Hard, swinging decks
If there’s anything Diego Castillo and Diego Mapa of DJ duo The Diegos have in common (besides their first names), it’s their infectious energy and enthusiasm for pretty much anything and everything they do. Whether it’s in casual conversation, onstage with their bands (Castillo plays guitar for Sandwich, Mapa fronts Pedicab), or during a Diegos set, both seem to have an innate ability to keep their audience engaged and entertained.
And really, they’re both kinda crazy. In the best possible way.
The only DJ duo rocking Manila right now, The Diegos are God’s gift to people who can’t stand 90 percent of the crap that’s being played in the clubs nowadays. You can chalk up their eclectic track selection to their rich musical backgrounds; they’ll play everything from straightforward dance remixes by Soulwax and MSTRKRFT to Gang of Four to Michael Jackson and Madonna, with tracks like No Diggity thrown in. Electro, old school hip-hop, new wave, post-punk, obscure indie stuff, and classic favorites from all the way back to the ‘70s — it’s a big mishmash of genres, but it works. You realize pretty quickly during a Diegos set that you can dance to absolutely anything, and have a fantastic time doing it.
Both of them owe their individual DJing debuts to Fluxxe, a Thursday party production for the hip folks of Manila, founded by Gian Romano and Kiko Escora over five years ago. “They invited me to spin back in 2005 without any DJ experience,” Mapa says. “My set then would range from The Kinks to Papas Fritas, Q And Not U, Cornelius, The Faint; medyo chopsuey, which is what Fluxxe was about at first — spinning anything.” They both got hooked on DJing, started buying their own gear, and would talk shop between sets at gigs. “Later on, we started doing our own events,” Castillo says. “I was doing an event called Hey Boy Hey Girl and he was doing one called Zapped, and we would always be DJing for each other. We still DJ as individuals, but it’s super fun to play as a duo.”
They’ve been spinning as The Diegos since mid-2009, and the duo’s dynamic performance is perhaps the biggest difference they have from all the other DJs floating around Manila these days. Maybe it’s because they both come from bands, but they’ve taken their rock and roll performance level to the decks, feeding off each other’s energy and channeling that into the crowd. “It’s kinda boring to just stand there and not try and interact with the audience,” Castillo explains. “I think it’s our job to get them in that dance mood. We just play the music that we think can make a party more happening. We always try and feel what a particular crowd is looking for and go from there.”
A Diegos set is largely dependent on the venue and the crowd. Whether it’s a fashion show, a private party, or a Cubao X gig, what they play is tailored to what the audience seems to be into, and the Diegos have an impeccable way of figuring out what people want. It’s all about good timing. “Our biggest crowd pleasers are tracks from Soulwax, NERD, Daft Punk, stuff in the line of dance punk or electro. When you try to bring in tracks like Sonic Youth’s 100%, most people don’t know how to interpret it on the dance floor. But at the right time, it drives people nuts,” Mapa says. “At Fluxxe once, a few kids went nuts over the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows, which was very unexpected!” says Castillo.
They have a great way of mixing up tracks everyone loves (at the last Diegos gig I went to, everyone was singing along to half the songs they were playing), and throwing in great new music that some of their audience likely wouldn’t have heard otherwise. It’s not out of the ordinary to catch people whispering, “Hey, what song is this? It’s great!” to a more in-the-know person next to them, and that’s part of what makes DJing so great for the Diegos. It’s another way of celebrating music. “You’re sharing the artists you’ve discovered in an atmosphere where everyone’s lending an open ear,” Mapa explains. Castillo echoes the sentiment. “I’m a huge fan of music, and in the end, you get to play all sorts of tracks, and hopefully because of that, you get some kids into a lot of new or old music.”
The Diegos play music for people who love music. You’re probably not going to hear today’s biggest hits in their sets (unless one of them is in a funny mood — they did play LMFAO’s Shots once), but it’s guaranteed that they’ll have you dancing, even if you hate dancing. They’re turning the average clubbing experience into a crazy, chaotic musical extravaganza, one party at a time.
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The Diegos are spinning at the Collective tonight (for the Gaijin album launch) and tomorrow (for Manila Design Week). They’re also headlining a bar tour for Lomography Embassy Manila, playing B-side on Sept. 3 and Route 196 on Oct. 1.
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You can e-mail me at vivat.regina@yahoo.com.
