TLDR; I PULLED DJING STATS OUT OF MY DATABASE
I’ve been tracking data about my DJ gigs (and shows overall) for a long time, just as a side effect of always running some form of event calendar, so I figured it would be interesting to run a database query see how they’ve changed over time.
I don’t think this list is exhaustive, but it’s fairly close (90+%). If anything is missing, it’s a bunch of FUZZ/BBT dates. Aside from a handful of exceptional ones, I didn’t include house show/parties. I broke down each event by the “primary” genre tag used for the event.
ANALYSIS
It’s often kind of tough to actually break down what I play, and that’s probably the biggest take-away. I try to fit the theme of the night, but I also seek out nights where I can play just about anything. As time went by, more and more sets are these pan-genre sets that fell into a few categories.
“Bass” is really maybe the biggest cheat, since the contents of that have veered one way or another over time. Since 2008, my sets in this area have been often fairly genre agnostic, and combine elements of dubstep, ukg, grime, funky, wave, bassline, jersey club, footwork, drum and bass and other bass-focused sounds within one set, but different nights may go much more heavily towards one subgenre. Overall it was really facilitated by the format for Stackin Paper andLazerCrunk. I like it this way, but it’s sometimes hard to sum-up.
“Dark dance” is really just my way of summing up what i typically play at goth or modern dark nights, but it doesn’t really map to an existing well known genre. It’s interesting to see that I’ve strung together a few different series that ended up expressing it self this way (ILLUSIONS, Darkwave, Coven, plus other guest spots). I made a pretty conscious decision starting from the first time that I ever played one of these nights that I’d mix it up more than what any one DJ did in those scenes. You’ll usually hear a bit of goth, deathrock, darkwave, witch house, minimal wave, ebm and noisier other tangents strung together. Sometimes I’ve played more niche sets and indicated that, usually more in the power-noise or industrial vein.
“Anything goes” really is an expression of when I started to open up my creates and DJ sets to blending as many things together as possible. Some of that was my own impetus, some was getting some opportunities to play for open nights by people like Edgar Um and Kristen Dale. It’s a bit unfair of a descriptor, as sometimes it was mostly indie-dance of the era (early-mid 2000s), other other times a more open mix of punk, new wave, no-wave, funk, soul, industrial, hiphop, dancehall, house, electro, disco, world-dance or whatever else was banging or I picked up at the record store, but typically with more of an eye for the popular dancefloor than other sorts of shows.
I enjoy playing all kinds of sets, but in some regards i feel like my unique strengths really are in breakcore, jungle, idm, classic rave and other niche high-energy electronic music. The reality is that I don’t find that many gigs in those styles due to their relative lack of popularity or zeitgeist.
DATA
# of events by primary genre, per year
2019 (13 shows as of april)
dark dance (mixed genre) 4
synthwave 2
bass (mixed genre) 2
techno 1
breakcore 1
anything goes noisy (mixed genre) 1
anything goes dance (mixed genre) 1
live 1
2018 (27 shows)
dark dance (mixed genre) 10
bass (mixed genre) 8
uk garage 2
drum and bass 1
anything goes dance (mixed genre) 2
anything goes noisy (mixed genre) 1
electro 1
breakcore 1
dancehall / dub 1
2017 (21 shows)
bass (mixed genre) 10
footwork 3
synthwave 3
breakcore 2
dark dance (mixed genre) 1
drum and bass 1
downtempo 1
2016 (31 shows)
bass (mixed genre) 13
drum and bass 3
dark dance (mixed genre) 3
breakcore 2
ukg 2
idm 2
footwork 1
synthwave 1
chiptune 1
industrial 1
rave 1
dubstep 1
2015 (21 shows)
bass (mixed genre) 12
dark dance (mixed genre) 5
breakcore 2
drum and bass 2
2014 (28 shows)
bass (mixed genre) 12
dark dance (mixed genre) 5
drum and bass 4
anything goes underground (mixed genre) 2
breakcore 1
edm 1
idm 1
noise 1
mashup 1
2013 (28 shows)
bass (mixed genre) 12
drum and bass 7
dark dance (mixed genre) 4
80s 1
breakcore 1
idm 1
industrial 1
witch house 1
2012 (30 shows)
bass (mixed genre) 15
dark dance (mixed genre) 6
breakcore 2
drum and bass 2
90s 1
witch house 1
indie dance 1
idm 1
metal 1
2011 (27 shows)
bass (mixed genre) 13
dark dance (mixed genre) 5
dubstep / deep 3
breakcore 2
anything goes dance (mixed genre) 1
glitch hop 1
hardcore 1
power noise 1
2010 (35 shows)
bass (mixed genre) 15
drum and bass 3
breakcore 3
anything goes dance (mixed genre) 2
dubstep 2
idm 2
indie dance 2
dark dance 1
electro 1
hiphop 1
glitch hop 1
industrial 1
mashup 1
2009 (35 shows)
bass (mixed genre) 8
anything goes dance (mixed genre) 6
breakcore 3
dubstep 3
idm 3
indie dance 2
drum and bass 2
chiptune 1
b-more 1
dancehall 1
disco / house 1
electro 1
mashup 1
2008 (30 shows)
anything goes dance (mixed genre) 11
bass (mixed genre) 11
drum and bass 2
idm 2
rave 1
breakcore 1
mashup 1
dubstep 1
2007 (36 shows)
anything goes dance (mixed genre) 12
breakcore 6
drum and bass 5
electro 5
bass 2
dubstep 1
dark dance 1
hardcore 1
mashup 1
idm 1
rave 1
2006 (31 shows)
anything goes dance (mixed genre) 10
breakcore 7
drum and bass 6
idm 2
electro 2
experimental / noise 2
rave 1
dubstep 1
2005 (20 shows)
drum and bass 7
experimental / noise 3
idm 3
breakcore 3
hardcore 2
mashup 1
dancehall / reggae 1
2004 (16 shows)
breakcore 6
drum and bass 5
experimental / noise 2
anything goes dance (mixed genre) 1
rave 1
idm 1
2003 (15 shows)
breakcore 7
idm 5
electro 2
hardcore 1
2002 (17 shows)
breakcore 7
drum and bass 7
idm 1
80s 1
rave 1
2001 (14 shows)
breakcore 4
hardcore 3
drum and bass 2
idm 2
dark dance music (mixed genre) 1
hiphop 1
punk 1
2000 (15 shows)
drum and bass 6
breakcore 5
hardcore 2
experimental / noise 2
1999 (6 shows)
rave 3
hardcore 1
happy hardcore 1
drum and bass 1
1998 (3 shows)
drum and bass 2
happy hardcore 1
1997 (2 shows)
drum and bass 1
hardcore 1
1996 (3 shows)
drum and bass 2
hardcore 1
