Fabio Stein retires from the music scene

[Briggsy]

Great shame. Superb producer, really good (and massively under-rated) DJ - and also one of the nicest guys you could ever meet.

http://fabiostein.tumblr.com/post/10386998829/fabiomovingon

[Quadrant]

Very straight-talking and honest reasons there, my word! :eek:

This says it all..... and I have to say, we've been saying it on this board for years and years:

I think today’s electronic dance music is just boring… as a whole, and with rare exceptions. Everything sounds like it’s trying too hard to be a genre, instead of expressing something special and unique. It’s all about esthetics, smoke and mirrors… but where’s the beef? From the underground to the mainstream, it sounds like dance music has stopped in time and entered an eternal loop, recycling the same old sounds over and over and over… you’re either part of the trend, or will get trampled by it. And I’m just sick of going against the grain.

I’ve felt like this for a while, and I’ve been bitching for so long. I don’t want to start a one-man revolution, I rather move on and find happiness elsewhere.

For the last few months, putting together my radio-show (which was the last thing tying me to music) has been a nightmare. I was forcing myself to listen to new tunes, desperately trying to find a glimpse of light at the end of a tunnel of mediocrity. I’ve never been so lucky. I was picking the “less boring” tunes and mixing them together. That’s it.

So I see no reason to keep pushing towards something I don’t believe in anymore.

[Briggsy]

He's absolutely spot on too - and nobody can say he's being a grumpy old man like Askew or '00' Fleming because Fabio is one of the most laid-back, cheerful, people i've ever met. He Dj'd for me 18 months ago and i've never met anyone so passionate about the music - and he came as the night opened and left after it closed, which is rare for any DJ these days - so that shows just how much the scene has changed for someone to become so pissed off with it in such a short space of time.

I particularly agree with this line that he said too:

I’ve seen what lies in the backstage and what I’d have to do to make a decent living out of it. The shit I would have to swallow, the pricks I would have to be nice to, the “exchange of favors”, the ass kissing, the politics… and the voting. OMG, the f****** voting!

I've said for a while that the DJ Mag poll has had a huge impact on the decline of the dance scene. Talented DJs don't get bookings now - producers do. Most of them are superb producers - but are appalling DJs. Some of them can't beatmatch, some of them can't build a set that flows, some of them can't even get the basics right like phrase matching (Ronald van Gelderen, take note!!) - some can't even do any of that - yet they get high profile gigs because the DJ Mag poll suddenly says that they're the 8th best DJ in the world (even though that vote is based on their productions...)

DJs aren't happy with being DJs now. They want to be celebrities. They want to earn £10,000 for a 90 minute set rather than £500. They can't settle with being number 10 in the world - they've got to push to get to number 1 in the world so that they can play a DJ set at the Olympics, have sell-out solo gigs where their fans in pink T-shirts can make hand-hearts at them all night, and have an hour of their productions dedicated to them on MTV. It makes me cringe! These days, artists can be unheard of one minute - and then two years later, be in the top 10 because they've had two or three big productions that have done well and everyone has voted for them in the DJ Mag poll. The majority of them don't even produce their own tunes - they pay someone to do it. That producer gets no recognition for it and probably earns about £200 from it - while the DJ gets all the glory for it and suddenly starts earning thousands on the back of someone elses work. Lazy bastards!

Even DJs at our level are starting to pay to play at the Ministry Of Sound just to look bigger than they actually are, or sit on Facebook 24/7 setting up 4 DJ profiles and pestering every 'friend' they have to vote for them just so that they get lots of votes hoping that they can become a career DJ from it (yes, Miss Saforia, people like you!).

Its really quite sad.

[JasonB]

I have to agree dance music has lost it a bit of recent, I'm more into drum n bass now than house and trance like I used to be.

[Briggsy]

I got bored of Trance ages ago. The last tune I heard that really blew me away was in 2006 - and that was 'Exactly' by O'Callaghan and Kearney. Since then, everyone has been churning out House/Trance Emery-esque hybrids at 132bpm, Floaty stuff with vocals (everything seems to have meaningless vocals by a high-pitched warbler now) or they've jumped on the "lets produce something with cheesy, stabby synths because the Swedish House Mafia have had success with that sound" bandwagon - for example, Jordan Suckleys new tune. Its horrid.

Most producers are all churning out the same sound and trying to copy any other producer that has a bit of success with a specific sound. Its all gone very generic and producers seem to have lost their imagination. They all want to produce for success rather than producing a tune from the heart with a sound that they've come up with themselves.

[Max Kane]

Shame to hear this (although I wasn't overly familiar with his work).

It's happening to an awful lot of guys now though - either sell out, engineer for others, or go semi-pro/retire

[Briggsy]

Yeah thats Matt Hardwick, John Askew (vowed to only play for 4 promotors from now on), and Fabio Stein that have all gone this year - and i'm sure they won't be the last either

[Max Kane]

Thing is, and I do sympathise on some levels, guys who used to make a decent living from trance music can no longer do so.

They are having to find ways of making money (which usually do not endear them to their core fanbase) in order to survive as a professional DJ/Producer.

It is true that clubs book too many producers but this is understandable really, the day of the DJ has been and gone. It's all this brand nonsense and becomming an "act" as opposed to just a DJ. You need to whole package of production/DJing/compilations/Radio show/podcast/etc/etc to make any kind of money.

That, added to the fact that there are souless commercially focused individuals like Guetta/Above & Beyond/Tiesto/etc, has conspired to suck the life out of the scene.

Without the massive clout of these huge celebrity types there wouldn't be any new talent unearthed. The big acts now seem to decide who is the next big thing (see Arty) and we're left with whatever they decree.

[Moonman]

all of the above is why i like tech/minimal house now. Because there's no snobbery attached to it. The best nights we had in Ibiza this year were, to be honest, hearing the no name dj's playing tracks that no one else was playing.

What i think has contributed to the "stuck in a loop" scene is, old records being remixed time, and time again. Because they are anthems already, people already know them, so its easier for them to become big tunes and for producers to get their names out there, and ultimately gigs. I mean, whats number one right now on beatport? FLG's "So Much Love". A track 8 years old when it was done by Bangalter. The scenes cant progress if there are no new records and styles being explored.

The ass kissing must do your head in though, and the voting, well i dont even take notice of that anymore, its just a way for DJMag to get there name out there and sell copies.

[Quadrant]

I now understand why other DJs hung up their phones... they reached this point after the boom of 99/2000 and it wasn't the same fun for them anymore, music-wise. Colin Tevendale springs to mind...