Earlier this month on April 9th I celebrated my 19th year spinning records. When I first started I was solely an electronic music DJ. I focused on techno and ambient strictly. That was in 1993 and since then I have explored an entire universe of genres and atmospheres.

It wasn't until 2001 that I began to seriously dive into the "oldies" records. The ironic thing is that most people who have met me in the last 10 years really only know me as a vintage music DJ and they have no idea that I come from this other world of DJing where technique, etiquette and philosophy are vastly different from vintage music DJs.

I love records but not many DJs to be honest. Part of what drove me away from actively pursuing spinning the electronic music scene after 18 years was the stigma of the "scene" itself. In many music scene genres like rockabilly and electronic for example there's a preconceived idea of what and who that DJ is because of what they wear or what they play. I have spent the last 10 years trying to reverse that scene mentality.

When I started spinning vintage records I quickly realized that I did not want to be labeled with a new scene any more than I wanted to be labeled with the other scene that I was dividing myself from. I got lots of advice from other DJs who suggested that I change my DJ name so I didn't confuse people with the different scenes that I was spinning for. I did not take that advice. I started to notice that I was becoming a "DJ" not a techno or a rockabilly DJ but a music explorer who was going to experiment with records as I saw fit.

So this is where I'm at after 19 years of doing this thing. I can appreciate the diversity of formats but I'm not intrigued by new DJs who have never touched a Techinics 1200 and I don't care about the never ending genre wars especially in the electronic music scene. I'm only interested in records and being a DJ. That being said I have created a brand new mix of electronic dance music recorded straight from the records to your ears. Unless you're listening to a lot of different kinds of music it might be hard to see the connection between vintage dance music and contemporary "electronic" but I have argued many times that rock'n roll, jazz and blues are the original techno.

This was recorded in one take using vinyl 12"s from 2001-2011. This is also the first electronic mix I've made for a year. For me part of the excitement of mixing is beat matching. I get an adrenalin rush and my hands actually shake. This physical reaction to mixing is why I love to spin records, I just wouldn't get the same feeling if I was using another format. Genrify what ever you want, sub-divide everything until there's nothing but a name. I'll just call it techno like we did in 1992. Techno with a dash of disco, tribal, house, acid and progressive. Go dance. This is dedicated to Cricket & Broccoli for the amazing gift! Thanks for listening.

*photograph rosey lakos www.roseylakos.com