YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND : K-natz
Everybody loves Natha Srirongmuang, just like how they do Raymond. Natha or better known as DJ K-natz, however, doesn't possess the much-loved sitcom character's neuroticism and dishevelled family members. Instead, armed with an easy-peasy, hippy-ish attitude and accommodating hospitality, K-natz will have anyone's affection and undivided attention in no time.
The same also goes to his deejay's sets. Presently hailed as one of Bangkok's favourites and most-in-demand deejays, K-natz's name always pops up when good times are called for. His name alone together with his impeccable taste guarantee quality and non-stop indie electro/fidget techno bangings that leave your feelings to linger even when the night has already come to a close. It is true, there are many deejays who can beat mix, but what K-natz brings to the table is his open-mindedness and eagerness to fill the dance floor. After you've seen a few of his sets you will automatically know that this 27-year-old, who currently holds residency at 808 and is part of the Dudesweet family, loves to feel the crowd out, and please them without bending his spin master integrity.
"I think it's my personality to be quite soft towards people. I don't get annoyed or offended when people request songs so long as they're not in stark contrast to what I'm playing at that moment. If I can fit the requests in I will. And if I happen not to have that particular track in question, then I will find a pretty similar alternative," he said.
"The first thing I do when I get to a venue is suss out the crowd. Then I test the music. I think deejaying is very much an art form of mixing and matching because besides giving them what they [crowd] want, you always have to play stuff you really like and new stuff that you want to present, too. It's a balancing act, I would say."
K-natz began taking up deejaying while he was studying in Melbourne, Australia, but says his admiration for the craft can be traced back to the time when he went to see a live concert of the Beastie Boys. Mixmaster Mike's nimble fingers and scratch skills captivated the young boy so much that he went home and begged his mother to shell out a CDJ (a CD player that operates similarly to a vinyl turntable for deejaying purposes). But his mother didn't think he was serious and brushed aside the request. While K-natz was in Melbourne, a friend of his happened to own a few turntables, on which he used to learn the basic skills of deejaying, starting with mixing house tracks.
When he returned to Thailand in 2001, K-natz received a Run DMC vinyl as a birthday present, and so he decided to buy a few cheap turntables from a friend and began practising on his own. A chance meeting with hip hop royalties Spydamonkee and Jedi around 2003 brought K-natz into the professional hip hop deejaying world.
K-natz’s current favourite dance floor destroyers are Sweet Mercy featuring Rowetta—Reach Out; Nadastrom—Pussy; Kid Cudi—Day ’N’ Night (Crookers Remix); TC—Where’sMyMoney (Jack Beats Remix); and DJ Mujava—Township Funk (Sinden Remix)
"When I started hanging out with them my style became more hip hop, which was actually more my thing since I've always loved hip hop along with many other kinds of music that I grew up with. In the beginning, I just followed Spydamonkee around and got to deejay for fun at different parties. It wasn't anything serious," he said.
In only a matter of a year, K-natz made his way through many popular nightclubs, including Speed, Route 66 and Escudo, with his hip hop sets. This stint gained him recognition, but his love for hip hop spinning finally waned. K-natz felt that he had nothing more to offer to the hip hop deejay world as it became hyper commercialised; at every club all hip hop deejays were forced to put on the same old tracks while the crowds were mostly numb and wanted to only hear the hits. With an interest in a wider range of music and lifestyles, K-natz was able to hop between scenes, and another musical change beckoned.
"I met DJ Oum, who championed electroclash from the get-go, and I started bonding with the Dudesweet crew who were trying to experiment with a new music policy rather than indie rock. Dudesweet gave me many start-up chances with my new sound, and I'm grateful to be with them. I like being exposed to different people and different preferences. It's refreshing. So at first, I started with electro rock, then moved on to electro mash up and experienced with various styles. They have so many names for everything, right? I hope I'm still evolving and improving though," he said, grinning.
Now that he is one of the top deejays in his genre and game, there are some criticisms surfacing - mainly pointing out the fact that K-natz has drastically switched styles to what is "cool" at the moment. One truism is, however, most of the good deejays at present have the tendency to do so. You can't expect Justice, per se, to always deliver the Ed Bangers sound; they grow as fast as dance music does.
"I think there's a bit of an automatic change factor in deejaying. I don't intentionally go out and reinvent myself all the time, or religiously follow the 'trends' like some people say I do. But they need to understand that for dance music, or actually any kind of music, the tracks being put out change constantly. So then you have all these fresh tracks and you play them because you like them, then people come along and say, 'Oh, now you play this and that genre'. It is not rigidly planned. It's a process, you see," explained K-natz.
"As we all know there are a lot of international hip hop deejays who switch styles because they become bored and there have been a lot of haters. As for myself, I don't really care what people say when it comes to this because I do my own thing, and I like what I do," he added.
K-natz says he is happy with all his sets at the moment, and fully realises that deejaying in Thailand is not that financially viable - he runs a small bar as a side job - since deejays are not deemed as important as bands, and most of the club-goers go out for other purposes rather than to update their music repertoire. He is also aware that if he wants to make it big globally, he needs to get cracking on his own productions.
"But I don't think I have the skills to do so! I'm content deejaying around Southeast Asia when chances arise. My biggest dream is to play at Womb in Tokyo. It's not much, but it would mean the world to me. And I would love to have a long career as a deejay if I can. I love it, but I don't want to have high expectations," he concluded.
