Moody at Midnight

At half past midnight on Friday, I looked up through the smoke to see 100 people locked into the groove I’d been building for two and a half hours.

This past Friday, I played a set at a Smoke Shed Crew event. The event took place in Landbouwbelang, also known as LBB. The place is huge on a normal basis, but this time they opened up the bigger room, which has the real warehouse vibe.

For this event, called All Saints Eve, there were 2 stages. The Temple and The Purgatory, respectively, are the main and second stages. I got a two-and-a-half-hour slot at The Purgatory from 10 P.M. till half past midnight.

The preparation for that set was an event we hosted with bpm.fam in Lille earlier this month. This set was a b2b (playing simultaneously with another DJ), but this helped me put together a little playlist already.

The music I am mixing currently is something I would call minimal house. For me, this genre is about exploring how much energy you can transmit with low-tempo and heavy-impact sound. The songs are rather slow, but if the kick hits right, then the groove is initiated.

For this mix, I prepared the first song and the very first transition. For me, this avoids getting lost in an overstimulated setting. You need to coordinate with the DJ playing before you so that you do not mess up his set, you need to check the mixing board if everything is as it should be, some people are saying hello, you need to check if your files are not corrupt, and the list goes on.

Apart from these first two songs, the whole set was a freestyle. I had a playlist with songs that I could play, but I had song material for 5 hours. This is something that I try to have for every set – double the necessary material so that I can pick and choose.

At first, I was slightly stressed because I was starting for a crowd of 25-30 people and was going to showcase something different from the previous DJ. Within the first few transitions, something shifted.

My hands moved without thinking, my body started swaying to the kicks, and suddenly, I wasn’t overthinking track selection. I was feeling it. The two-and-a-half-hour slot started feeling like a conversation with the room.

The highlight for me was playing "Moody". It is a song that I got from a Desert Land event in Lille. It was a song that was dropped at 04:30 A.M. at the famous Nox, and it just ticked all the boxes right away. Since then, it has been in my rotation, so I know it by heart at this point.

The crowd saw how the song got to me, and it got to them as well. I really felt the two-way transfer of energy on that one. People smiling at each other, others doing hand gestures to the rhythm, and even whistling.

One of the most satisfying feelings is seeing the crowd react to your song selection. The reaction does not have to be a vocal compliment. For me, the biggest compliment is a bassface.

I have enjoyed mixing for over five years now, and I have long preached the concept of the DJ taking the audience on a journey. I think this is the first time that I felt that I was on that journey with the audience.

This Week's Suggestions:

🎶 Moody (The Beloved Vocal Remix):

This was THE song.

I wish for more events of this kind for everyone!