for example…

also, check out my “acoustic” cover of @Alesso ‘s remix of Titanium, with vocals by the Lights of the future, @iamkshan

Here’s My Talent Show Mix As It Should Have Sounded (Mistakes were made live, but not here)

Relatively New Mashup, Just now Actually Getting It Recorded and Uploaded :P

I feel like as with deadmau5, this is probably going to wind up my place for the serious rants.

I’ve been seeing stuff about a situation that’s occurring more and more with celebrities and the art I practice, and I really do feel like weighing in on this.

About 6 months ago, it comes out that Paris Hilton is “training to be the ‘queen’ of house music”. Beyond the fact that she had in the past had Steve Angello (Aka. one third of the Swedish House Mafia) kicked off the decks for playing house instead of hip-hop, this just seemed like it was going to turn out horribly for so many reasons. BUT, I saw that David Guetta and Afrojack were the ones doing this training, so I thought “With them teaching her, maybe this actually stands a chance”.

I should have stuck with my original viewpoint. Video surfaces of her first set in brazil, showing her needing to have a sound tech turn her up from the mixer, starting both tracks at the same time on the CDJs, abusing the effects unit, and performing an atrocious blend between a song of hers (which she had just been singing over) and we found love.

The fact is, If Afrojack or David G had actually taught her anything, there is no way in hell she’d be doing that. Give any serious Club DJ (myself included) half an hour with someone, and we can give them enough of an explanation of how to Mix tracks together to make it so (with proper practice) they could pull off a set about 4X better. Lack of practice may be the whole reason it’s that bad, but that doesn’t excuse it.

I’ve watched Guetta rise from Love is Gone to Titanium, been supporting deadmau5 since Faxing Berlin was still on the Billboard Dance Charts, and known of Afrojack since Toyfriend. I have no problem with any of the producers that deserve to be where they are in the DJ world, but who I can’t stand are people like Idris Elba and Pauly D. The guys that claim to have been doing this for years and still sound like shit. I haven’t heard T-Pain, Snoop Dogg, Lupe Fiasco, or any of those hip-hop artist mix, but my guess is, not that much better. And what really gets me, now I’m seeing pictures of Kim Kardashian in a DJ booth and all I can think is “Grandmaster Flash help us, cause this is gonna be bad.”

Thing is, honestly, you could be any one of the people I just mentioned or some complete unknown, but if you actually have talent and the desire to learn how to do this right, the majority will support or at least accept you. But if you’re some massive celebrity and you claim to have “learned from the best”, A) From the start you’ll be dealing with skeptics, and people that believe you will further contribute to the destruction of EDM. B) If after the training you claim to have had, from the people you claim to have had it from, you still suck, and you prove all the skeptics and advance haters right, it’salmost a guarantee that you will get almost universally ripped in half by every DJ on the fucking planet who actually gives a damn about this artform.

Bottom line, It doesn’t matter who you are. If you are going to represent this culture, you had better actually know how to mix, scratch, or otherwise perform in such a way you don’t look like a complete idiot behind those decks. Otherwise, be prepared to feel the full extent of the EDM community’s wrath.

and THAT is the DJ Gospel.

-Cataract

My New Mix For Electronic Nation Canada, I’m looking to play at Identity Festival Toronto as a Support act