The DJ I've heard so much about
Grassrootz, a bimonthly progressive happy hour, brings DJ W. Ellington “Dub El” Felton to spin at Duke’s City Wednesday night at the “Ipod Listening Lounge.”
Keen to new beats and underground rhythms, Dub El has crafted a playlist especially for the event. Those dope enough to make the list, titled “TraveLog”, include J. Davey, Bilal Salam, John Legend Live, remixed Raheem DeVaughn and others. Dub will give away a limited number of CD copies of the list.
These artists are selected with a discriminating ear. Dub explains that he tries to “play music that makes people want to engage with each other in a positive way.” Because so much club music is aggressive, he wants to “establish a vibe [for people to] put their guards down.” When he senses too much aggression in the crowd, he tunes down his music to something a little more mellow.
Check this familiar situation at Bar Nun where Dub DJ’s on Fridays. Ladies out with their girlfriends, “flock to his floor to chill out.” Guys who follow “bring in a negative vibe” by being overly aggressive and touchy feely. How does the DJ respond? “I play a track by Esthero not on her CD.” Called “I love you,” he describes it as “beautiful—so calming, soothing…it changes the vibe.” Social engineering from the sound system?
With Prof. West like seriousness, he breaks down his deejaying philosophy like this. The point of deejaying is to “enlighten, educate, and entertain.”
Not everyone gets the point. During any session, he may hear “Play Li’l John!” from the crowd, or a personal request for Mariah Carey/Young Jeezy. “If you’ve been here for an hour,” meaning wherever he’s deejaying, and “you ask for young Jeezy, then obviously you didn’t get the point!” he laughs. But he’s serious, and takes the requests seriously. “When people request pop music, I play even more…” lounge, alternative, underground. Essentially what you’re not hearing on the radio.
How Dub El finds his music ranges from the abstract, “life is a source of music,” to concrete CDs in hand from up and coming artists who send him their releases. The title of his give away CD, TraveLog, hints at his method of gathering sounds—from various people in various places. His foundation, though, came straight from home. Father Felton is a jazz pianist and provided him with his first walkman, which played cassettes through both speaker and headphones.
Like the rest of the world, he has since evolved to the Ipod, bought when it first came out and now holds 1,920 songs. It isn’t his primary listening device, instead used on the road to keep artists entertained backstage. The playlist feature of the ipod has, in his opinion, changed the way people experience music because it allows people mix musical tastes that may seem cacophonous, like Garth Brooks and Erykah Badu, and say “I think this is good, I’m going to put this together.”
To hear more of Dub El’s choices and enjoy his vibe, go to www.myspace.com/wellingtonfelton. Guests tomorrow night should bring their Ipods to share their uncommon mixes. Entrance is free with canned food donation before 8 p.m. and $5 after.
Keen to new beats and underground rhythms, Dub El has crafted a playlist especially for the event. Those dope enough to make the list, titled “TraveLog”, include J. Davey, Bilal Salam, John Legend Live, remixed Raheem DeVaughn and others. Dub will give away a limited number of CD copies of the list.
These artists are selected with a discriminating ear. Dub explains that he tries to “play music that makes people want to engage with each other in a positive way.” Because so much club music is aggressive, he wants to “establish a vibe [for people to] put their guards down.” When he senses too much aggression in the crowd, he tunes down his music to something a little more mellow.
Check this familiar situation at Bar Nun where Dub DJ’s on Fridays. Ladies out with their girlfriends, “flock to his floor to chill out.” Guys who follow “bring in a negative vibe” by being overly aggressive and touchy feely. How does the DJ respond? “I play a track by Esthero not on her CD.” Called “I love you,” he describes it as “beautiful—so calming, soothing…it changes the vibe.” Social engineering from the sound system?
With Prof. West like seriousness, he breaks down his deejaying philosophy like this. The point of deejaying is to “enlighten, educate, and entertain.”
Not everyone gets the point. During any session, he may hear “Play Li’l John!” from the crowd, or a personal request for Mariah Carey/Young Jeezy. “If you’ve been here for an hour,” meaning wherever he’s deejaying, and “you ask for young Jeezy, then obviously you didn’t get the point!” he laughs. But he’s serious, and takes the requests seriously. “When people request pop music, I play even more…” lounge, alternative, underground. Essentially what you’re not hearing on the radio.
How Dub El finds his music ranges from the abstract, “life is a source of music,” to concrete CDs in hand from up and coming artists who send him their releases. The title of his give away CD, TraveLog, hints at his method of gathering sounds—from various people in various places. His foundation, though, came straight from home. Father Felton is a jazz pianist and provided him with his first walkman, which played cassettes through both speaker and headphones.
Like the rest of the world, he has since evolved to the Ipod, bought when it first came out and now holds 1,920 songs. It isn’t his primary listening device, instead used on the road to keep artists entertained backstage. The playlist feature of the ipod has, in his opinion, changed the way people experience music because it allows people mix musical tastes that may seem cacophonous, like Garth Brooks and Erykah Badu, and say “I think this is good, I’m going to put this together.”
To hear more of Dub El’s choices and enjoy his vibe, go to www.myspace.com/wellingtonfelton. Guests tomorrow night should bring their Ipods to share their uncommon mixes. Entrance is free with canned food donation before 8 p.m. and $5 after.
posted by Rhonda Henderson at 7:21 PM
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