Steve Ang-Hell-No!

Given the furore that Steve Angello finds himself in this week, and also given the fact that it seems like the perfect  (if somewhat controversial) subject with which to start my new blog, I’d like to offer up my perspective on the issues at hand.

For those who might not already be aware, what basically happened is this: A video surfaced of Mr. Angello clearly ‘miming’ his performance and pretending to DJ during his set at the Dance Valley Festival this past weekend (6th August 2011). He barely does anything with the mixer, and doesn’t touch the pitch control at all.

This YouTube video should show you all you need to know:

Steve Angello released a statement saying this:  “When I do some festivals I have a team there that does all my pyro, FX and co2´s and most of them have a synced “fireworks show” that is synced to the music. So nothing goes wrong for the fireworks show (since timing everything is extremely hard for them) I have a medley mix I close with so they can have everything synced, most big festivals have that and it’s nothing new, as soon as your closing for a big finale you have that going on.. Does that explain it?”

What he has said makes sense to a degree and he claims that it was only the last part of the performance that was pre-recorded. There are, as always, 2 sides to this coin.

I can’t imagine that, if they were told now, anybody at the festival would have remotely cared that he wasn’t mixing live. Just like they won’t care that he used the entire bassline ‘as-is’ from a Vengeance sample pack in ‘Knas’ – one of his biggest records. The general public rarely has an appreciation for what’s going on with live performances and being there to ‘experience’ it usually takes precedent over whether the artist is actually performing live. The pop world is full of miming and lip-syncing, a prime example of this being virtually all of the appearances by major stars on the UK X-Factor (Rihanna, Britney etc) so why would we expect the superstar end of the dance world to be any different? Steve Angello has gone past the point of being a club DJ, as part of Swedish House Mafia he’s a fully fledged pop star now, working with the likes of Tinie Tempah and headlining huge festivals and events.

This is not the first time the miming accusation has been directed at Angello, back in 2010 he was alleged to have done a similar thing in Brazil. Check the link and video here for more info on that:

http://www.houseplanet.dj/index.php/March-2010/Steve-Angello-was-accused-by-the-community-of-faking-his-set.html

In this video there are no headphones, the guy in the white cap seems to get spooked by the camera and Angello gives him what appears to be a knowing smirk. There are no fireworks, CO2 cannons or pyrotechnics going off here, however.

Of course, accepting mimed performances opens up many more arguments – arguments about artistic merit and integrity, about respecting the culture of house music and history of the DJ and doing what you’re actually paid to do, and not forgetting fooling the fans who pay lots of money to see you perform ‘live’.  It also means we might need to rewrite the rules on what is expected – sure, Angello is not that well respected from a critical point of view, but does he care? I doubt it. He’s a pop star now. He spends his life playing to hundreds of thousands of people every year. Almost all of which I’m sure will have never heard of Larry Levan, or Frankie Knuckles, or Atjazz, or Osunlade.

So where do we go with it? I personally don’t count Steve Angello as a house DJ, when you’re a festival headliner who plays pretty much the same commercial dance records, regardless of whichever festival you’re headlining that week, I can’t see how you can be regarded as DJ, in the truest sense of the word. He’s a pop star now, pure and simple. I’m not saying there isn’t a place for it, I’m just saying perhaps we are wrong to expect the same from him that we expect from more underground house DJ’s, because he clearly isn’t that these days. Perhaps we should re-think it, and as long as he’s there appearing to play the records, and the crowd are happy, then maybe that’s all good. After all, the crowd in this instance, are not househeads, they’re probably not even that interested in dance music, and they most likely think that a 130bpm David Guetta track with Akon or Flo-Rida is still classed as RNB.

The other side of the coin is where I fall. I think my main problem with Angello though, is not his possibly mimed performances but rather more what he seems to represent, which isn’t entirely his fault. I recently watched Take One: A Documentary Film About Swedish House Mafia, and I was pretty disappointed to say the least. The film itself was beautifully shot, edited and brilliantly put together so my disappointment came not from a filmmaking point of view, but purely from the behaviour of the guys themselves, in particular Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. Tantrums, arrogance, and overwhelming self-importance were the running themes of the film, and there were attempts to belittle almost everybody they came into contact with. Now, I don’t know either of them personally as people or as men – but I find it difficult to accept an artist when there doesn’t appear to be a shred of humility or appreciation for how lucky they are. Some of the blame could be apportioned to the way the film was edited – movie makers have had a habit of doing that to satisfy their own agendas over the years – but one would have thought that Swedish House Mafia would have had full control of this documentary, and had the final say on what was included or not..

This video (part of the documentary) should explain in more detail what I’m getting at:

Their behaviour in the documentary is a separate subject and could fill an entire blog post of it’s own, so I’ll try and stay on topic. Angello’s demeanour in the first video above gives the impression of somebody who frankly doesn’t want to be there and couldn’t give a shit. He’s lazily waving his arms around, and looks generally very disinterested. Seeing these videos merely compounded my misery and reinforced the disappointment I felt after watching the documentary. He has made comments in the past about producers/DJ’s using other producers to make their records (an arrangement that’s been around as long as house music itself), dismissing them as ‘Milli Vanilli frauds’, yet he believes pretending to DJ is an ‘industry standard’. Has not using headphones to DJ become the norm as well? And also, is it me or is he wearing jogging bottoms on stage (sweat pants for my American friends 🙂 ) I can’t see, when you get paid so much to travel the world and play records to fans who no doubt work hard for their money, why you can’t just put on some damn headphones, mix live and act like you care? By releasing his statement above, he is saying that the pyrotechnics and FX aspect of the set is more important than actually performing and mixing live. In my mind, playing a pre-recorded mix in front of thousands of people makes you no better than a ‘celebrity DJ’.

It’s part of a wider issue that isn’t Steve Angello’s fault. Pretty much anyone could rock the party with 20,000 willing people, some Coldplay and Eurythmics remixes, and an expensive, blinding light show. I’m pretty confident that I could have a worldwide club hit if I did a track with Akon, Snoop, Kelis or any of the other countless rappers/singers that Guetta has gotten to work with. We can’t blame Angello because Swedish House Mafia get asked to play huge festivals and lots of people buy their records, or because David Guetta is polluting the charts with awful electro rap nonsense. It’s not Angello’s fault he gets an expensive light show, C02 cannons, fireworks, dancers and whatever else. I don’t blame him for that – but I do blame him for acting like he doesn’t give a shit. That is unforgivable. If you’re tired of travelling, or playing the same music (which is natural and probably inevitable), and want to retain your enthusiasm – then do fewer gigs. Surely it’s that simple? And surely that makes the gigs you do all the more special?

I think the core of my frustration stems from the fact that we seem to be getting further and further away from the roots and culture of what house music and DJ performance is actually about. In this day and age when the unique art of the DJ and producer is under threat from easy access to technology, music creation programs and sample packs (and a whole ton of other stuff that enables even a newbie to make a professional sounding record in their bedroom), don’t you think it’s more important than ever to retain the true identity and integrity of the DJ?