Full circle

>>DJ C’s globetrotting grooves and dub
digressions bring him back to the
beats he was running from

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE: DJ C

by JACK OATMON

A true crate-digger can only dodge the forbidden fruit for so long. Especially when said beat fanatic is a guy who’s made his name turning over forgotten stones in search of exciting new—and old—rhythms to rumble rumps of all affiliations. Jake Trussell, aka DJ C, is a Boston-born Beat Research resident and Mashit record-label founder whose desire to expand the bandwidth of his hometown clubs has led him through over a decade’s worth of D&B, dub, ragga and dancehall production, DJing and remixing. But now he has relocated to the house that house built, Chicago, Illinois, and his eclectic ears are engaging an entire gamut of grooves he never thought he’d embrace.

“In Boston, that’s the kind of club scene we were trying to avoid when we were coming up,” recounts DJ C of his entry point into electronic music. “It’s a college town, so there were always these rich kids around with their beamers, and they’d go out to these cheesy clubs on the weekend. And to tell you the truth, house and techno was big at those clubs in that time, so that’s why I reacted against it at first, I think. Not even because it was bad music or anything. The whole vibe around it was just bad.”

Now the four-on-the-floor beat has become one more source in Trussell’s enormous range of influences. Just half a year in the former dance-music Mecca, and a helping hand from the U.K. bassline house sound, have cranked open his ears to all manner of gems from the history of house, and added a new spice to his flavourful mixes of dubstep, B-more, baile funk and all things bass-heavy—expect a heaping when he hits Baile MTL’s second anniversary party. “Since I’ve moved here, I’ve learned a lot about it and realized how much great, classic stuff there is, and the new great stuff that’s happening.”

Don’t take that to mean he’s overhauled his sound, however. It still features leftfield beats from as many locales and eras as it does genres. “My take on DJing has always been to play what’s good, no matter when it’s from. That was one good reason to start making my own music, so I could always play stuff that people hadn’t heard before. If it’s new, great, but I’ve always been all about playing my favourite things from any era. I’m glad that that seems to have taken hold more now. People seem to be more into busting out old tracks now.”

That said, he still certainly identifies with the excitement of the brand new sounds, which are made available to him by surfing the blogosphere for fresh jams, in equal parts with his vinyl-nabbing missions in his new home.

“I do feel like the people getting so into these micro-genres, ‘global ghetto tech,’ still have that mentality of being interested in hearing whatever new sounds they can find out about that are going on somewhere. I’m like that too. As long as I like it, as long as it’s fun and people will like it on the dancefloor and it resonates with me, then I’m totally into it. It’s always exciting to hear about a new theme that’s bubbling up.”

With Baile MTL DJs at Zoobizarre on
Saturday, April 12, 10 p.m., $5