Nisus @ Coachella 09 Heineken Dome part 5/5 from Rich DDT on Vimeo.

Coming out of the burn is always difficult. The drive is like a slow fall through the atmosphere back to earth. Nexus does it right by creating a soft landing pad in Reno to catch the ashes. This year at the GSR resort again we muddied up their pool and had sex in the elevators, partys in the hallways and had the assistance of some S.W.A.T. style thugged out security guards in the club. We got kicked out for having a pool noodle fight. I know crazy huh? Overall its always weird to spend time in Reno. After the burn is no exception. Though it is made a bit less surreal having been in the desert for a week or more. D

It turned out that a crew of other Djs had the same idea and arrived at the same time. They were unloading the generator as we were unloading the sound system. It was clear that morphogenetic fields were at work and it was a natural solution to collaborate. When this kind of confluence occurs its a magical event that rings so loudly it resonates to the depths of our humanity. Its pretty much one of the best things that we can do as humans. Un-mediated collaboration, its what I live for as a DJ and a human being. Its impossible to plan this sort of thing. The planning itself destroys a little bit of the emergence of novelty. Novelty is so precious these days, its like cultural platinum.

So we set up, powered up the system and set to rocking the park. One major point among the Djs was how impressed we were with how well we all got along. Djs on a system could be like cats in a bag, except when they are all confident with their skills. Then its like a pride of lions chillin in the park getting each other’s backs and sessioning to attract the ears of the female lions What an amazing crew. Every single artist was able to keep up with the others and keep the whole place elevated. The energy just kept rising through out the day. The culmination for me was Dj Aspect’s set. Check out his Wandering Star remix. He was the only Dj not playing vinyl and unfortunately we couldn’t get Serato to work. It worked at OMGLOL!!! for Matt Heagen but not in Reno and not this time. But with no attitude he just blew it off and was was like “whateva it’s cool” He waits all day and goes on last at 7pm. He has one piece of vinyl and out of the crowd comes Kid Beyond beatboxing on the mic. What happens is truly the stuff of legend.

Everyone in the park had been listening to music all day and as the sun was setting the fog came rolling in over the hills. The steeple of church on the corner across from the park was the only thing tall enough to still catch the fading light of the descending sun. The people who gathered around the sound system were there because they refused to stop dancing until either the rapture or divine intervention drove them away. Aspect stepped up, introduced by Kid Beyond and proceeded to rip the park to pieces. They started doing a call a response with Beyond beatboxing a phrase and Aspect matching it with his hands. The beats were so good!!! Anyone left in the park came running over to see what was going on and to start cheering and dancing. The two of them just kept pushing each other to get more and more complex while sticking to super fresh rhythms. People were loosing it. I was losing it. Shit was manic. It was one of those rare moments that the trinity (DJ,audience,soundsystem) aligns and the event goes into space. And as always when we get that close something collapses. These two guys lost themselves in the performance and took us with them. But for whatever reason as has happened to me in the past on different systems, the sound system just stopped. It was like a hole was torn in heaven. The Bangalord was defeated and the people cried. Maybe the generator burped or someone tripped on the power, I don’t know. But it was an epic ending. We were done. There was nothing left to do at Dolores park that day. The party had been taken as far as we would be allowed to that day.

Sunday was a shinning example of why DJing is what I want to do with my life. All the suffering of poverty and ego death and hunger didn’t matter in that space. That was it. That is what needs to be done every time. Congratulations to everyone that got to experience it. Thanks to everyone that made it happen! Nisus

Why would I continue to subject myself to playing venues that are outside of my genre? Because they are outside of my genre, silly. And genres’ are silly. I really believe that great music is great music. DJing is all about exposing these great new sounds to people that wouldn’t have had a chance to hear them otherwise. Playing The Matrix was the most perfect example yet.

If you’ve never been to The Matrix, imagine a really modern space with a black gravel fireplace and huge floor to ceiling windows on the front. Its like an expensive living room that happens to have a bar. The DJ booth at the back is on a curved stage and really the Fung Shewweee is pretty good. Its got a nice vibe. Now take this nice feeling space and fill it with a truckload of Guidos from the shores of Jersey. Striped shirts with popped collars wrapping muscley dudes talking about their popped collars. I didn’t just make that up to be funny there really were dudes talking about their popped collars. Of course these guys wouldn’t be complete without model trophy plasticine used to be strippers to piss off their rich parents accessory girl versions of themselves, still following? En mass. My favorites were the super geeky ultra rich donkey lopers making out with the hottest girls in SF. The irony delighted me to no end. I really wanted to talk to the long haired kid in the T shirt and trench coat. He seemed wonderfully out of place. Actually I know now how it must feel to be on the outside looking in at Burning Man peeps. “Whoa weird people, where did they come from?” Its kinda like that. Totally surreal, its as if the TV had become a reality. The Matrix is a perfect name for this place. “In the Matrix some rules can be bent, others broken” And thats what happened.

I fired up the Bangalord and buttered out the bass. Threw Scott on the BBQ to test the waters and hide from any incoming just emptied cognac glasses. People started arriving and the place filled up. The energy rose and I could feel the bass reverberating the huge front windows. Pretty awesome, I really fucking love that system. I was watching the door to get a head count of the number of Vinnies that left. I think there were a few but it was hard to tell with all the people coming in who was leaving if anyone. Scott’s set crushed it, he has a great ear for music and the laptop saves his ass while mixing. After about an hour warm up and no Blues Brothers roadhouse broken bottles, I kicked the set into hyperspace and the crowd came with me. I was amazed that the place was congealing so well. The dance floor filled in and people at the bar turned to face me to watch the explosion of energy I was unleashing. Pretty stoked. This really was a text book example of what I try to do with my sound. I love to get people who have never heard this music to get on the train and smash down the walls that separate them from losing their shit on the dance floor.

As 2am rolled around I wanted nothing more than to keep barreling through banger after banger. The staff was stoked and as the last track faded people started applauding. I threw my hands in the air and yelled with them. This is how a night should be. In jaded SF where everyone has seen everything this felt like a proper good time. The bartenders told me that I was the only DJ they had ever seen receive applause at that place. That felt good.

When I returned the next day to collect my check and talk to the manager who was sick and had to leave that night. I asked him if the feed back was good. He paused and then half said, ” I heard it was loud” Did you get any noise complaints? “No” Huh? Well when do you want to do it again?…….”Uh well were pretty booked for the next few months and……….” I was dumbfounded, I just tore the fuck out of his little bar and he was blowing me off.. I don’t understand. Whats the problem? I left feeling sick and frustrated. What do I have to do around here? I play my fucking heart out and still get nothing? Typical. It turns out that he is a Dj trying to make a name for himself by booking himself. Whatever.. Enjoy your Stevie Wonder bitches.

Being literate I can appreciate the verbal virtuosity of the MC. Poetry is poetry. Good poetry is one of the most powerful uses of language. Oral storytelling is a fundamental element that predates writing. We need this. We will always need this. The voices in hip hop are beautifully diverse and at most times form the spine of the music. Sharing experiences is what is going to move us forward in knowing that we are unified in our wants and needs. Hip hop can lead us into a deeper unification of humanity. I am so thankful for hip hop. So why would I deny people their request?

Hip hop and I have broken up. We are no longer in a healthy relationship. It became abusive and boring. It has trouble innovating ie contributing. Its like an addict who only cares about its selfish fix, the thrill. Mostly to blame are all of us for letting it devolve into rap. Can I throw an antecedent in here? At one time it was funny (disarming) to appropriate the symbols of power of the oppressors, it stopped being funny when they started selling us their symbols and we started to believe in their power and again became repressed though less aware of it. Im thinking of Cadillacs specifically. Never pick up the tools of the oppressors not even as a joke!!!! Violence and materialism are not paths to liberation. The fun times Hip Hop and I had were over as soon as it was consumed by the confusion inherent in the tools of “resistance” offered by the state (violence and anger and separation). The state being rich white fucks in the tops of buildings dictating to the world through hip hop what hip hop is. Hip Hop has become a zombie. A dead soulless corpse with someones hand in its ass making its mouth move and saying stupid shit that the masses follow. Kinda like a politician. Why the fuck would I ever pander to you, my dear Hip Hop?

So who are you that asks for zombie music?………Confused. Mistaken, you want the sounds of rebellion without the work. You want blowjobs from zombies with no teeth. I know your life is boring at your bank job or pizza job or whatever and you want to feel like you are really pushing the envelope by identifying with frustration and the thrill of saying “Fuck you ho”. I can appreciate that desire for breaking the mold. But you are being lied to. You are being tricked in the same way by the same people who sold you the Cadillac. Your efforts will be fruitless because they are the efforts given to you by the oppressors in a very safe to them, nonthreatening way. I know you want to escape. I feel the same way. Something is wrong around here. The imagination and story form of hip hop helps pretend we are something else. There was a time when Hip Hop pointed the way out. Now is not then. Until hip hop comes to its senses its just as confused.

So No I will not play hip hop. I believe that thoughts are things. I believe that the word created the world and that means sound creates reality. The sound of gunshots will bring gunshots. The sound of violence and frustration brings violence and frustration. I will not contribute to a sound that encourages separation. Especially not amplified through a soundsystem. No one on this planet has the time to indulge in small egoic outbursts that encourage conflict. We’re beyond all of that. Now its time for hip hop to catch up.

PS If you read this and you know this critique doesn’t apply to you, you’re right! keep doing what you do and know that the world is waiting for someone to resurrect Hip Hop from the dead. Do it. D

The last time I played this track this is what happened. Awesome huh?

Hey, I just finished my newest mix Nisus’s Curtains. I know its been a while since I posted any new music but things have just been accelerating in my Dj world. I have so much great new music that I will be putting out a few more mixes over the next month. Let me know what you think. Also I am going on tour in March. If you know of anywhere that would be down to book me send them to this site. The dirtiest hardest electrocrunk mix ever will be next. Here it is!!! Email me if you want a track listing http://www.zshare.net/audio/6394979b530ecc/

In an effort to stay busy and continue to find alternatives to the standard club scene, I played a set at the Diesel store on Polk today. As always, I enjoy playing daytime sets in these contexts. People are super stoked and are excited to see a DJ actually making it happen. Its great too because you feel the energy rise even though its a lot less than on the dance floor, of course but it happens. Best part, no requests for hip hop. I can just chill and tryout new tracks and enjoy my job. HA!!! I love it, “my job” = awesome!

Wow, what a fun night! This was for sure the best NYE I’ve had in forever. My best friends from around the country were there. New friends from around the bay were there. My goal of playing at this venue was met and I brought a lot of new music to people who were literally asking for Britney Spears. I explained to people that we were doing something a little different tonight. Playing an international set for an international venue. People seemed genuinely interested in the new sound and showed their love by bouncing all night long. At midnight I did a count down and dropped the Guns and Bombs remix of Gossip’s Yr Mangled Heart. The lyrics ” I don’t want the world, I just want what I deserve” echoed in 2008. This is gonna be an awesome year!

The path that led to the W has been the idea that money can be a huge insulating bubble for the people that have it. On my other blog I have written about the dynamics of experience using sound waves as a metaphor. Essentially  money is a mediating factor for the amplitude of experience. It can be used to amplify or dampen experiences. Often money insulates by convenience. Its convenient to spend money on mediated experiences rather than put the effort into self guided journeys which take time to invent and time to reflect on the lessons learned through the experience. Money can be used to enhance the journey as has been the case for Richard Branson. But for many people the price gets confused with the value of the experience. I call this the Salmon Polo theory. A $280 dollar salmon polo shirt is still kinda ugly even if it is expensive.

Djing is all about bringing good music to the surface. The scope of a Dj’s contribution to the art correlates to the depth of their musical awareness and their ability to string meaning through out a set of diverse but similar songs. The Audience is one third of the Holy Trinity of my job. Connecting with the audience at the W was a goal to “bridge the gap” or pop the bubble using music as a vehicle to connect with people who might otherwise be underexposed to the breadth of awesome new music in the world. They are also a key audience because of their potential planetary impact through the leverage of finance applied to the real world. A broader awareness is better. Knowledge of world beyond Britney Spears is crucial for everyone, especially those who have the capital to make changes in areas where capital can help. This is basically what led me intuitively toward playing at the W. Music is the source of my inspiration and the path I am following. Hopefully, doing no harm and just by my presence changing the context of the scene. Thanks to everyone who came out to make this one of my best nights so far. I look forward to so many more. Apologies to anyone who couldn’t afford the door price. This is the nature of what I do. I hope you understand and know that the next set I play I’m playing for you guys. D

I would like to start producing but not from the American individualist as power icon perspective. More as a statement of thanks to the community from which I benefit tremendously.