Electronic music in the UF? You're damn right, because electronic music is still under the ground here in the States. However, we haven't featured a lot of interviews with electronic music artists in the past because we're mostly house headz here at UF, but whenever I did one I was delighted by the deep and conscious answers and remarks I got in response to my questions.

So happened again when I talked to DJ Ray Velasquez, one of the contributors to a project called "Torchbearers" on Risk Records, a soon to be released compilation featuring the music of 11 club culture vanguards, incl. DJs like Jason Bentley and Aaron Axelsen.

DJ MG
October 1999

The following interview was conducted by DJ MG in September 1999:

How did you get involved with DJing?

I've always been involved with music. When I was a kid I was a singer, songwriter, and musician with a strong interest in theater and the performing arts. I've been a record collector since I was five or six. My dad would take me to the local drug store to buy 7"s and 45's by James Brown, The Monkees, The Four Tops, and the Chipmunks singing Beatles songs. We had a portable Hi-fi and I would play records for my little sister to dance to. My parents recently unearthed a cassette recording of a ten year old (me!!) performing my best AM radio styling. The tape was marked the 'Ray Velasquez Show.' How prophetic. Years later, in the very early 80's, I became the music and promotions director for KJHK at the University of Kansas. In my earliest days as a professional DJ I'd play everything from the hippest underground gigs to frat parties to wedding receptions. These gigs gave me the opportunity to exercise my wide and varied musical knowledge and develop an enhanced sense of empathy, taste and critical judgment.

How was it at the beginning? What kind of stuff did you spin, and when did you decide to go more into electronic music?

My first professional club gig was at a place called 'The Sanctuary' in Lawrence, KS in the very early 80's where I'd play everything from The Beatles, The Who, and The Stones to The Jam, The Clash, and Elvis Costello to Run DMC, Soul Sonic Force, and Grandmaster Flash, to U2, New Order, and REM.

Around the same time I hosted a Sunday night chill-out show on KJHK called 'Nocturnal Transmission' which featured ethereal acoustic and electronic music by the likes of Kraftwerk, Eno, Cocteau Twins, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Vangelis, Ennio Morricone, Beach Boys, Beatles, and Simon and Garfunkel. All this nearly a decade before the rise of the ambient Electronica of The Orb, KLF and Irresistible Force.

Do you still remember your worst gig?

Not specifically, no. I know the bad gigs are there, but all the crap gigs seem to sort of blend together with the cool gigs to paint a rich and colorful DJing career.

How about your best one?

I really enjoyed playing at 'Dogstar' in London in the summer of '98. Mixmaster Morris invited me to play his Sunday night 'Nubient' party. I was quite moved and inspired by the open-mindedness and enthusiastic appreciation of the audience which cheered and delivered a standing ovation after my first record. It was a bossa nova kissed Pat Metheny piece which subtly and seductively poured into a Kevin Yost track. Massive gorgeousity. That was a good night.

How did you actually start with your own musical projects?

My Torchbearers contribution is my recording debut. Honestly, I had little desire to involve myself in producing. I was quite musically and artistically satisfied with my role as a tastemaker, a catalyst for musics of consequence. I love being a DJ. It is my chosen form of expression. However, I liked the concept of the Torchbearers project. I teamed up with two friends of mine who perform and record as Lunar Beat Theory. We collaborated on the project and "1989 (Harmonic Dissidents)" was the final result.

What are your favorite DJs?

Mixmaster Morris, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Tom Middleton, Thievery Corporation, United Future Organization, Jose Padilla...

Who has influenced you and your music?

I'm influenced by artists like The Beatles, The Who, The Jam, The Clash, New Order, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Stan Getz. I'm also influenced and inspired by historical and spiritual figures like John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ghandi. But I think my most significant musical influence is my wife, Vanessa. She has inspired and challenged me to grow musically, artistically, and spiritually. She is without a doubt my Yoko.

Do you think electronic music slowly gets the respect it deserves, or is there still plenty of work to do?

Music that is challenging, innovative, affecting, and relevant rarely gets the respect it deserves until the entertainment establishment figures out a way to exploit it. Typically, by that time it's so diluted, so horrifically dumbed down, it's rendered nearly impotent. So, yes, there's still plenty of work to do. There will always be plenty of work to do.

Have you seen 'Modulations,' the movie about the history of electronic music? What do you think about it, and how important is the history of electronical music for you?

Very important. You can't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been. I personally have not had the opportunity to view 'Modulations.' I hear it's good. Its director, Iara Lee heads a record label called Caipirinha which has released a number of interesting abstract Electronica compilations. There are many ways to grow one's sense of history. I personally recommend taking jazz, classical, and pop music history courses, and there are a billion books and magazines out there that deal with music and culture. Some of my favorite mags include Wire (not to be confused with Wired), and Straight No Chaser. I also recommend a book by David Toop called "Ocean of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sounds, and Imaginary Worlds."

When it comes to electronic music, mostly the younger generation is listening. Do you sometimes wish more older folks would give it a try as well?

Unfortunately, I believe that most people are passive in the way they appreciate music. I believe age is irrelevant. No matter how old we are we can only dig what our frame of reference allows us to dig. Unless of course we take a more active approach to how we shape our tastes... perhaps by ever-exploring a variety of new sounds and processing them through a well developed sense of critical judgment.

I think that many younger listeners are severely impaired by their lack of historical perspective. Sometimes, this ignorance combined with fear, arrogance, and a self-perceived and distorted sense of hipness may tend to impede any accumulation of real knowledge and experience. One of the most musically open-minded and knowledgeable individuals I've ever known, was a 62 year old ex-juke box salesmen I met in Geneva a couple of years ago. After an evening of wine, herb, and jazz, he introduced me to the Asian Electronica of Badmarsh and Shri. What really matters more than age is one's willingness to be effected, challenged, stimulated, and entertained by unfamiliar music. One thing's certain, this guy was hipper than any baggy clothed, booty housed, pilled up, 19 year old I've ever met.

Think about it... Many if not most of the world's more interesting DJ's and Electronica artists are over 30 and 40 years old.

What you're referring to is clearly a marketing challenge and not a musical one. In America older people may not be as aware of electronic music because the entertainment establishment has decided, through comprehensive marketing research, that a more mature audience is not their target demographic. That's why this whole thing sucks so bad. At the end of the day all that's available to the American public is a big fat cultural placebo.

How about the rave culture here in the US compared to Europe?

Europe's better. Much of American rave culture has become shallow and thugish.

How did you get involved with the Torchbearer project?

For the past six years, I've hosted 'Nocturnal Transmission,' an electronic music program on a 100,000 watt commercial modern rock station in the Kansas City area. Risk Records decided that I function as a true club culture vanguard. So they invited me to contribute an original Electronica recording to the Torchbearers project.

Since the word 'Torchbearer' is defined as:
- one who imparts, knowledge, truth, or inspiration to others...

and the word 'Vanguard' is defined as:
- the foremost or leading position in a trend or movement...

I thought it an honor to participate.

Please tell me about your future projects and goals?

I plan to continue to record with my friends in Lunar Beat Theory. I hope to continue to generate culture as a catalyst for music of quality and distinction. And I'd like to widen my scope as a music programmer by becoming involved with satellite or internet radio. I'm fascinated by the idea of a global musical presence and impact.

My last question: what kind of DJ equipment/mixer do you use?

A Rane MP22 and a Pioneer DJM 300.

Thanks a bunch for this interview!

My Pleasure.