Wax vs. plug-ins

While out prowling my beat last weekend, I sauntered into a considerably packed little nightclub for a brew. Rumoured promo hootch, and the fact that I hadn’t yet checked out that particular spot, drew me in. The layout was such that to get to the bar, you had to walk right past the DJ booth and come within two feet of the DJ’s face. The pale visage in question was illuminated by the increasingly ubiquitous, eerie glow of a laptop LCD, something that I must admit always makes my heart sink just a teensy bit. As I sometimes do in such cases, in the interests of informal sociological experimentation, I stood directly in front of the booth, kissing distance away from the DJ, and I waited to see how long it would take him to tear his attention away from the computer and register the cockeyed drunkard just inches away.

Probably took a minute. That’s not all that bad, either. Sometimes they just never look up. Needless to say, no one was dancing. The jams were even pretty good. What if I was a super hot admirer looking to schmooze with the oh-so-cool DJ?! I digress, but the point here is that we all think about it, it’s impossible to ignore these days, but I haven’t addressed it here yet. Laptops.

LAPTOP OF LUXURY: Richie Hawtin

Far from the purist curmudgeon I am about some things, when it comes to electronic music and dance jams, I tend to think that pushing things into new territory is what it’s all about. And no one can deny the extent to which laptops can expand a person’s sound. If you’ve seen Ritchie Hawtin DJ lately, you’re not about to badmouth the laptop. Even here in town, there are guys—for instance Megasoid—who do outrageously cool things with laptops and consistently move shoes. And the indie scene has explored unknown waters during the laptop karaoke wave of the past two years, though they’ve also had their Yachts and their Free Bloods, performers that make you wish computing was never invented.

But what I’m after here is that elusive but omnipotent master of club happenings known only as the Vibe. As a DJ, along with the promoters, bartenders and lighting guys, you are supreme pastor of the Vibe and it is your duty to channel that Vibe into the people’s footwear. But has the laptop ruined the Vibe? In all cases, certainly not. And I’m aware of the suspicious parallels this has to people back in the day saying DJing was “just playing other peoples’ records.”

So hit me. Are Serato and Ableton terminal impediments to the great communicative power that is the Vibe, or have most people just not yet found a way to keep their eyes off the grey boxes and on the crowd without presetting everything into a canned mould that sounds like a beatmatched iTunes playlist? Are they the end of the slammin’, rockin’ party with the amazing DJ who plays people like fools on the floor, or are they the natural next wave of advancement, increasing the variety of music in the club and opening up the art form for new people?

Send me your thoughts, and if you’re a kickass laptop DJ, drop me a line. I want to hear it.

WRITING WRONGS… jack.oatmon@gmail.com