Kid Kameleon
A beat strategist and technology enthusiast who blends, chops, restructures and generally smashes rhythms from across the sonic spectrum. From breakcore and ragga-jungle to dubstep and grime, with stops along the way at B-More, dub, dancehall, hip-hop, DnB, electro and the straight up unclassifiable, he’s a champion of underground sounds and outsider music. The Kid has dropped his fast-paced, eclectic style at parties from California to Estonia, sharing stages with the likes of Kool Herc, U-Roy, DJ Spooky, Asian Dub Foundation, Alec Empire, Squarepusher, The Bug, Vex’d and The Plastician, and many more. A blogger ( kidkameleon.com, riddimmethod.net, and localoaf.org), he also writes a monthly column called Basic Needs for XLR8R magazine covering “Low End Necessities from Ragga to Dubstep and beyond”.
Ripley
Ragamuffin Dubwrecker. “rootical rally-cry uproar, rythmic danger in overdrive.” “lifesaving whirlwind mistress of sonic devastation with hot sauce.”
Summer’s just about here and that means it’s time for a sweet, waist-winding dancehall mix. Montreal’s DJ Ghostbeard (AKA Jeff Waye, the guy who runs Ninja Tune’s North American office) just happened to drop such a mix on me recently and I feel it’s only right to share.
Ghostbeard’s like the only dude in the world who doesn’t have a Myspace page (at least that I can find) but this article sheds a small amount of light on the shadowy character. Anyway, it’s probably best to let the mix speak for itself:
What is the future of the DJ turntable? Most of my colleagues and I use tools like Serato Scratch Live when we DJ, allowing us to bring huge libraries of music to the party without hauling heavy crates of vinyl.
We’re still using turntables ’cause they’re what we learned on, so we’re comfortable with them, but it seems to me that the mighty Technics 1200’s champion days are numbered. The next generation of DJs will have grown up without turntables and won’t have any need for them. Especially now that there’s a whole new crop of tools poised to replace the visceral experience of using turntables (see below).
Last november we posted a poll asking our DJ readers which format they prefer to use. 80% said they now use digital tools. The remaining 20% use vinyl only. So far only 21% use digital exclusively but I imagine those numbers will continue to tip away from vinyl. Take a look for yourself:
Vinyl or Digital?
Digital Mostly (some vinyl) (23%, 26 Votes)
Digital Only (Serato/Final Scratch, CDJ, laptop…) (21%, 24 Votes)
Vinyl Only (2 turntables and a mixer) (20%, 23 Votes)
Now lets talk about the tools that will replace turntables. I’m already beginning to be booked at some gigs that only provide DJ CD players (CDJs). The Pioneer CDJ 1000 was the first digital tool that really gave traditional turntables a run for their money by providing a touch sensitive platter that DJs can use to control the data on the CDs in a tactile way.
More recently a whole crop of USB DJ controllers have been popping up — self contained units with a mixer and cuing features built in. The best of these also have jog wheels and sound cards built in.
Meanwhile there are tiny contenders entering the game too. Yes, some people already “DJ” with iPods but I mean full blown micro DJ Systems like the Pacemaker. And now that Apple has opened up the iPhone to 3rd party software developers I’m sure there’ll soon be some touch-screen DJ apps for that unit coming down the line.
Speaking of touch screen DJ apps. Check out the Atigo TT by Scott Hobbs:
This thing looks really fun but there’s an argument to be made here about portability. If it’s the same size as a turntable why not bring the real thing?
Nothing’s perfect yet but sooner or later there will be an all-in-one DJ controller that’s got everything for a visceral DJing experience in a portable package. Perhaps the Numark NS7.
Or maybe even better, or at least cheaper and smaller, the Vestax VCI-300
Both of these controllers are slated to come out this summer and both work with Serato software. Stay tuned…
In the meantime, give a listen to this 100% vinyl DJ mix by Wanklerotaryengine:
Ripley recently put together this mix of dance-floor mashers called To The Party Members which we present here in order to wet your appetite for what’s sure to be a party no members will forget.
I was reading the New Yorker this week and came across an article by Sasha Frere-Jones in which he coined the term “lazer bass” to describe the music of Montreal-based party crew Megasoid. Ghislain Poirier used to call the genre “big asshole bass” or “big ass bass.” accurate descriptions but less likely to fly as an official term than lazer-bass.
He says lazer-bass is “a loose affiliation of musicians in California, Montreal, and Glasgow.” That seems true, but I would argue that the affiliation goes far beyond the 3 locals mentioned.
Last February, when we posted a bunch of Zulu’s a-capellas here and challenged folks to “download - remix - upload” we had no idea we’d get back so many dope tracks, but we did and many of them are featured in this 31-track, 1-hour continuous DJ C mix of Zulu’s vocals backed by hype party tracks from producers the world over. Guest vocal appearances by Aceyalone, Jah Orah, and Onili, round out the productions by artists like Ghislain Poirier, David Last, Sabbo, and many others.
I made this for last month’s Samurai.fm mix and now I’d like to share it with y’all here. Check the tracklist below for lots-a juicy links to more info about the artists, tracks, and labels.
Also note the tracks Dear John and Exhibition Virtues (Hardcore Tonight Remix) which is featured on the DJ C & Zulu album, Gods & Robots.
Last month I DJed the Sublow Bounce party in Milwaukee. It was a blast and the kind folks who put it together also recorded my set. I’m not sure weather I should be happy about that or not ’cause it features drunken mixing and Serato glitching when folks were jumping up and down on the wood floors of the barn-like club. The fact that folks were jumping though suggests that in their drunken state they thought the mix was good. The moral of the story is get drunk and listen to this mix.
Our friends El Kano from London’s Adverse Camber crew and Hanuman of Bristol’s Monkey Steak have faced off in the ultimate sound-crash and below you can hear the outcome: 50 minutes of global wreckage for your sound-system.
once you’ve consumed this mix make sure to check out some of the other wicked mixes by these two:
My friends over at The Echo Nest have done it again. This time they’ve got a wacky new web 2.0 music app called “This Is My Jam.” It’s still in beta, actually I think it may still be in alpha but they’ve given me the go ahead to share it with y’all.
Here’s how it works: Use the search box to find music you like and then drag favorite tracks into your “jam.” Once you’ve got a bunch of tunes lined up, hit the button and the app makes a beat-matched mix of the tunes you selected. That’s right, the internets can now beat-match! Bye bye DJs? Well, maybe not yet. The mixing is far from perfect, but check it out, there are actually some interesting blends. Here’s one of my “jams”:
If that amazing mix has got you just begging for more you can check out my other jams too. And while you’re there why not sign up to make your own jams and socialize by befriending other folks who’s jams you like. You can even subscribe to RSS feeds of people’s jams.There are obviously some kinks to work out of the system still but I’m excited to see where this thing goes. If you do go try it out I’m sure the Echo Nester’s would appreciate your feedback.
Recent Comments