The Mag
New Year Evolutions
Yup, you read that right: Evolutions. Resolutions are all the rage this time of year, we know, but too often are resolutions restrictive: 'don’t take this as much, drink less of that,' and who wants to couple the post holiday blues with more time spent in doors, sober as a newborn? Not us, and nor do we want this world we document on Soonnight to stand still. We want it to keep evolving, improving and offering more, whilst involving us in the whole thing as much as possible.
For that reason, we’ve drawn up this wish list of ways we’d like to see things go in 2010. Maybe we’ll even check back in December to see if that crystal ball we got off eBay was really worth the money...
More super sized club events
By that we mean things like Cocoon in the Park, that gig Tiesto did in Victoria Park, the Swedish House Mafia and forthcoming Deadmau5 events at Brixton Academy – not festivals per say, just day or night long events on a super size with one or two DJs. These types of party are the perfect middle ground between club night and weekend festival – you get all the unique festival highs of being in amongst thousands of clubbers, but none of the uncomfortable, stinking lows.
More charity in dance music
If they will insist on taking our money to see them spin or listen to their album – and why shouldn’t they – it would be nice if more artists did things like Jay Haze, who donated all the proceeds from his recent Fabric mix to charity in the Congo. Otherwise, DJs could always take a lead from the likes of John Digweed who puts on gigs and donates all proceeds charity. Either way, it’s something we’d like to see a little more of, especially as, in our experience, it’s often local, unknown promoters who do this sort of thing more often. Wait a minute – to the dishonest that sounds like a ‘pry on the charitability of others and get rich quick’ scheme... hmm.
More opportunities for aspiring talent
Burnt Progress at Plastic People is a wonderful idea. You take along your unsigned productions and get them played on a club sound system to a room full of people who know what they are on about, then wait for the reaction you so deserve. It’s all well and good playing tracks to your mates at home, but they’ll either a) take the piss no matter how good or bad it is, or 2) be too scared of telling you it’s not quite the DC:10 classic you think it is. For more bite-sized involvement we also like the idea of remix competitions. Ever more popular occurrences are labels giving away stems to tracks and offering glittering prizes in return for the best re-rubs. Either way, get involved!
More for your buck
Who wouldn't want more for their money, unless what you were buying was herpes? It’s often a label’s sound we fall in love with, so why not go mental to 3, 4 or 5 DJs from your favourite imprint’s roster? If you know them all – it’s a veritable orgy for you, if not - you get to try before you buy, so to speak. It’s win-win. Aside from that, free CDs at club events, exclusive downloads with festival tickets, DVD extras with albums and all the others ways in which we are lured to split with our hard-earned are always going to make us happy bunnies.
More cross-genre smooching
DJs always protest whenever you try and pigeon hole them. That’s a fact as true as day. Maybe they see it as limiting, but we sort of agree with the sentiment all the same. The best music being made right now is wide-reaching and informed by a number of scenes. From the retro r&B, soul and 4/4 influences which litter the output of Soul Clap and the Wolf & Lamb label, to the techno tinged beats of Martyn and 2562 via the dubstep brushed pop of bands like The XX, reaching out is the way forward. The only rule should be: there are no rules.
More live originality
A couple of years ago, kocking out beats from behind the glow of your Apple logo just about passed as a ‘Live’ performance. But now that even bedroom DJs are grasping software like Ableton, things have moved on. What we want to see billed as live are things like orchestrated laptop symphonies (complete with mind bending visuals) of the sort Luciano attempted this year with his Aether project. We want to see things like Jeff Mills on three decks and a Roland drum machine; Carl Craig doing his Innerzone Orchestra things; Mathew Jonson type set-ups when he does his Cobblestone Jazz show. Anything that adds to the music is worthwhile in our book.
More ways to interact
We've covered how aspiring talent can get involved, but what about more casual fans or those people who can barely mix a cake? Apps like those offered by Ghostly International allow you to stream records form their catalogue according to mood, whilst Deadmau5’s offering allows you to attempt to mix his tracks. Hawtin’s Contakt events fully involved you by offering Bluetooth connectivity to his magic Cube and his Twitter App - which posts track names as he plays them - offer the sort of insight and involvement which adds interest and excitement, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
More one-offs
Think Loco Dice and his ‘Under 300’ tour; Fabric and their marathon 10th Birthday celebrations; Sven and Cocoon talking over matter; Superfreq Especial at the top of the Paramount tower; Lo Kee parties in random London locations; mUmU taking over tobacco warehouses in Liverpool. OK, so these aren't all strictly one-offs, but they aren’t two-a-penny regular old club nights, either. The important thing is that the focus is on quality not quantity, and on thinking outside the (disco) box. And that we like.
More legal downloading
This is not so much things we want the clubs and DJs to do as you, the consumer, and that’s only fair. We can’t ask our favourite artists to put more time and energy into planning special events, developing software, pushing boundaries and so on if we don’t pay them for the music they make, can we? So, to keep your heroes sweet (which is what you should want to do remember– without them, weekends would be shit) do the right thing and pay for that next track or album of theirs you’re so impatiently awaiting.
For that reason, we’ve drawn up this wish list of ways we’d like to see things go in 2010. Maybe we’ll even check back in December to see if that crystal ball we got off eBay was really worth the money...
More super sized club events
By that we mean things like Cocoon in the Park, that gig Tiesto did in Victoria Park, the Swedish House Mafia and forthcoming Deadmau5 events at Brixton Academy – not festivals per say, just day or night long events on a super size with one or two DJs. These types of party are the perfect middle ground between club night and weekend festival – you get all the unique festival highs of being in amongst thousands of clubbers, but none of the uncomfortable, stinking lows.
More charity in dance music
If they will insist on taking our money to see them spin or listen to their album – and why shouldn’t they – it would be nice if more artists did things like Jay Haze, who donated all the proceeds from his recent Fabric mix to charity in the Congo. Otherwise, DJs could always take a lead from the likes of John Digweed who puts on gigs and donates all proceeds charity. Either way, it’s something we’d like to see a little more of, especially as, in our experience, it’s often local, unknown promoters who do this sort of thing more often. Wait a minute – to the dishonest that sounds like a ‘pry on the charitability of others and get rich quick’ scheme... hmm.
More opportunities for aspiring talent
Burnt Progress at Plastic People is a wonderful idea. You take along your unsigned productions and get them played on a club sound system to a room full of people who know what they are on about, then wait for the reaction you so deserve. It’s all well and good playing tracks to your mates at home, but they’ll either a) take the piss no matter how good or bad it is, or 2) be too scared of telling you it’s not quite the DC:10 classic you think it is. For more bite-sized involvement we also like the idea of remix competitions. Ever more popular occurrences are labels giving away stems to tracks and offering glittering prizes in return for the best re-rubs. Either way, get involved!
More for your buck
Who wouldn't want more for their money, unless what you were buying was herpes? It’s often a label’s sound we fall in love with, so why not go mental to 3, 4 or 5 DJs from your favourite imprint’s roster? If you know them all – it’s a veritable orgy for you, if not - you get to try before you buy, so to speak. It’s win-win. Aside from that, free CDs at club events, exclusive downloads with festival tickets, DVD extras with albums and all the others ways in which we are lured to split with our hard-earned are always going to make us happy bunnies.
More cross-genre smooching
DJs always protest whenever you try and pigeon hole them. That’s a fact as true as day. Maybe they see it as limiting, but we sort of agree with the sentiment all the same. The best music being made right now is wide-reaching and informed by a number of scenes. From the retro r&B, soul and 4/4 influences which litter the output of Soul Clap and the Wolf & Lamb label, to the techno tinged beats of Martyn and 2562 via the dubstep brushed pop of bands like The XX, reaching out is the way forward. The only rule should be: there are no rules.
More live originality
A couple of years ago, kocking out beats from behind the glow of your Apple logo just about passed as a ‘Live’ performance. But now that even bedroom DJs are grasping software like Ableton, things have moved on. What we want to see billed as live are things like orchestrated laptop symphonies (complete with mind bending visuals) of the sort Luciano attempted this year with his Aether project. We want to see things like Jeff Mills on three decks and a Roland drum machine; Carl Craig doing his Innerzone Orchestra things; Mathew Jonson type set-ups when he does his Cobblestone Jazz show. Anything that adds to the music is worthwhile in our book.
More ways to interact
We've covered how aspiring talent can get involved, but what about more casual fans or those people who can barely mix a cake? Apps like those offered by Ghostly International allow you to stream records form their catalogue according to mood, whilst Deadmau5’s offering allows you to attempt to mix his tracks. Hawtin’s Contakt events fully involved you by offering Bluetooth connectivity to his magic Cube and his Twitter App - which posts track names as he plays them - offer the sort of insight and involvement which adds interest and excitement, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
More one-offs
Think Loco Dice and his ‘Under 300’ tour; Fabric and their marathon 10th Birthday celebrations; Sven and Cocoon talking over matter; Superfreq Especial at the top of the Paramount tower; Lo Kee parties in random London locations; mUmU taking over tobacco warehouses in Liverpool. OK, so these aren't all strictly one-offs, but they aren’t two-a-penny regular old club nights, either. The important thing is that the focus is on quality not quantity, and on thinking outside the (disco) box. And that we like.
More legal downloading
This is not so much things we want the clubs and DJs to do as you, the consumer, and that’s only fair. We can’t ask our favourite artists to put more time and energy into planning special events, developing software, pushing boundaries and so on if we don’t pay them for the music they make, can we? So, to keep your heroes sweet (which is what you should want to do remember– without them, weekends would be shit) do the right thing and pay for that next track or album of theirs you’re so impatiently awaiting.