About
Background
Highstone is a vinyl-only DJ living in central upstate NY. You might see him out at various [events in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions](links.md), primarily. He's been spinning since 1998 and has played at dozens of venues across the northeast and midwest, before landing upstate. In 2022-2023, he ran a bi-weekly show on WRFI (Ithaca, Watkins Glen) featuring 2-hour DJ blends in a variety of genres.
Partying in the late 90s, cutting rugs at house parties (on one occasion, literally) in the surprisingly lively underground rave scene in the backwoods of northeast PA. This scene was shaped by strong influences from Philly, NYC, and NJ; emphasizing NYC techno, early progressive trance, hard acid, and NY house.
During the early 2000s, Drum & Bass was rapidly rising in popularity, particularly Techstep, Darkstep, and later Neurofunk. Learning to spin Drum & Bass introduced Highstone to new techniques and skills.
Style & Influence
Highstone's sets vary pretty broadly across those influences, but typically involve music from the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s (with the occasional deviation).
With the recent resurgence in these genre (particularly both early 00s trance and drum & bass), these old records have been getting their time under the lights again.
Influences include (alphabetically):
- Above & Beyond
- Commander Tom
- Dara
- The Dever
- Dieselboy
- Frankie Bones
- Hive
- J Magik
- John B
- Jon the Dentist
- Paul van Dyk
- Pendulum
- Phantom 45
- Sasha & Digweed
- Satoshi Tomiie
- TeeBee
Vinyl only?
Yes.
Most DJs have long-since switched over to the convenience and power of digital mixing, trading heavy record crates and decks for USB sticks and solid-state electronics allowing for incredible new possibilities with what can be done with musical performance.
As an intentional artistic choice, Highstone has chosen to continue exploring a classic tactile experience of vinyl-on-turntable format, creating a limited creative space to be explored more thoroughly and intently.
The constraints of only using vinyl requires a more intimate familiarity with each song, allowing for longer blended mixes (creating new sonic experiences from songs that might be familiar), often resulting in a more curated and intentional journey.
Deriving from roots in mixing Trance and Techno, the sets will often be rave-classic style long-form blends, where (ideally) it feels like a single song, each individual track flowing into the next.