Guest Post and Mix: Scott Ferguson

Scott Ferguson has been a contributor on the mix front for almost two years here at ISM, and over Christmas he even debuted a digital album here for us. Today, he adds one more notch to his ISM belt: guest writer! Scott was obviously inspired by a recent night out at Fabric on January 23rd, and we were more than happy to give him the forum to talk about it!

To be able to use words to describe exactly what you mean or how you feel is a true art. For writers such as Henry Miller, Richard Wright, and James Baldwin, it took years of practice, patience, and self-discovery to hone this high caliber skill. To uniquely craft a story that touches other human souls with nothing but experience, skill, and your mind is truly a gift to behold. I am no writer, nor do I pretend to be. What I am is a Deejay, and an appreciator of Deejaying as a true art form. The same as in writing, a true Deejay must craft a story that touches souls with nothing more then experience, skills, and their mind. There are many who would argue that they are not concerned with a Deejay’s skills so much as their ability to select good music. I would argue that this is similar to a writer with a magnificent vocabulary but no means to tell a story. For me skill plus selection is a rite of passage, not just playing a good record. Last Saturday in Room 3 at Fabric I witnessed three artists who skillfully used experience, music, and their minds to touch souls…

I arrived to a full capacity Room 3 at Fabric around midnight as Kyle Hall was starting his set. There are many in the press asking the question, “Can Kyle Hall live up to the hype?” Let me tell you something, Kyle Hall is the HYPE, both with his physical and spiritual presence in the studio as well as behind the turntables. Kyle Hall’s Deejay performance was truly inspiring and 100% Detroit. Playing records like he constructs music, Hall’s set was full of energy, hands always busy, mind always focused, constantly creating. A true performance of scratching, beat juggling, and mixing, playing a wide range of house and techno records, many of which were made while he was still in diapers. With all of the tricks, skills, and brilliant track selection, the one thing that made me smile most was Kyle, like a 19 year old kid, had removed his shoes as if playing records in his bedroom, opposed to one of London’s highest ranking dance music clubs.

The next time slot of 2:00 to 4:00 was filled by Underground Quality label boss Edward McKeithen AKA Jus Ed. Although I’ve known Ed personally for some time, this was the first occasion I was able to listen and observe one of Ed’s Deejay sets from beginning to end, which made me both happy and excited. Mr. McKeithen absolutely did not disappoint. Ed performed no scratches or backspins but what he did do was select track after track of soulful bliss, mixing each new selection in a way that made it hard to tell when the primary track ended and the new track was left solo. Something else that gives certain Deejays a real edge is the ability to play their own unreleased tracks. Roughly 50% of Jus Ed’s set was unreleased music, including one of his tracks with techno style pad strings and synthetic gun shots. It was 2 hours of a perfectly blended musical journey performed with true artistic craftsmanship.

4:00 to 6:00 was occupied by UQ soldier and Strength Music owner DJ Qu. First and foremost DJ Qu is a dancer, and this makes him a dancer’s DJ. Qu performs no tricks or 6 minute blends, on the contrary Qu lets tracks play out in their entirety only leaving a minute or so to transition to the next track. He does this very well always choosing the next song that works musically, spiritually, and mathematically. The first 20 minutes of Qu’s performance was chock full of beautiful house tracks from the 90’s including the original version of Blaze’s ‘Wishing You Were Here’ and Round Two’s ‘New Day’. DJ Qu stayed true to his dancers and true to his emotions, two very vital aspects of the art form of Deejaying. Qu kept building and building until it was time for him to head to the airport for his flight back to the States, I will be anticipating his next arrival.

I left Fabric that night feeling full of inspiration and camaraderie. In spite of digital vs vinyl, deep house vs minimal, Ableton vs Hardware, etc… there are still some people out there that are concentrating on Deejaying as a true form of art, continuing to mix music as a creative outlet and a way to share emotions with the world. I want to thank Kyle Hall, Jus Ed, and DJ Qu for being three more true artists keeping the love of Deejaying alive. SOLID!

(I also wanted to mention that I went out in December to one of the infamous SUD Electronic parties here in London to see XDB and Levon Vincent. Levon Vincent did amazing American style things like shutting off the current record to allow him to redirect his set, pumped some mid 90’s NYC classics, and destroyed the floor with his own amazing productions. XDB was a technical mastermind building and building musically like a mason with brick and mortar. Kosta (AKA XDB) had me re-convinced in the power of the Deejay when he rocked ‘Forever Mona’ and later the 12″ version of ‘Me & My People’s Eyes’ mixing them seamlessly at the perfect moment in time. If you want to see two more well rounded Deejay’s both technically and musically, I highly recommend catching either of their DJ sets. SOLID!)

Scott himself is one of those deejays who is very successful at pushing all the right buttons. On guest mix #9 for us, he drops some classic soulful hip-hop, mostly from the ’90s. In describing it, he says, “I named it ‘Driveway Tempo Mix’ because it reminds me of my early twenties when my friend Nicodemus and I sat in his driveway in Detroit blasting songs like these from the shitty speakers in his Ford Tempo.”

Tracklist:

01. Mos Def – Modern Marvel – The New Danger
02. Immortal Technique – Caught In A Hustle – Caught In A Hustle Single
03. Talib Kweli & Hi Tek – Too Late – [Reflection Eternal] Train of Thought
04. Dj Quik – Summer Breeze – Safe + Sound
05. Common feat. Cee-Lo – A Song For Assata – Like Water For Chocolate
06. Common – One:Nine:Nine [Hi Tekstrumental] – Rawkus 12″
07. Common – One:Nine:Nine – Rawkus 12″
08. Digable Planets – Black Ego – Blowout Comb
09. Gang Starr – Tonz ‘O’ Gunz – Hard To Earn
10. Black Star – Respiration – Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
11. The Roots – 100% Dundee – Things Fall Apart
12. Method Man – You’re All I Need – I’ll Be There For You EP
13. Brand Nubian – I’m Black And I’m Proud – Foundation
14. A Tribe Called Quest – Electric Relaxation – Midnight Marauders

Download the mix here.