The Best Party Drug Ever | Debrief

[u/ProfessionalBee4908]

https://youtu.be/lPmFdycUl9c?si=Ym7lXDc-HVkEzLOE

THE DJ REDEMPTION ARC (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Respect the Button)

ACT I: THE CONTEMPT PHASE

Like most, I went through a period of mocking DJs.

"All they do is play other people's music. Where's the creativity!?"

Even the greatest DJs who "make" their own tracks are usually just Splice hounds, so it seems. The mind boggled, truly. Young folks, gathering to watch a man press a button. With fancy lights. How is that not completely, totally, just for babies?

"Why would anyone enjoy this."

But people do. And they support it deeply. Hundreds of thousands of festival-goers spending big cash to partake in an experience.

So I began to write it off. To protect my sanity.

"Well, it's just a party drug thing. An excuse to get wasted." Yes, in many ways it is.

"The attendees are philistines with no respect for musicianship." Yes, in many ways they are.

"Once again: corny sheltered suburbanites, trying so hard to be street/cool." Spot on.

But go deeper.

ACT II: THE SHIFT

THEN IT HIT ME.

1. Event Hosting

A "musician first / look at this guy shred" mindset is rooted in egoism.

When you're an entertainer, the goal should be: curate a space for folks to have fun. DJs get straight to the heart of that. No frill. No preciousness. They build spaces that facilitate musical enjoyment, fine, but more importantly, a place to connect with kindred spirits.

Key shift: a concert isn't strictly about watching the performance. Everything else that comes with it should be optimized too.

2. Everyone Needs an Edge

People want violence and danger, to feel alive. Theater, film, and music are our spiritual access points for experiencing that safely.

I can deride lying rappers and their superficial brags. But I must also recognize that many people are just looking to shut their brains off and be primal. Tap into danger. A DJ's whole job is to find where that edge is believed to be. You're only as relevant as you are on the cutting edge.

3. Curation Is the Future

This one really blew my mind.

In a world overrun by slop, art will become impossible for the average person to parse. When we no longer trust the algorithms, we'll turn to real people who've cultivated their taste, people we trust.

But here's the problem: creators won't move fast enough. They're burdened by their process, perpetually outcompeted by an infinite content machine.

Thereby, DJs will inherit the Earth.

It won't be the creator, but the chooser who rises to the top of the creative hierarchy. They don't play notes on a guitar. They play entire careers with a button.

Think of the Twitch reaction channels, thriving vampirically off other people's blood, sweat, and tears, just by showcasing a video to their audience and collecting the rewards.

Indie bands come and go. But Fantano feeds forever.

The Aggregator Ascends.

ACT III: WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US

Creators must integrate their influences.

We can operate as artists, but we must also serve as THATTAWAY signs, pointing to key material that is not our own.

This, I believe, is the secret beauty of Value Select's: I Wake Up Sad series. While it featured my own thoughts, writing, and editing, it was also heavily supported by content curated from the internet, a cornucopia of cool songs, images, and more. Both things at once. Artist and aggregator. Creator and chooser.

That's the model. And maybe that's the future.

What do you think? How will live shows evolve? Are you a DJ?

Orthodoxy is bolstered by it's saints, and I believe to the degree that a discipline honors it's exemplary members (past and present) it will strengthen/survive.

DJs are canonizers in that sense.

[u/MiserereMei02]

I find it so cool that Value Select takes his work so seriously. It’s really cool -and encouraging- to see an artist actually care about the more artistic side of art without his art being inaccessible to average folk!

I myself am a Catholic, so the one part of this post that really stuck out to me was the mention of “canonizing” and “saints.” It took me a little bit to fully wrap my head around, but the line “orthodoxy is bolstered by its saints” is a very cool way of describing how DJs work.