Brian Behlendorf

Thank you for being interviewed by Azarakh, we appreciate your time, and your entire approach to sharing your most beloved music with other listeners as a DJ. I can remember from the earliest chill rooms in the late nineties, where you were a staple DJ, and where I was a consistent and avid chill roomer, often to the extent of (gasp) dancing!

Your balearic yet beautiful sets have a way of wanting me to listen to them time and again with their way of winding down musical side streets and alleys, back roads and crossroads to nowhere in particular, where the music carries me away in a story of beauty, and peace.

I often found this a pleasant offset to my passion for harder sounds, dark techno, jungle, and industrial dance music. In this issue of Azarakh, I would like to delve into some of the aether surrounding music and the power it has to help us transcend life’s traumas. To live freer and happier, having met with our shadow selves in a dark club or warehouse, dancing with the dark.

First, can you tell us a little about yourself, and why you DJ? What do you get out of it?

B: I like playing the music I have played since high school, I love music and I love sharing music. And especially the Ah-Ha moments, and something that opens a door that causes a person’s mind to expand.to open. And secondly, everyone needs a creative pursuit, some people are lucky to meld this with a day job, but for myself DJing is that action of creativity I want to have in my life.

How long have you been DJing?

B: Since 1988. What started as just making mixtapes for friends turned into somehow being the one to drag a big sound system out to my high school's outdoor courtyard every Friday lunch and playing a 35 minute set for a rather demanding, varied, and eclectic audience: other high school kids, teachers, and administrators. As much as I tried to expose them to the glory of the KLF and 808 State, I deferred to Guns n Roses and DJ Rob Base. But even back then I was starting to buy early electronic and acid-house tracks and put on a few house parties with friends playing dance music at a more appropriate hour.

What genre(s) do you choose to play and focus on with your DJing, and how did you decide on that one (or those)?

B: Ambient, dub, and dub techno kind of form the core of my interests, with occasional forays in folktronica, weird 80's and 90's b-sides, spoken word, and other adjacent subgenres feeding in. I love dancing to other's sets - I just prefer to focus on tone, contrast, theme, and elements of surprise rather than on beat-matching or keeping a dance floor packed by playing the hits.

And what do you hope people will take away from your sets?

B: I hope they come away tickled in some way, having heard something that sparks joy for them. Whether it is melody or texture, something that gives a jolt. I am not a fan of background music, and this might be different than other ambient DJs but I want to engage people even with beatless music in my sets.

When you began to create moods and vibes from your sets, what did you feel about the power of the music to play to a person, and influence them in a meaningful way?

B: It is really in the moment, you want to think about the group as a collective entity that you are playing to. And I think a lot about who that audience is, and I want my set to meet them where they are at in their evening. I will play a completely different set for one set time than I would play for an early sunrise set at the same party.

The flow of the music you play is so fluid, and goes through zones of beautiful transition, and has polyrhythms that amaze and delight. You always seem to know when to bring in a new voice or a classic favorite track: When you tune in, how do you find that place within yourself to choose the music, do you feel that you flow to it, or it flows to you and through you to us?

B: When I put together a set, it is a mix of new music I have vs. popularly known chillroom tracks or earworms (catchy tunes that stay in your mind long after you have heard them, and often with a unique sound or composition that really stands out), and be songs from 30 years ago. Or, what I feel is fun is to play newer versions of older more well known tracks and versions. Or B-sides of older more well known artists, along with their new works which may be lesser known.

Sometimes, I sit in my collection and do a random journey through it to make a list of music that I would like to play at some point. That might give me 8 hours of music, then I will whittle the songs down to usually having twice the amount of music to play for a specific set length.

Usually the set involves songs that contrast each other, while others flow seamlessly into each other. What is a good place in the track that is a good fade in. Not a lot of time spent on beat-matching. Cue more like a radio station might, how to. As I also have listened to a track, identified a distinctive part of the music, and then will be heard to play that segment before bringing in the whole track, about 5 minutes before. Bringing out the obvious and unique parts of a song and through this process enabling the listener with a sense of what is upcoming in my set.

Some events were remote or in hard to access regions. And to set up and simply play music to a few others, then happily pack it all up and go home. What gave you that energy and drive?

B: Well I want to put the DJ into perspective, the party is and should be about the music and the dancers or deep listening participants. I feel that the person who carries the speaker is just as important to the event and community as the DJ is. I also like to celebrate being part of the community, by preparing the party and cleaning up afterwards. It's not about the DJ, it's about the dancers, and volunteers that make the event happen.

One of the ethos for underground events is to leave the space cleaner than how it was found, and for clubs and venues, the goal is to be allowed to come back, so cleaning up is equally important in those places as well. The whole process start to finish is about enabling the dancer, and participating in the experience and helping to facilitate it. I also want to include the person in the lawn chair who is not dancing, and that this person is also there enjoying the music as well, through deep listening instead of through movement.

Now we get into the music, and this issue is about the subconscious, and how moving to harder (or stranger) music is part of a cathartic release of energy from the individual. Even though the music you choose to play out often has softer than harder tones, it still has a profound impact on the psyche, and on me, personally. I would like to know how intentional it is for you: What do you think about this energy, and its release through dance, movement or simply deep listening?

B: In the early 90’s, a subset of the dance music genre called Intelligent Dance Music, and the term IDM was coined to describe thoughtful music that was also danceable. And it was a sincere effort to make dance music that could move the body and brain. I like the term tickle because it gives a light-hearted sense of weightlessness. To me, the music I play should also be about conscious engagement with the brain, and even perhaps to memory by bringing old familiar classic tracks out again. That is why I like to involve older tracks to the mixes I make.

Contrasting textures, a spoken word on top of ambient, demands the brain to be flexible and plastic, able to move on from one thought train to the next. That to me is what IDM is about, breaking down mental barriers and affecting one’s thoughts by allowing them to flow freely.

I have love for technology, and am not one who fears what electronic music brings to the world.

What do you think that listening to this type of music can do for the person’s state of mind, or their physical health, for example?

B: As far as health benefits I think the body and mind are one, so playing music that elevates the mind, will have a similar effect on the body. If I were a trance DJ I might argue that a highly aerobic dance is what I would hope to get out of the crowd. But since I play ambient most of the time, I hope that by tripping the brain into new forms of thought I can encourage people, body and mind, to flow more freely from one state of consciousness to the next.

Totally switching back to a techie track now: What software do you use to put your sets together?

B: The Linux-based DJ program I use is "Mixxx", so not sure if it was what you meant above. My primary archive for music is Plex, and sometimes I'll be listening to things throughout the year and add something to a playlist; likewise with another Linux-based audio player called Quod Libet (Quod Libet). But when I'm sitting down to put a stack of music together for a set, it'll be by setting up a playlist or crate in Mixxx, and then exporting the files over to a USB stick. I refuse to use a Windows or Mac for this so I can't use Rekordbox, and due to its closed proprietary system I can't use other tools to generate waveforms and cue points. But I'd rather suffer for my art than compromise!

Can you describe some of the challenges to using entirely open source when DJing or purchasing music?

B: When it comes to purchasing, there is no limitation there. Even if I was on Mac or Windows, I wouldn’t use proprietary players that are embedded in the OS where my own music could later be removed. So on the open source DJing side - Mixxx is able to be versatile, and if I was a beat matching as my style, then it would be much more difficult for me than it is. I tend not to travel with a laptop - so I like a USB stick and a place to plug that in to play my set. The challenge is one of getting my data to match what is a playable version on my USB stick to match to the equipment at hand, the mixer and sound system size in general. That just means I usually have the same song on the stick, and they will have different file types and bitrates.

Since Plex is my archive and music and media collection server, I tend to use it casually, and build running lists of songs that I would like to play, over time. Then Mixxx is used to whittle down my group of tracks from, say 8 hrs, into a 2 hour set. Then, I will be making sure the tracks are 24 bit FLAC (best) or 24 bit WAV, so I will usually also put the 16 bit rate, or if an MP3 is the only option of player at least I will have files that play on that equipment.

How have you sidestepped or surmounted some of those challenges?

B: So open source is not a barrier to buying and organizing music.

What is your favorite type of media to collect music on and with, and will you tell us why?

B: I still love CDs. There's still something very sci-fi about a shiny plastic and metal platter, about the (in theory) precision of 1s and 0s, and the size which allowed for a lot of portability. Of course I buy much more on band camp and bleep and other places these days and perhaps even more vinyl recently than CD; but CDs still have about 200 feet of shelf space in my house and that'll probably remain that way for eternity.

Now, we at Azarakh asked you to put together a list of your top chill room anthems for the late 90’s, and that list can be found online as well as in this volume 6 of Azarakh. Would you like to talk more about those songs and why you chose them?

B: The chillroom anthem was a trip down knowledge and memory lane. I wanted to put some well known tracks, but also some tracks that are not known but still characteristic of what you would hear from those artists as their definitive sound.

One question this list brings to mind is - how has your music taste evolved over the time since the first years playing chillrooms, until now?

B: I think when I started the definition of what could be played in the chillroom, was largely a narrow scope. These days I pull from a much wider pool. So I also curate my sets so they are tailored to the time of day or night that my set will be heard. The energy of the same event in the same year will shift through energy phases during the course of the party. I try to be aware of that shift.

And throughout the year at different parties, it is a point of pride for myself to play tracks not played in a previous set. I like challenging myself to play different tracks. I want my music not to be overly challenging, without pandering, while still being experimental.

If you have a passion for the genre(s) you are exploring currently (to listen to or to play out), which are those? And who are your current fave artists and/or producers in this genre, and why?

B: I'm tempted to put together a set of jazz / bossa nova covers of 80s-90s-2000s music, a la Nouvelle Vague, but keeping it feeling fun for the audience and diverse in texture could be a challenge. Also it's been awhile since I've played something truly beatless, like a 3am Chillits set, but I think I'll try that next time I get to play Chillits even if it's like 2pm in the afternoon.

What are you listening to right now?

B: Actually last night, it was the Doomed channel on SomaFM (SomaFM - Doomed). Then as I was following Back to Mine - basically a mixtape series put together by different artists. The one I was listening to was put together by Lamb.

What got you motivated, and involved, to become a livestream DJ?

B: It was during the pandemic, and we decided to do a virtual Chillits, so I figured out how to get both Mixxx and OBS Studio working on Linux, and figured out how to have fun with it. Now I want to do more.

And are there any producers or artists you want to mention to our audience?

B: Hania Rani - A modern pianist who has been releasing excellent music for about 8 years.

Are there any upcoming events you want to shout out? Are you playing anywhere soon?

B: That is a good question, I am always open to playing somewhere new. Campouts are great, but I want to make sure I don’t fall into a rut and play too often to the same types of people, or at the same events. Hope to play on a future Amiant Mafia stream on Sunday night, and I hope to play out at new places too.

What are your visions of the future of your DJing? Any specific goals you are working towards, either personally, or within any community affiliations that you would like to share with us?

B: I want to keep it fun for me and bearable for listeners. I do want to livestream more. Gotta make the time commitment to practice and set curation, but also just gotta commit.

Is there anything you would like the readers of Azarakh to know about you in general, or that you want to communicate to our readers at large?

B: I would like them to know about the movie Between the Beats, a Bay Area 90’s rave music documentary. Martin O’Brian worked on this movie for so long, so I am really glad it has made it to the big screen. I think it really captures a moment in time really well.

Where can people listen, and buy, more of your music? And if you want to say, what is your booking availability & contact info?

I have no way currently that people can buy set recordings or merch; and aside from the one set so far on Soundcloud and a number posted to http://cloudfactory.org I have no organized online presence. If you want to book me just email me - brian@behlendorf.com.

Thank you for taking the time to meet with us today, we look forward to sharing your interview with our readership of Azarakh.

~ Aryana Farsai

Brian Behlendorf Interview Links:

Behlendorf Mix - Chillits, 2023 - https://www.mixcloud.com/brianbehlendorf/brianb-chillits-2023/

Booking: brian@behlendorf.com

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/brian-behlendorf/live-chillits-2023

Cloudfactory: http://cloudfactory.org

Mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/brianbehlendorf/brianb-chillits-2023/

OOS Music Reader - Quod Libet - A Music Library / Editor / Player — Quod LibetQuod Libet: https://quodlibet.readthedocs.io/

Between the Beats article in DJMag: https://djmag.com/news/90s-rave-scene-san-francisco-explored-new-documentary-between-beats

Chillroom Anthems of the 1990’s SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7g4oSpAuy2nAQE8fbZh7e2

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL2plXIXxT3Qd05JEVmHhMH9BmO9fgeou

(See other article in this zine for the full artist and song list)

Index