ance-music documentaries have been a disappointing lot – either sponsor-driven, overly star-struc... Passion for the ‘Recor
ance-music documentaries have been a disappointing lot – either sponsor-driven, overly star-struck, or low-tech enough to make you wonder if your 12-year-old nephew made it on his mobile phone and posted it on YouTube. The DVD version of Put the Needle on the Record, recently released online and headed for stores in September, is a refreshingly slick, sober, and balanced look at electronic dance music.
Perhaps Needle gets it right because it was written and directed by a club-scene outsider with a small-screen pedigree, former ESPN producer Jason Rem. In 2002, he was looking for a topic for a first film when friend and soon-to-be Needle coproducer Shahin Amirpour suggested he check out the Winter Music Conference, the dance industry's annual retreat in Miami. More than a business-card-swapping soiree, the weeklong conference and related events comprise an adult spring break that draws the world's top DJs and electronic bands to perform at parties that happen 24/7 every March. South Beach's “dance music week” has grown to include massive concerts, super-club gigs, and sponsorship events. (Playboy, PlayStation, and Pioneer are but a few brands that have set up shop or sponsored happenings.) It's been estimated that as many as 30,000 industry insiders and outsiders come from around the world to rub shoulders with dance music's elite.
“I was inspired by the passion people had for the music,” says Rem. He also spied a no-brainer opportunity to catch the world's dance-music brain trust in one place, during one week. The 2003 conference ended up serving as a common thread for Needle, which is essentially the story of how dance music became a massive subculture while still remaining under the radar of radio, magazines, and MTV.
And so Needle gets house pioneer Jesse Saunders delineating house music's origins; drum 'n' bass star Dieselboy talking drum 'n' bass; radio DJs Jason Bentley and Liquid Todd illuminating the state of e-music on the air, and producers such as Dave Ralph discussing how technology constantly pushes the scene forward. Ralph celebrates the laptop-music revolution, saying a contemporary DJ can produce a track on her computer and end up playing it at a club the same night. Living legend François K, who's been spinning vinyl since the days of disco, counters that emotion, however, saying that technology is overshadowing musicality in the scene.
The film itself was a technological feat. Helicopters swoop down Miami's Ocean Drive as partygoers fill the side streets. Booties jiggle in high resolution. Hands are raised to house music. Needle gets a real aesthetic feel for the community, sexuality, and inspiration that drive people toward club culture.
Rem was moved by the dedication he witnessed. He's now an avid dance-music fan, even as the film did its job, opening doors for more documentaries and possibly even a feature under his company, Rem Entertainment. It's also doing a good deed for dance music, showing how it is with nary a glow stick, big head, or drug-face in sight.
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