Selector and DJ on experimental dark disco and mutant wave synth pop – GBDT
Started mixing and playing music in clubs and pubs in 1997 at Nancy (FR) for Les Deux Palmiers and Le Terminal Export, then for private parties at Strasbourg for Le Living Room, Strasbourg Live sessions or Ella Clandestine.
There are so many electronic music influences as long as it’s dark, weird and bass. But it can also be deep house, tech house and Afro jungle house when it comes to have people on the dancefloor!
Living in Michigan (USA), GBDT is also a web DJ, mixing for clubs and platforms like Bound in Sound, Chromatic, Irrelevante, Something Speacial, La Haima, Feed Your head (Fd Ur Hd), Deep Space Berlin, The Devil’s Plan, Chromatic and more…
More than 100 various electro podcasts are available on GBDT Mixcloud profil or SoundCloud.
GBDT is THE unexpected hybrid DJ between Red Axes, Blond:ish and Ivan Smagghe.
Thank you, for accepting the invitation to record a mix and answer some questions for our Quixotical Mix series!
1. What was the main reason and motivation to enter the Dj world? And why you have chosen “GB DT” as your artist name?
-> I grew up listening to music, for years (30 years I would say) and almost every day I have spent hours listening to any kind of music, starting with new wave rock in the 80’s, rap, trip hop, and electronica in the 90’s then the club culture including the french touch started and then Ivan Smagghe inspired me for the future… I love collecting records and vinyl and I have always shared my passion with friends… So one day in 1995 a friend of mine asked me if I would be interested to play and spin records in a night club bar in France (Nancy) from 11pm to 5am all Friday and Saturday night… I just said yes … this is how the mix passion started
GBDT: so this is quite simple and not really original : G is – the first letter of my first name Gilles… then BDT is 3 letters from my last name BorDeneT…
2. You mentioned that you are experimental selector. But still, is there one music style you find playing more than others?
-> This is right, I love mixing but I’m a picky selector: I do not only listen to electronic music.. and I guess the influence of rock, indie and New Waves bands from 70’s to 90’s is the essence of my dark deviant disco style and the reason why I always look for special weirdo vibes and unusual sounds sharing for curious people. Having this mixing approach with a personnal underground selection is the most important for me.
3. More than 100 podcasts are available on your music channel. That is quite a number! How do you prepare music for a mix? Do you have some unwritten rules how the mix should sound and what kind of tracks must be in a mix?
-> Thank you 😁 yes actually Quixotical is the122nd one 😉 In a podcast mix, I start spending time in the track selection in order to create a playlist with a dedicated style of the tracks that I found interesting to mix with each other…I have in mind how the mix should sound before I even press play. For the podcasts I record for radio shows or any music platforms I mix new electro dark disco tracks . For my own podcast I post on Mixcloud or Soundcloud There is different kinds of theme : disco not disco / Edits / dark disco / electro / chill …, I like to surprise people with different and unusual tracks within these themes.
4. The covid-19 situation in the world touched the music business very drastically. Instead of live parties most of the artists moved online. And music platforms is like living the gold age. Did you notice the increased attention from music platforms and higher requests numbers to records mixes?
-> Actually, we moved from France to the USA about one year ago (end of 2019) this was just before this was a crazy period with no job, lockdown, Covid around and club and bar closing… but hopefully, music is still on and helps out! So yes Absolutely, I listened to a lot of music and recorded a lot of podcasts for myself and for many platforms. Like anyone I miss live parties and festivals but as you wrote artists moved online and producers keep faith and energy for releasing good tracks. Actually my thinking on how to approach electronic music in 2021 is that we have to reinvent our ways of listening to music. electronic music isn’t all about the night, the Dj’s the party or the dancefloor. it’s the foundations but there are other certainly other horizons outside of the club walls. I really hope we will get rid of the covid before the end of 2021 and be able to come back to the clubs and festivals as soon as possible but using parallel ways of experiencing music is necessary right now and for the future. This is sad in one way, but this is also the best period for producers to create something new, new sounds, new styles and be more creative. but for sure the music and the artists need the support of our governments.
5. 2021 just started. any plans and goals for the rest of this year?
-> I do not have specific project right now, expect to be focus on a job apart of the music and djing ; I keep dj’ing for fun as it has always been so I hope I will have new podcast and radio show opportunities.