Steve Aoki

Steve Aoki is a rock star.

No, not in the conventional guitar-playing, substance-abusing, groupie-fucking sense. But there’s no denying that the Los Angeles-born DJ, and founder of the tastemaking label Dim Mak Records (home to everyone from Armand Van Helden to MSTRKRFT), is grounded in punk and rock roots. Last week, Aoki told Toronto’s NOW Magazine that when he was in college, he threw DIY shows in his own living room, and everyone from Dillinger Escape Plan to Isis to At the Drive-In played there. That’s pretty legit street credentials for a man whose name – for better or worse – has become synonymous with hipster culture (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, than please watch this), and has remixed thoroughly non-punk rock artists like All American Rejects (gag) and Good Charlotte (double gag). That’s too say nothing of his latest, perhaps ill-advised project with The Bloody Beetroots’ Bob Rifo – a screamo duo under the not-so-clever alias of Rifoki (obviously both men missed the memo about screamo going the way of the dodo).

But watching him thrashing around onstage, throwing his sweaty body into the crowd, and spraying champagne all over an eager dancefloor at This Is London last Friday, it was clear that Aoki was the biggest rock star in the room.

And why not? It was certainly more interesting than watching another guy press play on a laptop while twisting and fiddling with some knobs. Coming on shortly before midnight to a chopped-up take on the Lion King theme song, it took no time for Aoki to whip the packed crowd into a frenzy, as he did a set that considered half of his original material and half remixes. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a huge fan of his original material – I find a lot of it just repetitive, boring electro-house (save the whiplash-inducing, Bloody Beetroots-assisted “Warp 1977″). But where Aoki shines is with his club-killing remixes – he’s never met a song that he didn’t like, and more often than not, his remixes transform the originals into something that sounds a hundred times more massive and anthemic. I first heard about Aoki on the Weird Science remix of Bloc Party’s “Banquet”, which featured none other than Canada’s own Peaches, singing/rapping over Kele Okereke’s vocals and spiky post-punk guitars. More recently though, he turned out a stellar remix of everyone’s current favourite rap song (even T-Swift – watch this and wait till the 3:45 mark), with Drake’s “Forever”. Aoki takes Drake, Lil Wayne and Kanye’s parts over a sped-up electro backbeat, while keeping those horns blasts that sound like air raid sirens, building the beat to a fevered pitch, before slowing the whole thing for Eminem’s to drop his downright sinister-sounding verse. The DJ also dropped his reworked version of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit Of Happiness”, a song that might just be good enough to get me listening to Top 40 radio again.

Yet the highlight of the night by far was the energy that Aoki put into his performance, which carried on strong until four in the morning. Being caught up in a feverish mass of grinding and moshing bodies, it was easy to forget that I was at a swanky club in Toronto’s entertainment district, and not some punk show in someone’s basement (albeit a very nice basement, with wooden floors, brick walls and spacious ceilings). Too many DJs are content to phone-in their sets, without putting any real effort or enthusiasm, but Aoki is the real deal.

For more Steve Aoki,
Website: http://steveaoki.dimmak.com/blog/