DJ James Zambiela beats things up at the turntable

DJ James Zambiela beats things up at the turntable

Joseph Mangga, Contributor, Jakarta

Jakarta was once again treated to some top international DJ
talent when 24-year-old James Zambiela, the world's #11-ranked
DJ, played to a crowd of nearly 1,500 people at Club Centro on
Jan. 24 in South Jakarta.

From Southampton, UK, Zambiela grew up with a sensory overload
of the latest UK acid house, since his father worked in a nearby
record store.

He started DJ-ing at 15 when his dad got him a set of decks
and a mixer as a Christmas present. He immediately became an
incurable vinyl addict and left school aged 16 to work in a
record store and hone his DJ-ing skills.

Less than four years ago, he was a starving graphic designer
by day and a struggling part-time DJ by night. Going to work each
morning, frequently with only three hours sleep, he handed out
homemade-mix tapes to virtually everyone he met.

One of these landed in the hands of Lee Burridge -- the
current world #30 DJ, who played the Triple-Xperience party at
Ancol in North Jakarta last August. He was so impressed he passed
a copy onto DJ god Sasha -- world #4, who played Stadium in late
2002 -- who was looking for a deserving young up-and-comer to
open for him on some upcoming gigs.

As the story goes, Sasha was listening to the mix tape in his
car when he telephoned Zambiela out of the blue, offering him a
dream slot with his DJ agency, Excession. They say lightning
never strikes twice, but that very same month the same mix tape
won the prestigious Mixmag Magazine Bedroom Bedlam competition.
It must have been one helluva mix ...! As Zambiela said, in an
exclusive interview with The Jakarta Post.

"When I gave them that tape it was like a mixture of all my
favorite DJs at that time. I used to like Danny Howells and I
liked what Lee and Sasha would do. I think every DJ is a mixture
of their favorite DJs. Its kind of a weird thing."

What's even weirder is how quickly Zambiela became
unquestionably the hottest young DJ sensation on the planet.

Besides headlining huge gigs in Europe and Ibiza last summer,
he has also recently toured Asian cities like Hong Kong, Taipei,
and Singapore, and now Jakarta. This was only a quick two-city
Asia trip for the young spin-master, then he's straight back to
England to record a two-hour Essential Mix for Radio 1 -- the
highest profile dance music radio show in the UK.

"Its kind of really a privilege to be asked to do, but I'll
(record) it live. I don't use Pro-Tools (i.e. a 'virtual studio'
computer program used by most DJs and producers). Its kind of
something I'm against. I just like the whole live thing, (making)
it up as you go along, using FX units and things (like that)."

Sound in Motion -- his only commercial release to date -- is
very unusual for it is more or less a live recording of his DJ
mix without any overdubs or major studio manipulation whatsoever.

As Zambiela describes, "It was simply a case of me going into
my bedroom, putting the tape recorder on, DJ-ing for a couple of
hours, then I gave the tapes to the record company and that was
that".

As for current projects, Zambiela has a song remix, Eli,
coming out on Global Underground next month, plus a shadowy remix
CD scheduled for release sometime in July.

"Eli is a track by Adin Lavelle, James Lavelle's (world #44
DJ) little brother. I finished it the day before I left so I
played it last night (at Centro Singapore) for the first time
(and) I'll play it again tonight. I'm (also) going to do a new
mix CD, but it's top secret at the moment. I can't tell you what
label or anything. I don't know how I'm going to do it yet, (but)
I'm going to try and get an even more live feel to it."

One of two things that distinguishes Zambiela from most other
DJs is his ability to utilize the latest DJ gadgetry to its
fullest potential, live: using the decks and effects units to
create a separate lead instrument.

"Right now I'm using the Pioneer CDJ-1000 CD deck and EFX-500
unit in a much more musical way, trying to put in more of a
performance rather than just 'playing records', one after
another. I've also had a lot of scratch influence from (scratch
hip-hop) DJs like Run-DMC and Jazzy Jeff."

During his Centro performance, this translated into extended
bass drop-outs followed by spacey, improvised CD-scratch solos
and full-bore assaults of FX-laden vocal and synthesizer loops.

"Sometimes (I'll use) three decks and an a cappella vocal as
well. I've worked out (how) you can use the feedback delay on the
Pioneer FX unit in the same way as the C-Loops feedback loop.
Its kind of weird (for) it's not meant to do that," Zambiela
says.

The other thing unique about Zabiela is his extensive use of
"breakbeat" tracks -- quirky, off-beat, almost jazzy rhythms,
squeezed somewhere in between a standard 4/4 beat.

When asked about his style, Zambiela said, "I'm a sort of a
real mixture of everything, so I guess that's me. Just a mish-
mash. I play a lot of break-beat, a lot a techno, a lot of house.
A real mixture of anything, that acid house stuff, mellower
stuff, more melodic stuff as well."

Zambiela certainly succeeded in taking everyone on a very
unique musical journey that evening at Centro. For a closer
impression, we asked him what he likes best about the overnight
DJ-ing success that has befallen him.

"The fact I'm sitting here in Jakarta is pretty amazing for a
start ...! I get to travel and see things and play music all
around the world. It's like the best thing ever, so no
complaints."