Sex Ed

"Oh wow, I'm trying to think, but I'm pretty sure the last time I did something was last May," Melanie Moore tells SFR. The local DJ can be forgiven for her recent hiatus given the birth of her twin daughters just about two years ago, but she is now poised to explode back onto the local scene with her annual Valentine's Day event, Sex on Vinyl.

This year's iteration, subtitled "Just Close Your Eyes," is momentous as one of her first performances in some time, and since it's the 10th anniversary of the DJ extravaganza, SOV will, for the first time ever, play out over two nights.

"See, what you want is an all-night party, and nothing would give us more pleasure than to do, like, 12 straight hours of music," she says. "But due to Santa Fe nightlife and liquor laws and various other constraints, we're doing two full nights."

Sex on Vinyl operates differently than most DJ events to which Santa Fe has grown accustomed. Rather than separated set times, Moore, along with longtime DJ partner Donovan Livingston, locals DJs Oona Bender and Xavier as well as imported artists Stadenco (New York) and Jesse Wright (Los Angeles), is a far more collaborative experience. They'll all perform together simultaneously with vinyl and CDs being the medium of choice, and laptops are strictly forbidden.

"We do it this way because it brings back the original craft of DJing, wherein we take one song and add a second to create a completely unique third song," Moore says. "Nobody can hear what's in anyone else's headphones, so it all happens on the fly…like, say I hear what someone else is putting out over the sound system and I think I have something perfect to add to that, I'm going to come in with that track and add to the song, so there has to be a certain level of surrender and definite trust among us all to avoid a complete and total clusterfuck."

Moore points out that SOV DJs are chosen in part due to their old-school aesthetic and skill. Given the lack of computers and software, the performers must have an intimate knowledge of their collections; song length and rhythmic timing become key; and the results are dance jams that are not only mixed by ear, but that have never been heard before and will probably never be heard again.

"When you work with vinyl, you have to constantly monitor what you're playing, and all of these DJs started out working with vinyl," Moore says. "With computers you aren't really working as hard; your ass isn't hanging on the edge."

Moore says that the entirety of the event's musical offerings can be classified as house music, but each performer brings a little something different to the table(s). Stadenco, for example, tends to err on the tech-house side of things by merging elements of both techno and house into very danceable tracks that will surely groove, while Jesse Wright tends to be a little more progressive or, as Moore puts, is, "More airy…or maybe I should say pretty."

For her own part, she's aiming for a huge, uplifting sound by delving into classic house tracks from the '90s.

"It's the one time a year I really break out my records," she says. "I start to think that I just can't part with this or that track from '92 that I heard in Baltimore in '93 and chased down until I finally found it in '99."

And let's not forget that Skylight's own DJ Dynamite Sol will be presiding over his regular weekly event, Alchemy as well. This means that dance fans have two full days to experience more kinds of electronic music than they know what to do with thanks to Skylight's multiple performance spaces.

"A lot of people ask me what it is that makes me love this DJ thing, and I think that when it comes to something like Sex on Vinyl, it's that it's like an extended soundtrack that never stops," Moore adds. "This is just about the music, and that is something that I feel is unique and sacred in this particular industry."

Sex on Vinyl X: Just Close Your Eyes
8 pm Friday, Feb. 13 and
Saturday, Feb. 14. $10-$20
Skylight, 139 W San Francisco St.
982-0775

Santa Fe Reporter