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All Crews - DJs
Book Chapters / Author Comments
The standard of DJing has risen again or has it? You hardly hear anyone clang. L Double’s not surprised. "You’ve been mixing so long, you ain’t supposed to be clangin’. But there used to be a vibe where that was cool. Down AWOL, Randall would slide out his Quartz-locked-self and you’d be with him until he locked back in. And you’d big him up for bringing it back in. Certain DJs can be too anal asking, 'Was it Quartz locked?' But I’m askin', 'Was there a good vibe in the club?' I think the quality is higher. People genuinely say to me, 'D&B DJs mix really, really well.' Whether that translates into a good vibe is up for debate."
1Xtra were inundated with mixes from DJs trying to win a slot to play at Innovation in Spain. "We had hundreds upon hundreds of CDs. I got my batch own to 25. They were all good of a technical standard but that 25 were not that different from each other. Whether that’s their access to tunes? I don’t know. But I pride myself on sounding different."
More DJs like Hype, Friction, Andy C, Mampi Swift are mixing on three decks. That’s three tunes in the mix, triple dropping. That’s not having a third tune ready to roll as tune two fades out. Massacre commented: "After you’ve done an hour of three deck mixing, you wonder how you ever had a problem mixing two records."
Out partying, you can fall into that groove where all the music is good but somehow washes over you. But every so often you hear a set that re-kindles that first love you felt for jungle. Three sets and two DJs stand out. Shy spinning at late summer’s Traffic was amazing. I sat listening to every dub-wise note. Had to stop people speaking to me and wrenching my head out the miasma of beats.
Bailey played last set, on the final night of 1Xtra’s Xtra Bass tour. In the Bristol venue dubbed ‘Mash-dem-court’ he went deep. So deep. After the set we ran to see if the BBC’s tapes were rolling. "Sorry." "Gutted." Then Bailey’s at his birthday party at Herbal. Everyone turned up, even the Inta Natty crew. Bailey’s on the decks. GQ’s on the mic. "New or Old Skool?" "Old Skoooool". Let There Be Mayhem. Screams, lighters, foot stomping, sweat streaked, wall banging mayhem.
Goldie’s jumping up and down in the box shouting, "Bailey’s my boy". Sets end GQ’s goin’, "That was the best fuckin’ set of the whole goddam year." Which nobody can deny…
You can get back to the start of the feature by clicking on the book cover image..
Words: Bryan Belle-Fortune
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