Ghost tunes in ghost town

As an occasional DJ - someone who dabbles in DJing rather than actually, er, DJs - I'm always vaguely interested in how other people who DJ with actual skill and know-how approach it. Not so much the "real DJ" stuff about pitch-bends, BPMs, throwing in their own unreleased new productions and "maintaining energy levels on the dancefloor" (gulp), but just the basics. Like: what to select to play on the night? How many tracks to have ready? What order to play things in and how flexible to be about that? A while back I read a Resident Advisor piece on the Berlin techno DJ Ellen Allien in which she mentioned that she keeps file folders for all the places she plays and uses these to help trigger associations over remembering a specific track based on the place/occasion when she previously played it (seemingly a live process involving musical mood and emotion). She also says that when playing shorter sets - as compared to a techno DJ's five hour marathons? - she thinks "more carefully" about what to play and prepares a folder with "only the tracks I want to play for that set". Anyway, I recently did a bit of super-amateur between-the-bands DJing (Oort Clod gig at the LTB Showrooms in Coventry) for which I borrowed a bit of Ellen Allien's mood-and-playlist approach. Sort of. Not her stuff about folders with specific places she's recently played (which in my case would be nowhere), but the thing about "mood" and having a rough playlist for the night. In my case this was 60 or so tracks organised as: build-up (slowish, relatively abstract), slow/gentle, medium, fast, plus a bunch of songs that were non-rock-based (reggae, jazz, Afro, blues), plus three tracks chosen as ones to play after a band had finished their set. Yeah, man, sounds dull, right? Or over-thought? Possibly, but then again I'm always unsure how to approach these things. Back in the day (DJing for a few years at the Windmill in Brixton, strictly between-the-bands stuff again) I used to just wing it entirely. Go down there with my iTunes folder with about 20,000 songs (gulp) and just pick stuff there and then. I used to DJ with Serato Itch and a chunky Allen & Heath controller so you could cue up four tracks at a time but, still, looking back I reckon it was too unstructured. Now I reckon the mood grouping thing is the way to go, as is having a rough idea of the actual tracks you'd like to stick on for the uninterested punters necking their horrible Red Stripe and playing zero attention to your lovingly-crafted DJ set. Yes, DJ Dabbler is in the mix and this is how he does it. Actually, in practice it doesn't quite work out like this. People come over to talk to you (shocking behaviour). You get distracted. Forget to cue the next track. Lose sight of your game plan, such as it is. Or even, just change course anyway. You throw in a few tunes from elsewhere because you suddenly feel like it. In my case I realised only afterwards that of the 60 tracks I'd prepared (a complete guess over how many I thought I needed) I still had 17 left unplayed at the end of the night. Nearly a third! And here they are. All great songs, I'm sure you'll agree. And all completely unheard by the (lucky?) Coventry crowds. Ghost tunes never played in ghost town.

Kellan, 95Bone

Negritude, Stuck ina babylon

Beach Skulls, Pale blue eyes

The Worms, Everything in order

Black Mekon, 300 ghosts

Prince Jammy, Cry of the destitute

The A-Lines, Can’t explain

Légumes Sex, Ceremonie

Alex Chilton, Bangkok

Meow Meow, Bloodkkkat

Alternative TV, Action time vision

Fergus & Geronimo, No parties

G.L.O.S.S, Give violence a chance

Liiek, Paranoia

Thee Headcoats, Young blood

3o, Shank yaself

Tommy Kid, Rumours