Lee Burridge said in his latest diary:



What do you think?

For Lee's latest diary check: www.djmag.com/newsfeat358

Have got alot of time for Lee's comments. I know quite a few house dj's who would probably describe themselves and funky electro house dj's. They still play what you'd call funky house its just a little tougher without all those disco samples. That 'bitch' tune would be a good example. Like him im not much of a fan.

aye... I've been ripping into people in the area about it... middle of the road uninventive carp...

you tell em that and they get *so* defensive... really gets their hackles up... but I'm not going to sycophantically suck up to some local DJ who thinks they're great just to keep the peace... too many people in 'the industry' do that... its all based on mates and the like so if you're seen as 'not that nice' people don't like it... but theres too much ego massage that goes on for people playing sht music...

thing is if someone told me teh music I liked was rubbish I wouldn't get upset... I'd just laugh at them and say try it again in a few years when your ears more accustomed to listening to electronic music... this kinda paint by numbers stuff is OK for attracting the kids... but its not music for the heads

I hate genres.

There is a time and a place for everything. Consider at some moment you may be playing to said kids and you want to make them dance, then you had better have some funky house in your box or they are going to think "what the fuck is this?" when you throw down your obscure unheard of techno, they will simply say" I cannot dance to this." and leave the floor. I know this from experience because I live in a small city in Canada and other than DJ's, most people don't really listen to the newer cutting edge stuff, most people here want recognisable and fun tunes to get drunk and dance badly to.

I wouldn't be playing to the kids...

its that simple... and if I was then I'd have been booked for the wrong place...

I understand what you're saying, and that it must be difficult because I originally come from a small rural town, and trying to get anyone there into it was difficult... but unless people are exposed to good music and taken out of their comfort zone a little nothing will ever progress and people will get bored..

its about finding music thats been written for the sake of music and not the dancefloor... if you get that it can transcend anything

music is an art... art is the expression of ideas and emotions through the medium in which it is presented... if it isn't communicating something then its not art... and thats what this bobbins music is...

plus most peolpe are lazy about music, they don't go searching for good stuff, they wait for it to fall in their lap..

as a DJ you have a responsibility to bring people new sounds...

thats what i reckon anyway...

I'll agree with you that yes music can be art, but it is also entertainment, and if it only entertains a small selection of people your not doing your job as a DJ.
Yeah I have music I love, for me its breaks, I buy it simply because I like it and it really doesn't matter what others think. I will play it out at some point, and I hope that people will enjoy it but I don't care if they do because for me it is the kind of music that makes me think and gets me excited. Now some would think of breaks as one of the not so foward genres but really I don't care because I love it, and that comes across when I spin it.

I do have to disagree with you though, I don't really see Djing as educating people so much as it is entertaining them. To many Dj's take the whole thing far too seriously, really your there to give the people a good vibe so they have a good time, it's not all about giving them a lesson in cutting edge electronica.

I find for the most part the kind of songs that make you rock your shoulders are the ones I want to play, but I play alot of different genres cos I don't want to be just one kind of DJ, I want to be able to play for any audiance at any time, it's a huge challange and very expensive but it allows me to avoid the pigionhold of any particular styleor geting bored. Plus I can buy anything I like because at some point I'll have others that work with it.

I see your point, again I think it comes down to what crowd you play for to a certain extent... but I've had people dancing to 'cutting edge electronica' who didn't know the tracks or even usually like/listen to the style... but if you *know* what you're doing is right then you can grab them and take them with you... I don't think giving people a lesson and giving people a good time have to be mutually exclusive from each other... you can do both... even if its not something they know if its the right track at the right time it *will* work...

having said that I'd also be just as happy playing to a room full of people sat in armchairs stroking their chins...

pure art can be entertaining... but pure entertainment can never be art

I'm on the same page with you of course, however we could get into a huge disscusion about what is art? And really anything can be, but I'm not going to get into that. I will say though, good for you that you stay true to your taste and intergity and all that jazz. I think you would be happy to play the radio route and feel very good about that venue.

And also I will say that at the right moment almost anything can sound amazing its just intution, a gut instinct the truly great Dj's posess that allows you to do this and make music sound as good as possible. It doesn't matter what you play its how you play it, and the rest is left up to your audiance. There are so many different genres because people have different tastes, this is a good thing, allow the diversity of the scene to exist, there is place for everything and everything in its place

Me too. If it moves you play it.

good to see everyone talking alot of sense here, i don't really do genres either.

it is very true that many of the dj's that used to play funky house if you ask them now they will probably say that they play 'dirty house and electro'. even the dj's in the cheesy bars in this shitty little town im in.

There are definitely good electro house tunes out there, ones that aren't the commercial obvious crap Lee is talking about.

Hate's a strong word, no need to hate anything man.



Funky house has definately been usurped by electro.

For the discerning listener, however, decent underground electro can still be saught out.

I think that it's a great thing that Electro house has taken centre stage!!! It's really allowing dj's to play some "tougher" type house tunes to an otherwise "mainstream" crowd.

It's also showing "mainstream" music listeners that there is a lot of wicked music out there that isn't just on the latest ministry cd... they just have to look for it.

Look at it this way: imagine that "funky" house was "commercial" music for the rest of the century... we would all be SO bored of it...

Im already pissed off with funky house its just dull. Funky house seems to dominate where i live, often because promoters arn't willing to take a risk pushing other styles of music, while it's more difficult for decent underground nights to break through. See it as music for posers.