Spencer Brown
Animation by Sarah Yu
If you, like us, are feeling a little (or a lot) overwhelmed—fear not! Let the music take the wheel (at least for the next four years). The one and only Spencer Brown, electronic dance music maestro, is in the house, and we just had to pick his brain!
Does techno mirror the chaos and order of existence, or is it an escape from the existential questions of life?
I’ve been fascinated by the art of hypnosis via dance music. When a perfect flowstate is achieved between the DJ and the crowd united as one, everyone on the same wavelength, the synergy can create a mirror of chaos and order AND escape from existential questions at the same time. It comes down to the art of hypnosis and how that personally affects your brain.
Good DJing is capturing chaos and order while creating an existential escape.
Do you think the repetitive beats of techno reflect the cyclical nature of human existence—birth, life, death, and rebirth?
To me, longer sets can achieve this best. I love “open to close” sets - where I start when it’s an empty room and play until the morning. In this sense, I start ambient, like a birth, warming up with slower music, childhood, peaks and troughs, mirroring adulthood, and coming to a conclusion, death. Every night the set is different. I never have a plan and go with the flow.
The rebirth is the realization of the message and how it applies to your own life.
When you're dancing to techno in a dark club, surrounded by strangers, are you more connected to humanity or more alone in your own consciousness?
Both at the same time. I’ve been on both sides - both in the booth DJing - and on the dancefloor.
To me, it’s therapy. Sometimes I want to be alone on the dancefloor, in my own head, asking myself questions, or simply letting loose. Sometimes I want to feel connected to others. Most often, both at the same time.
The best DJs are mediums, channeling energy for you to do either.
If you could talk to one inanimate object, what would it be, and what would you ask it?
A subwoofer. Do you realize how many lives you have changed?
If you could replace your alarm clock sound with a voice from history, whose voice would you wake up to, and what would they say?
Any calming yogi. When I start my day with yoga and meditation I’m noticeably more productive and less stressed.
What would happen if gravity stopped working for an hour every day? How would society adapt?
Perhaps it would be a good reminder to disconnect for a bit and re-center yourself. I think any reminder of this would benefit us all.
