On the morning of Jan. 28, I woke up to some fairly exciting news: John Askew was going to do a ten-hour set in Birmingham. Facebook did its due diligence to let me know via a sponsored post announcing the event. I went on about my business, not thinking much of the announcement until I saw the following status update appear from Chad Ciseneros, one half of Tritonal:
Chad appears to doubt the genuine desire and passion of artists who want to do longer, extended sets and feels that if you want to stick around that long, you must be on drugs. I don’t know about you, but I don’t care to be a zombie for days. I just want to go to an event and leave in a better mood than when I arrived. But attendees weren’t the only ones to receive the label of drugged out zombies. When Paul Oakenfold was mentioned by a commenter, Chad referred to Oakenfold as a “fried pie,” yet was too professional to name the artists who he felt were just trying to advertise their extended sets as a marketing ploy. If that wasn’t bad enough, Chad equated being a dj to “slaving away in a dark room.”
In a music industry where individuals are expected to not only dj but produce to put themselves on the map, I understand the reluctance to want to tour all the time when your heart is in the studio. Tritonal is not the only act out there that consists of a producer or producers and one person who will usually man the decks. They aren’t the first, nor will they be the last ,so I get where he is coming from. His choice of words to describe those who do want to tour and produce or simply just dj were poor though. Max Graham summed up his feelings in response to Chad’s rant more eloquently than I could have:
Chad tried to deflect criticism of his observations by paying verbal homage to the greats he grew up with, but by then the damage had already been done. Towards the end of the conversation, Dave Dresden chimed in to remind Chad of how many of their peers started out:
A set that is 5 to 10 hours requires both physical and mental endurance. A person who takes on a marathon set of such great length needs to not only have a plethora of solid tracks to choose from, but know those tracks inside and out. They also need to understand not only the art of mixing, but phrasing, creating smooth transitions, blending sounds, knowing when to use fx, and last but not least, know how to read a crowd.
Everyone knows that person that bangs it out into the red. Nothing is accomplished as far as taking you on a journey is concerned, and the most you can hope for is a set full of hits you can recognize to dance to. What djs who do 5- to 10-hour sets do is refrain from assaulting the ears. Instead, they build the momentum of the set. It’s not for the weak or the person who wants the fastest claim to fame.
Frankie Knuckles, known as the godfather of house music, spent many sweaty nights keeping people up all night with a mix of disco, soul, and garage music (what would eventually become house music) between the walls of places like the Gallery, the Continental Baths, and the Garage. In an interview with Derek Plaslaiko from djbroadcast.net, Derek describes what it was like when he first ventured out:
“When I first started going out, I heard Richie Hawtin do some sets in Detroit where it was just him all night. Danny Tenaglia used to play all night almost every week in NYC as well,” Kasenic continues, discussing his earliest exposure to extended sets. “Those all night sets were always something really special, where the DJ had the opportunity to take the room on a real journey. A stacked lineup with 2 hour sets from each DJ almost never compared in terms of the quality of the journey the night would take.”
And it was the journey that Chad mocked, a journey that many of us who started out in dark rooms for hours on end are missing and want more of.
But that’s not all that Chad had to relay.
The “old farts” that Chad mocked paved the way for him and folks like him to be successful at what they do. Since when is it wrong to capitalize on what consumers have been clamoring for and asking for? Is that not what Tritonal does for its fans? Since when is going on a journey something to be mocked? A good DJ can make you forget what happened to you that day. A good DJ can leave you transfixed, in sheer awe at the technical skill they are displaying. If a DJ can keep a floor packed for 10 hours, they are doing something right.
In today’s climate, the 1.5- to 2.5-hour set is pretty standard. Some venues allow an artist to go longer if he or she wishes, but when artists are not the only ones on the bill, the set has to be short if all the acts are to have their time on stage. Busy touring schedules may also prevent an artist from playing a 5- to 10-hour set. There are also many places in the country that close down the bar at 2:00 a.m., so this and other factors curtail sets well below 5 hours. Now you can send people on a journey in a few hours. I’ve been witness to it. However, the attention to detail and mood that a marathon set entails separates the men and women from the boys and girls.
Perhaps if Chad Cisernos took a day he has off to sit down and go back over the history of this community, he would see how out of touch and uninformed his viewpoint is. He has a right to his own opinion, of course, and the right to live out his life as he sees fit. There are those of us who will be all too glad to stand in a dark room grooving and sweating to the beat from artists that are committed to the craft and not the almighty dollar.
I was listening to electronic dance music without even knowing it when I was listening to Jock Jams in the 90s. Fast forward to my senior year in high school and I had discovered Fatboy Slim. I have been listening to edm ever since and love writing about new sounds, good sounds, and the music that makes us move.
