#245 Nikhil Chinapa on Looksmaxxing, Lockupp Vs Alliance, Exploring New Music & more | Untriggered #245
Untriggered with AminJaz
The episode features a deep dive into the career and philosophy of veteran DJ Nikhil Chinapa, ranging from his recent scuba diving experienc
Key takeaways
- Nikhil Chinapa discusses his preference for 'gin and tonic' divers over overly technical ones to maintain a fun atmosphere.
- The art of DJing is described as creating tension and release to guide the audience on a journey.
- Eric Prydz's struggle with a fear of flying and his use of Xanax to manage travel is detailed.
- Pearl is recognized as a foundational pillar of the Indian electronic music movement.
- The popularity of hard techno in India is attributed to its function as a powerful energy release for the community.
Main topics
- Scuba diving experiences
- DJing techniques and tension building
- Evolution of club culture in India
Notable quotes
The magic happens inside your head.
Conclusion
A reflective look at how curiosity and a commitment to quality can sus
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:00) CDs are coming back, I heard, man. Really? CD sales outstripped vinyl record sales last year. I thought vinyl was coming back. Vinyl came back. And now the flex of it's on vinyl is sort of, I guess that's more of a Gen X flex. Or a millennial flex. Gen Z is like, hey. And you know what else is coming back? The digital cameras. Yeah, for Speaker 1 (0:23) sure. Speaker 3 (0:25) Nikhil Chinnappa is also back. Speaker 1 (0:28) I don't think Nikhil Chinnappa ever went away. Yeah, Speaker 3 (0:31) I mean, on the board. Speaker 1 (0:33) Our annual meeting, this is. Speaker 3 (0:35) Yeah. Speaker 1 (0:36) Every once in a while, we are sitting and then we'll be like, hey, it's been a while since we've spoken to Nikhil, we should call him. Yeah. And it's fun. What Speaker 2 (0:45) triggers that thought is what I'm curious about. Speaker 1 (0:49) Oh, Speaker 2 (0:50) I mean, I think this time... Is it like, fuck, we've gone through everybody, man. What do we do now, man? Go back to our ass. Speaker 1 (0:58) It's like, Speaker 2 (0:58) 2 a.m. booty call. Let's call Nikhil. Speaker 1 (1:03) No, but then you always have. What? For the podcast. You always have things to say, like even the other day when I texted you saying we should do this, you sent me a video from the Solomon Islands. Yeah, I fully lost Speaker 3 (1:16) it. Speaker 1 (1:17) This Speaker 3 (1:18) is like Narnia. What is this place? And you're like, hey, I'm here. And this is on the other side of the world. It Speaker 2 (1:26) was a very long way to travel for some very average diving. Speaker 1 (1:31) Yeah, I mean, I did see the... Pictures you posted? Pictures Speaker 2 (1:35) and videos look good, but I think what's happened is this year there's a super El Nino and the Central Pacific has got these really strong warm currents. It's heated up. So what's happened, Solomon is South Pacific. Yeah. The water temperature has become a lot cooler because I think there's been some deep ocean upwellings happening. So normally the water temperature is 29, it was 26, so like in the water we are cold. Lots of plankton, lots of nutrients in the water, so the visibility was shit, so diving conditions were. Not great. Speaker 1 (2:03) Yeah, I did a dive in the Maldives last month. Maldives is great. But that was not as good as, like everyone was like, oh, it's usually better. So I think it's everywhere. Speaker 2 (2:14) Maldives, I mean, you can get 50 meter visibility. But 50 meter visibility out of the 500 dives, plus dives I've done, I've got about maybe six or seven times. Speaker 3 (2:22) Which has been your best diving experience? Which part of the world? I Speaker 2 (2:26) have my top three dive sites. One of them is the Maldives, a place called Kandumatila. In fact, I posted about it on my stories yesterday. And two of them are in Palau. German Channel and Blue Hole and Blue Corner. They're actually two dive sites, but you can do them at the same time. You go down the Blue Hole and then you go around the Blue Corner. Speaker 1 (2:45) I've seen videos from Andaman and that looks also really good. Speaker 2 (2:49) I mean, underwater generally is good. What matters is the company that you're diving with, which makes it that much more fun. If you're diving with a bunch of photographers, it's not a lot of fun because then they get stuck in one place and they don't move because they're trying to take that one photograph. Or you get like over serious divers. And if the water conditions are good, which means the visibility is good, it doesn't really matter what you see underwater, man. It's just great. What do Speaker 3 (3:13) you mean over serious divers? Like what is that? Diving Speaker 2 (3:17) is generally a recreational fun sort of sport. It's not an adventure sport. It's more sort of meditative and diving tends to select people who like to drink their beer and their cocktails, who like to talk about their diving experiences. But then you have some guys who are just very technical about, you know, you do this and you have to do it like that. Speaker 3 (3:36) They Speaker 2 (3:36) make it less fun. The gin and tonic divers are the more fun divers, the technical divers. After having? No, you normally drink till about 2 o'clock in the morning and then you wake up with a hangover. First dive is at 6.30 in the morning, hit the water and Speaker 1 (3:49) then everything clears up. Oh, okay. Not directly after having, but yeah. Then you take a nap after. Then you take a nap after, yeah. You Speaker 2 (3:57) need a nap. Post-breakfast nap is like, oh my God, I can't tell you how. And you can feel yourself going into that nap, right? You finish your breakfast, you Speaker 3 (4:04) sit Speaker 2 (4:04) on the couch. Speaker 3 (4:04) You're inside Speaker 2 (4:04) the Speaker 1 (4:05) mattress. You are the, yeah. You are the matches. You become the matches. You are the cloud. Yeah, I did it without any training. So there was someone like obviously taking us around, but it was still... Like I think the first dive that you do for the majority of it, you're just trying to breathe. You know, you're just like trying to not freak out. Speaker 2 (4:25) I forgot to breathe during my first dive. It was Phuket. And they told us you can't go below 10 meters, right? So I'm like fixated on my depth gauge. And I go down and we hit like 9 meters and we pause. And then I look up and I see all the fish. Speaker 3 (4:38) And I go, damn. And they're like, oh, breathe, breathe, breathe. Speaker 1 (4:43) It Speaker 2 (4:43) is Speaker 1 (4:43) an amazing. No, it's like breathing on manual mode. Usually you're just breathing like on earth, on land. Speaker 2 (4:51) But then once you get used to it, then you breathe pretty much like you're breathing on land, which is you don't continuously breathe. You breathe when you need to take a breath. Speaker 1 (5:00) Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:00) And Speaker 1 (5:01) then you kind of Speaker 2 (5:01) swim around. Then your air consumption gets better. Speaker 1 (5:05) Yeah, I was like halfway through, I kept looking at my oxygen levels. Speaker 2 (5:10) You get obsessed with the numbers initially because you're like, am I breathing too much? Do I have enough air left? What depth am I at? It's Speaker 1 (5:17) like, what if we forget? What if we forget that we're running out? And then I think guys consume more because they have bigger lungs. So your meter runs down faster. Speaker 3 (5:29) I Speaker 2 (5:30) have a slower heart rate, so I consume almost nothing. Like normally people come out of the water with 30, 40, 50 bar. I'll come out with 100, 110 bar. With like half a tank. Speaker 3 (5:40) How much is a tank? How many bars? Normally 200, Speaker 2 (5:42) 220 bar. Speaker 1 (5:43) Okay. What do you mean you have a slow heart rate? Speaker 2 (5:46) So I have a naturally slow heart rate. My resting heart rate is between 50 and 53 beats a minute. Speaker 3 (5:53) It Speaker 1 (5:53) didn't seem like that in Speaker 3 (5:53) the interview with the Speaker 1 (5:54) roadies. Speaker 3 (5:55) No, when it Speaker 2 (5:56) goes, it goes high very fast, but then it also comes down very slow. I've clocked my heart at 37 once. Damn. That's like nothing. It's like almost nothing. And underwater, I get really relaxed. It's just like, calm down, don't fight the current. Fish in bubbles. Speaker 1 (6:16) And you're wearing a DJ set? Speaker 2 (6:19) It depends on the amount of tequila I've consumed, more often than not. But oddly enough, of late, I've been playing sober sets and I think I'm playing much better sets. Yeah, for sure. Speaker 1 (6:27) For sure. Sober sets are much better. And, you know, I would love to be that guy who gets drunk behind the decks and they have so much fun and they still play like an insane set. your skills are just affected to another level. Absolutely, Speaker 2 (6:43) 100%. But the thing is, if you're drinking, then playing 5-hour sets is easier than playing them sober. When you play them sober by the 2.5-hour mark, you're like, yeah, I'm getting a bit sort of weary at Speaker 1 (6:54) this point. Speaker 2 (6:56) But, you know, in some cases... Speaker 1 (6:59) At least 20,000 steps for a... Speaker 1 (7:02) You don't really Speaker 2 (7:03) count it as steps because you're basically shuffling from one leg to the other. So it's not true. Yeah, but if you wear a band, then it kind of clocks up as, you've Speaker 3 (7:11) done 27,000 steps Speaker 2 (7:12) today. It's not really true. Speaker 1 (7:15) Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think... Speaker 1 (7:18) For me, back pain has started becoming a thing now. And my knees hurt when I'm DJing. So now I think... What Speaker 2 (7:25) height Speaker 1 (7:25) is your console? I don't know. Whatever height. Speaker 2 (7:28) It needs to be a minimum of three feet high. Because if your console is a little low and your back sort of bends forward a little bit, that's your back pain. Speaker 3 (7:36) Maybe you've been doing this wrong. You need to be more Speaker 2 (7:37) upright. And your hands need Speaker 1 (7:40) to Speaker 2 (7:40) be... Speaker 1 (7:40) Like taller Speaker 2 (7:40) tables. Yeah, taller tables. Because if you're crouching down, that's when your back's going to start to go. Speaker 1 (7:44) Yeah, I think for... Especially... Now that I'm playing more like house and more electronic sounds, you're playing longer sets naturally. Before it was like a 60 minute commercial hit hit hit banger banger banger. But now it's just like you're playing two hours, two and a half hours and then you're like okay I need to. like it's unlocking another skill set altogether playing a longer set because then like the idea of playing a slow track in the middle was just like so foreign to me but then you need to and Speaker 2 (8:22) now I've been trying to it's called creating tension yeah yeah creating a vacuum in order to create tension and then to release the tension Speaker 1 (8:29) A lot of new people are also getting into this kind of music now. So they go for the parties and like if I'm on the floor and I see people like the DJ plays a song that like kind of brings the energy down and everyone's just like. So then I tell them, oh, he's doing this on purpose. I'm that guy in the crowd. This is actually on purpose. He's trying to build tension. Speaker 3 (8:51) People come and say nothing is happening. You know when it's like a downer kind of thing. Yeah, but Speaker 1 (8:55) then you have to realize people need to go buy drinks. So the Speaker 2 (8:58) really good DJs won't drop the bottom out of the floor. They'll go into a space that's more meditative. So you've got the tracks that basically make you react like that, right? And go, wow, I love this song. And then you have those tracks that just make you more reflective. So a lot of dance music, the magic happens inside your head. It's the journey. It's what you're thinking. It's what you're feeling. Of course, there's a context of who you're partying with, what the room looks like, the lights, the audio level. the level of air conditioning and all of that. Yes. But the magic happens inside your head and if you can stay inside your head and not go, oh, I don't like the song, let me go to the bar. That's not great. I mean, it's good for business for the bar, but a really good DJ will play a track that's meditative. You go inside your head and then will bring you out of that by playing a track that kind of elevates Speaker 1 (9:40) you. Speaker 2 (9:41) So you're still locked in. Speaker 1 (9:42) Yes. There are some sets that you listen to and you, you know, like I say, this guy knows what he's doing because if you're feeling things, Like if he's taken you somewhere where you didn't think you would go today. I was listening to that Pausa set in London. It's a seven hour set. So he knows what he's doing if he's playing for seven hours. And it was playing and this is like I think in Gili. Speaker 1 (10:08) We were by the beach for 3-4 hours and that was just playing in the background and it was taking me to places that I hadn't been in years. I was thinking of things that I had never thought about and then quickly, 15-20 minutes after that, you're back to dancing. Speaker 2 (10:24) Yeah, so that's Speaker 3 (10:26) a Speaker 2 (10:26) really good teacher. Roger Sanchez, when he used to play Beatser, when he first came out, his party used to be called Release Yourself. It was a start to finish set. He would play all 7 hours. 12 o'clock in the night. The club would open at 12 and he'd play the entire night and close at 7. Loads of DJs still do that. Used to do that but now I think the flavor of Instagram, if I can call it that, is like, I heard this guy, then I heard this guy, then I heard this guy, then I heard this guy. So you just stack up lineups and no DJ is really able to take you on a journey. I mean, the real journeys back in the day, Danny Tenaglia was playing 24 hours, 27 hours in Miami, Miami Music Conference. 24 hours. And they were playing on vinyl back then, dude. This was vinyl, it wasn't even digital. How do you go 24 hours? Well, if you see what Danny looks like now, you'll understand. He's still playing. What's Speaker 3 (11:17) the longest that you ever played? I think I played Speaker 2 (11:20) maybe five and a half, six hours maybe. Speaker 3 (11:22) That's also a lot. Speaker 2 (11:23) You don't get that many opportunities in India because venues just don't stay open that long. Speaker 3 (11:28) Yeah, and also this is one thing I'm not a fan of. There are five acts for one night. Like how are five DJs supposed to like take you on like any journey or like... Speaker 2 (11:37) If it's programmed well, then every act sort of supports the act coming after that. That's true. So if you play to a plan, you're playing to a certain structure, you're playing to a concept, then the guy that starts at 11 o'clock in the night knows what he or she is supposed to do. They play till 12.30 and the person that picks up plays. Then you've got a headline that comes on at let's say 3 o'clock. 3 o'clock to 5 o'clock is the headliner. They've got the closers that play some 5 to 6.30 or 5 to 7. They have their role to play as well. So everybody plays according to a plan. And those nights, it's well worth getting to the club around midnight and staying and experiencing Speaker 1 (12:10) all those different moments. Which clubs stay open till 6 in the morning? Ibiza, dude. The first Speaker 2 (12:15) time Pearl and I went to Ibiza in 2001, I don't think there was anybody else from India going to Ibiza at that point in time. Speaker 1 (12:22) And Speaker 2 (12:23) we had a bunch of people say, oh, where are you from? Oh, India? You mean UK? I said, no, Speaker 1 (12:28) no, no. Speaker 2 (12:28) India, India. What? What are you doing here? And now I was seeing some threads pop up on Instagram. What's Speaker 3 (12:35) your favorite place to party? Ibiza. Like Speaker 2 (12:37) everybody's at Ibiza now. But that's Speaker 3 (12:40) a Speaker 2 (12:40) place where you go. I remember listening to Luciano when he was doing Desperados at Ushuaia. Ushuaia just sort of opened up and he started at three o'clock in the afternoon or something. And then went on till midnight. And I remember looking at my watch, like 3 o'clock in the afternoon, looking at my watch at 7 o'clock and going, oh, I slept five hours more. Yay! You know, just that joy of saying, I know I'm not going to stop anytime soon. Yes, Speaker 3 (13:03) yes, yes. Speaker 2 (13:04) In India, it's always like, let me have one more drink quickly. Club's going to shut in one hour's time. There's always that thing playing in your mind. If you really love music and you love dancing, imagine looking at your watch and go, man, I've been dancing for six hours and I've got seven more hours ahead of me. Speaker 1 (13:18) Yeah. It's like brilliant. Yeah, I think that kind of gets in the way of the experience because say max 12.31, like it's shutting. So now that's too early to stop partying if you've gone out to party. And Speaker 2 (13:32) you can't even get to the club early enough because you're then clashing with peak time office traffic at 7 o'clock in the evening. And Speaker 1 (13:38) then you could find an after party, but then just sitting in a car. and then you're in the car. The Speaker 2 (13:46) after parties are Speaker 1 (13:46) not Speaker 2 (13:46) really about music more often than not, right? Yeah. It's the other Speaker 1 (13:50) thing. It's the Speaker 2 (13:52) social aspect of clubbing. Let's call it that. Yeah. Speaker 1 (13:54) We do it at home now. We figured, okay, we have to take matters into our own hands. The afters will be at home. But then again, now we did it way too many times where it's like the next day the house is a wreck. Yeah. There is a solution if Speaker 2 (14:08) you're really into music and unfortunately, most people in the club aren't necessarily there just for the music. Even a music festival when we did Sunburn, Supersonic, I would say that less than 30 % of the people actually knew who was playing on stage at any given point in time because people are there for the atmosphere, the vibe, the social aspect of it, which is all the things that you should be going to a festival for besides the music. So there was a time that Bangalore used to shut regularly at 11.30 at night and that 11.30 deadline ran for... maybe eight years, seven or eight years. So we started doing Sunday parties and started at four o'clock in the evening. And the good thing about Sunday is that there's less traffic. So by 7, 7.30 in the evening, the club would be packed. At 11.30, everybody would head home or they'd go to like the local eatery, get some biryani. And then you were in bed by 12.30. Fresh for work on a Monday morning. And it really worked. We ran the residency every Sunday for five years. non-stop every Sunday for five years. Speaker 3 (15:03) Yeah, because you're partying all day. You have a nice meal. You can chill. You Speaker 1 (15:07) can Speaker 2 (15:07) sleep. Speaker 1 (15:08) I've Speaker 2 (15:08) always found that how many ever restrictions you put up, as long as you've got a strong sort of college community, the kids will find a way. They will find a way of starting early, running late, after party, secret party. They will find a way. Speaker 1 (15:22) I just noticed that we have this. Speaker 3 (15:23) Yeah. We painted this live at our first satellite. Really? The first time we did satellite, we had Speaker 2 (15:28) an artist paint the... Speaker 3 (15:33) ZeeCard was Speaker 2 (15:33) the first DJ to play at the very first Satellite. This is actually Satellite's 10th anniversary. We're going to do a party in January in Goa celebrating Satellite. We've never been Speaker 1 (15:41) to Satellite. Never. It's a Speaker 2 (15:43) vibe. Speaker 1 (15:43) I think Speaker 3 (15:44) this time it'll happen. Hopefully. Oh yeah, we're moving to Speaker 1 (15:48) Goa. I don't know if I told you. Yeah, Speaker 3 (15:51) it's happening next month. As a team, you're moving to Goa? Speaker 1 (15:55) Pretty much. I mean, we'll live separately. like we're giving it a six month. I think it's a great place to live Speaker 2 (16:02) if you can get the most out of it. But it's also very easy to just get swept up in the go-ahness of... Everyone says that. Yeah, Speaker 3 (16:09) everyone's been telling us that you would either never leave or you would leave like immediately. You would see, like you would stare at the abyss. No, I mean you could... Speaker 2 (16:17) There are two reasons for you to never leave. One is because you get sucked into... the go-ahness of it. Yeah. And the other is you sort of enjoy the go-ahness of it and you wake up at six in the morning, you go for a run on the beach, you go buy a fresh fish at the market, you meet your friends for a barbecue, you play sport, you have really productive days. I'm not leaving. And you choose when you want to go and party and you choose when you want to go out and have a nice beer. Yeah. Speaker 3 (16:42) What's the downside here? The downside Speaker 2 (16:45) is you don't do the waking up at 6 o'clock in the morning and going for a run and playing football on the beach. You just do the parties and the friends and the parties and the parties. Speaker 3 (16:52) The good thing with us is we keep each other in check no matter what. We Speaker 1 (16:55) are partied out. Speaker 3 (16:57) That's also another reason. You're what? Speaker 1 (16:59) Just fully Speaker 3 (17:01) partied out. Out partied. Or maybe we just haven't been to enough good parties. He Speaker 1 (17:05) doesn't believe it. No, but that's the thing. Now we choose. Okay, this is going to be a good party. Let's go. Like, let's all of us get together and go. And plus, for me, when I'm doing gigs, that's a party. Like, you're partying every weekend. Yeah. No, Speaker 2 (17:19) it doesn't count. Speaker 1 (17:20) Yeah, I mean, it still works, but then... Like if the goal is to dance and listen to good music, you get to do that at your own sets. Speaker 2 (17:29) No. No? You don't. Because more often than not, you have a responsibility to the audience and to the promoter who's booked you. And if you really want to... Like I can't play what Carl Cox plays. I can't play what John Digby plays. I can't play what Fatboy... I can try to play what Fatboy Slim plays and I'd fail. He's just a spectacular DJ. I can't even play what Pearl plays. Speaker 1 (17:47) Yeah. Speaker 2 (17:48) In my opinion, she's one of the top three DJs in the world that I know. John Digby. Carl Cox, John Digweed, Fatboy Slim and Pearl are my top three DJs globally. So, yeah, going and listening to other people play and getting swept away with their music is a completely different vibe than you delivering a set. Like some of the most fun sets you'll have are the ones where you work the hardest because you're playing to an audience that doesn't get your music. And you really sort of win them over and you bring them to your set. That's hard work. It's not a lot of fun. It's fun in retrospect. You look back at the set that you've played and you go, man, that was... that was hard work but I enjoyed that. It's very different from going and listening to a really good DJ and going, for the next four hours I'm yours. Speaker 3 (18:30) Yeah. Got it. It's a good feeling. And you don't Speaker 2 (18:33) know what song's coming up next. You don't know which direction the note progression or the key progression or whatever's going to happen. Speaker 3 (18:40) Yeah. Speaker 1 (18:41) I think it's different. It's two different kinds of fun because like being behind the console and Speaker 1 (18:50) thinking like this next song is gonna like this is gonna get them and then you play it and then you get a reaction I think that's also how often does that fail you think that this song is Speaker 2 (18:59) gonna be like wow amazing and then you drop it and it doesn't work it Speaker 1 (19:06) doesn't happen that often but there are songs that you're like okay this one I don't know let's try This one, like, especially when you have got them going now four or five tracks there with you and then now you're like, okay, let's throw in something weird and see if this works. When it works, it's great. If it doesn't, you're like, okay, let's build it back up. Speaker 2 (19:26) I forget who the artist was, but I used to play this song that was so left field. It was called Audacity of Huge. And I listened to it on BeatBot. I just love the track and I bought it. And one of those tracks, you just kind of drop somewhere in Speaker 1 (19:38) the Speaker 2 (19:38) middle of Speaker 1 (19:39) your Speaker 2 (19:39) set. always went off because it was just so different from anything else in your set and it had this really nice quirky candy bit and an interesting vocal sample. Speaker 1 (19:49) Yeah, it's always those songs and especially if you've built it in a certain way and then suddenly you're like, okay, take this now. Like, take them fully away from what you've been playing. I think there is something to that. Even like, I remember when DJ Snake or like Skrillex went like I think there was a brief period where bass music was like really big. These guys would play a house track in the middle and the crowd would lose it because it was just so different from the flow. I Speaker 2 (20:17) heard Snake play for the first time in Australia. Many years ago, they had a festival called Stereo Sonic that shut down. And he dropped Whitney Houston in the middle of a set. Like the full vocal thing and the crowd went absolutely nuts. But he's a very skillful DJ. Yeah, yeah. Because his roots are in hip-hop. His roots are being a... kind of working DJ on the streets. Speaker 1 (20:38) Yeah, and he plays, I don't know if he still plays vinyl. I mean, on a vinyl player, not... Speaker 2 (20:43) You know, there are a lot of people who take a lot of pride in saying a vinyl-only set. Yeah. And I've always been the one to say it's about the music, not the medium. Yeah. It doesn't matter whether you're playing on a DAT, on a cassette, on a vinyl, on a CD, on a USB, or off your laptop. It's about the song and how you take your audience... on a journey. Yes, of course, I love vinyl. I have a massive collection of vinyl. Pearl and I have over two and a half thousand records. And the feel of a vinyl and all of that, all valid, all true. But to the guy on the dance floor, he was Speaker 3 (21:12) like, play Speaker 2 (21:13) the Speaker 3 (21:13) music, dude. Yeah. Vinyl Speaker 2 (21:16) only set, it's a flex for fellow DJs and for sure, it's a cool flex. It's like Speaker 1 (21:21) a stylish thing. Speaker 2 (21:22) But Speaker 3 (21:22) do you think it's become pretentious? 100%. Absolutely. You know, I only play vinyl sets. Speaker 1 (21:29) Like, you Speaker 3 (21:29) know, come on. Speaker 1 (21:31) I mean, I think if you're playing really old stuff, like if you're playing house music from the 80s and the 90s and you're playing it on vinyl, it's like, okay, still that's like, I have had these records, now I want to play them. I'm presenting these records. But if you're playing vinyl, like you're playing new stuff on vinyl, then that's, what's the difference? It's the same as playing it on the CD. There is a Speaker 2 (21:53) difference. In terms of audio quality, if you really get into Speaker 1 (21:55) it, there is a difference. I did a vinyl set at Hilo Speaker 2 (21:57) recently. I just pulled out a whole bunch of old records. And four hours have never gone by faster. One of the reasons is vinyl record is also seven and a half minutes, eight minutes long. So you think you've only played five tracks, but you've almost finished 45 minutes in five tracks. So it went by really fast. Quality on vinyl is different. I won't say it's better. I personally enjoy the crackle and the fuzziness of it. It's not really clean and crisp like digital music is. And I think dance music deserves a little bit of looseness on the low end. You know, when it's really clean, like you're in a studio, it's not great. But when the low end sort of wobbles, which is why when you have wooden floors, big sub-bass that sits on a wooden floor, it creates that nice warmth, slight looseness on the low end, and just the right amount of tightness on the low mid. Speaker 3 (22:45) Extremely technical for anyone who's watching. Speaker 1 (22:47) You hear it Speaker 2 (22:49) and Speaker 1 (22:49) you go, man, it's Speaker 2 (22:50) fun. Speaker 1 (22:51) It's the sound. You're like, some rooms you go to and you're like, oh, this room, there's something about this room. So it's like a combination of these factors, which is what I think people who party, like a lot of them, maybe they feel it just based on feelings, but they don't know what it is. And I think the people who run venues, it's very rare for them to give that. kind of attention to detail to how do we make this room prime for dancing? I remember, I won't say I remember. Speaker 2 (23:19) Every single time I've gone out clubbing, I will go and find the sweet spot in the middle of the two speakers. I will find that spot because that's where I want to be because I want to hear songs and I want to experience music in my chest and in my ears in that full spectrum. So I don't want to be either on the left-hand side speaker or the right-hand side speaker. And it makes a massive difference. Yeah. It Speaker 3 (23:38) really does. Everyone who goes like, the sound is not right, they're standing in one corner. The sound is not right. Speaker 2 (23:45) Oddly enough, air conditioning makes a difference. The colder the room is, the more densely packed the air molecules are. And the vibration of sound in that air is much better than in a hot room. So if the club's air conditioning fails, the music starts to sound muddier as the night goes on. And Speaker 1 (24:01) also you're annoyed because it's hot. Yeah. So it's like you're dripping sweat on your mixers. What do you... What do you think about this new wave of people getting into dance music? Speaker 2 (24:15) I think it's great, man. About me? The more people getting into dance music for whatever reasons, I think it's great. I'm not the biggest fan of people getting booked because they have large followings on Instagram. And I think that dilutes the art a little bit. But I think that the crowd that's really interested in quality music will find quality music. Ever since laptops have made music production easier, there's been a lot more... poorly produced rubbish shitty music that's come out but if you want to find the good music it's there you've got to dig for it and similarly for parties as well if you want to go to the Instagram party where everybody's like hey look at me you can do that but then you sometimes will seek out that artist that DJ that space because that's your tribe it's your vibe it's your sort of community and you want to go and listen to something that is your sound you'll seek it out and you'll only seek it out if you enter through some gateway or the other and go, oh, I went to this party and Amin Jazz was playing and we had such a good time and then six years later I realized that Amin was playing shit and now I want to go listen to this really technical DJ. But till they walk in the door and they hear your music, which is what I've done for so many years, I played the more popular, commercial-friendly music. So that people are like, hey, there's Speaker 3 (25:32) the Speaker 2 (25:32) MTV guy. Oh, what is this music? I like that. So I'll play that more mainstream sound. And I'm known to be a more mainstream DJ. And Pearl has always been known to be the professor and the mad scientist when it comes to music. But I've understood that my role is to get more people coming through that door. Once Speaker 3 (25:47) you come through that door, Speaker 2 (25:47) then you discover drum and bass. You discover underground sounds. You discover indie music. You discover bass music. Whatever it is. What Speaker 3 (25:55) sounds do you enjoy the most? Playing and listening to. Speaker 2 (26:00) I like music with rolling bass lines because it helps me dance to keep moving. That's what I like to dance to. In terms of listening, I like complex melodies. I like music that makes me go inside. You know when you said it takes you to places that you haven't been to in a long time? I like music that does that to me inside my head. And when I'm really having a good time, I close my eyes and I'll turn my face upwards and the lights are going off. Behind your closed eyes, you see the sort of lights hitting you. You've got a smile on your face. literally dance like nobody's watching. Yeah. Speaker 1 (26:30) It's such a different world. Like a lot of people maybe aren't even aware that this world exists because the idea of partying is like you go to a club and then there's music that you know that plays. Like it's either Bollywood or English commercial, hip hop, whatever you're into. And it's just like that is the idea of clubbing. Like going to a place and listening to songs that you don't know, people don't know that that exists. Or even if they know, they don't get it. They're just like, why would you do that? Why would you go and listen? to music that doesn't have words. What would you say to... And Speaker 2 (27:03) it's a very valid argument. I've been to clubs that play tracks for 90 seconds to maybe a little more than 90 seconds and every single song is a sing-along and I can't tell you how much fun everybody is having in those clubs. They had a mix of hip-hop, pop music, Desi, Bhangra, Punjabi, film music. All of that, 90 seconds, everybody singing the song, 90 seconds. And there was no real flow, but the fact that there was that sort of progression was the flow. The fact that everybody sang along. And I can understand why people go, why would I trade this for something else? It's like telling somebody who listens to unadulterated pop music, why would I ever bother with jazz? Very valid question. And if you don't want to do jazz, don't do jazz. But more often than not, if you have a spirit guide, if you have somebody who's a friend who says, Come with me and let me explain to you what this music does to me. Just like how we've been talking about how the music takes you to different places. You close your eyes. It's more reflective. The music sort of goes inside your head. And in most of these cases, if you're somebody new listening to this music, context really matters. Context, you can't listen to it in a place that is serving cheeseburgers and fries. The room matters. The people that you're with matters. The decibel level of the sound matters. How close you are to the speakers matters. How dark the room is. It can't be a brightly lit room. A lot of the commercial venues, the lighting engineers usually get very excited and like, I'll show you what's Speaker 1 (28:28) in Speaker 2 (28:28) my shop. Turn on everything. Make it darker, make it darker. Because in the darkness is where the magic happens. Speaker 3 (28:35) I agree. So you need, you genuinely Speaker 2 (28:37) need a spirit guide who'll say, bro, come with me. Yeah. and then listen to it this way. After that, if you still Speaker 3 (28:42) don't like it, fair Speaker 2 (28:44) point, bro. Not everybody's going to like, and that's the great thing about music diversity. Somebody likes rock, somebody likes jazz, somebody likes Bhangra, somebody likes pop, somebody likes Bollywood. It's fine. Yeah, Speaker 1 (28:54) I mean, I didn't mean it in a way where I'm shaming someone. No, Speaker 2 (28:57) no, Speaker 1 (28:57) no. I get that. It's like that world also exists. It does. Speaker 2 (29:00) You Speaker 1 (29:00) should explore both. Because, like, going to a throwback party every once in a while. with your friends or where you drink like we're going to drink and we're going to listen to music that we know or even wedding parties like a good wedding party when you're dancing with all the people that you love to retro music or to commercial music there's