Boiler Room

I think it was like slow and steady.

I think, if anything, the boiler room set changed it a bit more.

And the My Bar and My Rules moment.

Yeah, yeah.

So the boiler room set, that was after.

That was after.

That was

But it kind of translated into the streams as well.

He's doing everything.

I feel like this run that he's been on for the last four years is just collaboration after collaboration after album, release, shows, this Boiler Room set, crazy.

In another world, it would be a dream of mine to have a Boiler Room set and be a DJ.

My wife thinks it's so embarrassing that I'm like, oh, a goal of mine in some capacity would be to be a DJ, because that's so fun.

Everyone's just vibing to what you're making, this creation, and you're making changes, it's fluctuating.

If anybody doesn't know Una Pinku, we are big fans of her here in District, but she's an amazing DJ, but she puts her vocals to the music.

Like that Boiler Room set that she did is really interesting because... she's DJing great like kind of ambient um like house stuff and then she starts singing and it's so cool and really ethereal but if I was to like quickly go through the list of who I'm definitely seeing will you do the same after me

let's do it

okay so I'm definitely going to see and it's going to see Alana Thornburg she is an amazing harpist she is part of the band Alfie um like I'm not joking probably one of the best Irish harpers there are out there right now and I think She suits other voices so much.

Which is the core of our mission today.

We have this fascinating column on the table that explores how live streaming platforms and specifically NTS Radio and Boiler Room didn't just act as broadcasting tools.

Right.

They weren't just a different way to distribute the same old thing.

Exactly.

But by 2010, we start seeing this explosion of scrappy independent live stream projects.

Then 2011 brings the launch of Boiler Room in London.

2013 brings NTS radio into full operation.

But I don't, I think that, you know, the smaller parties have their own charm as well, but, you know, with a really good sound system, as opposed to some big stage and a crash barrier that's giving that distance from the DJ.

That's, you know, that's why you're seeing Boiler Room kick off, isn't it? The Boiler Room, the whole excitement about Boiler Room is that the, the crowd is immersive and around the DJ, that it's almost like the DJ's playing in someone's kitchen, isn't it?

Yeah.

And everyone's right in front of the DJ, you know, like that.

I mean, look at that Fred Again Boiler Room set.

Oh.

The, the music even stopped a couple of times.

Yeah.

It wasn't Jay.

But someone was saying, uh, 'cause I was talking about DJing and they're saying, "Oh, I love, um, I still have a fondness for vinyl DJing ever since I saw the Ellen Alien, uh, uh, boiler room set." So I, I apologize for, for totally...

Your name's just, your username's just gone.

Um, and I was actually, I went on to watch that.

Bring that across your body so you've got a straight line between face, knee, foot, and monitor.

Hold that in place, rotate upper body round, uh, and then k- tap onto the back of the machine, and make sure and hold this knee in place.

That's where the stretch comes from, okay? Um, yeah, so I was watching basically the comment said, "Oh, ever since this boiler room set." So I searched it out on YouTube and kind of had a watch, and it's basically just, uh, a woman, uh, DJing, uh, two, two Technics and a mixer.

DJing away in an empty room, and there's, like, a guy behind her, uh, just giving it great dances.

They're kind of on the same level, same, you know-- They're not put on a platform or anything like that, and how it was shifting towards this sort of DJ god-like creature on a, on a platform.

And I think that has only, uh, accelerated since twenty sixteen, um, with the rise of social media and, you know, platforms like Boiler Room, where there is such a focus on the visual aspect of things.

So I just-- I'm just curious, you know, what is your sense of where the cul- the DJ culture and electronic music culture is at today? Do you think- It is possible to get back some of those earlier values and what things stand for? Or do you think-- Or how, how do you think about it today?

I think that we have to accept the fact that this culture is so diverse now and so big that as an overall umbrella, electronic music is just popular music and follows the same rules, um, as popular music follows.

And it's also completely fine because, you know, not every youth culture-- Youth culture is youth culture because it's young people.

It's people doing something new, and there's no reason why they should invite a fifty-plus-year-old person.

I'm, I'm very, very convinced that somewhere in Berlin, amazing things happened that are not in Resident Advisor and that will never be a Boiler Room event, and where the rules of that big mainstream techno electronic music circus does not apply.

And it's-- I'm, I'm just very confident about that because, you know, young people were always creative in finding their own ways, and there's certainly an, an aspect of a, of culture where they look at these mega raves and think, "That's not for me." So I'm not, I'm not worried about that.

After medical school, I, um, I found my way down here to London and, uh, my brother was just starting his, his DJing sort of career.

I think he was only 18, and, uh, he was doing things like Boiler Room and stuff.

I said to ...

My God, this is becoming a show about my brother.