STRAIGHT FROM THE DECKS Vol 3 (2 vinyls)

Description

We had been eagerly awaiting it: the return of GUTS’s Straight From The Decks compilation, with a Volume 3 still packed with those wonderful musical discoveries from all over the world. The genres vary, as do the cultures. Who better than GUTS to present his new compilation. Reading... Each DJ has their own way of building their set. Taking records entirely by instinct in the moment and trusting their gut, writing their list precisely on a piece of paper and never straying from it; the set is a recipe where the DJ is the chef. No matter how they go about it, as long as it’s done properly and everyone enjoys it, that’s what matters most. - I think I’m somewhere in between, except that rather than meals, I’d talk about stories. A narrative that crosses styles, countries, moods, and that I tell in a different way every night. Yet with a method that I respect. - Between the new releases I receive from labels, those sent to me by friends and fans, and what I dig myself, I have enough to make a different set from A to Z every night! Yet before I can go and delight the dancefloor, each of them has to go through a very specific process. - The first step is high-quality digitization. I can play several dates in the same week, so there’s no question of carrying crates of records to places that are sometimes far apart. The WAV format has become my best friend. With it, I edit certain tracks, sometimes cut parts or extend others. The endless intro isn’t necessary, while the furious break only begs to be played again a little longer. - The second step then consists of sorting by genre and origin. A real library of tracks is created, where each one has its place. Accessible (almost) without searching. I know all too well the experience of getting lost in your own collection, trying to read the spines, pulling a record halfway off the shelf only to put it back immediately. No, that’s not the one... where did I put it then?... - It’s from these folders that I then draw the tracks that can move on to the third step: selection for the set. Nothing is fixed, entries and exits are constant. I have squatters year-round as well as residents passing through for a few weeks. Or days. From there, I begin to build the story I’m going to tell over three or four hours. - The beginning is always the same. Welcoming the dancers gently. Letting them find their bearings with a musical aperitif of tracks at 80/90 BPM, something many DJs do not do, or no longer do. - The end is always the same. Leaving the dancers gently. Letting them come down peacefully. Their evening with me ends, but perhaps another, more intimate one begins for them. In between, the story proper, with its cumbia, reggae, hip hop, lusophone music, funk, soul-jazz twists... So rich, it is told according to the mood of the moment and the feedback from the floor. Depending on its overall atmosphere, the build-up can happen after 1 H. 30 of foreplay, or it can arrive as early as the 45th minute. The climax is reached with the afro-house section, a furious passage that collides hyper-excited music from Zimbabwe, South African punk, or even total experimentation with tracks so unsettling they throw dancers’ legs out of sync. A moment of rupture in the narrative, it actually serves only to reconnect, as soon as it’s over, with the floor and to restart the story with even more interest. - Those who have already come to see me in DJ set know it: each of my stories is unique. - I hope you enjoy the one I’m telling you in this third volume. - Pura Vida