"I believe in compulsory dance music," says Opulent Temple resident Dex
Stakker. "I used to be more of a genre nazi, and a breakbeat purist,
but when you really dive into the electronic music scene, at at one
point in time, there is a glut of some style that was delivering quality
music five minutes ago, and burst of steam in some area that was boring
as hell last week. In looking back over your life, I think there are
plenty of songs, regardless of genre, that you've danced to that make
you shake your head in shame, wondering why. But songs that MADE you
dance, generally still do, regardless of how cheeseball they might seem
now. That's compulsory dance music."
"In stocking a playlist for a night, I put this to qualifier to the
test, especially for filler material. There's enough out there, that
there should be nothing but killer filler in a set. I like when
mainstays like Sasha or Deep Dish pull that "other crate" of records out
around 3AM after the yo-yo's have partied themselves out. They'll pull
out progressive house and and trance-y tracks that at first glance seem
to be boring. Then slowly but surely you'll notice it: a sample, a
rhythmic bit, some arrangement trick, something that makes that song NOT
a waste of time."
"There's nothing more painful to me than a look of boredom in the eyes
of a dance floor. Keeping them interested, dancing and challenged
without selling my soul, well, that's the fun of it."
Dex spins his characteristic mish-mosh of electrotechfunkybreaks (there
are five styles in there if you draw out the diagram) at the Opulent
Temple, and this last year burst onto the San Francisco scene in grand
fashion for a roookie, sharing stages and bills with such luminaries as
Meat Katie, Dylan Rhymes, Drumattic Twins, Carbon Community, Elite
Force, and Myagi.
Links to mixes:
Restraint (or lack thereof):
a faithful rendition of Dex's 3AM set from Opulent Temple's "Audible
From Space" at DNA Lounge on June 30th.
ZIP file of Single MP3 version
http://www.dexstakker.com/Restraint_single.zip
ZIP file of 13 tracks for burning to CD
http://www.dexstakker.com/Restraint.zip
Damnable Breakdown
a faithful rendition of Dex's 10PM set at Opel's "Elite Intentions" on
February 18th, 2007 (opening for Elite Force)
ZIP file of Single MP3 version
http://www.dexstakker.com/DamnableBreakdown_single.zip
ZIP file of 13 tracks for burning to CD
http://www.dexstakker.com/DamnableBreakdown.zip
July 29, 2007 09:58 PM, by jeff
