New York DJ

While it’s rare that we spin exclusively current Top 40 at any event, it’s also rare to not play several current Top 40 songs at an event, either. While many of us – especially here in New York City – have our pet preferences for music we’d love to hear at an event, be it in the background over a drink, or that would quickly get us out to the dancefloor, there’s a few genres of music out there where cultures and genders and ages can meet happily. One of the biggest of these is Top 40 – basically, the ubiquitous pop, rock, R & B and hip hop tunes that you hear on the radio, blaring from a passing car on the street, or being pumped down at you from the ceiling of a Rite Aid.

Some people are totally at ease with Top 40 and love featuring it at their events, but, this being a city of many tastes, opinions and cultures, others have a negative or more complex relationship with this music: Some look down on it and think it’s all shallow. Some like a lot of it, but only after a certain number of drinks loosens them into open-mindedness. And some have to firmly emphasize that they like only one or two mainstream artists, but that's it, and the rest, as I've often heard this kind of person say, are crap. Now, I understand. Those who are a bit reticent toward Top 40 have a good point about its disposability and its seemingly cynical focus-grouped origins – many of these songs are quite bland, or, because the songs are often played everywhere, when you hear a good one, you may quickly tire of it from hearing so much.

But, just like Hollywood will often get it right and produce a couple of great mass-market blockbusters every year that most of us agree are very good, there’s always more than a handful of Top 40 tunes from every year that are more than just guilty pleasures or songs you will only let yourself enjoy when you’ve had a few too many drinks. Sometimes, these radio-friendly hits have great dance beats, fresh and catchy melodies, a new and exhilarating sound, a fun or sexy feel, or all of these qualities. Yes, it might be hard for some of the Lower East Side or Williamsburg hipsters to admit, but songs targeted for mass consumption are quite good at times, and their accessibility, simplicity and “bigness” are often exactly what is needed to liven up an event, and bring different types of people together to so willingly share a vibe – whether it’s a song that gets the hips moving at a cocktail hour, provides lyrics to sing along with at a dinner, or makes a lot of people rush out to the dancefloor at once.

Here’s 20 of the songs released in the past year or so that have really proven to excite the crowds we’ve spun for at all kinds of events – from West Village fashion shows to multicultural weddings, from huge midtown corporate parties to smaller, more exclusive private events. There is some variety to the genres here as well – though dominated by R & B, some crunked-out southern hip hop (Lil' Wayne), retro British female soul (Duffy) and indie rock (Ting Tings) also made the list. As a bonus, most of these songs will likely continue to go over well for the early part of 2009, and perhaps some will have a shelf-life that’s even longer. And our winners are (in no particular order):

1) Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) – Beyonce
2) Dangerous – Kardinal Offishall ft. Akon
3) Human – Killers
4) Forever – Chris Brown
5) Disturbia – Rihanna
6) Don’t Stop the Music – Rihanna
7) Got Money – Lil’ Wayne ft. T-Pain
A Milli – Lil’ Wayne
9) Shut Up and Let Me Go – Ting Tings
10) Paper Planes – M.I.A.
11) Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis
12) Mercy – Duffy
13) Womanizer – Britney Spears
14) Green Light – John Legend ft. Andre 3000
15) American Boy – Estelle ft.Kanye West
16) Whatever You Like – T.I.
17) I Kissed a Girl – Katy Perry
18) Hot & Cold – Katy Perry
19) Just Dance – Lady Gaga
20) No Air – Jordin Sparks

In our continuing desire to encourage those planning events to include music from other cultures – especially when they know there will be a significant number of guests from other cultures present – we’d like to give you a basic introduction in how to include Korean pop music (often referred to as “K-pop”) at your event. K-pop is a fun, generally upbeat but very wide-ranging genre in its sound, and in the past decade it has been growing in its exposure to American audiences and it has even broken into the American Billboard pop charts.

When many think of Korean music – especially if they have no exposure to what modern Korean pop music sounds like, stereotypes from movies and television may make them think of cartoonishly traditional music – somehow there’s the sound of soothing pipes, or mystical drum rhythms, right? Well, no. In fact, not at all, thankfully. Korean pop music couldn’t be further from a sound that’s seen as stereotypically, traditionally “Asian.” While the styles of modern Korean pop are varied, it’s a quite accessible genre – often being very catchy and danceable, and at times the lyrics even are partially sung in English. And while K-pop is commonly used as a term to include straight-ahead pop groups (Wonder Girls, pictured at top) and artists with an R & B-influenced sound (the singer Rain, pictured furthest below) or a hip-hop-influenced sound (the group DJ Doc, pictured at middle), the K-pop mood in general feels like a nicer, slightly warmer version of today’s American pop music genres. A derisive stereotype I’ve heard at times among those who have a bit of familiarity with K-pop is that it tends to all sound like too-sugary bubblegum pop, but today that’s not accurate at all. K-pop isn’t all overly sweet, but it is often a bit more friendly-sounding - snotty diva or coarse, ego-consumed rapper personas don’t seem as prevalent as they are on the current American charts.

This background info is all to reassure you of one thing – you shouldn’t hesitate to include Korean pop at an event where it’s requested, or where you think it might work! In our experience, this is especially true if you’re having an event with younger Korean guests – approximately those between the ages of 20 and 40. Whether it’s a half-Korean wedding reception or a corporate party where many of the employees are of a Korean background, including some K-pop will definitely raise the energy of the event to a higher level. We’ve found at events where we’ve DJ-ed K-pop for Korean guests that that the younger crowd always appreciates it, especially toward the end of the event, when they’ve had a few drinks and we pull out some K-pop from a decade or a decade-and-a-half ago and take them on a refreshing nostalgia sing-a-long trip. As a plus, often younger guests who have Chinese or Japanese backgrounds likely will recognize some of the bigger K-pop hits from now and the past ten or so years, as K-pop artists are often marketed to China and Japan.

It’s understandable to be a bit intimidated, though, by the prospect of including music that is not well-known in the U.S. at an event – you don’t want to risk the energy of the party or reception being sapped because of a wrong choice in Korean music, or one that isn’t considered cool to your younger Korean guests. And while no one wants to embarrass themselves by unknowingly playing the Korean equivalent of Weird Al or Richard Marx when it’s time to dance, with just a little effort at K-pop research you can make the right choices and bring a lot more excitement  to your event.

So, how do find out the right kind of artists and songs? First, simply ask your guests if they’d like a few K-pop songs and/or for some names of artists they like. Also, make sure to ask your DJ how familiar they are with the Korean music and what they would suggest that works for younger Korean guests. And, of course, it’s always quick and easy to do a little on-line research yourself on who the hot groups are in the world of Korean music today. And while this music is sometimes not available to users of the American iTunes store, in our experience, if asked, guests wanting this music at their event will know where to find it and provide you with it.

Here’s some examples of K-pop that we often spin: The first song is a 2007 hit by the Wonder Girls, “Tell Me,” an example of a Korean pop song that is fun, danceable and very accessible to American ears, featuring a dash of an ’80s retro freestyle sound. Next is “Run to You” by hip-hop group DJ Doc, an insanely catchy party anthem from the late ‘90s that now and then sounds like it could be could be the Asian cousin of House of Pain’s “Jump Around.” Last is a tune from 2008 by Korean superstar Rain called “Rainism,” a song that’s both edgy and smooth, and at times echoes Justin Timberlake and newer Kanye West.

Wonder Girls – Tell Me

DJ Doc – Run To You

Rain – Rainism

On New Year's Eve, we had an excellent time ushering in 2009 by DJ-ing a huge party at a venue in lower Manhattan that featured a Roaring Twenties theme. (You can see some photos of the party below, and a photo slideshow of the night at Dan's blog, located at www.discjockeynyc.com)

Most guests brought a lot of Jazz Age spirit with them, and it was cool to look out into the crowd and see many of the women sporting stylish flapper hairstyles and the guys adjusting crisp fedoras. The event featured bands playing Dixieland-style jazz, a burlesque show, and even a group performing a fire-throwing routine (not exclusively 1920s, but it does get your attention!).

For our part in adding to the atmosphere, we played original and remixed versions of big band and swing tunes from Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, Louis Prima, Cab Calloway and revivalist swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, along with rockabilly and rock 'n' roll that had a swing-style rhythm to it, like Bill Haley, Elvis, and revivalist rock 'n' roll bands like the Stray Cats. Even though space was tight, everyone seemed to find enough room to dance, and the sexy vintage mix really went well with the retro Bacchanalia of the evening. And it was great to see the crowd sharing a sentimental moment to the swingin' big band version of "Auld Lang Syne" that we played the moment the clock hit midnight.

DJ-ing theme parties is great fun, and gives you and your guests a chance to delve deeper into genres than you usually can, and if the crowd is into these genres from the beginning, it can be an amazingly unique experience. But, being locked into a few genres for the whole event can also get boring quickly unless you have ways to freshen things up. This is especially true if the theme only involves a single genre or just a couple kinds of music, and if some of the crowd are neutral in their feelings toward the genre(s) that are featured.

Keeping things lively, though, can be done in many ways, such as playing lesser-known songs in these styles that still have a great rhythm; playing more cover versions of well known songs in the specific styles; throwing out a few mash-ups of songs; or finding related music that might not be instantly obvious to play, and stretches the borders of the theme a bit while still feeling right – in the case of our New year's Eve party, this was the "newer" (from the '90s and '80s) swing- and early rock-influenced artists I mentioned above, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the Stray Cats.

The most venerable way, though, for the DJ to liven things up and extend the party when spinning at a theme or any event is the remix. And while remixes have been used to extract maximum sweat from dance floor patrons since the disco era, for music from the first half of the 20th Century, this really hasn't been much of an option (save for that irritating version of "Puttin' on the Ritz" and its remixes done by Taco in the mid '80s). But recently, there have been more remix versions being made of big band, swing and rock 'n' roll songs from the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s. Most of the good remixes of this type add thicker, modern-sounding beats to carefully, stylishly re-assembled versions of the original songs. (An album cover of a compilation of these remixes, Big Band Remixed & Reinvented, is pictured above.) At our New Year's Eve party, being able to sprinkle these songs in our set was a welcome addition, as it gave the crowd something that was at once both familiar and accessible, but also new and different, and our crowd really responded well to this fresh vibe.

We'd definitely suggest including a few of these remixed vintage songs at your event – whether your event is a theme party featuring vintage music only, or if you simply want to feature a set of songs from these older eras at a non-theme event. Ultimately, this emerging kind of "vintage remix" is great to have available, as it re-energizes older genres that can sometimes sound tired to many ears, yet are often wanted or needed at events that feature multiple age groups. Better yet, there's a range of moods to these remixes as well – some more suited for a lounge atmosphere, some for the heavy dancing part of the event that usually comes later on.

See what you think. Here's some samples of these kind of remixes: the first takes the Gene Krupa version of the swing classic "Bugle Call Rag" and attaches to a set of sexy, late-night beats; the second tune is a high-energy, swinged-out remix of the even more classic "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley. If you want the full range of these remixed songs, go to our complete iTunes mix, located here.