Five years ago, electronic music meant Moby and European raves to the majority of young Americans. A DJ was just the guy playing at your cousin’s wedding or the dude standing in a darkly lit corner of the club serving the sole purpose of spinning other artists’ music. There was no fame given to the person behind the turntables and certainly no trendy image to be envied.
Now, artists like Justice and MGMT have uprooted all of these stereotypes of electronic music with their addictive beats and cool leather jackets, creating songs that have hipsters and frat boys alike completely smitten. One DJ duo that seems to have the electronic scene spinning is LA Riots. Hailing from ? you guessed it ? Los Angeles, Daniel LeDisko and Jo’B hit the music scene two years ago and have managed to build an impressive r?sum?, including two major tours (one with MSTRKRFT and another with The Crystal Method), over two dozen remixes for some of the industry’s top artists and a continuously booked calendar with shows worldwide.
“August has kind of been a little rough for me; I’ve had a festival pretty much every weekend,” LeDisko said in an exclusive interview with The Badger Herald. This summer, LA Riots appeared in lineups at several of the premiere music festivals including Lollapalooza in Chicago and most recently Pukkelpop in Belgium. But now they are back to DJing more intimate sets, playing in Madison at the Majestic Theatre this Saturday.
“I actually like kind of playing the smaller venues, if it’s packed. I feel like it’s a better vibe. … You just walk in and play. It’s simple,” LeDisko said.
Although LA Riots may be a younger collaboration, LeDisko has been on the scene for 15 years, beginning his career in college with a not-so-modest first gig.
“The first thing I ever DJed at was in front of 3,000 people. It was this big rave in North Carolina,” LeDisko said.
While LeDisko may have gotten his start DJing, LA Riots gained street cred for their club-banging remixes. You have most likely heard their remix of Justice’s “Tthhee Ppaarrttyy,” or one of their several other tracks with artists like Crystal Castles, Chromeo, The Ting Tings, Chris Cornell, Kylie Minogue and Kid Sister, to name a few. With these high voltage remixes dominating the club scene, it seems the LA Riots have found the opportune way to introduce electronic music to the masses.
“Our remixes are totally like crossover tracks. They get played on the radio, whereas I still feel America has a long way to go to embrace techno and straight up house music. There definitely is an audience here, but it’s by no means mainstream,” LeDisko said.
While their production skills may have made them notorious in the music industry, there is much to look forward to in an LA Riots live set.
“I’m not one of those DJs that plays a song and mixes the first minute, and then lets four minutes of it play and then the last minute mixes out of it. I’m constantly mixing,” LeDisko explains.
Do not expect to hear a jumpy lineup full of quick cuts either, a technique made popular by hipster darling Girl Talk. “I don’t play mashups. Period. I don’t think I even own any mashups,” LeDisko said. “It’s all pretty much improv. I mean I have certain mixes that I know work well together, but I don’t play like a set at all. I’ll loosely know what I’m going to play, and then I just feel out what the crowd wants to hear,” LeDisko said.
But is there a future for LA Riots, or will their success fade with the current electro trend?
“I think the sounds are starting to evolve a lot. Like our newer original stuff is going more towards dance music like techno, and house — incorporating a bit more of that,” LeDisko said.
Well, for the time being, the LA Riots deliver exactly what is demanded — music to get your groove on to.
LA Riots spin at Majestic Theatre this Saturday at 10 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door. Check out LA Riots remixes at www.myspace.com/lariotsoffical.
