Techno-logy

By Maciejka Gorzelnik

Justin James performs a live set at Footwork in Toronto Sept. 14 (Photo by John Mitchell)

Walking into a completely black square room, speakers are set up in the middle of the dance floor pointing outwards as music blasts out into every corner. A single strobe light blinks. The DJ is setup in a small projection room on the side. This is Detroit techno. This is a rave.

“I’ve never heard music like I had heard that night,” recalls Justin James of the night he said changed his life.

Hailing from Windsor, just across the river from the legendary stylings of the Detroit electronic scene, James takes his influence from the deep and soulful sounds of his predecessors. His style is an energetic blend of techno and house manifested into a high energy musical experience.

James was not always a “creative” type. Being a jock in high school he thought becoming an artist meant you had to be able to draw or paint life-like scenes. But even as that high school jock, James had a passion for music.

“When I was on my high school basketball team, I took so much pride in making our warm-up tapes. I wanted people to hear my new stuff,” said James. “I realized the first time I DJed when people started dancing to the music that I was playing, that was the same feeling I would get when my basketball team liked the warm-up tape that I had made.”

Even though James does see DJing as an art form he said he believes the role of a DJ is to be more of a curator than a creator. Just as the curator of an art gallery chooses what pieces will be presented and how, the DJ compiles a soundtrack for the evening. The magic, according to James, is when you combine two tracks to make “the third song.”

“To create this moment in time in music that doesn’t sound like one or the other. From a DJ purist point of view, that’s a big thing,” said James.

At the recent CNTRL: Beyond EDM (electronic dance music) lecture held at the University of Windsor Nov. 7, the topic of the third song was brought up on numerous occasions. German DJ Loco Dice gave a demonstration of how a third song is produced.

“Creating the third song with the faders is what makes us unique,” said Dice. “If we were boring DJs, we’d play one song after the other and it wouldn’t be very exciting.”

James strives to be anything but boring. Doing the bare minimum as a DJ leads to negative generalities. But according to James, many DJs get away with it and do it for years. Those who keep pushing forward and trying to do something new are those who will come out on top.

“The DJ for DJ’s sake is kind of a fad. It’s something people are getting demystified by. They’re seeing it and saying, ‘they’re pushing buttons up there. That’s boring.’” said James. “This is techno. It’s technology. All of it has to be about pushing the envelope. Finding what you can do and how you can do it.”

Electronic music is becoming more interactive than it has been before. As technology advances it opens the doors for DJs to do more at live shows. According to local techno music pioneer Richie Hawtin, one of the key reasons why this genre is growing at such a rapid pace is because the audience is finally starting see what the DJ is doing and what influence he or she has over the music played.

“Going to a concert when I was a kid and seeing the drummer or the guitarist, there was a direct audio and visual connection. That connection has to be there for people to feel deeply about what you’re doing,” said Hawtin. “There has to be a level of entertainment there too, not just watching someone and having no idea what those movements actually mean musically.”

Interaction is one of the most important factors for any live show. Hawtin suggests that having lighting effects controlled by the music is the next step in building that connection between the DJ and the audience.

Even though James does try to incorporate visuals using video and lighting into his live sets as much as possible, he still believes there is more that needs to be done in terms of connection. Instead of having the music control the visuals, many artists are synchronizing their visuals to the music leaving no room for creativity.

“There are DJs who have gotten to a point where their show completely out shines their content. The show, the lighting and the visuals have actually taken over and it becomes more about the spectacle,” said James. “They’ve lost control of how they perform and have become the lip-syncers of the DJ world.”

The spectacle often comes with the territory of being a mainstream artist. Live creativity takes a back seat to a polished performance. Depending on the audience a given DJ is catering to, either is a feasible option.

James has held many residencies, including Windsor’s Boom Boom Room where he expanded his musical creativity. The Boom Boom Room is one of few venues in the area where local DJs and producers can showcase themselves. Co-owner Remo Agostino has been a long-time supporter of the electronic music scene and said that even though a lot of the music played is not mainstream, he is constantly looking for new ways of introducing the genre to more people locally.

“It may not be everyone’s thing and that’s ok,” said Agostino. “Techno likes to keep its doors on a tight hinge but it might be just right for you if you give it a chance.”

For more information and to keep updated about James, like “Justin James” on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @Justin_James

Follow Maciejka on Twitter @miss_emg