music genre in that time period.

I don’t have much to say about this one, other that I randomly remembered it on the bus earlier. It’s a good one, though.

Artist: Nalin Inc.
Title: Planet Violet
Year: 1997
Label: Kosmo Records

—–

Let’s get much noisier with a track, that is named after a town that isn’t too far away from me and is probably the coolest thing ever that can be associated with it.

Artist: DJ Hooligan (These days you might know him better as “Da Hool”)
Title: B.O.T.T.R.O.P.
Year: 1992
Label: No Respect Records

—–

And now something trashy, although admittedly not meant to be taken seriously. A homage to the German word “geil”, which technically means “horny”, but is normally used like “cool” or “awesome”.

Artist: Bruce & Bongo
Title: Geil
Year: 1986
Label: Rush Records

Okay, here we go. First something that totally blew my mind when I heard it on the radio. It might be overwhelming at first and sound like nothing but random noise, but it’s a brillantly piece of sampling, that takes what artists like Bomb Da Bass and Coldcut themself did in the 80s and elevates it to something that is still fresh after almost 20 years.

Artist: Coldcut
Title: More Beats & Pieces
Year: 1997
Label: Ninja Tune

Next up we got a song, that was one of the big hits of the 90s, both in the clubs and the mainstream charts. You could say that it only does what other artists did before in a more innovative way, but there is a reason why this song is still popular. (And it’s a nice companion piece to the Smart-e’s song above.)

Artist: N-Trance
Title: Set You Free
Year:1994
Label: All Around The World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18W9WYw9HaA

And now something, that I can imagine would still rock today’s EDM festivals. (And I mean that as a compliment!) RMB was a Techno/Trance duo from Germany, that always went the extra mile for their sound and this b-side of one of their biggest hits (“Spring”) is a great, constantly evolving example, that must be listened to from the beginning to the end.

Artist: RMB
Title: Whispering
Year: 1996
Label: Low Spirit

I don’t know if there is a special story behind its origin, but back in school I asked a girl who was fluent in Spanish to tell me what it means. (Mostly because I had a HUGE crush on her. 😀 ) Basically it’s just a guy saying generic stuff like: “Hey, we are all here and everybody is having a good time!”