Now A Vinyl DJ

I am now a vinyl DJ.

Actually, I should rephrase that.  I now have vinyl decks – Technics, of course.

I bought them a couple of months back and yes, they have pretty much sat there since then.  It was too good a deal to turn down, though unfortunately one of the needles seems to need replacing – and that is where I am stuck.

There is one other rather sizable problem – I have no vinyl.

Again, not strictly true as I have a large box of old vinyls that has apparently done the rounds of the old BOA group in Reading (gosh that’s a blast from the past) – think mostly slightly cheesy funky house circa 2003/2004.

I've had a look through and out of those with recognisable artist/label names, there might be one that I'll keep.  As you can imagine, I am unlikely to be the last destination for that box of old vinyls!

The main reason I haven't had much of a play with them is that I have had to concentrate all of my spare time recently on looking for my first ever web developer role.  Which not only meant all the time and effort that job hunting itself entails, but designing/coding a portfolio and half a dozen websites to go along with it.  Not to mention that my social life has been pretty hectic too.

Come July payday, I will treat myself to a replacement needle and then start to work out how the hell you mix on vinyl.  One suspects Youtube will be my friend, but I always like to try to work out how to do it myself.  I know the theory, I know what I need to do, but actually doing it will be another matter until I've had plenty of practice.

Though it won’t be until I have my own record collection that I will really start to get into it and truly be able to call myself a vinyl DJ.

Which is the next problem.  Though some old records are around the £1 mark, most new vinyl is towards £10 and some records on my wishlist are of astronomical value.

Speaking of my wishlist, I am also currently going through my 8,500 tracks on iTunes and deciding which ones I need to have on vinyl.  I have a systematic approach – all the tunes I have given 4/5 stars to (maybe bar any Ten Walls records or similarly embarrassing ex-favourites!), all 80’s/early 90’s house tracks that I have given 3+ stars too (they tend to be super cheap and a good way to boost a collection and get that practice I need) and as many disco tracks as possible as I have a long-standing dream of doing a disco night.

Oh and I will definitely buy every track that has helped me get where I am – ie those I have put on my DJ mixes, and those I can recall playing out.  I estimate I will have 1,000 tracks on my wish-list once it is composed.  Hmmm.

The priority for now will be getting, say, 20 of the cheapest vinyls I can, all of which must be tracks I adore, so I can start practicing.

I reckon it will be two years until you see me out, DJing on vinyl.  It is coming and I'll have a whole load of new things to moan about!

Lesbians & Lost Property

Sometimes I have an introductory sentence.  Sometimes I don’t.

I was in the mood to get smashed on Friday and certainly endeavoured to sink a few beers.

For the 158th month in a row I was on warm-up duty.  For the first hour, anyway.  I was in quite a bad mood, albeit tempered somewhat by the reliable beauty of beer, so I wanted to play 138bpm evil techno.  I knew I shouldn’t so tried to play some plodding darkish dub techno instead.

I then veered into minimal and finished on Enzo Siragusa’s Desire.  It didn’t feel like it flowed well enough, though I haven’t been able to listen back to it yet.

I’ve been craving the opportunity to do the midnight until 2am set for months, but I’ve been craving the opportunity to do a B2B with my very good friend, JP, for several years.  We do occasionally have a mix together, and it always goes well – we both have slightly differing tastes in house music but we tend to compliment and challenge each other well.

We decided to plan a set, which isn’t my preferred way to go about things as you cannot tell in advance what the crowd are going to be enjoying, nor what you feel they need next – I’m not keen on the rigidity of a set plan.

That said, it does help when it comes to mixing quality, if you have actually practiced the mix and have confidence that the tracks work well together – but I kind of get off on the danger of not knowing if something is going to work – the excitement of something new working outweighs the disappointment of something not working.  For me, anyway.

The set went well enough (as far as I can remember!), though it probably went better than I thought, my mood was making me doubt myself and still is.

Towards the end of our 2 hours, Martin stepped in to do some B2B with JP, and it worked unsurprisingly well.  As it should – they are very well-versed in DJing together, and it was more off the cuff than what myself and JP had planned.  I enjoyed it more than my own set!

I did have an interesting drunken conversation in the garden with someone who loves our underground sound, as to whether we could do the party more regularly and in a proper nightclub.  I pointed out that Reading doesn’t have a suitable proper nightclub and we cannot afford to fund anything.  He reckons he can find a venue and the money.  We’ll see on that one!  The more pleasing aspect was to hear again, and again, from repeated visitors how much they appreciate what we are doing with our night.  It's almost like public service - but bloody enjoyable.

Tim came on after and played a very reliable tech-house set which had people dancing until towards the end.

But he earned a true accolade in enabling some lesbian action on the dancefloor.  Two seemingly straight girls ended up kissing another girl, all were pretty cute.  The guys they were with all night seemed pretty shocked.  Maybe we should cancel the night whilst we are on a high – can we get any better than dancefloor lesbian action?

Then again, we’ve only just started.

Sadly I was in such a state of delirious lesbian-fuelled wonder at the end that I left my headphones there.  Albeit they were shit, broken and cheap so I’m not exactly fussed.  A new pair of shit headphones has been ordered at the sum of £13.95 in the hope that I can have a mix this weekend.

Next month we have two very good DJs from the old Mango days – Sam Red and Stone Collins.  It should be well up my street, musically – and yours.  Friday 17th June.  See you there.

An Awesome Night

After the last night that I DJ’d, I wrote a fairly miserable blog post about it.

I didn’t post it in the end, mainly as I remembered that I’m in the enviable position of co-running and being resident of a night, with no financial risk and freedom to play whatever I want.  Something I have long dreamt of.

Sometimes nights just don’t work.  I wasn’t the only one that didn’t really enjoy it.

This Friday gone was the opposite.

I was on warm-up duty and it fairly quickly built up with a fair few recognisable faces.  I did my minimal thing again although I didn’t quite have as good a flow as I desired – it was slightly jarred at times in terms of direction.

Sometimes my mixes went through a bit quickly for 12 minute minimal tracks – partly because I was talking to people at times, but I did also seem to have a touch of impatience about me.  None of the mixes were technically bad, just the occasional quickly corrected off-beat, but the timing and flow could have been better a few times.

Martin came on after me – I wasn’t sure if I was DJing until midnight or 1am given his potential jet lag (I had enough music for 3 weeks, let alone 3 hours) and played an excellent set (you might say of course I’d say so but you should know I don’t bullshit), driving it along with some nice basslines but keeping it low-key enough, albeit a fair step up from me, to allow Bunts & Bowler’s set the opportunity to breath and grow.

Being about the closest to local superstar DJs we have, they know what they are doing.  I’ve known Bowler for a couple of years and he really has come on not only in terms of DJing ability and style, but professionalism and attitude.  Tom (Bunts) I may have met at some point but you know what these things are like.

Anyway, if our headliners can keep me dancing until the end on a Friday night after a busy week at work, bar the odd sit down for my aging legs, then you know they’ve done a good job.

You can judge for yourself as the whole night has been recorded.


One moment that touched me, in particular, was when I saw people videoing the night.  Normally when I’m in a nightclub and I see people videoing I’m quite dismissive of it – but now I was like, this is partly my night and people are loving it enough to video it.  Wow.

I felt rather proud.  The dream of doing something even more special for Reading has never gone away – but it does need an appropriate venue which doesn't seem to exist.

Not every moment gave me such a proud feeling.  A fairly cute girl had been dancing away to my music for 20 minutes or so when she came up to ask me for (song name I cannot recall) by One Direction.

ONE DIRECTION.  Seriously?  Was there any element of the music that she seemed to be enjoying that suggested I could be about to switch to One Direction?

She then asked if I had any music at all by One Direction, I said that I didn’t and that I was playing minimal techno.  She asked me what that was…well you have been dancing to it for a while.  I assume she probably realised that she meant to go to Sakura.  I actually thought she was taking the piss at first but she was being serious.

Other than that the crowd were spot on.  I played Desire by Enzo Siragusa and two people came up to me who knew the name of the track and the producer.  I was suitably impressed.

I’ve always thought that Reading has enough people to sustain a proper underground house/techno scene – it simply just does not have enough support, whether that be from venues, the authorities, the ability to promote, etc.

The Purple Turtle have also put up a lighting strip.  Just the one, but it really does make a difference.  Any more would probably be overkill.

Next up on 20th May we have Tim Sharpe (I think).  We might even have a website up by then.  It's almost complete.

A Tale Of Three Requests

It seems ages ago now – I had this blog written in full then I didn’t post it.  I don’t know why and I cannot remember what I did with it.

But it being my month of sobriety, I can remember the night in full, even more than two weeks later.

And not only that – I can listen to my set over and over.  Which I have done.

And you can too.


The night itself was more memorable in terms of 3 requests.  You know, the usual DJs moaning bullshit though I do actually appreciate those who make the effort to come and ask me, or just talk to me – except perhaps those that refuse to say accept the word ‘no’ and keep pestering you in the belief that annoying the fuck out of the DJ will make him see the light that an MC really would go down well over minimal techno.

The first request came before I’d even started.  There was no music – the set-up was being set up, yet these slightly kind of street girls asked what music I was going to be playing.  “Minimal techno”, I responded.

“What?  Cayynnt ya play sum bashment?”.  I have no more than a vague idea what bashment is – I explained to my future crowd of 3 that I simply didn’t have any on me.  I didn't even have any Julio Bashmore on me.  They left.

I started playing my minimal, I was a couple of tracks in when my next assailant approached, requesting that I charge up his cigarette.  Bemused, I tried to clarify that I wasn’t a cigarette charging station – “But it just needs 5 minutes”.  No.  He was quite insistent that it wouldn’t cause us any issues but eventually he accepted that I was DJing as we ushered him towards the outside bar that “would probably have somewhere to charge it”.

Then this really cute girl approached.  I smiled yet sighed internally wondering what the hell she wanted.  Rihanna?  Micky Minaj?  Madonna?

No.  She just wanted to say that she really liked my music and was surprised to hear minimal in Reading.  Yes she actually liked minimal.  And didn’t even have any requests for me.  I even spoke to her for a little bit – this is why I need business cards!!

Most of the rest of my set went smoothly, bar when my accomplice accidentally knocked the reverse button whilst trying to set up a stand for the next DJ.

The crowd filled up – a few people went a bit crazy and I really enjoyed my set.  In fact, the first hour was probably as good as I’ve ever played – the second hour I did end up playing one or two more big tunes than I should have done – well, big tunes for me anyway.

Next time up we have an actual headliner – Hannah Wild.  I’ve had a listen and she plays good tech-house – I don’t always enjoy the music of our guest DJ, being the picky sod that I am, but I reckon I will approve this time.

See you there.

CBA DJ

I could not be arsed to DJ on Friday.  Strange isn’t it?  Something I’d dreamed about for years, if not close to 20 years, many years assuming it was something out of my grasp, out of my abilities, way away from my total lack of confidence when I was younger.

And I have my dream in my hands yet on Friday afternoon I was simply wishing to go home and go to bed.

I think part of it might have been that nobody was coming to support me – originally it was a birthday plan but I quietly dropped that idea when the lack of interest became clear.  Plus I was doing the first hour and the last 30 minutes which are the quietest times so I wasn’t especially excited about them.

Nevertheless, I trooped on with a sneaky suspicion that I would have fun.

I arrived a little early, to find that the vinyl decks were not set up for our headliner as requested in advance.  The manager of the Turtle wasn’t amused, but thankfully set about re-arranging the whole set-up for us.  I just hoped we would make it busy enough for it to be worthwhile for him.

So my set started 30 minutes late and I started it playing minimal.  I had considered a deep house warm-up.  I’d actually practised one, but the night before when downloading tracks, I changed my mind and decided to play what I love most.

I started with a more hypnotic tip, playing the likes of Cristi Con’s Bird In Space:

As I had a couple of gangster-girl foot-shufflers, I had the genius idea of playing Seuil’s gangsta-minimal track, Al Capote:

I finished on a recent favourite by Riccardo (not Villalobos) – Lapiuta:

Everything had gone well.  All the mixes were in, I think maybe one was marginally mis-timed, the crowd were sticking, the crowd were dancing, and I handed over to Sam & Stuart, who were followed by Saphe, our headliners.

All played really good sets – and seemed to figure out after one or two early interesting selections, what the crowd likes down there.  In fact, I’d say it was the closest to having a whole night where all the music flowed, with the crowd enjoying the night as a whole, as opposed to one or two sets, and where all the DJ sets made sense together.

I managed to get rather messed-up and wasn’t sure of my surroundings at one point, so ended up having a pint of water to rescue me back into reality as I realised that I was supposed to be closing.

I didn’t particularly want to take over, more because I was enjoying the music that our headliner was playing, but I still wanted to play.  Though I had a feeling that I couldn’t.

In went my CD, I cue’d the track up and yes I mixed it in fine.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Until I realised that it was the same track I’d finished my earlier set with.  Oops.

The rest of the set went without note, I had little sense what was happening and rather blurred vision, so I ended up playing tracks that sounded right – I couldn’t read the labels so I had no idea what I was actually playing.

And I went home happy.  It had been a really good night, very busy for most of it, lots of good music – easily one of my favourite nights that I’ve DJ’d at.

Next month is my detox DJ set.  Eeek.

A Vast Improvement

I don’t really get nervous before DJing but I did have two small butterflies before my last set.

Firstly I had put pressure on myself to improve from the last diabolical set.  Secondly I realised that it was that special Friday of doom – the one where it is full of absolute tossers behaving like absolute tossers.

I have practiced more in recent months prior to DJing – living in Bracknell means I do occasionally still have the energy in the evening after work to get behind the decks for an hour or two.  Normally with a glass of wine.  This month I practiced more than prior to any other DJ set – probably a good 10 hours.  It might not sound a lot but it has helped.

I had just 2 CDs worth of new tracks that I really wanted to play – a lot of bass-heavy but fairly minimal stuff.  And I also knew my previously-burnt CDs somewhat more.

We got down to the Turtle quite early and I ended up sticking the music on around 930pm, I was just going to have a beer first but they had some absolute gash over the speakers that I simply had to disembowel.

I’m loving the hypnotic grooves from Romania at the moment, so I started on those lines.  When there are few people there, I can do what I like – I don’t need to worry about having a beat for people to dance to, or a bassline for them to feel.  I can simply play 15 minute long minimal tracks whilst I find my groove.

There was one quick panic about one of the decks not working – until we realised the cross-fader was on.  Ooops.  And I did royally fuck up one mix – but one in 2.5 hours is pretty good going in my view.  I don’t always get enough time to cue up tracks perfectly as I’m there to have a good time and talk to my friends too.

I slowly progressed matters such as with this beauty from Roustam:

As the crowd built, slower than usual, I turned up the bass levels and turned up the darkness, including this new monster from Loco Dice:

I realised that I was sending things a bit too dark – I like to test people but it needed some light too.  I tended towards house music to finish – and I finished far too soon for my liking which is a sign that I am enjoying myself.  I could have quite happily carried on.

I did later on start hanging around the decks on the off-chance that Martin was bored of DJing…yeah like a DJ would just voluntarily give up some of their set.  Doh.  I just wanted to play some house music!

Bizarrely it was probably the quietest night we’ve had since the summer.  Which thinking about it makes sense – a lot of our audience are students and foreigners – many of which would have left for Christmas holidays or been about to.  On the plus side, there was a good splattering of amigos, plus some of the regulars who turn up every month.

Next up is my birthday set which I hope that you can all attend.  And my good friend Samantha’s birthday set too.

A bit of an odd one this as I’m playing the first hour, and the last hour.

James Winfield's Top 383 DJs List

It seems every other tin-pot organisation has a top 100 DJs poll nowadays, so I've decided to go one better...actually I've decided to go 283 better and have polled myself and only myself and here are the results.

Note that experience counts - those DJs which I've only discovered this year and have loved such as Roustam, are still fairly low down.  DJs that I may be tiring of such as Shonky, are still fairly high up.

383 Sharam Jey
382 Richie Hawtin
381 Modeselektor
380 John Digweed
379 Jamie XX
378 Dubfire
377 Behrouz
376 Wata Igarashi
375 Vitalic
374 Terry Costello
373 System Of Survival
372 Svreca
371 Special Case
370 Redshape
369 Mumdance
368 Miguel Campbell
367 Deep'a & Biri
366 YATE
365 Will Saul
364 Shadee
363 Peter Van Hoesen
362 Pete Tong
361 Pelle & Roon
360 Marco Carola
359 Lee Burridge
358 Kamran Sadeghi
357 K Civ
356 Joseph Capriati
355 James Zabiela
354 Isherwood
353 Eli Verveine
352 Butch
351 Arcarsenal
350 Alin Crihan
349 Youngsta
348 Walker Bernard
347 Vonda7
346 tIJN
345 Thyladomid
344 Stacey Pullen
343 Slow Hands
342 Ramon Tapia
341 Pawas
340 Nicolas Lutz
339 Narcis
338 Mr C
337 Mike Gervais
336 Martinez
335 Marco Shuttle
334 Luciano
333 Lowris
332 Lot.te
331 Lee Foss
330 Joeski
329 Jasper James
328 Iain Taylor
327 Herodot
326 Gwenan
325 Francesco Farfa
324 Francesco De Luca
323 Florian Kupfer
322 Dusty Kid
321 CMYK
320 Youandewan
319 Weg
318 VLADA
317 Tin Man
316 Tanner Ross
315 Sea
314 Sander Baan
313 Saboar
312 Robin Ordell
311 Pinch
310 Phil Moffa
309 Oliver Huntemann
308 Mo'Funk
307 Mind Against
306 Leisure Muffin
305 Kerri Chandler
304 John Selway
303 Job Jobse
302 Jay Lumen
301 Jan Blomqvist
300 Gunnar Haslam
299 Einzelkind
298 DJ Three
297 DJ Jus-Ed
296 Detlef
295 Deetron
294 Dasha Rush
293 Darius Syrossian
292 Daniele Baldelli
291 Chaim
290 Capulet
289 Ben Pearce
288 Barem
287 Azimute
286 Anrilov
285 Anja Schneider
284 Alejandro Vivanco
283 Agoria
282 Adam Touch
281 Tama Sumo
280 Steve Lawler
279 Solomun
278 Skream
277 Sheild
276 Rayo
275 Prins Thomas
274 Pancho Piedra
273 Olga Korol
272 Okain
271 October
270 Norman Nodge
269 Lo Shea
268 Lauhaus
267 Kode9
266 Jamie Jones
265 Italoboyz
264 Graze
263 DJ Masda
262 Dave Clarke
261 Dani Caserani
260 Cessegrain
259 Ben Nott
258 Andre Galluzzi
257 ANA
256 Ame
255 Tiger & Woods
254 SIT
253 Recondite
252 Rampa
251 Rafa Barrios
250 Omar-S
249 Nick Monaco
248 Maya Jane Coles
247 Matt John
246 Mariano Mateljan
245 Marc Houle
244 Kenneth Christiansen
243 Julio Bashmore
242 Joris Voorn
241 Jacq
240 Derrick Carter
239 David Morales
238 Dan Plume
237 Dan Lively
236 Crihan
235 Amin Ravelle
234 Vess
233 Thugfucker
232 Noir
231 Nicole Moudaber
230 Mathias Kaden
229 Martinez Brothers
228 Jimmy Edgar
227 Jay Haze
226 Jan Krueger
225 Hot Since 82
224 Tim Sharpe
223 Samantha Bond
222 Hans Bouffmyhre
221 Gus & Bonso
220 Gavin Herlihy
219 Efdemin
218 Dustin Zahn
217 D'Julz
216 DeWalta
215 Curses
214 Ben Vedren
213 2000 And One
212 STL
211 Sandrien
210 Ray Okpara
209 Pedro
208 Los Soruba
207 Kashawar
206 Ion Ludwig
205 David Labeij
204 Chevel
203 Call Super
202 Boddika
201 Blond:Ish
200 Ben UFO
199 Andrew James Gustav
198 Sasha
197 Rui Da Silva
196 Prosumer
195 Molly
194 M.A.N.D.Y
193 Kollectiv Turmstrasse
192 K.atou
191 Jane Fitz
190 DJ Sneak
189 C.Love
188 Brodinski
187 Anthony Parasole
186 Ali Tillett
185 Vera
184 Ralf Kollmann
183 Primarie
182 Martin Buttrich
181 Luke VB & Tim Red
180 Gary Beck
179 Droog
178 DJ T
177 Bowler
176 Andrey Pushkarev
175 Yuka
174 Simon Baker
173 Ryan Crosson
172 Perc
171 Loquace
170 Konstantin
169 Jackmaster
168 Ian F
167 Hold Youth
166 Dorian Paic
165 Click Box
164 Alex Under
163 Voigtmann
162 Sucui
161 Sarah Myers
160 Monika Ross
159 Louie Fresco
158 Hermanez
157 Fumiya Tanaka
156 Esther Duijn
155 Dario D'Attis
154 Conforce
153 Chris Tietjen
152 Zev
151 Visionquest
150 Terry Francis
149 Ralph Lawson
148 Mr G
147 Mirko Loko
146 Michael Mayer
145 Kate Simko
144 Kabale Und Liebe
143 Huxley
142 Eddie Fowkes
141 Dixon
140 Detroit Swindle
139 Anthony Naples
138 Alexkid
137 The Mole
136 Steffi
135 Sleeparchive
134 Robert James
133 Richy Ahmed
132 Midland
131 Matthew Dear
130 Andy Knowles
129 Tobi Neumann
128 Stephan Bodzin
127 Roger Gerressen
126 Mano Le Tough
125 Cap
124 Piticu
123 Matt Powell
122 Archie Hamilton
121 Scuba
120 Muzzy
119 Laurent Garnier
118 Chris Liebing
117 Shoon
116 Roustam
115 Dark Matter
114 Cirillo
113 Art Department
112 Miss Jools
111 Miss I
110 Le Loup
109 Haruka
108 Ellen Allien
107 William Kouam Djoko
106 Shaun Reeves
105 RAHA
104 Nu Zau
103 Laurine Frost
102 Ferro
101 Emi
100 Danny Tenaglia
99 Catz n Dogz
98 Sascha Dive
97 Nicolas Jaar
96 Mosca
95 Posh
94 Matthias Tanzmann
93 Giorfio Gigli
92 Andrew Weatherall
91 Seuil
90 Rick Maia
89 Eats Everything
88 DVS1
87 Cabanne
86 Azari & III
85 Tiefschwarz
84 Dubtil
83 Damian Lazarus
82 Nyno & J.P. Sievert
81 Luc Ringeisen
80 Frank & Tony
79 Robag Wruhme
78 Ernesto Ferreyra
77 Cesar Merveille
76 Franco Cinelli
75 Troy Pierce
74 Rich NXT
73 Julien Chaptal
72 Ivan Smagghe
71 Guti
70 Cuartero
69 Mathew Jonson
68 Matei Tulbure
67 Black Coffee
66 Apollonia
65 Iain Kemz
64 Davide Squillace
63 Subb-an
62 Laura Jones
61 Cera Alba
60 Timo Maas
59 The Black Madonna
58 Petre Inspirescu
57 Heidi
56 Nick Curly
55 Dana Ruh
54 Mihai Popoviciu
53 Ben Klock
52 Dan Ghenacia
51 Chris Lattner
50 Andrew Grant
49 Mark Henning
48 Melon
47 Danny Daze
46 Bill Patrick
45 Zip
44 Luna City Express
43 Shlomi Aber
42 Bruno Pronsato
41 Rossko
40 Magda
39 Loco Dice
38 Julian Perez
37 Carl Craig
36 Rodhad
35 DJ Koze
34 Alexandra
33 Julietta
32 Tale Of Us
31 Margaret Dygas
30 Shonky
29 Levon Vincent
28 Konrad Black
27 Maayan Nidam
26 Rhadoo
25 Raresh
24 Guy Gerber
23 Cassy
22 Wolf & Lamb
21 Len Faki
20 Move D
19 Priku
18 Cristi Cons
17 Adam Shelton
16 Maceo Plex
15 Bella Sarris
14 Marcel Dettmann
13 Soul Clap
12 Seth Troxler
11 Sonja Moonear
10 Dinky
9 Steve Bug
8 Sven Vath
7 Seb Zito
6 Nina Kraviz
5 tINI
4 Enzo Siragusa
3 Barac
2 Craig Richards
1 Ricardo Villalobos

Thoughts?