The Therapy That Comes From Painting My Mind

I was approached about doing a mix for IPaintMyMind.org probably over a year ago. I first found IPMM through the first two DJ episodes that were created by DJs with strong ties to the Champaign DJ scene (Belly and Limbs). But around the time I was asked, my life as a DJ, which had been going up and up for a year, started to get turned upside down.

I won’t get into the details here, but what happened in the last three months of 2010 was like being kicked down a mountain I had spent eight years climbing up. Everything I had in terms of residencies, draw, future bookings, etc all seemed to disappear in truly awful and spirit-crushing ways between October and December. As the first days of 2011 passed, I realized, by choice or not, I had a completely blank slate to work with if I was going to continue DJing (and it wasn’t always a sure thing that I was going to continue).

That much freedom usually ends up paralyzing me by presenting too many options in my mind. And to help focus myself, I started going through all 4,000+ pieces of wax that I own, hoping that not only would I find a sound for this mix, but I’d find some sanity in my own head when it came to what I want to do as a DJ. The process of going through those records only ended a few weeks ago. Even though it took me most of a year to finish, digging through my own collection has retaught me what I love about being a DJ.

So this mix for IPMM served as a form of therapy over the past year I’ve taken to make it. It has mutated considerably over the last year. At times the mix helped me get past feeling dejected and rejected. At other times it was going to take the form of a diss mix, almost openly encouraging beef with other DJs I can’t stand. Sometimes, it was just a source of pure happiness. Other times, I wanted it to be a calling card for my style and technique. I’ve tracked out parts that were highly political (especially recently in light of the Occupy movement), highly emotive, or designed to challenge the listener to think.

No one idea survived by itself as the theme for the mix. Some things I thought for sure would make it (like this sound collage I created) were cut. Instead, this mix ended up taking a little bit from all of the aforementioned themes. What I hope it does is make the listener both think and feel something, anything. In my opinion, too much of DJ culture today is centered on Party, Party, Party and not enough on being a form of expression for the DJ. Music should make you think and feel deeper thoughts than slamming shots and getting a good picture from the show to put on Facebook.

If you want to slap a genre on this mix, it’s got a good amount of disco and edits to it. It’s got my chug-style that I love to mix. But at the same time, it feels different than any other mix I’ve made. I’m incredibly proud of it. In fact, from my point of view, there is no other mix that I’ve made that I’d put on the same level as this one.

I’d like to thank Evan and IPMM for giving me the opportunity (and the time) to create it. I hope people enjoy it once it’s posted up!

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