DJ Medley has been on the grind in Toronto for about eight years now. Having done everything from Jungle to Hip Hop, he is now specializing in Electro and Remixes. One of the brains behind the brilliant Dance Like You Fuck Thursdays, he’s taken it from Avalon to its current location at Strangelove. With Medley on the ones and twos, the night has become one of the busiest on College West. He was no stranger to the area; he’s been the man behind the well-established Remix This Wednesdays at Andy Poolhall since its inception over a year ago. Constantly committed to increasing his presence in Toronto, he handles Mash-up Mondays at Rockwood, and is about to launch an old school night in Kensington market for Tuesdays. All of the hard work is certainly paying off. Opening for JR Sanchez @ Circa this Friday, Medley’s bound to drop some serious heat and get some serious love in return.

Taking his relentless work ethic beyond just spinning records, his passion has gotten him involved in a lot of different avenues. His website features his own personal remixes and compilations of tracks you are likely to hear in his sets. He has just started to sink his teeth into production over this last year and has been putting out his own mash-ups for a while now. His section ReMc’s of the Week is a necessity for anyone obsessed with completely unoriginal music. With around 10,000 visits a month the site shows no signs of stagnation.

I got to ask DJ Medley a couple of questions last night at Andy Poolhall. Here is a little bit of what he had to say.

STSH: Why do you feel remix culture has been dominating modern music?

Medley: I think because remixing is the easiest way for a new dj/producer to become known. Take a popular track and make your own version of it that’s a little more club friendly. You’ll get thousands of downloads… There will be those that like it and those who identify with your take on the song better than they do with the original.

As well, with music production software being so much easier to use, more producers exist than ever before. With them being less musically trained, a lot of them cannot create a track from scratch, but they can work with other peoples’ material. And now more than ever, if you make a good remix, and if you don’t care about not making any money off it, you don’t really need to get permission or anything. You don’t need a label backing you to press it to vinyl for it to get played by other djs.  Just submit it to some blogs and you’ll be hearing your track at every club you goto. Before you know it you’ll be your own kind of superstar.

Also because they are the new and improved version!  And there’s a huge appeal to the whole ghetto, rebellious, bootlegging, illegal copyright infringing aspect to remixing. It’s kinda of the graffiti element of music production.

StSH: Do you think the internet is having a positive or negative affect on music? Why?

Medley: I try to have an unbiased opinion, I wouldn’t really say positive or negative, just a progression. Back in the days, a lot of artists thought radio was going to ruin their musical careers, and it did affect many, some in positive ways, some in negative. Currently there are artists who are making it where they wouldn’t have before thanks to the internet, and there are those who are suffering. It’s just the way things go. Move with the times or be left behind. I can honestly say though, I spend much less money on music than I ever used to, and my music collection is much much bigger. That’s a negative.

StSH:  When you started DJing…be honest…was it just to look cool for girls?

Medley: (Laughs out loud) Yeah, kinda, at first. But I soon realized I’m not attracted to your average club going girls. I kept with it for the love of music. Deejaying has probably cost me more relationships than it has created. Many girls have the wrong idea about me because I DJ; in reality, I don’t really like clubbing or partying – I’m fairly reserved, straightedge, and downtempo. I just love music. However I did meet my girlfriend at one of my gigs, and she’s much cooler than any girl I’d meet outside a club and I love her with all my heart, so I guess it has worked out very well for me.

[audio:Frederico Franchi Vs Roula Vs Dada and Sandy Rivera Vs Medley – Cream Lick (Medley Remix).mp3]