Up next, the voice of a friend and artist who talks some of the realest talk I’ve heard in a while. The following is a no-fluff interview, with no chin-stroking or anything posh like that. This is a serious hobby DJ, just trying to have a party.
“Let’s do it on the spot, I don’t want it to be some pre-programmed thing” – Jacques Porveau
Is Jacques Porveau your real name?
Ahh no, it is not. Jacques Porveau is a moniker I created because my name sounded too dorky. I think there’s a cvc radio announcer called Jacques Borveau, and I basically wanted my name to be that but I didn’t want to blatantly rip it off so I changed one of the letters.
Why do you like mixing music? And do you call it bass music, dance music, what’s the point of the music for you?
I started mixing music because I went to a couple parties and I thought what the DJs were doing was cool and I liked to party but I was more interested in the music side so I naturally progressed into a DJ role. Also, because I like to through a party. And also because I enjoy electronic music, and that’s the way that I interact with what I listen to nowadays. I find a dope tune and what do I do with it? I want to play it for my friends.
What do I call it? I’ve thought about this one actually. As bad as it sounds, I play trendy bass music, the reason why is because even though I may be following trends it’s still new and it’s still fresh, and even though you may get heat for not being true to one sound but I get excited about new and emerging sounds. I get bored of genres really easily. I like to keep a lot of different sounds and genres present in my dj sets, I think it’s fun to jump around a lot.
What do you think of dance music on the internet?
I think that dance music and the internet have kinda a strange connection because a lot of tunes only make sense listening to in your headphones, if you heard them in a public space it would be kinda akward. What I mean by that are for example the over-sampled, Japanese anime, rap beats stuff, just total left field, where people don’t even release physical records, they release soundcloud DL files. I think that the internet and real life are completely different places and that each has their own realm.
People think you undersell yourself as a DJ, apparently you are a much better DJ than a lot of the other ones in town. If this is the case, why are you not working the circuit? Are you planning something huge or are you just going to stick to podcasts and festivals?
Well first off, “some people” refers to my close friends, this should be mentioned. I don’t believe that Djing should be work. I like to play fun parties and not stress over gigs. I do it for fun. I’m not trying to make it, that’s about all. Djing is a hobby.
Nice to be booked to play at festivals through a hobby! I’m thinking of your very well received hyphy set at Rifflandia last year. How did you prepare selection for that? And what does festival season have in store for you this year?
I’ll answer the second part first. I’ve sent off a couple applications, haven’t heard back, we’ll see what happnes.
And as for the set, a large part of that set where artists that were playing that festival or have played that festival in the past. I wanted to play that talent. I played tunes from Tessela, Sabota, Graze, Rhythicom, Hi-Q sound, laggards etc… so showcasing some of the talent playing the festival was definitely an idea going into that mix.
What are you hip to in dance music right now? And what do you want to see more or less of?
I’m feeling a couple different things, one of which is the tropical dance-hall-like odd percussion arrangement sunshine music. (laughs) I think there’s a great link right now between higher energy bass tracks being mixed and linked up with grime. As well the other thing I’m feeling, as I was doing the mix for you guys, was a lot of selection in the 160-170 range. See, Drum and Bass was a stale and stagnate genre for me for most of my experience listening to it. But recently there has been a lot of interesting things happening with it.
I want to see less pretentious chin-stroking (which I’m totally guilty of). That’s what Decibel Festival in Seattle was like. I want to see more loosing yourself on a dance floor and just getting carried away in silly music.
Lastly, if you were a meal and drink to pair, what would you be?
I would be ground Kangaroo and Bulletproof coffee, because I like hanging with Pax**
**For the record Paxcat’s diet consists of primarily wild meats and Bulletproof coffee.
Meow. We will be releasing the exclusive mix Jacques Porveau stitched together for us later this week! stay tuned, VibeUps! Thank you.
