by RAF KATIGBAK

There’s plenty you might want to know about Belgian DJ duo the Glimmers. One thing is that Glimmer twin David Fourquart’s first foray into mixing happened when he was eight, when he would tape stuff like “Ghostbusters” off the radio, and try to cut out the host’s voice so as to move seamlessly into the next track. In their early teens, the pair (Mo Becha is the other half) discovered the adventurous mix-mastery of Grandmaster Flash, and then at 16 started all sorts of musical shenanigans in the student bar of their hometown Ghent.

But the first and most important thing you should know is that right now, they’re one of the most creative and skull-crushingly amazing DJ acts in the world. Need proof? Grab any of their early no-holds-barred mixes on primo label Eskimo, or their DJ Kicks mix on Germany’s !K7 label, and succumb to the party-rocking eclecticism that has earned them fans all over the world.

Mirror: How tough is it to keep a crowd happy?

David Fourquart: It’s always a struggle. You have to be creative when you mix it down, and you have to be good technically. But we’ve been doing this for 20 years, playing obscure stuff next to commercial stuff. Sometimes it can be seen as a joke—it depends what timing you have. First we give the crowd stuff we know they will like, then we search for the borders.

M: When you guys came out with your first eclectic, anything-goes mix on Eskimo, similar acts like England’s Erol Alkan, Scotland’s Optimo and fellow Belgians 2ManyDJs were all busting out around the same time. Why was that?

DF: I think that’s thanks to… I don’t like the word, but the electroclash thing that happened a couple years ago. That made it possible to have mashed-up rock- or pop-oriented songs that are more party-minded, less in one direction. A straight techno night could be very nice, but after a couple of years, you know... Now it’s more adventurous to go out. If you have DJs like us, or Optimo, you never know what to expect, and that makes it fun.

With Jordan Dare at SAT tonight, Thursday,
March 23, 11 p.m., $15

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