Inside Battle for the Booth
At a university with such a saturated music scene, it is an understatement to say our student bands are numerous. From The Furnace to Radiobean, they reliably populate local venues and establish UVM as a cultural hub for Burlinton’s musical community. However, there is a subsection of our student body that, until now, has been underrepresented, living in the overbearing shadow of our jam bands and folkies (all love to them! But this is not their blog). This group is UVM’s very own DJs. Electronic music has been a growing phenomena for decades and we are finally catching up! After years of Battle of the Bands taking place in the Davis Center, the space has opened up for EDM specialists with Battle for the Booth.
I am no expert, by any means, on the topic of electronic music, so I referred to the true experts, the DJ’s who performed at the event. I interviewed Log and Open Concept prior to their performances to get an inside look at their practices and inspirations.
Logan Cirone, also known as DJ Log, is a Long Island native who got his start a couple years back. He explains how it all started for him, “The whole producing thing kind of started as a joke with my friends on SoundCloud over a couple summers ago, and then it turned into like, oh, I can actually do this.”
Underneath the umbrella term of EDM are countless genres that specify a unique sound, each with its own population of devout followers. Logan listed some of his favorites to be UK garage, techno, drum & bass, and house music. When asked about artists that inspire his music he stated, “I love Fatboy Slim. I love UK Garage music. Stuff that’s two-step, just gets you up and going. I feel like PC music is always a good one. A.G. Cook is a great producer. And just stuff in that clubby scene.” He also wanted to emphasize the influence of artists such as Pharrell, DOSS, Frost Children and Machine Girl.
Open Concept, another DJ who performed at Battle for the Booth, mentioned working with music from San Francisco based musician Clearcast. He also finds inspiration in Sammy Virji and Kaytranada (an artist that Log mentioned as well). When I asked him what it is that he loves about playing to a crowd he answered, “Honestly, just being able to feel the energy. I think it brings the music up to the next level as opposed to just hearing it on its own. Being able to manipulate it live and blend two songs.”
All of the DJs brought the energy to Brennan’s, got the people moving and established a lively community here on campus that is here to stay. After a fantastic showing from everyone who participated and all the votes were tallied, DJ Kate Kush ended up taking home the win. So, I’ll leave you with some final words from Logan: “Just support your local music. Real Love Records, Songwriters Circle, all of them. They’re building this community from the ground up and I’ve met my family through this process so I’m really excited.”
Huge thanks to the interviewees! Make sure to support your local music and follow Log and Open Concept on instagram to keep an eye out for future sets.
