I've well and truly lost faith....

[Briggsy]

Well, I never thought i'd say this, but i've well and truly lost faith in Jules now - and I think last night at Godskitchen will have been the last time I pay to see him. I've seen him 7 times this year now, and each time, i've been left disappointed.

It looks like he recorded his set for his website mix, so when you play that back, you'll hear why I was pissed off.

For the first half an hour, it sounded like it was going to be the best set i'd hear all year - flawless mixing, loads of energy, and he played "You Know What (Freeze)" and "Laid Bare (Ibiza Trumpet Mix)" and that Adamski - Killer bootleg he's playing back to back - great!

Then, it all went bizarrely downhill. He started off at a pacey 140ish bpm - then he suddenly took the pace right down to around 135bpmish, and it appeared to be just so that he could squeeze in a couple of slower tracks - that horrendous Nick Callaghan bootleg of Adam K & Soha's Twilight with the Candi Staton vocals over the top (A supurb tune in its original state, but murdered with those vocals), Deadmau5 - Exactly and Alex Kunnari - Lifter. Now, Alex Kunnari - Lifter is an awesome tune - but Jules crucified it by dragging the platter backwards and forwards during the BREAKDOWN - I think it was a very bad attempt at a scratch, which killed the dancefloor - but despite this, Jules continued to do it again later in the tune - and during various other tunes.

After he played those tunes, he rapidly picked the tempo back up to where he started from - which seemed odd. If he had to bring the pace down to incorporate those tunes, then they clearly weren't suited to that set, and shouldn't have been played. Its not the first time Jules has done that this year - he also did it a few times earlier in the year just to fit Yves Deruyter - Feel Free into this sets.

When he did pick the tempo back up, he played around with far too much - he constantly (and poorly) looped vocals and breakdowns, and dragged them out needlessly for up to two minutes at a time - again, killing the dancefloor because it sounded awful. Jules was gesturing to the crowd in his playful way - but seemed completely oblivious to the amount of people that are talking about "what on earth is he doing?". I'm pretty sure he played one tune twice too.

Jules didn't appear to be drunk - however, he did appear to drink a bottle and a half of vodka during his set - and he didn't have a previous set so he didn't arrive drunk. Its usually quite obvious when Jules is drunk - but on this occasion, he seemed to be very "with it".

Regardless of whether he was drunk or not, when someone is earning as much as he is to perform for a crowd - and we're paying good money to see it, DJ's should not be giving our random, poorly contructed, sets like that - especially with that amount of "playing around" with tunes. His insistance on dragging the platter back and forth during tunes sounds awful - and is very annoying too.

18 months ago, Jules was my favourite DJ - but now, i'm not too bothered if I never see him again

It looks like its all about Eddie from now on for me.

[Neuro]

I think everyone has shifted on from certain sounds over time, and we must accept that this is normal. We all have individual feelings about which part of Jules' sound has been the best over the years.... whilst it is a shame about the above episode, I think the underlying importance is that all of us on here would not have found other genres and branches of electronic music if it weren't for Jules.

[Briggsy]

it wasn't what he played mate - is was more a case of what he was doing when it was being played. Needlessly dragging the platter to attempt a "scratch" during the tunes sounded awful. The random set flow was shocking, there was no effor to find complimenting tunes, etc - and generally, it sounded like a set from a beginner DJ.

if that was a new up and coming DJ, he would have been boo'd off.

[attilasumer]

sounds a bit shocking mate! Was planning on going to see him at the Honey Club this weekend, but I usually only like going there when there are 2 guest DJs as the residents are a bit pants, going on what you've said I might give it a miss....there's a residents night at one of the other clubs that plays pure trance through to harder stuff so I might check that out....I'll keep an eye out for any reports and come back to you guys next week.

[Max Kane]

I have to say that I know exactly what Briggsy is talking about. Within the past couple of years he has seemed to drop 'random' tracks which have no place in the style of set he's playing, I've seen him do it a few times.

[KSheehan]

- that horrendous Nick Callaghan bootleg of Adam K & Soha's Twilight with the Candi Staton vocals over the top (A supurb tune in its original state, but murdered with those vocals)

Nic must be doing something right, coz he's been asked by jules' producer to do a guest mix & an interview for a 'Future Artists of 2008' special show on Jan 5th!!

In relation to jules doing those dodgy scratches then ya I think he needs to ditch them asap!! It sounds like a repeat of his 'October Mix' on his website which is unfortunate!! It seems like he's not putting half as much effort into djing anymore!!!

[Uberduck]

Yeah I can believe this. He was doing it a bit at Slinky too. Yeah the loop facility on the CDJ's can be used to wicked effect but to then press the loop out and wind the jog down manually so that the loop is as short as possible (creating that high pitched wirrrr noise) doesn't exactly require you to be a musical Einstein . Doing this continually and for elongated periods when the crowd are simply looking at you blank is odd.

When there are DJ's like Eddie H baffling us with his awesome technical ability, to over use simple and somewhat basic effects seems less than average.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not slagging Jules. I haven't seen him play a bad set for a long time and thats not just because I don't know what a good set is.

I just think that this over-looping and cutting down the loops doesn't exactly show individual musical talent.

[Briggsy]

Nic must be doing something right, coz he's been asked by jules' producer to do a guest mix & an interview for a 'Future Artists of 2008' special show on Jan 5th!!

I'm not suggesting he's doing anything wrong mate - as a DJ, he could be very good, and i'm sure he's a decent chap with it

Bootleg-wise though, I just don't think they're up to much. The one he did with Fred Baker & Youri Parker's 'Bang' earlier in the year, with the vocal over the top from a tune I can't remember the name of just now, was supurb - but other than that, the rest, in my opinion, are fairly average. I don't see what purpose this Adam K and Soha tune with the vocals from Candi Staton over the top really achieve. The vocal doesn't fit the tune very well, and any Tom, d*** and Harry could do that live in a set with an accapella and the tune - it doesn't really need a bootleg to create that effect. It just seems like an easy way to get some publicity, with very little creativity.

Some people are very creative with bootlegs (you, for example, have done a series of good bootlegs which take two original tracks and turn them into something new - particularly Sosei Fiction) - I don't feel that Nick Callaghan's have done that though.

Of course, that's just my opinion though - others may agree, others will disagree. Thats the best thing about the dance music scene - we all have different tastes. If we all had the same tastes and opinions, it'd be a very small and boring scene.

[KSheehan]

TBH this mashup of "twilight" is the first time I've liked the vocals of candy statton, out of all the remixes I've heard of it throughout the years. I still prefer "twilight" on its own too though, its good to have alternative versions of it!! Check out the "Chris Barratt" remix of it too

Mashups are very easy to create as you can see so many people are jumping on the bandwagon thesedays (I was one of them )

[Uberduck]

Mashups are very easy to create as you can see so many people are jumping on the bandwagon thesedays (I was one of them )

At the end of the day though Ken it's an easy way to get noticed pretty fast and you have already stated that you don't intend to do any more. People know of KSheenan in the production guise now so it's easier to get people to listen to your next track/s.

To churn them out one after another though lacks imagination.

[Briggsy]

Mashups are very easy to create as you can see so many people are jumping on the bandwagon thesedays (I was one of them )

The thing is though, you've done a good job of your bootlegs. You've grabbed two tunes and turned them into something new - which is the main purpose of Bootlegs. Out of all the bootlegs that Jules has played, I think there's only you and AJS that consistently deliver good ones - the rest are just pointless bootlegs with very little creativity or imagination.

Jules has played a few cracking bootlegs - but he's also played some stinkers. Unfortunately, the MP3 era has brought on many of the stinkers.

[KSheehan]

Cheers for the comments guys, obviously my main reason for making them was to get my name out there as well as add something personal and unique to my sets.. I do agree that jules is playing FAR too many dodgy mashups though. This new 'Kaktus' one that he played last friday night being one of them (and Lukeh is a msn contact of mine)

[KSheehan]

To churn them out one after another though lacks imagination.

What do you mean by this exactly mate?

[Neuro]

Out of all the bootlegs that Jules has played, I think there's only [KSheehan] and AJS that consistently deliver good ones - the rest are just pointless bootlegs with very little creativity or imagination.

Just to chip in here - without tarnishing anyone's reputation, but - I am led to believe that the majority of AJS's bootlegs were in fact borrowed from bootlegs (if not heavily, then stolen directly as carbon copies) that were originally thought up and created by a dutch guy named Xijaro.

[KSheehan]

Just to chip in here - without tarnishing anyone's reputation, but - I am led to believe that the majority of AJS's bootlegs were in fact borrowed from bootlegs (if not heavily, then stolen directly as carbon copies) that were originally thought up and created by a dutch guy named Xijaro.

yes I have seen two very good pieces of evidence of this

[Justin Haze]

I speak to Xijaro in msn and he said the same about Adam S`s bootlegs. Not good making your name of someone elses hard work....Shame because Xijaro is really nice guy as well

[KSheehan]

and there was also an incident with 'Universal Blackout' when he posted it on jules' board a few years back if you can remember!!

[bigsteve]

Yes, I remember that - caused a bit of a commotion (sp) if I remember rightly!

[Briggsy]

I remember that too! It dragged on for quite a while with various accusations flying around.

[Neuro]

I must have been in a dark Spanish brothel whilst this happened - can someone enlighten me?

[bigsteve]

http://www.judgejules.net/board/ubbthreads...part=1&vc=1

[Max Kane]

As far as I'm aware that guy was just an alias out to cause trouble, Sincers has made a plethora of bootlegs, many of which have not been played by Jules, having seen him play out & actually cue up these kinda of mashups live I would say that whereas we know he is capable this other guy came out of nowhere with a wild & unproven claim.

Xarjo bootlegs are a different matter, he's made quite a few of his own tho I've not heard anyone say that Sincers has ripped them off

[Briggsy]

I must have been in a dark Spanish brothel whilst this happened - can someone enlighten me?

Basically, someone went on the JJ.net forum and claimed that AJS had 'stolen' their bootleg - suggesting that AJS had downloaded it from a P2P utility, and then passed it onto Jules, claiming it was his.

A war of words then broke out, with many people fighting AJS's corner - saying that it was definately his. AJS never got involved in the thread though to defend himself.

Eventually, the guy that said it was his uploaded his take on it, and although they were identically produced, AJS's version had clearly been re-done by himself because the way it was all mixed together sounded different. So, it looked like one of them had stolen the idea off the other one - but they'd both done their own versions of it - one sounde dlike it may have been put together using software, whereas the other sounded like it had bene done manually on decks.

There was never a conclusion though - we never did find out who did which one first.

EDIT: I didn't notice this last page - i've been beaten to the explanation. DOH!

[Briggsy]

As far as I'm aware that guy was just an alias out to cause trouble, Sincers has made a plethora of bootlegs, many of which have not been played by Jules, having seen him play out & actually cue up these kinda of mashups live I would say that whereas we know he is capable this other guy came out of nowhere with a wild & unproven claim.

Yeah, i've no doubt that AJS has produced all of his himself - i've heard a lot of his and they've clearly been put together using the same method. They have a certain sound about them.

As for stealing ideas though, I've no idea - and to be honest, I don't really care. If a bootleg sounds good, I don't care who's put it together

[KSheehan]

As far as I'm aware that guy was just an alias out to cause trouble, Sincers has made a plethora of bootlegs, many of which have not been played by Jules, having seen him play out & actually cue up these kinda of mashups live I would say that whereas we know he is capable this other guy came out of nowhere with a wild & unproven claim.

Xarjo bootlegs are a different matter, he's made quite a few of his own tho I've not heard anyone say that Sincers has ripped them off

I think the one that Xijaro made was 'Breathing Drill'?? its on Xijaro's website as being played on radio1 so I dont know. I have got quite a few mashups and edits off Sincers (AJS) which jules hasnt played either, he's a real sound bloke. But i've seen quite a few examples where people claim that he is copying some..