DJ Skunque Profile

Start Date: 08-14-99

End Date: The 2006-2008 hiatus is over! I'm not really inclined to DJ at the rate I did in the old days, but I am doing guest spots on a periodic basis, primarily at Spellbound. For a list of past gigs, see the residency page.

This is where I am supposed to put a bunch of amorphous labels on my musical "vision". I'll do that, but it doesn't really communicate as well as speaking from my own voice. First let me make a distinction between my musical preferences and the actual set content. Naturally, the two intersect a good deal, but I do realise that when DJing an event, I am there to entertain people other than myself.

Set Content:

I do my best, within reasonable limits, to keep my collection diverse so that I can be prepared for anything. One thing I'm known for is reading a crowd. Events vary in their flavor, and regional tastes do as well. The same is true for a given week/month at a regular event. In my "travel" collection (meaning the max number of CDs I can physically carry), I'll keep a cross section of: 'club hits', lesser-known synthpop, older industrial and goth, ethereal, 80's and new wave, some techno, and a small amount of powernoise and deathrock. I don't really carry any punk, ska, metal, or drum & bass. There's a small amount of indie rock in there, but it stops around 2005. When the mood strikes me, I've been known to slip in They Might Be Giants, musical numbers from The Simpsons, and scores from sci-fi productions (Xfiles, Dr. Who, etc.). I don't plan setlists ahead of time and I never use cross-fader. One of the biggest challenges after returning to DJing after the 2006-2008 hiatus is remembering where I put everything in those binders.

Favorite Artists:

My personal tastes these days are heavy on synthpop and EBM with a smattering of ethereal, trance, industrial, goth, and other influences. In earlier years I was more heavily into goth and particularly industrial. An example list of artists I particularly fancy:

Akanoid, Alice in Chains, Alien Six-13, And One, Apoptygma Berzerk, Assemblage 23, ATB, Azoic, Backlash, Basement Jaxx, Camougflage, Changelings, Circ, Clan of Xymox, Collide, Covenant, Cruxshadows, Darker Days Tomorrow, Delerium, Depeche Mode, De/Vision, Dirty Vegas, Dust of Basement, Echo Image, Emergence, Erasure, Faith & the Muse, Fiction 8, Fictional, Frontline Assembly, Frou Frou, Funker Vogt, Garbage, God Module, Informatik, In Strict Confidence, Iris, Jem, Juno Reactor, KLF, Led Zeppelin, KMFDM, Marilyn Manson, Mesh, Mind.in.a.Box, Ministry, Nevarakka, New Concept, The Nine, Paul Van Dyk, Peter Murphy, Pet Shop Boys, Project Pitchfork, Pulse Legion, Ravenous, Richter, Seabound, Snog, Somegirl, Stromkern, Sunshine Blind, Switchblade Symphony, Syrian, Technoir, They Might Be Giants, Velvet Acid Christ, VNV Nation, Wideband Network, Wolfsheim and Wumpscut.

Oh, that's right, I do other things as well! I currently work for in the wonderful world of IT doing anything from writing code (java, perl, jsp, html, VB, etc.) to managing databases, plus whatever else I'm required to dip my toes into (graphic design, server configuration, etc.). In December 2005 I obtained an M.S. in Statistics, and I'm a homeowner for the 2^nd time. You can catch my latest thoughts and promo stream on Live Journal, but I also have a public blog with Blogger. The focus of the blogger feed is sci-fi, news and atheism/skepticism topics, whereas LJ is my preferred method of online communication, so I write about anything & everything there.

Sci-Fi, atheism, science, exercise, medical and psychological topics, documentaries, fashion & aesthetics, and anything appropriately bizarre enough to catch my attention. At some point I'll flesh out the "personal" half of skunque.com, but as it is, it took forever just to grab time to revamp the DJ side.