Friday, July 21, 2006

My Favourite DJs


I am going to see Deep Dish at Ruby Sky tonight. I am not a big fan of that San Francisco venue, but that's where all the big name DJs perform lately. I thought of all the DJs I saw there recently - pretty much all of my favourite ones, except number 1 -


Sasha


I first saw Sasha back in 1993 during his residency at Twilo in New York. He was already famous back then, which is mega-successful for a DJ. At the time, he was THE definition of trance house, although his style is more progressive house as defined now. In fact, I would call his style unique as I can recognize Sasha's music without knowing. A harmonious mixture of harsh beats with some rudimental yet not excessive melodies, he is ever innovative and creative. His style of spinning - very withdrawn, as if the audience is not even there - is a little cold, but the music makes up for that.

Armin Van Buuren

He spins pure trance and is not ashamed of it. The guy from Holland is definitely on the lighter, more vocal side of trance, which is a pleasure to dance to, especially under any kind of influence. Last set that I saw of him was surprisingly house-y though, as if he is moving towards progressive and away from strictly trance. He is also quite engaged at the decks, never shying away from dancing, jumping and waving to the audience.

Junkie XL

Another Dutch DJ, unfairly less known than the his more famous countrymen Van Buuren, Tiesto and Ferry Corsten. Nevertheless, his set at Ruby Sky that I saw a couple of months ago, was one of the best of anybody that I had ever seen. In fact, the only other set of Junkie XL I saw was years ago at Bedrock in London, and I remember being equally impressed. He is very creative with his spinning methods, playing with the sound, the volume, the beat, and so on. I would define his music as progressive, something between Sasha and Tiesto, although definitely unique in his own way. Junkie is EXTREMELY engaged with the audience, constantly interacting with the crowd. I definitely hope to see more of him.

Ferry Corsten

Used to be my number one favourite. But alas, the last set I saw of Ferry was same old melodic trance stuff, that sounded kind of the same all through the night. Having said that, the handsome Dutchman knows how to deliver quality old-school trance to the masses.

Jondi and Spesh

These two local San Francisco residents are steadily developing their unique styles and rapidly becoming celebrities. I happen to personally talk to both of them on their nights at 111 Minna club. Spesh is a bit of a loose cannon, who sometimes plays the stuff he likes, which is mostly house, more into the deeper side, although he would probably utterly disagree with me on that definition. Other times, he would deliver killer sets clearly designed for the dancing audience on the floor, and that's relentless non-stop sets that are so good you don't want to leave the floor even for a bathroom break. Jondi seems a bit more consistent, and plays quality house whenever I come to Minna early enough to hear him.


Tiesto

I don't know why I am even bothering with Tiesto. He's too famous now for his own good. I've skipped his last few sets in San Francisco because of high price tickets and huge crowds of Asian clubbers that were flocking to see him spin. But the earlier sets that I saw of him, a few years ago, were always great. His middle of the road trance is also innovative, especially since he writes a lot of his own shit now, being a "producer" and a "musician" and all.

Ricky Ryan

I recently discovered Ricky at a local venue Anu thanks to host Scott Carrelli (who is an outstanding DJ himself, by the way). Ricky's from Argentina, and plays a house that I can't really define. He's stuff is definitely NOT trancey, but nevertheless extremely danceable. I hope he will come back to SF again soon.

Deep Dish (updated)

Deep Dish is a story of 2 Persian DJs from DC - Sharam and Ali aka Dubfire. They have bene around forever. In fact, I first learned of them back in Europe in late 1990s, when I saw them, along with Sasha, Tiesto, Sven Vath and others at a techno music festival near Amsterdam. They are always innovative, respected house music DJs and producers. During the last show, I was finally able to see the difference between the two. Sharam started, and his stuff was amazing: lengthy, upbeat, progressive tunes, very danceable and quite melodic. Ali's stuff was a bit different: darker, deeper house, with more emphasis on pure beats. I left soon into Ali's set, as I was tired and it just didn't do it for me. But still, overall a stellar performance from patriarchs of house. Funny, as I was leaving the club, Paul Oakenfold who apparentl played in San Francisco the same night, was coming in with his posse. I was surprised at how short he was. I wonder if they made him pay up $30 bucks like everybody else :)

Can't think of anybody else. I mean, Paul Oakenfold doesn't deserve to be called DJ any more, and I never really liked John Digweed even though he "discovers" many great DJs at his Bedrock label (including Junkie XL). There's Steve Lawler whose rare performances are shockingly powerful, but that's tribal house which I simply don't know that well. There's Paul Van Dyke, a favourite with girls and Asian crowd, but his radio style music is not my favourite. I like Dave Seaman, but haven't heard enough of him. George Acosta plays purely vocal, almost dreamy trance, which I used to like more than I do now. John Kreamer and Stephan K are interesting as they play the same exact beat during their entire sets. And, of course, there are local San Francisco veterans: Scott Carrelli, Taj, Frenchy le Freak, Dimitrios Mykonos, Alan Octavo, Syd Gris, and so on. I think most of them are only part-time DJs.

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