I opened my set at Fabric in the Sonic Router room with 'Gama' by General LOK last year, it went down a treat. Kinda opened with a bang then took it deep with Loefah and LHF etc before easing in the colourful stuff & funky...
I do find myself reaching for beatless intros a lot though. 'Rainy Dub' by Actress, 'Mud' by El Kid and 'Zones Under Influence' by Stella OM Source have all been recent go to openers for my radio sets. All pretty beatless at least for a while.
My favourite intro track I heard was Mala dropping some Terry Riley or something at DMZ in Leeds before going right into some dubplate or another. The transition from that to pure bass and beats was heavy as hell on that Iration Steppas soundsystem.
Pretty sure that was the name of that Pritchard track. He killed it with that'un.
12:39 am
Anonymous said...
great piece. if only more dj's realised this
11:57 pm
Anonymous said...
A great read, thanks for sharing. Your bit about the second track actually made me think of a restaurant review I read a while ago that stuck with me. I think there are some parallels; here's the meat of the post:
"This course (as well as many others) was literally a single bite. Thomas Keller is famous for saying (concerning the law of diminishing returns), 'The initial bite is fabulous. The second bite is great. But by the third bite - with many more to come - the flavors begin to deaden, and the diner loses interest.' I do believe this is true to a certain extent, but when something tastes fabulous ... I really, really want a second bite. When there is no second bite and my brain just keeps craving the taste of the flavors one more time, it starts to become a little frustrating... The second bite is IMPORTANT."
oh yea looove the opportunity of the intro to shake things up/make a statement and set a boundary from the prior three hour dancehall show(@KTUH FM HONOLULU!) lately been dropping some of the real spaced out beatless jeff mills track he is doing as Something In the Sky, Actress Gershwin, Rustie Globes !!!, Sully Toffee Apple is a real wake up call, some of the vocal tracks off gilscott v jamiexx....
I love this, sometimes I wish I could play a whole set of intro tunes.
Been thinking that Haunted tune by Nico Lindsay would do the job. Would definately be a good bass test.
Or something from Madvillain/Only Built 4 Cuban Linx - those records stay in my bag for that exact reason haha.
But what on the all important outro tune?
12:54 pm
sectionfive said...
Nothing like Mala drawing for that Count Ossie Bongo Man thing haha.
Or Skream with Lemon many moons ago
Intros don't have to be big but they should always set tone. I likes ones that are exactly what you came to hear but still feel like a bit of step forward, fresh and have a bit of WTF. Curiosity draws you in.
this makes me want to be there for one of your dj sets, man.
11:58 pm
[Image]
Check check: intro tunes.
Intro…
….tunes.
As a DJ, I’m obsessed with…
Intro tunes.Why?
Intro tunes have things to say, they
say “here we are.” You’ve begun, arrived
and that other DJ, he’s finished now. For the next hour or ideally more, you’re
in tune to us.
Intro tunes also say “this is who we are.”
Those other tracks, by that other DJ they’re gone now. That was his vibration;
this is ours. This is what we’re about, where we’re beginning from and as of
now on you’ll begin to see where we’re going to.
Sometimes I wish you could have two intro
tunes, but it doesn’t work like that.
Why? Because the second tune’s power is
diminished by the first. There can’t be two firsts. That power is what makes
intro tunes unique and so magical. And because they’re your first track, it has
infinite potential. No crowd will leave after one track… I just can’t imagine
how bad it would have to be, so far away from their expectations for a crowd to
leave en masse after one tune alone. Yes it might be possible to empty a room
with one tune, but it’s… unlikely.
(As an aside Dusk and I have emptied a room
with five tracks but not one, but that was because Ghetts, Logan and 34 MCs had
just left the stage of his “Freedom of Speech” album launch party all at once
and took the crowd (their crews/mates) with them… oh and and technically the
bar staff and two lads we’ve since realized were Elijah and Skilliam were still
there, but who’s counting.)
So your intro tune is completely free,
utterly unbounded by expectation. It is utterly liberated from any of DJing’s confines.
And DJing does have basic parameters and confines under which it operates, just
like dance music production, and it’s better for it, lest it descend into a
chaotic, amorphous mess. The genius then is not how you can remove those
confines (“I don’t need to mix! I don’t need decks! I don’t even need music!”
“Err, OK mate, now what…?”). It’s who can find a new twist or a unique space
within those confines.
Personally, I love a beatless intro.
To play beatless tracks in the middle of a
set, well, you either have to be looking to grind things to a halt to segue
into another direction (a garage -> jungle switch for example), have
mind-melting amounts of influence like Wiley did during the “devil mix” era at
Sidewinder or are just looking to be a little contrary. I recall some quote
from techno godfather Derrick May saying that a good DJ should be able to take
things down to nothing and back up. In any event, if you drop something
beatless mid set you’ll need to rebuild all the momentum you’d built prior to
that.
But with an intro tune you have no
momentum, you’re starting from absolute zero and in some ways beatless intro’s
are perfect for that. They’re like a palate cleanser, wiping away the
expectations and momentum from the previous DJ and resetting things from which
to rebuild.
Some DJs like to come in with an absolute
banger; I’ve seen that a lot from dubstep DJs who are singularly focused on
hype. The problem is: where do you go from there? If your intro tune is a 10/10,
you better have about 9 more 10/10’s in the bag otherwise your set is an
anticlimax. It’s that old adage about there being “no loud without quiet,” you
can’t get louder than loudest, by definition (time for a “turn it up to 11”
Spinal Tap reference? No, thought not…). Actually, thinking about it, those DJs
who do intro with bangers, their sets tend to take a different shape. Instead
of steadily building up in intensity, which I prefer, or declining in
intensity, which seems a little perverse, each track is mellow/hype cycle in
itself. 32 bar chilled intro followed by massive dynamic range change,
mid-range drop and lots of compressed “loud” sounds… before the next intro
comes in… Repeat cycle for an hour.
I also like the ability of beatless intros
to express an another emotion other than hypement. Yes I saw certain critics slewing of the James
Blake/emotional end of the dubstep spectrum but really as a DJ what I’m looking
to do is generate strong emotional reactions – and that doesn’t just mean “arrrrghfkjskJFKKEK
RELOADDATBUMBA!!!!,” though that is fun. I’d also like to create intense warmth/happiness,
heartbreak/melancholia and even introspection as well as disorienting and overwhelming
urge to dance with every cell in your body. Because of their power and
potential, intro tunes are a good place for that kind of emotion.
Intro tunes: as we enta.
"As we enta: the wonder of the intro tune"
15 Comments -
always enjoy your think pieces
3:50 pm
Absolutely great post.
10:13 pm
wicked piece,, so whats your favorite intro tunes then?
2:58 am
I opened my set at Fabric in the Sonic Router room with 'Gama' by General LOK last year, it went down a treat. Kinda opened with a bang then took it deep with Loefah and LHF etc before easing in the colourful stuff & funky...
I do find myself reaching for beatless intros a lot though. 'Rainy Dub' by Actress, 'Mud' by El Kid and 'Zones Under Influence' by Stella OM Source have all been recent go to openers for my radio sets. All pretty beatless at least for a while.
My favourite intro track I heard was Mala dropping some Terry Riley or something at DMZ in Leeds before going right into some dubplate or another. The transition from that to pure bass and beats was heavy as hell on that Iration Steppas soundsystem.
9:18 pm
yeah Mala's use of that beatless Mark Prichard track was a case in point, total headfukkk... amazing.
11:28 pm
?
Pretty sure that was the name of that Pritchard track. He killed it with that'un.
12:39 am
great piece. if only more dj's realised this
11:57 pm
A great read, thanks for sharing. Your bit about the second track actually made me think of a restaurant review I read a while ago that stuck with me. I think there are some parallels; here's the meat of the post:
"This course (as well as many others) was literally a single bite. Thomas Keller is famous for saying (concerning the law of diminishing returns), 'The initial bite is fabulous. The second bite is great. But by the third bite - with many more to come - the flavors begin to deaden, and the diner loses interest.' I do believe this is true to a certain extent, but when something tastes fabulous ... I really, really want a second bite. When there is no second bite and my brain just keeps craving the taste of the flavors one more time, it starts to become a little frustrating... The second bite is IMPORTANT."
9:57 am
>whats your favorite intro tunes then?
Mine currently are:
Balistiq Beats “Concrete Jungle [Yardman riddim] (Beneath remix)”
Logos "Kowloon"
Logos "Atlanta96"
Dusk & Blackdown ft Farrah "Lonely Moon (Android Heartbreak)"
10:40 am
oh yea looove the opportunity of the intro to shake things up/make a statement and set a boundary from the prior three hour dancehall show(@KTUH FM HONOLULU!) lately been dropping some of the real spaced out beatless jeff mills track he is doing as Something In the Sky, Actress Gershwin, Rustie Globes !!!, Sully Toffee Apple is a real wake up call, some of the vocal tracks off gilscott v jamiexx....
6:08 pm
the second track is another matter...that is always a tough one, where your actually heading.
6:10 pm
I love this, sometimes I wish I could play a whole set of intro tunes.
Been thinking that Haunted tune by Nico Lindsay would do the job. Would definately be a good bass test.
Or something from Madvillain/Only Built 4 Cuban Linx - those records stay in my bag for that exact reason haha.
But what on the all important outro tune?
12:54 pm
Nothing like Mala drawing for that Count Ossie Bongo Man thing haha.
Or Skream with Lemon many moons ago
Intros don't have to be big but they should always set tone. I likes ones that are exactly what you came to hear but still feel like a bit of step forward, fresh and have a bit of WTF. Curiosity draws you in.
This, regardless of the name
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfvzzTZCtV0
1:33 am
Yeaaa, I opened my set tonight (KTUH FM Honolulu!) with the Mark Prichard track, "?" . Sick! Thanks! Love me Discogs!
11:40 am
this makes me want to be there for one of your dj sets, man.
11:58 pm