yo.... i kinda get what you are saying but again, i kinda dont. i mean, first of all, if this style was around then (before the last year or so) like it is now, i would have been playing it all along. i was never known for playing the super hard nasty stuff, i never preferred that style and barely included it in my sets. to say i have gotten on board, is kind of a slap in my face because i do not consider myself as getting on board of anything especially related to dnb. the tunes in this specific mix, this style is not a style that has been running around the west coast for years man, the whole vibe of these tunes were a sort of answer to people who said all dnb became was either super hard dark stuff or super deep light stuff or blatant novelty jump up. if anyone has been on this vibe for a while, and getting shunned for playing it , its been john b, and this is the result of where that electro, girl friendly, sick of the ladies running out the door, ode to classic balaeric house, kind of thing has now evolved. in terms of america, i would say subsonik has been most true to this specific sound, and ask him how long he has been sending me tunes to play.
look man, you can look into interviews from me dating back as far as you care to see, and any time i have ever described what i play most, are heavy rollers. for potd i was the gap between dara's jump up, and dsl's harder style, but for years, i have always played the best of what was available to me, and as you know, been doing that same dancefloor mentality since day one.
at the end of the day, the reason for this mix, wasnt specifically to big myself up and say hey this is what i am playing, it was to reach out and tell the rest of the frantic world who has given up on dnb completely or never heard of it, or cared enough to give it a go.
I have never been about trying to please existing fans, i have always been the one trying to create the new ones, so again, to assume that i have come in and jumped on a bandwagon that many other american dj's should have credit for, or wont get respect for, is absurd. if someone doesnt get the attention or the respect or whatever you think, as i do, then maybe its more to do with how much i have consistently done to work at this scene GLOBALLY since its inception, and how i have spent years pushing and developing new artists, and running labels, and playing all over the world and building a fanbase and busting my ass every waking moment trying to make sure this music doesnt completely die over here.
yeah there have been good years and there have been bad years, and i have been right there through them all. not switching to dubstep or running to electro or some other trend. you get out what you put in to this just like the rest of life, i made more sacrifice then most anyone you could ever name in america for this music, and yeah some years its paid off well, but it sure hasnt been all rosy the last few years. forgive me for being defensive, but when you say that some people who have been rocking it a long time, it sort of suggests that i am stealing someones thunder, that i am someone to walk into something and assume ownership of it...
actually man, re-reading your post, theres a few things that i dont get, but i guess thats just me, and maybe i am a bit wound up because of the holidays i have been doing nothing but trying to make sure everyone else in my life is taken care of, and have spent the last 2 weeks busting my ass on this mix and the promotion of it, and doing what i thought was all around a good thing for the scene in general, especially in the USA. you think its fun to read andy c tweet about how fun his 4 gigs on new years eve were when i sat home? if more people were truly out there pushing shit the way they should be pushing it, there wouldnt be a reason for the reply you gave in this thread. but thanking me for "finally coming around to where a lot of US heads have been coming from", is a backhanded compliment at best.
and apologies if i ripped too hard into the reply, or looked too deeply into how it was worded, but i wear my shit on my sleeve, everyone knows that. and massive respect to jayvon, whizard, and circuit, and anyone else out there doing what they do to better secure this form of music....
and in terms of this particular style of dnb music as a whole, from this mix, this is the best vibe that describes who i am as a fan of music. its where i come from. i started djing in 1989, and the biggest dance music around, aside from acid house, was balearic. classic piano riffs, floaty pads, loads of vocals, and proper feel good vibes.... thats who i am , and thats where i am from, and thats what i have always tried my best to represent.
i hope you push the mix, most importantly to those who tell you they hate dnb now, or that they think dnb is shit, those are the ones who really need to change, or "come around"
dave
ps, i have been straight up heckled for not playing hard aggro dark shit, so i guess its happened to all of us at some point... but then again, i have been approached more times asking if i was gonna be playing this techno shit all night or if i could please play some ja rule... you get me?
i think its great that you've gotten on board with this style of music, there are lots of guys in the u.s. that have allready been pushing this kind of funk for a while now. jayvon, whizard and circuit, etc. mostly the west coast. Dara always brings the funk imo- as far as holdin down the east coast goes. . But what about the guys that allready cane the shit out of this stuff and have previously been laughed at by the northamerican scene because it wasnt "dark" enough, or "crap my fucking pants step". Its good that a big name us dj is on board with this stuff publicly, (though i do know that you have been rockin the dancefloor sound since the get-go) hopefully it will shut some people up, I can't stress enough that i hope you can convey this to everyone you come in contact with in the us, which is catching on, yet still has a long way to go. ive gotta give it up to the people, the little guys, that have been playing this stuff in the us trenches for years. Don't get me wrong, i love the u.s. sound too, as well as anyone, but it seems a bit elitist as well, pushing aside sounds like these. Hopefully that will change. I guess all in all im glad that you've posted this, and at the same time i think there are lots of great dj's in the us, that wont get the same respect as you in the game, yet have been rocking it for a long time, which is b.s.
big ups on this one, big mix.
cheers.