Let's talk about Derrick May

Of course it comes down to personal taste and who those people are will vary from person to person, but people trade manage to trade on their name for seemingly...ever

There's probably some others...

Dan Snaith
DJ Pete
DJ Sprinkles
Theo Parrish

Objekt

"how many people are (currently) good producers AND (currently) good DJs?"

My experience has been... most? (Usually it comes down more to working with a sound than a particular aptitude, which is much harder to pin down in a set anyways). The real question is why do some people think being a good dj 25 years ago means being a good dj today. as mentioned here and elsewhere, derrick may, kevin saunderson, and stacey pullen, and even occasionally carl craig aren't stranger to sets full of middling tech house. DJ pierre played some of the worst electro-acid house ai've heard when I saw him, and more recently, Joey Beltram wasn't any better. None of this is the rule nor the exception, and it's heartening to hear about people like Tony Humphries still delivering, but what this comes down to is yeah, I'm not surprised Derrick May goes on records talking about the degradation of techno while playing sets of straightforward tribal tech house.

Also, I just read the post about whether he has copies of his records that stay on time. Ha! good question.

OK, I"m going to now add "Derrick May's quirks" to the things that make you irrationally angry thread.

Carl Craig was fucking awesome when I saw him fwiw

mind you tony humphries played three tracks in a row that had sax solos so i'm not sure it's for all tastes

xpost: I seem to remember a lot of complaints about Carl Craig - mind you, back in like 2007/8 - about playing the sort of middling tech house that, well... was being released on planet e at the time. I still need to see him play proper (not the 10 minutes I saw at Mutek in 2008 where I literally could not figure out what he was doing - he was using like 3 CDJs but was on his laptop the entire time, and trainwrecking stuff), but don't doubt he delivers.

also, A+ work, Tony Humphries.

I saw him 2 or 3 years ago he was mostly playing classic detroit stuff and ended with "Strings of Life", which he played air piano to in the booth.

when i saw carl craig in 2006 he did a laptop set that sounded exactly like his studio k7 "sessions" mix, it was pretty rad

or 07 or 08 i forget which year

i love that mix

the time i heard carl craig play it was unfortunately middling tech house, but it was at a party that was part of festival in miami and the vibe there was not cool

Carl Craig, Darren Emerson and Mr C are the most disappointing DJs i've ever seen. Carl Craig played a very generic set that included a few detroit classics but was very dull. Emerson and Mr C just played the most obnoxious, predictable commercial house sets. I had a japanese DJ mix from Derrick May but the mixing on it was so awful I sold it.

i heard a half hour of derrick dj'ing last night. not much fiddling with the eq, mixing still exceptional and full of energy, room with about 1000 people in it going nuts. tempo around 135 bpm. musically there was nothing i would have wanted to find out what it was and yes i guess it was "very straightforward tribal tech house".

yeeeeeeesh

When Eric Morillo died, people talked on insider threads that Derrick May is next, that it's something people "known" for a long time. I'm not sure why people sit on that kind of "knowledge", as it only endangers more women to become victims, but no more: https://t.co/rGVUPogSnI pic.twitter.com/S3N4Z7agME

— ØPĮÛM HUM / Michail 🏳️‍🌈👌🏻Ⓥ (@opiumhum) September 9, 2020

Michael James has been posting about that for months (years?). Also taking credit for collaborators work.

Jesus, that sucks

I don't understand pressuring the journalist for RA to publish the full interview. That's entirely her decision surely.

Looks like I just deleted by accident the original post about Derrick May and the reporting done by Michael James on the matter. You can find all of it below and I recommend to go through his archive, as he's been covering this for quite some time.
https://t.co/3oeRj6CkqY pic.twitter.com/qiSsSoejO9

— ØPĮÛM HUM / Michail 🏳️‍🌈👌🏻Ⓥ (@opiumhum) September 10, 2020

this is a good thread (the ilx thread, not the twitter one about derrick being an abuser)

it's heartening to hear about people like Tony Humphries still delivering

did i mention he played seated with a lollipop headphone?

sad news abt derrick, i’m still not convinced about his dj skills but “it is what it is” and “nude photo” are still in my all time top 10 of any genre. i wonder if i’ll ever feel comfortable playing them again

also brimstead’s posts still fill me with joy

want to know if he can still listen to derrick

I know it's less important, but I do want to learn more about who deserves credits for some of those classics. Stories about how collaborators contributed much more to tracks known solely as Mays, to entire songs actually being by Carl Craig. Relics changed me.

This has always intrigued me. I see Thomas Barnett released Nude Photo under his own name. Does anyone know if this is the same Rhythim Is Rhythim version?

No, it's completely different.

https://www.discogs.com/Thomas-Barnett-Nude-Photo/release/109013

These Derrick May accusations are extremely disturbing.

I'm not shocked at any revelations these days but I still used to harbour ridiculously naive assumptions about unassailably cool musical hero types 10 years back. It still sucks shit though :(

also brimstead’s posts still fill me with joy

want to know if he can still listen to derrick

"nude photo"

:-/

Have to say the May accusations have depressed me. Totally. He and Atkins created what’s, to me, some of the most beautiful and personal electronic music of the last 50 years - huge inspirations to me as a budding music maker. He was always amiable whenever I ran into him - best memory was at the 2007(8?) DEMF when I was watching Jeff Mills from above and behind the Main Stage close ( aka masterfully cap off ) the festival and May out of nowhere tapped me on the shoulder to ask “What do you think about this guy? Good,huh?” and gave a huge laugh when I responded, surprised it was May asking, with a jokey “He’s cool.” Never meet your heroes.

to be honest, this is something i've never understood. detroit techno retrosnobberygoldenagism can be one of the worst going. what i've heard of his stuff is, um, ok, i guess. he's been living off strings of life for, like, how long?

*

I got a compilation of his stuff and was surprised by how weak and tinny and old it sounded. Not particularly funky either. I much prefer what I've heard of Juan Atkins/Model 500.

These two comments (both 19 years old, yikes) sum up my feelings on May. I bought that Innovator double-CD compilation years ago and had a similar reaction to it – mostly forgettable standard-issue techno.

The best thing on it by a million miles was a remix entitled Strings Of The Strings Of Life. May has been dining out on past glories for decades and there aren't even very many of them.

Not entirely surprised by these allegations, he invariably came across as a massively arrogant and sneery wanker in interviews.

that's interesting. i've personally not really heard many tracks that do sound like "it is what it is" or "nude photo". perhaps you could point us toward some standard issue techno tracks that do, so we don't have to listen to music by an abuser.

mostly forgettable standard-issue techno

he made lots of music that is anything but standard-issue but I don't really feel like defending his music in light of all of this. I can't imagine wanting to hear it again.

I used to know him pretty well and once upon a time would have said I'd find it hard to imagine all these stories being true, but sadly life has shown me you just never know what people are capable of.

Yeah this is just horrible. Worse it still feels like the tip of an iceberg.

that's interesting. i've personally not really heard many tracks that do sound like "it is what it is" or "nude photo". perhaps you could point us toward some standard issue techno tracks that do, so we don't have to listen to music by an abuser.

No thanks, although I'm sure this passive-aggressive bullshit probably sounded much better in your head.

your post was really awesome and worthwhile, jon123, thank you for your contribution

(sounded better in my head)

sorry if i come across as a massively arrogant and sneery wanker, it was an honest question

i mean i'm happy for you that you're not feeling the sense of loss the rest of us are ... it would probably help me process my grief and disappoint better if i wasn't so attached to my favorite music

guess i just have bad taste or something

tlg, you sounded fine. a little flippant, which given the “I was always right, this guy sucks” comment you were responding to, is relatable

stirmonster’s post is great and reminded me a lot of a guy I knew who had always been pretty nice to me and had some level of accomplishment (in the restaurant business, which... I’d say there are parallels to music) until similar allegations came to light and it was the beginning of an entire house of cards dropping.
of course, the first reaction from a bunch of people was “his food sucked”

I was listening to something today that had a spoken word bit talking about Detroit techno history and as soon as I heard May’s name my heart sunk

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fgroove.de%2F2020%2F09%2F11%2Fdie-causa-erick-morillo-und-derrick-may-den-opfern-ein-forum-geben%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0RqWFgTerrqDp84RYXnUSboj0vL3SLVgcJOh9OzHv5AL6_lUZ4LfCnKR8&sandbox=1

https://undergroundandblack.com/2020/09/12/setting-the-record-straight/

Carl’s reaction to this is dispiriting to say the least

idk derrick was his like mentor and older brother. i was just looking at the liners to the psyche / bfc comp and he talks about how he recorded all that shit as a teenager at derrick's place with his guidance. i mean for all we know derrick molested him too

i agree that it's dispiriting but honestly it's par for the course with this sort of thing

i'm not trying to make excuses for cc but in my professional life i've seen moms carry water for spouses who beat them and teenagers do the same for relatives that raped them so i'm just not at all surprised when close friends circle the wagons around abusers.

it's totally understandable why CC would defend him. Misguided and wrong, but understandable.

Kill yr idols.

i never wanted to but more and more it looks like i'm going to have to ... i mean i really thought dance music was a plur utopia compared to, say, hip hop rock country or metal ... shows how dumb i was

DJ Mag talks to many of the women:

https://djmag.com/longreads/multiple-women-report-sexual-assault-and-harassment-derrick-may

just absolutely fucking awful

Sickening.