Face off

>> DJ Unknown battles New York City’s nightlife nihilism

by RAF KATIGBAK

Despite what you may assume from the name DJ Unknown, if you’ve seen any of the last three Beastie Boys videos (“Body Movin’,” “Intergalactic,” “Alive”), then you’re already familiar with some of Hillary Snyder’s film and video work as a creative director. As a DJ, Snyder has been dropping his eclectic mix of “Cylon rock” on the New York club scene for the last four years (including warm-up slots for Fischerspooner) — a scene, Snyder suggests, that has fallen far from its once legendary reputation as a clubber’s paradise.

“In terms of places you can go and dance,” says Snyder/Unknown, “the New York club scene is pretty bad.” He points out that in New York, the average clubgoer has become fairly sarcastic and calloused—with good reason. “The whole idea of subculture is pretty much in the crapper. We’re living in an atmosphere where the media eats shit alive. You walk down the street in a shirt that you think no one else has, then you cross paths with an MTV stylist. The next thing you know, some MTV VJ is wearing it and then suddenly, it’s in malls all over the fuckin’ globe next week!”

One accessory that probably won’t be co-opted by Urban Outfitters any time soon is the paper bag that Snyder usually sports on his head when he DJs. It’s a practice Snyder started as a reaction to the rampant DJ worship that he believed was taking on ridiculous proportions. “Three or four years ago, things were just too stiff and predictable. There were too many parameters on going out to have a good nightclub experience. So I said, ‘You know what, fuck it, I’m just gonna put this bag on my head and play whatever the fuck I want,’ which was just really good party music. I pulled out all the old stuff, like Devo, and lots of silly tunes, like disco ditties, some Italo disco, electro and all that new romantic stuff.

“I tried to have that kind of attitude like when you’re 15, having a party in your buddy’s basement. You had that one red light on and you’re just listening to stuff that’s solid.”
Snyder sees beat-matching as a prison and opts instead for a looser, more open-minded approach to music, a trait he credits to growing up in the cultural big bang that was New York in the early ’80s. “Back then everyone was hittin’ it from a different angle. There was this punk rock attitude. We had disco, rap, no wave, new wave, punk rock and hardcore. Reggae, dancehall and ska were also making a huge influence. And all of these people, from seemingly disparate musical backgrounds, went to check out each other’s events. It was a huge sea of creativity.” It comes as no surprise then, that DJ Unknown has allied himself with New York’s current creative collision, Electroclash, a music movement that fuses techno, art and fashion with that same DIY punk attitude. “People are really ready to try new things and be creative again. They’re ready to just go out and have a good time.” :

With DJ Nitedog, Thomas S, Jordan Dare and Y.R.D.M. at Blizzarts on Saturday, April 27, 10pm, $7