aeblog

Dj Halsey

As I start to dive more into a broader array of music around me, I realize that, unknowingly, I have a lot in common with Djs and the whole Dj culture. This feels quite odd to me because I have always thought of myself as a musician who plays 'real' instruments - drums in particular - and have approached what I do from the more traditional place that rock musicians, classical composers and the like come from: melody, harmony, and yes, rhythm. I have nothing bad to say about Djs at all; it's just that I have been incredibly ignorant about what they do and how they approach their craft. Or at least how their craft can be approached.

I have been feeling my mind opening up recently and it has been really exciting as well as overwhelming. I think that I have always had an open mind in most regards, but no matter how open you are, if you don't come in contact with certain thoughts, expressions, ideas, they will still never enter your mind. An open mind in a vacuum is no different than a closed mind in a highly dense swirl of information, in this sense. I almost feel like there is so much out there to explore and absorb that I can't even begin. Of course, I began a long long time ago, but as I am now looking around corners I never did before, the world is opening up before me as a much vaster place filled with many more people doing things that I identify with than I had ever imagined. In some ways, I feel lonelier in my work because I am no bigger, though my surroundings have grown immensely. But in other ways, it is incredibly affirming to hear of all these creative people out there who are following their personal beliefs and are doing things that are right up my alley. I have this insatiable desire to meet these people; to let our thoughts co-mingle; to support and be supported by them; to find a community. I don't know the best way to do this, but I will try. I have confidence in my resourcefulness.

So back the the music. The whole notion of sampling, using and re-using audio information in different ways is at the core of what a Dj does and is also at the core of what I do. I suppose the big difference is that not only do I write original music to accompany the voices, but all the voices I collect are in some sense 'original' as well in that they are collected explicitly for my purposes and I am the one recording them for the first time. In so doing, I exhibit a certain control over them, at least in terms of how they are collected and the general topics that are spoken about. So I think things diverge fairly quickly, but this connection, though obvious to many people who have heard my music, is coming into focus for me now.