Since November of 2012, Cityfox and Listed have put together some of New York’s finest productions, with a fully loaded 20-point KV2 3D Audio rig outlined with the most immersive 3D Mapped Projections on this side of the coast. The performers have been unparalleled to say the least. Adriatique, Mano Le Tough, Tennis, Thugfucker, Naveen G, Mike Khoury, Slee, and Three have been paramount in creating a vibe nearly unseen elsewhere and that both varies from event to event while still feeling undeniably Cityfox.
We sat down for a chat with Billy Bildstein of Cityfox and Simar Singh of Listed to talk about their upcoming experience, “Enclave II” and what surprises they have in store for the summer season. As for the audio, SoundPark zeroed in on Listed’s Atish as he gears up to smash the upcoming Cityfox Experience: Enclave II (June 14th) in Brooklyn, NY. We were excited to dig into what separates this master of the craft from the other performers and why he should be on everyone’s radar. Take note folks. Summer is upon us and Cityfox/Listed has an incredible season ready to go for us. In the end this isn’t an event. This isn’t a party. It’s an experience.
<br><br type="_moz">
We’ve been very big fans of Atish for a while, so let’s start talking about who Atish is. Give our readers who may not be as well acquainted with you a little background. Thank you! I'm currently a seven-year San Franciscan who grew up in the Chicago suburbs. I spend most of my time nerding around as a software engineer by day, while my nights and weekends are pretty much filled with digging music, working on mixes, playing gigs, and playing with my roommate’s cats who I’m sure are reading this (hi Po and Ra).
As a DJ, I consider myself equal part artist and performer. I think standing on stage in front of people is as much about reading and engaging a crowd as it is choosing the right tracks and elegantly mixing them together. I suppose this perspective and comfort comes from my performance background stemming from age six where I was playing violin recitals in concert halls for large crowds. Since my violin days, I've had various musical incarnations ranging from marching band, jazz, and indie rock, so right now dance music is the next step in my journey and evolution as an artist and a person. I must say, dance music is by far the most fun!
Anyone who knows anything knows that you’re one of the best mixers out there, truly a master of the art. You demonstrate this talent with frequent studio mixes you release on your SoundCloud, in which you’ve built a very strong following. What drives you to feed your fans with so many top quality mixes? As an artist, what do you get out of this? There are a few things that drive me to keep up with the regular release schedule… at my core I'm just always itching to share as much as I possibly can. I'm buying loads of music a few times a week now, and I feel like it’s my duty to make sure the world has an opportunity to hear it, if they choose. It would be a shame for me to sit on all this great music I found and keep it to myself, so releasing a monthly mix is the most efficient way for me to share and communicate with as many people as possible.
As an extension of my desire to share, I see my mixes are a form of self-expression that scratches another itch, which is my desire to be understood. I think it's fair to say that most artists share a similar motive as art is often just an abstract language of communication, and I've been lucky enough to find a medium that speaks so well to so many people across different cultures and locales. As my taste, personality, and moods change over time, so does the music I buy - some is light and fluffy, some is dark driving, some is techy and weird. I want people to understand the sounds I'm connected to, and consequently, understand me. I’ve had many people tell me that my mixes are very personal and authentic. It’s actually quite a funny thought given the fact that I am expressing myself through other people’s work, and I definitely take that as a huge compliment since authenticity is something I deeply value both as an artist and a person.
My quality bar for mixes is a simple metric. If I can listen to a mix about dozen times in various settings (in the car, at home, walking around town, waiting for a plane to board, at work) without getting tired of it, it’s probably good enough to release. There are a couple mixes I’ve finished but never released because they lost their spark after the first few listens. I have an incredibly short music attention span as I find that I start to lose interest when I hear mixes that are singular in sound. I can only take a few vocal hook deep house tracks in a row before losing interest, so I do my best to weave in and out of moods within an hour to keep the mix moving, that way the listener and myself are fully engaged.
You’ve been involved with Burning Man for more than a couple years now, was this something you always wanted to position yourself doing (playing on the Robot Heart bus)? To be honest, this question actually bothers me, but at the same time, I am glad you asked it. I hate to think that I may be perceived as someone who intentionally or strategically positioned himself to get to a certain place within the Burning Man community. I have seen some of this take place over the last couple years, as there are individuals who see Burning Man as a platform to build their personal brand or further their career – and the truth is that approach seems to actually work, though I personally find that ethos to be very anti-Burning Man.
I had been aware of some of the high profile camps, such as Robot Heart and Pink Mammoth before I had played them, and of course, like any aspiring artist, I visualized what it must feel like to play such amazing stages. But with Burning Man gigs, real-world club gigs, and my artist career in general, I never try to force myself into a situation – I’ve found that by being honest, authentic, and never expecting anything from anyone in the scene, good things have generally come my way. I also am self-aware that I am in a privileged position to feel this way since music is my hobby, not my career, and I don’t have to risk losing a primary income stream if some big gigs don’t come through. The converse is also true when I meet an artist or promoter who comes across as overly careerist, money-oriented or tit-for-tat-ish (for lack of a better word), I find that I’m less inclined to help them out or work with them.
As for the story behind my Robot Heart association, it’s all thanks to Lee Burridge, who has curated the Friday night Robot Heart lineup since 2009. It started in 2011, when I had plans to go to Miami for WMC week and see Tyrant (Lee Burridge + Craig Richards) on the listed Tikki Boat as an attendee. By some crazy luck, the scheduled opener had to back out of the gig, and Gunita (who runs Listed Productions) took a chance on me and gave me the opening slot. This was a pretty bold move, considering the fact that I had been DJing less than 1 year at that point. Lee and I had met just a handful of times prior to the Miami gig, so I wouldn’t say we were close friends by any stretch. He must have enjoyed my set, since a few minutes after the boat party ended, he invited me to play on the Robot Heart bus for that year’s Burn, and I’ve been invited back every year since. There was no calculation or positioning from my end, simply me just happening to be in the right place, at the right time, playing the right tunes. It could have happened to anyone, so I consider myself lucky.
That being said, I definitely am self-aware that my name has come to be associated with Burning Man, which has undoubtedly raised my artist profile both at home and outside the US, as there’s a lot of worldwide curiosity around Burning Man. This association is not something I’m trying to capitalize on, but at the same time, it's not something I'm trying to completely stop, as Burning Man is a part of my identity, and as mentioned, authenticity is something of deep importance to me. However, there are some situations where the association goes overboard. For instance, I have had a couple gigs outside the states where the promoters branded Burning Man as one my affiliations on the flyer and artwork, which made me really uncomfortable. I was quick to educate the promoters that these types of official associations are off-limits in the way I’m promoted, so luckily they obliged and changed their promotional angle.
It’s a nuanced point. While I did say Burning Man is a part of my identity, it’s also not the core of my identity, and it’s certainly not the only thing I want to be known for. I like to believe that I have more to offer than just being the “Burning Man DJ” who played that epic 2012 Robot Heart set.
While we’re on the subject, what makes the Burn stand out to you, do you prepare differently for such an experience? I find Burning Man to be full of spontaneous, free-flowing, unexpected moments (both on and off the decks), so I prepare as much as possible for spontaneity, as contradictory as that sounds. Every year, I go through this ritual of browsing through my entire music collection and dumping it to USBs and CDs, which is very time-consuming process. For my 2011 Burning Man prep, I uploaded my entire music collection to my web server, hired a TaskRabbit to download it all to her computer, paid her to burn a book of CDs following a label system I designed, then had deliver them to me in person – I think it took her two weeks and cost me a few hundred bucks. The reason I go through all this is because there are dynamic moods and unexpected situations on the playa, and the crowds you play for are open-minded usually up for anything. I want to have all my music available – I have to be prepared.
In the real world, I'm a dedicated Traktor user. I love Traktor primarily because it has the search feature where I can type any track/artist/label name, it will search my entire collection, and I can load it up in seconds. Finding a single track like that off USB or CDs would be impossible to do so quickly. Since I don't bring my laptop to the Burn, I wrote an iPad app specifically designed for searching my music collection in gig situations. This app imports all the metadata from my music collection on my laptop. I then type a track/artist/label/comment into a search field, and it immediately tells me what USB folder/CD that track is on, what key it is, and some other useful metadata, which simulates the real-world Traktor search experience. I go through great nerdy lengths to make sure I have all my music at my fingertips on the playa.
Being connected with Listed has secured you some incredible events, both as an opener and with the spotlight on yourself. The mastery needed to open a party properly is all too often overlooked; can you share how you approach a party as an opener? Oh boy, this is a huge question, but I’ll keep this one short, since I’ve been a bit too wordy already! Thinking about an opening set is really an exercise in destroying the ego. Rather than asking, “How can I play great music that will make me look good,” it’s better to ask “How can I play great music that will make the headliner look good?” Simply reframing the question can change how you play as an opener, and contribute to the success of the night as a whole.
Optimizing for the headliner is a really tough stance to take, since most of us DJs have big egos and rely on the crowd for positive feedback. That’s hard to reconcile since having the dance floor going bananas means you failed at doing your job as an opener. One interesting (but unavoidable) reality about opening is that it’s actually much more challenging than headlining given its subtlety and restraint, yet it’s the slot that’s often given to the less experienced DJs. The last couple years, I’ve been fortunate to play an increasing number headliner slots on the road while still taking on many opening gigs back home in SF, and I think this new perspective as a headliner has actually helped me improve as an opener since I now have an even better idea of where headliners would want to start from. 
This question just flows from the next, spotlight on Atish, how do you approach the journey when you’re headlining? The answer to this question flows just as well. The single most influential factor that shapes the direction of my set is where the opener leaves me off. I prepare for every gig with a general idea of where I’d like the night to go, but I never bank on it because an opener’s vibe can completely throw my grand plans out the door – for better or for worse, I’ve seen both.
By far, I find the most important track in a headline DJ set is the first one (and the second most important track is the last one). The audience is making so many judgments in those first five minutes, and if you fuck it up, you may have just lost them for the rest of the night. As a headliner, you have to decide what you want to do with what the opener gave you. Should you keep the vibe going, even though it’s not what you wanted? Slightly bring it down to give yourself headroom for later on? Fade out and reset the music altogether if the opener banged it out (keeping in mind that this could be a public slap in the face to the opener)? Pick up the pace a little because the audience is bored? (Ok that last one never happens).
All these questions in your head are compounded by the fact that you might be in a foreign environment playing on a sound system you’ve never played on so you’re ears aren’t tuned to what’s going on when you mix your first track in. I like getting to the club at least an hour before I play a headline slot to get comfortable with the surroundings. As I’m sure many DJs can attest to, even if I’m having a conversation with someone before it’s my time to go on, the one thing I’m actually mentally focused is what track I’m going to play first and where I want to take the night.
Beyond that, my approach to a prime time slot actually parallels my approach to a studio mix. I try not to hang around a single feeling for too long, since I get bored when a set is one-dimensional. A lot of the time, simply playing two hours of peak-time bangers will keep a crowd happy, but I think the sonic contrast between dark and pretty, banging and soft, techy and groovy all within a single set yields a much more emotional and lasting effect for both the audience and myself. It doesn’t happen every time I play, and depending on the response I get from the crowd that night, this dynamic approach isn’t the route I’ll take… but when it does happen, and the crowd and I are on the same wavelength, it feels like magic.
We mentioned Listed before, how did this relationship come about? What is it about their brand that made you want to be a part it? I had just moved to San Francisco in 2007 and started exploring the dance music scene with my friends. This woman, Gunita, would always be out at parties, and eventually we started going to her Listed parties in SF. The Listed concept parties stood above the rest because of the impressive level of thought and detail put into their events, from the branding, artwork, programming, lighting, sound, various surprises, and most importantly amazing, friendly, quirky people. Everything Listed did was so cool and had a personal authentic touch (the Gunita factor), which as we know by this point in the interview, speaks very strongly to me. I had to be a part of it.
By 2008, I hadn’t even started DJing yet. I actually VJ’d a couple of her parties early on, and as I got closer to the Listed family, let’s politely say I found some areas of improvement when it came to their organizational abilities. I started project managing their WMC weeks and other events free of charge, purely for the sake of wanting to be part of something amazing. As I mentioned above in the Burning Man question, I had no expectations from Listed in exchange for my help (other than a free ticket on the boat), but by the graces of good karma, I somehow found my way into opening for Tyrant on boat where things pretty much took off from there for me.
A little birdie mentioned to us that there’s some Cityfox experiences coming up in New York, is there a particular one that you can call your favorite… either as an artist or a fan? We’re trying to find out what’s everyone’s Cityfox experience is! I’ve been to three of the parties: Monkey Business, The Den, and Space Knights. Monkey Business was special because I got to play the closing set in Output’s main room, tagging with Adriatique & Dejan and in front of a giant gorilla shooting lasers out of its eyes. It was a bummer that The Den was shut down, but it was truly an amazing display of production and design. That being said, I’d have to say the best party for me by far was Space Knights. Not because of the music or production, but because that’s where I first met my girlfriend, and we’ve been together every day since, so thank you Listed & Cityfox for creating that experience! Yep, I’m a cheeseball!
