Lately I’ve noticed a trend here in the Twin Cities of the types of people who are DJ’ing. To quote Craig Finn, “Everyone’s a critic and most people are DJ’s”. It’s true. At almost every venue large and small it seems regular Joe’s are leaving their laptops and fancy beat-matching programs at home and are filling their satchels and 45 rpm lunchboxes and chilling out at venue’s spinning stuff they dig. At Grumpy’s in NE, the Turf Club in between sets, even King & I Thai has a DJ most nights, spinning great stuff while you eat the best mock duck and coconut curry in town.

I mention this because 10 years ago DJ’ing was a sacred and expensive “art.” I’m not putting it down. But laptops and fancy Serato programs were seemingly becoming the norm in the DJ’s arsenal. Now, there’s a growing backlash. The DJ’s I’ve noticed are my fellow aging indie dudes in flannel shirts and beat up jeans. No slick hair, no 80’s shades or neon, just ladies and gentleman playing wax sides and sipping comp’d brews from the bar.

My guess is this sea change is due to the militant resurgence of the vinyl format – but that’s a whole other post topic I’ll get to at some point. People who like indie music are seekers by nature, they’re hunters and intense listeners. They don’t just accept what the airwaves are regurgitating out. We don’t need instant song iPod gratification. Venues, bar owners and promoters are picking up on this and catering to it. Play us something original or something familiar and we’ll love it either way.

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