DJs with a "Loose" Approach

#21

Maybe what would help is to establish the difference between “loose” and “eclectic” in our terminology.

for me loose is a style of mixing, not a style of selection. eclectic to me refers to record/track choice and thus can be somewhat wide in scope.

#22

how the fucks he do that

#23

Nobody knows.

Here is at Exit Festival in 2010:

#24

Can’t one be loose and precise at the same time? To me Call Super feels loose, even though he beatmatches his tracks perfectly. Way looser than Ben UFO for example, who was mentioned above and who I’d consider one of the tightest DJs out there.

#25

yeah i wouldnt include Ben in this definition either. What do other folks think?

#26

also it can vary from mix to mix. guys like Ben and Call are so good they can play it loose on one mix and have fun, i think lots of djs will use a more loose approach on a radio set vs a recorded mix. also certain venues and crowds will eat that shit up, while for others it might clear out a dancefloor. but, for me, based on what ive seen of moody, willow, move d, kode 9, bowman, madlib and flylo’s output…they fit. other posts im still getting to…only so many hours in the day to slap tunes…

#27

I seem to remember that Winamp had a cross fader thing, maybe a plug-in? I’m not sure anymore but I used to mix stuff with it back in the day too (never live, just making tapes in my bedroom)

#28

This is actually a really good point! Loose is mostly a style of mixing I’d say. Obvs some DJs opt more often for a loose approach than others, depending on crowd, time and place. Hadn’t really thought about this that way, so good call : )

#29

Two of my faves that have this approach are Cashu and Carrot Green, I won’t even bother posting a special set from them because you can just get any set from them and compare to see how weird it can get. Loose in the mix, loose in the selection. I’ve raved to surgical techno and electro in gigs with them, seen classy minimal/house and also tripped to them going nuts with more experimental stuff.

#30

cmonnnn shoot us a linnk

#31

Aight, :ok_hand:

These two go from 4x4 normal stuff to the experimental and these sets are just a glimpse on it, i’ve seen them live do stuff that has not been recorded

#32

The loosest approach to me would be the Mancuso style of playing entire tracks, letting the track fade out and then playing the next track. No mixing. I’ve been to a few Loft parties and no one seems to mind, in fact, everyone claps between songs and the momentary pause in music builds suspense as to what is coming next. The whole project is about setting a specific vibe and letting the music express itself in it’s entirety on 10 huge Klipshorn stacks. Pretty amazing really and kind of refreshing in our world of endless music mixing.

#33

Of the 3 times I have seen BenUFO live he is way more tight than loose. Usually he goes loose for a recorded set for radio/podcast, but not a live set.

#34

This sounds awesome. I love playing Sunday nights when you can just let records play. No mixing needed. I’ve long thought about a show where you just play your favourite sides from a bunch of records.

#35

Kode9’s Rinse CD is amazing. Ben UFO’s is great too, as is his Fabriclive mix. Four Tet is a good DJ who doesn’t seem to focus on absolute precision. His Fabriclive mix is great, and his DJ Kicks mix is good, a bit more avant garde. I’m sure they all have a million free mixes onlie too. For ppl who like MCs on a mix I’ve been totally obsessed with Kode9 & Wiley on Rinse from a few years ago.

Also going to do a little self-plug from an amateur. Any ‘looseness’ may just be down to not being v good yet, but Kode9 is a big influence in terms of general approach, as is Ben UFO (altho ppl seem to disagree on whether he counts). Sometimes it’s eclectic, sometimes not rly. I did a post about it elsewhere on here which goes into more detail:

In terms of Mancuso style non-mixing, I did a Valentines Day mix which was a bit like that, and has non-dance music in it too. Although I cldn’t resist doing a little bit of mixing.

#36

Yeah, been reading a lot about The Loft recently (as I live across the pond) and it seems like an amazing place… Some of Floating Points’ ‘You’re A Melody’ parties take this no-mixing approach as well:

#37

God I’m so loving this thread. I’m glad people are interpreting “loose” differently because it’s turning up great DJs. I see why there’s debate about Ben UFO and Call Super, they are definitely in a slightly different category but I think they bring an element of looseness. Saw Sango this weekend and he was mixing in ableton but was definitely loose in a totally different way. Didn’t stick around any tempo for more than a couple minutes but kept it rocking.

#38

me too. since you kicked it off with the original post, how would you describe looseness and how do you see it in Chemical Bros and Daft Punk’s respective styles?

#39

wow, only listening to the first cashu so far but its amazing. mix style is incredible…layered and ethereal, the first track into the second has me hooked. thank you. curious, what specifically about this would you describe as loose?

#40

So on that Chemical Brothers record there’s this incredible tension and release that I get from the sense that the groove they are constantly building could fall off the rails at any time, but that they are in control and can be relied upon to keep the groove going right on the edge of control. That opening sample “brothers gonna work it out” sums it up pretty well. There’s all this chaotic noise going on but you can trust the brothers to keep it on track and sounding insane, but controlled. These dynamics really amp up the sense of release you get from those bass hits. I get a similar vibe from Alive 1997, and some of Daft Punk’s production from that era, especially a tune like Rolling and Scratching, or the version of Da Funk on Alive 1997.

That’s a particular expression of the sound from that era, but when I went to see that show Four Tet put together at the Shrine in LA with Daphni, Madlib, Ben UFO, and Floating Points, that dynamic popped out so clearly. Daphni was the first of the night to really explore that sound with a filter heavy set of dub, disco, world music, and heavy techno. You could never tell when the beat was gonna hit or what kind of beat it was gonna be when it did, and it felt like watching a high wire act the whole time. Then Madlib put on a clinic in that style going across every imaginable genre while keeping the groove intact throughout. The way he used the EQs and faders to get this incredible reverb out of the event space itself, and the way he commanded the soundsystem like it was an instrument was inspiring. I was sure he was on vinyl but I looked up pics and saw that he was on CDJs the whole time. He was just so smooth and loose with it. Again he was able to amp up the drama of the set with that chaotic loose style, so when things did fall into place and the beats were banging the sense of release was incredible.

To make an analogy to fiction, it’s kind of like an anti hero protagonist. If you know for sure that everything’s gonna be alright, that the hero’s always gonna do the right thing, that the bass and snares and hats are always gonna be there for you, there’s no drama on the dancefloor, but if the DJ can get you in a space where you think it could all go wrong at any moment, they’ve got you hooked, and if they can keep you on the edge there you’re gonna be locked in all set long.

Something like that haha.