The DJs speak
As per expectations, ADE this year featured a number of high-profile DJ interviews, which saw them opening up to the audience in a Q&A setting. The most popular was without a doubt Hardwell’s Q&A on late Saturday afternoon, only a few hours before he was announced as the new #1 in DJ Mag’s ‘Top 100’ poll (which was definitely the worst kept secret of ADE).
“Sorry, I partied too hard last night,” Hardwell said with a smile and a very hoarse voice, no doubt a result of the Revealed Recordings label showcase he’d hosted the night before. The panel had a personal focus, where the Dutchman opened up about his rise to the top.
“When I started as a DJ, I was inspired to play with vinyl. Scratching was really fascinating, so I wanted to learn everything about turntablism. To be honest, hip hop is so much more difficult to mix than just a regular house song. I wanted to be a real DJ, so that’s why I started playing hip-hop. From the age of 14 to 16, I played only hip hop sets at clubs in Holland.”
There was also an impressive posse of US veterans who were drafted in for special music talks during the conference. Enduring icon Danny Tenaglia discussed the EDM revolution with more than a whiff of “get off my lawn”, while US authority Tommie Sunshine shared some particularly wild stories about getting freaky in the early days of Chicago house.
“The minute I stepped foot in a club in Chicago when I was 16, I was like ‘holy shit … this music is going to change the world.’ The idea of being in a club and letting yourself go, fuelled by the music… From that very minute I knew the rest of my life would be dedicated to house music.”
“And taking LSD was what kicked it in even further. And that was when the rave scene began in the early 90s. I was in the basement of a public school in the south side of Chicago, and they turned all the lights off, and they were playing all these rave records that basically sounded like the Armageddon, that the world was ending. So they turned off all the lights, and they had a trashcan full of spiked punch with sheets of acid in it, and everybody at this party was fucking out of their minds. That was the moment where I said, ‘oh okay… this is really something else’”.
One of the other big Q&As though was with hip-hop and turntablist legend DJ Shadow, talking about his legacy as a cutting-edge performer, as well as addressing his infamous performance at Mansion Nightclub last year, which saw him being unceremoniously booted off the decks; for what was billed as the “last time ever” that he’d broach the subject.
As it turns out, Shadow is rather philosophical about the incident. “’Mansion was a case of where I was invited to a situation that was not conducive to my style of DJing’,” he said.
He also emphasised his uncompromising approach to DJing. “’There’s two camps within DJing. Most DJs are there to play what people want. I consider my DJ sets to be a creative expression. At the same time, I’m not trying to irritate the audience or bore the audience, I want them to enjoy it. But this is my instrument. It’s my art… Trying to make people like you is not art.”
The rocky path of staying independent
Big business dominated the discussions at ADE more than ever before, but on Thursday a powerhouse pack of independent label representatives came together to discuss some of the challenges of releasing club music in the digital era. The panel was based on the notion that nearly 15 years on from Napster’s disruptive influence, the smart players in the digital world have learned how to face the challenges via some clever solutions. Or have they?
“I don’t think the disruption is over yet. Our vinyl sales are decreasing, and so are our digital formats,” said Lionel Marciano, label manager for a number of independent stables that includes Real Tone Records, Bass Culture Records and Apollonia Music.
While there was a dash new-world optimism in the room, it was often outweighed by a sense of futility at the obstacles that need to be overcome. “It turns out there is no holy answer for labels in the new industry, and each company now has a different business model,” claimed Horst Weidenmuller from long-running Berlin-based label !K7.
Eelko van Kooten, owner of Dutch stable Spinnin’ Records, was somewhat more upbeat about embracing the new possibilities. “It’s not about money, it’s about the fanbase, about people knowing you have a new track. Music listening is sharing”.
However, Jon Berry from enduring German outfit Kompakt, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, was less positive about the possibilities opened up by streaming. “Solutions like Spotify, they’re ridiculous. It’s just perpetuating this goddamn mess.”
The exodus to Los Angeles
One of the defining industry trends that reared its head at this year’s ADE was a shift of the big players to LA; Pete Tong had announced just a few weeks before that he’d be relocating, and Ben Turner reflected at ADE on why people are making the move.
“I definitely feel that for everybody in this business, who might like me have been working in it for 20-odd years; we’ve all been pushing so hard to make this music as big as humanly possible, because it’s in our nature to push things forward. For me, when I’m sitting in London, I find myself wondering what the hell I’m doing here; because everything I’ve been pushing for is happening in America right now. The newer, bigger opportunities are in the States at the moment”.
If the US will continue to be the industry’s eye of the hurricane in the coming years, the culture still has a long way to go. Beatport CEO Matthew Adell shared his insights on how things are developing in his homecountry on the Global Club Culture panel on Wednesday, and says he’s seeing the culture developing in real time; and interestingly, pointed to the growing interest in deep house, as the place where longtime clubbers might be able to get away from it.
“Who’s familiar with what a fratboy is?” he asked the crowd. “Well, there’s a lot of them going out in the United States at the moment. First let me say, I welcome them. Hands up everybody who’s had their lives changed by dance music? I can think of no constituency other than fratboys who needs their lives changed. So I’m thrilled to see them coming to the events, and I think dance culture can have an incredibly positive effect on the lives of people. However, if you want to get away from that crowd in the US at the moment, deep house is the best place to go.”