Discussed: Detroit, binaries, context, circuit parties, danger and filth, silence, “gaying it up,” paying the bills, interruptions, improvisation, turntables, ketamine, Exat, Dark Entries, The Fall, neofolk, efficient urination, etc.
San Francisco-based DJ Carlos Souffront gives an audience what they wanted but didn’t know they wanted. His live mixes guide club-goers down strange paths connecting acid house, industrial, post-punk, and beyond.
As a young music lover, Souffront found himself impatient with instruments. At an age when a lot of kids picked up a guitar or drum machine, he used others’ recorded music as a starting point for spontaneity and composition. Carlos began honing his craft as a teen in late-80’s Detroit using a cassette player and a belt drive turntable. This spirit of raw experimentation is still audible in his selecting today. Everything is an instrument, and all material is raw material.
Souffront possesses undeniable technique – ask nearly any DJ – but he seems to favor mood over turntable athleticism and surprise over seamlessness. In an age when sound and image often appear as an infinite stream, Carlos welcomes the occasional interruption.
A friend who works at a popular nightclub says you can hear a layer of dust and grime on Souffront’s records when he plays.
We spoke in Carlos’ basement in San Francisco while he played some records.
[Listening: Desmond Simmons - Alone on Penguin Island, Balint Brösel - Live in Utrecht, Neu - Black Forest Gateau, Pod Blotz - Transdimensional System]
Do you remember your first experience with live music?
My whole family went to see Hall and Oates in an outdoor venue – back then it was called Pine Knob Music Theater. It was in June of 1983, the H2O tour. We went to a lot of concerts together. I saw Bowie with my whole family, Neil Diamond, The Jacksons, stuff like that. I think the first concert I went to without any member of my family was the first Lollapalooza tour in 1990 or 91.
What was Detroit like growing up?
As soon as I got my driver’s permit I was out driving the streets. I would literally roll down the windows and just drive around listening for loud music. [Laughs] And I’d find places! And because it was mostly underground, it really wasn’t an issue being 15 or 16 and getting into these places. I already had a crush on electronic dance music. My sister brought home early Chicago house, acid house, in the late 80s and I loved it. I was also hearing some of that stuff on the radio too, like those DJ mix shows that would happen on the weekends at night.
What were the parties like?