For Justin Commu, being a mashups deejay is a form of artwork

Photo By Air`leth aodhfin

DJ Dingokiller does all of his effects on a touch-screen HP laptop. 

If you happen to stop by Justin Commu’s  apartment, you’ll probably find him sitting in front of his mixer. He might be layering something ridiculous, like the vocals to TLC’s “No Scrubs,” over a beat by the Voodoo People, or mashing up a drum and bass track by Pendulum with The Postal Service. Commu, also known by his handle DJ Dingokiller, took up spinning records two-and-a-half years ago when he bought some low-end equipment for his aspiring-deejay girlfriend. Today, the two of them laugh when they reminisce about how disappointed she was when she realized that deejays don’t make their music live. “She was so disheartened with deejays that she wanted nothing to do with it,” Commu fondly recollects. “Her favourite thing to do was to play around with the effects.”

Since then, Commu has upgraded his tools to two CDJ 400s and what he calls a “fancy mixer,” the Korg 04, both of which allow him to interface with a computer. He does his effects with his fingers on a touch-screen laptop and uses an iPhone for sampling. He doesn’t, however, believe in deejay-ing software and says he only uses his computer so that he can play songs on the CDJ. “It’s just so that I don’t have to carry CDs around, because I’m lazy,” he explains. When it comes to the art side of being a deejay, however, Commu is anything but lazy. He informs me that he makes all of his mashups live, on the spot. His conception of being a deejay involves trying to get the most out of his equipment rather than just trading one song for another. In short, Commu doesn’t want to be an iPod. “One of the hardest things for a deejay in the city is to set themselves apart, so you have to do things that make it really apparent to the crowd that you are special,” he says.

Commu sets himself apart by striving to gain as much control over his music as possible, be it by building unique, genre-crossing mashups live or by learning how to scratch. He likes playing hip hop so much that it would be a shame not to be able to scratch, he informs me. With the recent proliferation of “genre-benders” in the musical scene, Toronto has witnessed a dramatic increase in the popularity of the mashups deejay. Perhaps this is partially a response to the frustration experienced by budding young artists who don’t wish to be confined to a particular musical genre. Commu started off spinning happy hardcore because he wanted to play at raves, but he quickly realized that if he wanted to get booked for more gigs, he would have to switch to a genre that “more ears are tuned to.” This led him to electrohouse and breakbeats, although nowadays he often plays as many as 12 or 13 genres in a single set.

Commu lists fellow mashup artist Girl Talk as a major influence, explaining that taking one thing and making it into something else entirely can be a beautiful piece of art. Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album – an album that combines Jay-Z’s lyrics with The Beatles – is one instance of this. “Things like that always really excite me because you’re taking things you already really like and putting them in an entirely new light,” Commu explains. Although the fourth-year University of Toronto student has only been deejaying professionally for about a year, he has already been sponsored by two major corporations (Red Bull and Microsoft HP) and has spun not only for massive crowds at renegade parties but also at Peter Gatien’s latest super-club, CiRCA nightclub, located in Toronto’s entertainment district. He almost drools when he describes their top-notch sound system and equipment as “a deejay’s dream.”

However, despite the serious attitude he has towards making music, Commu is still able to take himself lightly. When asked what his favourite thing about spinning is, he responds with “free drinks.” He laughs, pauses for a beat, and then corrects himself. “I like trying new things,” he says. Commu refers to his weekly Wednesday night gig at Harmony Lounge as a chance to try out new tricks on a test audience. “If they go crazy, then I know I’m onto something.” In my recollection, they nearly always do.

- For more information on DJ Dingokiller, including bookings, see www.velcrorocket.com