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Xotec - Diary of a Freak Dancer
Holy cow. When I ask DJs to send in mixes, I expect either a CD or a tape usually, with between 10-15 tracks and a short bio n stuff. But not Xotec. He sent me not one, not two, but three CDs, all as part of a cohesive whole, a marathon mix session that would make him the highlight of any night. Seriously, I haven't seen any composition of music this large and ambitious since Guns n' Roses released their Use Your Illusion LPs. He's just asking me to review part 3, but I can't without first mentioning the direction its going in with the first two discs.
That, and the fact that he played what sounded like a studio mix meshing The KLF's "What Time is Love" and Joey Beltram's "Energy Flash" thereby making it THE GREATEST SONG OF ALL TIME. And Xotec the greatest DJ, just for remembering that the JAMs can't do it alone. Disc two goes where the first disc dared to tread: trance. Specifically, really bad trance. But for some reason it's okay that it's coming from Xotec. It's like he's excused for it anyway, like the veteran athlete who's broken every record imaginable during his storybook career not having to show up at training camp. Because you know he has something up his sleeve to make it new and exciting somehow, or have it evolve into something entirely different, rather than put his DJing on auto-pilot and just cruise with boring trance for the next hour or so. That also goes with the horrid UK Hardhouse he plays. I definitely feel more comfortable listening to that crap coming from Xotec than some pigeon-bobbing kid DJ with a visor and 3/4 length pants. That's not my bias or cranky old coot speaking, that's just me putting my faith and trust in a DJ who knows how to be creative with his game. Besides, the track is redeemed with ye olde Booty House sample. God forbid, I actually shook my rump to that song. From driving funk, to hard and epic. That was the overall impression of the first two discs. Where would the third one go?
Back to funk, with a heavy dose of the tech. This makes me want to call somebody up and go "BAAAAAAAAAM!!" Yeah, it's that good. Xotec actually does something with his music. He is being, for lack of a better description, an actual DJ! A decks, effects and SP-202 sampler type of DJ. None--I mean it--none of these tracks are nearly as fun to listen to by themselves as they are together in this mix, and that is probably the only benchmark of competence that a DJ can be judged on. If there's one thing that ties these 3 discs together, it's the peverse and naughty. I imagine Xotec can't get enough of the stuff. Chances are pretty good if the track has a nasty sample like a slut screaming in orgasmic relief or so much swearing it gives Chris Rock a headrush, then he has it, and plays it with glee (which is to say, without irony). Though what's with the editing out of swearwords on disc 3? That makes no sense in a journey through obsessive indulgence like Diary of a Freak Dancer. This is a celebration of debauchery, dammit.....of the freaks in this scene, of what made rave culture what it is: out n out hedonism. The dirty, disgusting, gritty stuff. Raves aren't all pretty lights and lasers and friendly people. They are about maximising personal utopias. That doesn't make the music genre-specific, but it definitely makes it not radio-friendly. And very well not appreciated by those partykids who like to think of raves as these safe and fun highschool dance parties, decrying the reckless, disorganized danger extravaganzas the media is accurately reporting them to be. Not that that is any of Xotec's fault. I just hope his "nothing true, permit everything" style is contageous, to get DJs creative about what they can do and what they should be doing, as opposed to what they spend too much time on being, which is relishing in their status as glorified jukeboxes. That's it right there: more doing. Less being. You think you DJs can do that? Xotec just skooled you all. Diary of a Freak Dancer ends the way it begins: funky disco + ghetto tech samples. And it really truly makes the series feel like it went full circle, through the entire spectrum of dance music. This is the kind of stuff they oughta be playing at funerals.
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Xotec has been spinning for 14 years. FOURTEEN. It shows. It's amusing to notice that most wet-behind-the-ears DJs always stick to one style or technique, making their sound very boring, redundant, and predictable. The older a DJ is (or the longer he's been playing), I've observed, the more of a "ahh fuck it!" attitude he has with what genre he's trying to promote himself as having a mastery of. Every DJ over the age of 30 I've ever met doesn't give a shit what they spin, and they've long since given up trying to explain what they play to people, when on any given night they have a penchance for playing whatever the hell they damn well feel like playing. For them, pleasing the crowd (read as: catering to the crowd's appetite for derivative anthems due to their drug-induced overappreciation of simple melodies) is not nearly as important as figuring out which tracks go well together, especially if they just discover it while they're playing, and it surprises even them. They tend to look for, find, drop and mix whatever they like to play, or whatever just plain sounds good. They are never comfortable getting pigeonholed or stereotyped as playing anything other than "good music". In the first 4 tracks of disc one, Xotec went from oldskool ragga speed garage to nu skool breaks to funky disco house, and that's when I realized that this is a very very special DJ, who plays very very special music. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. In a very very special way.
and the kickass artwork of Satoshi Urushihara
