Popjew Interview
The Weekly Boarder caught up with Rachel (A.K.A. Popjew) for a brief interview. She’s a mover and/or shaker in the Brooklyn music scene and a generally nice young lady.
Confessions of a Feminist Techno Expert
The Weekly Boarder recently sat down with boarder dragon jeans. We found him to be polite and well groomed.
Tell us about your life as a dj. What makes you unique? What goal do you have when preforming a set? Are there any perks to the job? Any setbacks?
My life as a DJ is a simple one, I guess. I throw parties and then I play parties that other people throw. Sometimes in clubs, but I generally prefer “underground” parties. I’m open to whatever seems like a good time, though, which I guess is partly what makes me unique. I have a pretty broad array of styles of music that I can play a set of, so a lot of times I’ll start a set with the intention of ending it in a totally different place, musically. That said, I want people to have a good time and will adjust accordingly.
As far as goals, I loosely subscribe to the story-telling metaphor of DJing, which is to say I like my sets to have some overarching theme, as well as a beginning, middle, and end. I suppose that “goal” though is just a means to the end of helping people let loose and have a good time.
The obvious perks include: getting paid to do the thing I love most, free drinks, seeing people really happy, making friends, fame, fortune, and the several hundred sexual conquests.
How do you come upon your themes? Do you try to leave your audience with anything after the night has ended?
I guess having themes might be a generous way of putting it. Like, I’ll say, “I want to play slow, stompy stuff tonight.” However, most people don’t play that, so my goal will be to get to that gracefully from the DJ before and not leave the DJ after me totally fucked. Or sometimes I’ll say, I really want to play only tunes that have a really funky bass line, regardless of genre. DJing is very situational, though. One thing that I think I’ve learned that I used to not be so good at, is to let go of the theme to play what will work for that specific crowd in that specific setting. You can always come back to it when you have their attention.
Are there any releases you are excited for in 2010?
If I’m being perfectly honest here, no. Not because there aren’t going to be awesome releases, but because dance music moves so fast that I have a hard enough time keeping up with things that were released 2 months ago, let alone those slated for release 2 months in the future.
Why is there such animosity between you and boarder holy lols? Why does he keep on saying he’s going to get you fired from your job? Clarify this board storyline for our readers as best you can.
I don’t know. There was that one thread where he originally touted his “number” and kept posting pictures of these girls, like fleshy trading cards. I think I asked him something like, “Do you really think this makes you look not pathetic?” and he posted my picture as a response. I also went on my bi-monthly rant about laptop DJs in one of his threads, once. Otherwise, he just takes any post I make that happens to be in a thread that he also posted in as an affront to his monstrous cock, and reacts accordingly.
As far as why he threatens to get me fired, I have no idea. (I have a very good idea, and I think everyone else with eyes has exactly the same idea, so I won’t elaborate.)
Do you find it annoying that over a couple months holy lols has fashioned himself as a sort of dj authority?
No. I’ll just fashion myself as the cookie-making authority to even things out.
You were romantically linked prominent boarder astrocat. Can you elaborate on the nature of your relationship?
We dated for ~2.5 years in college.
That you were able to board amicably with her…what do you think that says about your relationships with women?
We’re still very good friends, so I don’t know what it really says so much about my relationship with women so much as my relationship with her. I do like boobs, though. Women have those.
The ladies need to know…are you single?
Yes.
You seem to detest the objectification of women and general misogynist elements of the board. Why does it bother you so much? Do you consider yourself a feminist?
In undergrad, I double majored in Rhetoric and Political Theory, which, when you receive your diploma, imbues you with the super power of being [unreasonably] unsettled by sexist language on the internet. Accordingly, even though it doesn’t earn me any points, sometimes I just feel like I have to say something to alleviate some of my own cognitive dissonance. The things we say, even if in jest, do shape the way we perceive our interactions, and I just try to be aware of that. I just try and treat people like people, regardless of their dick or lack-thereof, which means shying away from objectifying them.
Yes, I consider myself a feminist. And if you support the general conclusion that people of different genders should be treated equally, you should as well, because you are one by definition.
It seems that this mk of hipinion feels less like a ‘boys club’ than previous iterations. Is the board getting gentler, are the girls boarding smarter or is this in fact an illusion?
I think what is happening is that the people that are making the dumb (sometimes sexist, but mostly just dumb) posts, are making such terrible posts that it makes the marginally dumb or sexist posts look tame in comparison. However, since it’s only 3 or 4 people at a time making these spectacularly shitty posts (tongue tied, doc shivers, holy lols, etc…), the overall volume seems lower. It’s like a big fireworks show of shitty posts to distract you from the fact that it’s hot and your beer is warm and you’re getting eaten up by mosquitoes.
I don’t think the girls are doing anything different. Almost all of the girls are pretty good boarders, in my estimation, and have been for a while. However, one cannot deny the fact that there is a female awesome bro, and that is truly historic. Onward into this brave new world, hipinion!
Do you think that gender equality on this board is possible?
First, I want to say that I do realize that this is stupid to even respond to in terms of my board “cred”, but I figure it’s not like it’s a secret what I think anyway, so I might as well elaborate a small amount:
No, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying. Besides, I’m not really sure equality is the issue, per se. I mean, women can post on a message board with the same “rights” as a man. The issue is more that the board embodies the type of language and latent sexist attitudes that lead to inequality. It may seem harmless to pick apart every woman that gets posted on the board, and it may be at least some of the time, but that other portion of the time, if you’re not acutely aware of this pitfall, you’re creating an unfair normative hurdle that women have to jump through before they can even be evaluated as an individual; we create an environment that forces women to be accepted as a sex object before a person. Also, saying shit like, “YA MAN, HIT THAT PUSSY!” or game playing metaphors for sex really strengthen this attitudinal inequality. Painting sex, an interaction between two consenting individuals, as a game where the goal is to “hit that” or some other violent end, surely doesn’t give men much incentive to respect women, outside of being nice to them just long enough to have a good story to tell their buddies. Besides, it’s just in bad taste.
I’m not saying all men are like this, or even most, but a few bad eggs can ruin it for the rest of us.
Why do the throbbing beats of techno appeal to you?
I mean, first and foremost I like to dance and have a good time. So, that’s a huge part of the appeal. However, I actually don’t usually go for the truly throbbing types of techno. In fact, I would say if I had a gun to my head, I’d take house over techno at the end of the day, which is much more “groove” based, like disco was. I like the deeper, weirder side of techno and house the most, anyway. In any event, I just like the way techno can be ostensibly the same thing for 7 or 8 minutes, but be infinitely interesting at the same time, as the details are so important. It’s really easy to hone in on sounds as you listen, and just take them in. Sometimes I think, “God, that hi-hat sounds so good!” or, “That kick is incredible!” and I don’t really do that with other types of music. Also, I’m a nerdy faggot.
Can you appreciate that sort of sonic detail in other genres of music when you come across it?
Uhm, yes and no. With other genres that are more song oriented (as opposed to track oriented), I tend to focus more on the whole, because it just seems more natural. However, I definitely notice the percussive elements individually, which is probably just spill over from my techno listening habits. That being said, I certainly appreciate sonic detail in all forms. I just like nice sounds.
Are you a sensual person by nature?
;)
Why do you board? what do you give to the board and what does it give you?
I board mostly for the techno thread. I’d say easily 50% of my posts are in there. I like everyone that posts in there and I like to help them find good music, because I know they help me. That’s mostly what I give/get from the board.
Outside of the techno thread, I do a lot more reading than posting. I never end up posting probably 50% of the posts I type up or start to type up, these days. In any event, there are lots of funny, interesting people on the board, and I like to see what they have to say.
Shameless plug time: do you have anything you’d like to promote?
Uhm, yes. I have a lot of things coming up that I’m excited about:
1) My 12” the TURBO-CHARGED EP is out on sleazetone now.
You can get the digital here
And the vinyl at a record store or by buying one directly from the label here: http://www.sleazetone.com/
2) I’m part of a group called Trustus, and our first release is getting pressed right now. You can preview it here and download some free tracks here: http://soundcloud.com/pleasetrustus
3) My “passion” or whatever is my Olin project, which you can buy stuff from here
You can also listen to a lot of my catalog here: http://soundcloud.com/olin If you ask nicely, and it isn’t already slated for release on a label, I’ll send you a high bitrate version of anything you want.
Sorry if that was a little too shameless.
Thank you, you’ve been a great audience.
The Weekly Boarder wishes dragon jeans the best of luck in all of his endeavours.
greetings friends
Hello boarders and lurkers alike. This is a blog dedicated to stalking some of hipinions hottest stars. If you’d like to submit a sighting don’t hesitate to send an email to hipinionstalker@gmail.com
Happy Stalking!!!
