Saturday, 1 March 2008
You could say it was just a matter of time before the clubbing world started to embrace web 2.0 technologies within their venues, but the uptake has actually been surprisingly slow. But now some of today's hottest DJ performers are pushing the envelope as never before, and redefining the meaning of what it means to DJ.
While Bono is off creating new
U23D movie spectacles, the likes of
Sander Kleinenberg are hotting up the floors with a new form of combined VJ and DJ interactive performance. These DVJs are blurring the line between two separate fields, greatly increasing the depth of communication with their audience as they do so, and the results rock!
New mixing units from equipment makers like
Pioneer let the artist deliver visual content (usually pre-built for specific tracks) as the DJ cuts the song, allowing the DVJ to read the context of the dance floor with live images or word strings timed to the music. The result is stunning - with a two-way communication from the crowd that goes deeper than previously seen on just the VJ front , and which elevates the DVJ to an even stronger center of attention.
As the technology continues to expand, we can expect to see live feeds and new content streams from remote sources in clubs, creating even stronger visual experiences for audiences - even DJ
twitters? And its not hard to imagine an internet connected unit that can process text sent from the audience via an SMS or to a website.
Currently the DJ and VJ worlds are debating about whether the newly combined DVJ will last - but it seems a sure bet that this added form of creativity will breed a whole new level of party performer, and like most things, result in a whole new category of 'visual music'
[our term].
Check out scenes from Sander Kleinenberg performing recently at
Ministry of Sound, as he shows us how its done. Kleinenberg's hit compilation "This Is" is all over clubland at the moment with submissions that include top work from
Disk Jokke,
Kraak & Smaak, Badmouth,
Gui Boratto and others.