on djing...

a new(ish) mix and mid year dj reflections

Although sharing music is undoubtedly my purpose, my journey with DJing has been emotionally fraught and confusing. The performance aspect has never felt comfortable. I’m not a DJ who dances much, not particularly fashionable, and I don’t post viral clips.

The Boiler Room, Fred again-ification of it all doesn’t help. My feed is full of DJs surrounded on all sides by on-lookers flailing desperately for a chance to land a spot in tomorrow’s viral clip. To be clear, I respect the technical abilities of many of these DJs and even envy their seemingly effortless photogenic awareness. But it begs the question - what’s the point? Is it for the people in the room or the clips?

When I returned to DJing in 2022 after a year off, I had a plan. To control for my performance anxiety, I’d map my sets out precisely through hours of practice and planning. I created an event concept in Deep Fried that honored my long held belief that DJs are meant to be heard and not seen. If I’m doing my job, people are dancing with each other, not watching me or on their phones. I vowed to keep it off social media. It worked great at first; my sets felt easier and people were dancing.

But as I continued DJing and throwing events, I found new traps. My overly-planned sets created a new kind of performance anxiety. If something went the tiniest bit off-script I’d start spiraling and, even if I got good feedback, would feel disappointed both during and after the set. I was fully out of the moment.

Once the first couple of parties were a success, ambition kicked in. It needed to grow, which inevitably brought me back to social media. I started stressing more about turnout and capturing content to help promote the next one. Despite my intent of staying low-key and pure, deep down I was stacking myself up against the many amazing promoters in LA. All of a sudden, I felt like a failure. It didn’t help that I had a party shut down (although I swear I’m over it!).

The opportunity of curating and DJing Karachi Community Radio events has been an absolute dream. But, with each of my sets being filmed, it amplified my insecurities and the flaws of my new approach. Playing closing sets with a thinned-out crowd, I was compelled to optimize for the recording rather than the audience. I’m still really proud of those sets and they’ve played a major role in my growth as a DJ.

The first half of this year I’ve finally been reconnecting with my purpose as a DJ. And it all started with this KCR set from the first week of January. The DJs before me absolutely crushed (Petal Supply’s set was INSANE) and were flying at 160+ BPM. On the plus side, the room was more full than it typically is at 3AM. But I had to throw my plan out the window.

I didn’t have a choice but to return to the moment. By the time I stepped off at 4AM, I was met with incredible feedback from those who stuck around until the end.

That journey of re-discovery crystallized further with the Berkeley and LA Lish Grooves release parties. I went into both events with a looser plan, not being quite sure of the vibe. I returned to my House roots and felt fully in sync with the dancers. When a song was working, I’d let it play longer. If people responded to a certain sound, I doubled down. When it felt time to switch up the vibe, I was confident that people would follow. And they did.

People hooted and hollered, formed dance circles and literally yelled, “this is amazing!” During the LA show, Lish’s drummer (and our good friend) Arjun hopped on stage and played with me, fully improvised, for 20 minutes. Shout out Lish for cultivating such an open-minded, diverse community.

In a time when the DJ is the show, I’ve been reminded that DJing, at least the version I’m most interested in, is a communal experience — a real-time collaboration between the DJ and the dancers. And that actually removes a lot of the pressure. It’s a group project.

“The DJ played in relation to the crowd, leading and following in roughly equal measure. In order to lead, the DJ would buy records, rehearse certain mixes and make live selections, the combination of which suggested a dominant position in relationship to the crowd. But the role of following, in which the DJ would improvise in order to take account of the energy and desires of the dance floor, was equally important given that no amount of preparation could fully anticipate the mood of the dance floor. With improvisation came discovery (rather than familiarity), freedom (as opposed to control), and chaos (instead of order). As a result the relationship between the DJ and the crowd resembled a dynamic conversation between separate agents that, when combined had a greater total effect than the sum of their individual parts.”- Tim Lawrence (Love Saves The Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture 1970-1979)

selectz

Retromigration - “Half Fried”

Dutch producer Retromigration has elevated to purchase-on-site status on Bandcamp. His sound is clearly rooted in classic House but is always propulsive enough to hold its own next to sonically heavier tracks. A perfect starting point for a 3AM set.

Umberto Carmignani - “Ride Attack V2”

This remastered EP, originally released in 2004, feels fresher than ever today. With its pulsing bass line, delayed synth plucks and expert arrangement, “Ride Attack V2” is Techno perfection. I could listen to it forever.

Paloma Colombe - “Crash Test”

Paloma Colombe is a DJ and curator originally from SF but now based in Paris. Her debut compilation, clearly influenced by her North African heritage, is an impressively cohesive celebration of percussive club music. Although the comp features some of my favorite Egyptian producers like 3Phaz and Hassan Abou Alam, her contribution stands out. It’s a perfect DJ tool especially when mixed in with the other similarly syncopated rhythms from Latin to Afro to Arabic.

Manuka Honey & ABADIR - “Faramanch”

Berlin-based, Cairo-born producer, DJ, writer and curator ABADIR is a central figure in the scene mentioned above with a somewhat academic approach to club music. Although his productions are incredibly cool and detailed, sometimes they feel a bit too heavy, or heady, to fit into my sets. I wasn’t planning on playing his Manuka Honey-collaboration, ”Faramanch” but I’m glad I did!

tracklist