La Torre presents… Who is the greatest DJ of all time?
So, another month and another DJ poll! Fear not – this isn’t another rant! If you read my first blog you may be relieved to hear that I’m actually going to offer some fairly positive and comparatively concise thoughts this time out as Mixmag pose a mind bogglingly tough question – Who is the greatest DJ of all time?
To make this little thinker a bit less daunting they have made the poll multiple choice but even with your options laid out in front of you it’s still a hell of a task to pick from what is, in the main, a pretty comprehensive selection of genuinely worthy contenders!
As a side note it is interesting to see that only one of the three DJs I saw fit to moan about last month has made the shortlist of 35 but Mixmag’s question does give me an opportunity to do what I neglected to do previously and that is suggest a few names that I believe are deserving of claiming the title of greatest ever DJ, and probably also top the DJmag Top 100.
So which DJs should be, in my humble opinion, considered the greatest? Actually I have to contradict myself slightly with my first selection as sadly the late Larry Levan is no longer with us and is therefore unable to gain votes for the Top 100 poll. I also never had the privilege of seeing him spin. However few could argue with his role in the emergence of dance music in 1980s New York at what has been described as the “prototype” of the modern dance club Paradise Garage, and it is easy to justify a vote for a man of such stature when a number of the other candidates (including Francois K and Frankie Knuckles) have all cited him as a big influence on their own careers. The man is quite simply a legend.
Two other contenders worth shouting about have been at the forefront of the techno scene for more than 20 years and in their own ways have constantly pushed boundaries with an ultra innovative approach to their trade. Sven Vath and Richie Hawtin are not only superb DJs, producers, label heads, A&Rs and promoters but they have also mentored many of the DJs that have followed in their footsteps. Techno might remain one of the more underground genres of dance music but there is no denying its ability to drive a party, and these guys have done it as well as any of their peers for longer than some of their dance floor disciples have been on planet Earth!
And whilst I’m handing out praise I’d also like to single out Sasha. I had the privilege of working with Sasha as an employee of his booking agency, Excession until a couple of years ago but it is without bias I throw his name into the ring. Of those mentioned above, Richie Hawtin is as synonymous with technological advances in dance music as anyone and is renowned for his often spectacular use of it. But equally, Sasha has developed a reputation for being ahead of the game and was the first DJ to use Ableton software for an Essential Mix on Radio 1 back in 2005. The emFire boss can construct a DJ set of epic proportions and mind blowing quality and his productions and remixes are pretty tasty too, as his 2008 compilation cum artist album ‘Involver2’ will testify.
Other names worth a mention are Derrick Carter, Andrew Weatherall (whose Fabric mix is one of the greatest of them all), Laurent Garnier and erm… Jimmy Saville?!
Hmmm, not sure who fixed it for Jimmy Saville to make the shortlist but on the subject of all things legendary the unbelievably brilliant Ninja Tune hit 20 bloody years this year! Home to some insanely talented artists – many of whom have made their names on the label – Ninja Tune are rightly celebrating in style. Their October party saw them showcase a bag full of label stalwarts including Cold Cut, Toddla T, Amon Tobin, Roots Manuva, Mr Scruff and Floating Points, and that followed a recent exhibition of Ninja Tune artwork at London’s Black Dog Space. Very classy, but perhaps not as classy as the record collector’s wet dream that is the ‘Ninja Tune XX’ box set of CDs, 7” vinyl, a stunning book and stickers! Yep, stickers! I’ve been lucky enough to thumb through this masterpiece and only wish I had a spare hundred nuggets to shell out on it!
And talking of birthdays, I wanted to mention the mighty Warm who celebrate 11 years this year. Ok, that may not be as impressive as 20 but their party looks like a corker with Sebo K, The Revenge and Marc E taking over Corsica Studios in October. Their last soiree with Tim Sweeney at East London’s newly revamped Plastic People was superb. The intimate basement venue was always a cracking club with a blinding sound system but somehow they have made it even better. Totally awesome, even if the security staff were complete twats. I’d also like to express my gratitude towards Warm’s head man Ali Tillett who kindly snuck me in that night after some, ahem, ‘guest list issues’!
I believe I ended my first blog with a couple of recommendations and some shameless self promotion and that’s exactly how I’m going to finish this one. For starters I’m going to point you towards Metronomy’s 2008 remix of Lykke Li’s ‘I’m Good I’m Gone’. Li’s vocal is sensual and utterly sublime but Metronomy have crafted a track that at just over five minutes long makes me wish it was double the length. Synth heaven.
The other release you have to have in your life is ‘I Would’ by Dirty Doering on Berlin label Bar25. This is one of the most blissfully spine tingling records I have heard in ages with an acoustic guitar led hook that almost makes you forget that another depressing English winter is sadly upon us. But don’t think for a second that that is where it ends as Matthew Styles chimes in with his 19 minute rework (yes, count ‘em – 19 glorious minutes)! In truth Styles’ version seems to contain few reference points to the original but it is an incredibly well crafted slice of deep house that beat my Friday morning hangover better than 2 paracetamols, a bacon sarnie and another beer ever could have. I say it beat the hangover but that’s a lie – I still felt terrible on Saturday! But it did soothe it!
To finish up you can listen to my new tune (below) via Soundcloud. I actually knocked this dark, moody little number together a couple of years ago but have recently given it a touch up in order to release it. Hopefully coming to a download store near you soon.
SoundCloud, MySpace and Facebook
Til next time… x
La Torre presents… Occasional dancefloor ramblings
Seeing as the lovely guys at 360 Degree Music have offered me a regular outlet for my ramblings I would like to begin with a few words on a subject that’s topical in the world of dance music right now. DJ Mag’s annual Top 100 DJs poll was launched in August with great fanfare; cue a bombardment of emails, online campaigns, virals and general tat by DJ’s, DJ’s managers, agents, fans and wannabes trying to persuade you that they are worthy of your vote. Most of them are not!
Originally launched so long ago I can’t remember how the votes were cast – probably by postcard and restricted to voters from these fair shores – last year’s search for the world’s ‘best’ DJ took in more than 350,000 votes from over 230 countries with some trance jock named Armin van Buuren topping the list by beating another trance jock called Tiesto and some shampoo advertising popstar named David Guetta into 2nd and 3rd spots respectively.
The supposed beauty of this poll is that votes can be cast by anyone and everyone from all corners of the globe, but in the same way that shit, unimaginative pop dominates the hit parade and ‘reality’ TV (horror) shows bung up the airwaves, the DJ Mag Top 100 seems to illustrate that too few people who are eligible to vote have a vote worth counting! You can argue that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I can assure you Armin, Tiesto and Guetta are not the ‘best’ DJs in dance music – not even close!
I can’t help but think that the higher echelons of the Top 100 are remarkably unbalanced by the number of Trance DJs present. This may have made sense 10 years ago when the genre was absolutely massive; numerous records crossed over to the mainstream and most clubs had nights dedicated to it, but whilst Trance seems to have stood still and stagnated for years the landscape of clubland has changed dramatically. I don’t want to knock an entire genre of dance music because my own tastes have progressed since my heady youth (I used to indulge in the occasional euphoric reach for the lasers in years long gone by), but the top heavy presence of these guys in the Top 100 poll baffles me.
If you ignore the dizzy heights these guys occupy though (even I cannot argue with their successes – Guetta smashes the charts to pieces on a weekly basis, Tiesto played an Olympic Games opening ceremony, and Armin packs out entire football stadiums on his own), the consequence of the free vote that arguably screams irrelevance more than anything else is the inclusion of acts such as Daft Punk – legends in their own lifetime but they aren’t even DJs!
This is not the first time I have seen fit to rant about DJ Mag’s Top 100 poll… two years ago (following a few too many alcoholic units) I directed a scathing attack on the magazine itself by drunkenly penning a similar argument to the one above. In truth I don’t even remember writing it – I only know I did because it showed up a month later on the letters page of the issue revealing the results of that year’s vote (sad huh!?). I’m probably doing myself a slight disservice as it wasn’t just a moan for the sake of moaning – I constructively offered a solution to the ‘problem’ as I saw it along the lines of a regional vote with regional results as I believed this would provide a more realistic reflection of the world we party in.
But the reason I’m bringing the subject up again two years later is because it seems I’m not alone in the belief that the once revered Top 100 is now an unreliable judgement of dance music’s biggest hitters.
Following this year’s Ibiza Music Summit (the industry conference launched in 2008 by Mr Pete Tong of Radio 1 and Essential Mix fame) an ambitious working group of “artists, managers, booking agents, club owners, record label executives, retailers and radio representing acts across the electronic music spectrum” was set up to develop an “accurate and authoritative new DJ popularity index”. As I understand it, everything from DJ fees, club attendances, sales and air play will contribute towards a definitive league table of DJs, and at the same time take the public vote out of it. Whilst I quite like the concept I do suspect that the Top 100’s Big Three are still going to feature prominently based on such criteria, albeit with facts and figures to back them up.
To add credibility, supposedly the IMS will take their Index to the Official Charts Company once the principles are agreed (making it very official indeed), and with the backing of Mixmag DJs now have two contests to compete for in what could prove to be a good old VHS vs Betamax style ding dong.
Anyway, that is my two pennies worth on the subject (or maybe ten quid’s worth judging by the word count). On a change of tack I’m going to share a few things that I am really loving right now!
The first is Tensnake’s Remix of Azari & III’s ‘Reckless With Your Love’ on Permanent Vacation. The original came out at a similar time to a Tensnake record called ‘Coma Cat’ (also on Permanent Vacation) and my thoughts then were that it was the better of the two. Since then House music super power Defected Records have picked up ‘Coma Cat’ and it is rightfully all over the radio and delightful in its own right. Hamburg’s Tensnake has now touched up ‘Reckless…’ and it is a listening experience of epic proportions. As a German with as much potential as the frighteningly good World Cup side that pissed all over England last June, Tensnake is one to watch most certainly!
The second treat for your ears is ‘Move Me’ by the irrepressible production duo Mood II Swing. These guys have been big in the game since the early 90’s and this was actually released originally way back in 1995. Thanks to a re-issue by French label P&D every House DJ worth their salt seems to be spinning it at the moment and rightly so – this is an awesome record. Get on it (again).
An extended Episode 1 as I had a lot to get out off my chest! If you feel inclined you can check out my remix of 360’s very own Roses Kings Castles, ‘One Born Every Minute’ below.
Hopefully I’ll have more music of my own to shout about on my next outing too as I have some very exciting projects in the pipeline. For more things La Torre you can also find me here (http://soundcloud.com/la-torre), here (www.myspace.com/latorretom), and here (www.facebook.com/tom.latorre)!
Ciao x
