Sweet Headache

Sweet Headache feat. Vyn Digit

Vyn Digit and I were booked for the same party a couple of weeks ago. We chatted a bit behind the decks and got along quite well, so I asked him for an interview.

At that particular party, he was originally booked for a 2 hour-set. He ended up playing for more than 4 hours because one of the DJs didn’t show up at all. While this made the host very mad about that other DJ, it was actually good luck for Vyn Digit:

“It was one of those rare occasions where I felt that the audience would truly go anywhere with the right DJ at the right time. I wasn’t completely sure what to play at first since the DJ before me played banging House, and I prefer progressive, Trance influenced tracks, but at some point within the first 30 minutes a relatively clear picture of the right sound for the audience formed inside of me. I picked them all up on MY story of sound one by one, and when my set came to an end, I played some loops combined with a 20-minute dialogue from the movie “2001″, where HAL’s (the computer) voice fades away in the end by singing a children’s song against his fears of being powered down. When the light went on and I saw the look on people’s faces who couldn’t believe that this was the end of the party, I knew that this was a special moment.”

This little story already gives an impression of what is important to him in music. It’s not only about banging beats and nice melodies, but about what Vyn Digit can see in the music:

“I like music that stimulates my fantasy, that paints images inside my head. That was also one of my main motivations for becoming a DJ since I didn’t hear that very often. I like sets that are dynamic, that have melodies and ambient sounds. I always try to create new impressions and change the feelings of the listener. In contrast to the common preference for Minimal Techno, you could say that I like maximal music.“

If you read Vyn Digit’s biography, you can see a very diverse range of musical influences ranging from Fleetwood Mac to Iron Maiden, Kraftwerk, The Prodigy as well as various club sounds. However, to understand what his sound as a DJ is about, it’s probably not enough to just look at those musical references:

“I have always been interested in storytelling. I love to write stories and poems, but there are various ways I use to express my thoughts. My idea is that I can express the images inside my head with music, especially electronic music because you can find the whole range of music directions there and that offers me an endless range of possibilities for creating sets and it gives me the freedom I need to get close to my aims. I guess that already started very early in my life. For example, when I was a kid, I used to compile tapes using my dad’s record collection as well as snippets from radio programs. Even today, I like to use ambient sounds and voices in my DJ sets that create a stronger atmosphere and takes the audience on a journey with me.”

While this might sound somewhat exotic at first, it’s actually a topic that has been a strong idea in electronic dance music since the early 90s. Many people writing about electronic music at that time emphasized the aspect that dancing yourself to trance is something that has long been a part of human culture, like the dance to a drum in tribal cultures.

“I think that dancing can get you in touch with the roots of human culture. In the 90s, there was a style called ‘Tribal’ that strongly relied on this idea, and this is also one of the reasons why I love Trance sounds. Trance as a style often degrades into a cliché, but I like to incorporate Trance music into my sets occasionally. However, it’s important for me not to restrict myself. When I have more time for a set, I also play some experimental stuff or maybe even a few Psychedelic Trance tracks. As long as it draws the right images inside my head and it fits to the moment, I play almost any style.“

Vyn Digit also gave me a live set to share with you:

Vyn digit is a part of the after fusion party “zwischenlandung” (cologne) & sunhole.net (tenerife)

http://www.facebook.com/vyndigit
http://www.soundcloud.com/vyndigit
http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/vyndigit
http://www.vyndigit.de/
http://www.sunhole.net/