“I love it when I play a track and it’s quiet, and then I’ll just drop into [a mashup] … my favorite is just connecting to the crowd and whatever I play, just seeing them feel it,” said DJ and UCSC student Jayko. “Whatever song I’m playing — if they react to it, at all, and you can feel that connection to them, that’s just a high in itself.”

On Feb. 1, the Catalyst hosted an event called “ICED OUT” in the Atrium, presided over by electric architects Rudebrat, Sam F, Jayko and Ducifer, whom effectively catapulted its sonic space into a syncopated stratosphere. Current UCSC Electronic Music Studio (EMS) minors Sam F and Jayko brought the ruckus in a rapid-fire release of tracks old and new.

Rooted in the tradition of metal and classic rock, the up-and-coming DJs orchestrated the show with all the command of cabled captains, finessing from dancey tracks to downtempo songs in seamless transitions.

Both Rudebrat and Sam F’s roots reside in metal, but since then the guys have gone from moshpits to fistpumping as their tastes have evolved. When Sam F first heard dubstep, however, he said he hated it.

“That’s when dubstep was very simple, slow, and there wasn’t much going on in the music,” he admitted. “It was just like wah, wah, wah wah. And then it got into the whole hyphy dubstep movement with Skrillex, and I really loved when it was just craziness because I’m a fan of metal and can just relate to it. It was like they figured out a way to make metal electric. That’s when I fell in love with [dubstep].”

The fast-and-furious vibe of the show, albeit breathtaking, was only prevailed by the intimacy of a packed Atrium. While larger festival atmospheres allow for big-name DJs to engage in crowd-feeding indulgences, Jayko says that small spaces like the Atrium fully immerse the performer into the audience experience.

“Playing a club, you’re bouncing back-and-forth with the crowd, you can experiment more and look at their faces, see how they react,” Jayko said. “There are certain key people in the audience that you can look for, and once you react, everyone around them reacts … it’s like a domino effect.”

Deconstructed melodies and complex chaos in the vein of “tropical bass and jungle boogie” ensued throughout the night, inciting the audience to scream and jump up on stage until the DJs were encased in the undulating masses. The crowd was mostly of the 18-22 year old variety, nearly indistinguishable from one another in a haze of rainbow strobe lights, artificial fog, smokes and sweat.

“It got to the point where I was hunched down and tightly squeezed against the DJ booth,” said Jayko. “It was really hectic. We had the lights malfunction because someone kicked the cable out.”

Although this proved worrisome for the stage-confined DJs, the sheer decibel level of their performance was what really set off the Catalyst staff. The show had evidently exceeded the voltage limit and “redlined” several times, resulting in a power play between the sound engineer and the DJs.

“I’ve seen DJs redline their whole set and it’s not that big of a deal,” DJ Sam F said after a fight broke out post-show between the artists and venue employees.

After signing to Vital Management two weeks ago, Sam F’s future plans are experimental. Like many of his fellow EMS minors at UCSC, he said he wants to incorporate more live performance instrumentation into his sets, right alongside his UCSC cohorts Jayko and Rudebrat.

Courtesy of Sam Fishman.

UC Santa Cruz student DJs will be putting their own spin on the downtown club scene.

Red Bull is sponsoring a competition for Santa Cruz DJs on May 17 at Motiv, located in downtown Santa Cruz. Hosted by emcee Nick Centis, it will feature a set by professional DJ John Beaver after the competition.

Five UCSC student DJs will be performing: GuR (JR Rolle), Razzmatik (Alon Rogenstein), Ruby Sparks (Vanessa Sandberg), Sam F (Sam Fishman) and Stay Deep (Michael Gushansky). The winner will be awarded a $100 cash prize, as well as a “Gold Record” and an invitation to perform at Motiv in the future.

The DJs involved have distinct creative styles in mixing music. Gushansky, a fourth-year politics major, describes himself as having an “old-school” DJ style.

“I like making it seem as though you don’t know where one track starts and one track ends,” Gushansky said.

DJs will be scored by audience reaction, meaning competitors will need to select songs that will get the crowd excited.

“It’ll be interesting seeing the crowd’s reaction to what I play,” said Rolle, a third-year psychology major and event competitor.

“I’m looking forward to bringing something completely different to the competition. I’m pretty sure that I have a particularly different style,” said Rolle, who favors “deep dubstep,” a subgenre of dubstep.

“It’s focused on subbass and minimal rhythms,” Rolle said. “I’ve been spinning that for a while now.”

DJs select music based on popularity, personal preference and a variety of other factors. High-energy music such as electro and dubstep are popular choices, Gushansky said.

Many DJs use computers to mix and play music, as opposed to turntables and other equipment, he said.

“I use computers when I want to replicate my digital library in an older medium,” Gushansky said, “when I want to feel like I’m playing vinyl but I don’t have $1,000 to spend on records.”

However, Gushansky said new technology takes something away from the DJ experience.

“The problem is you’re not forced to look for records in your crate,” Gushansky said. “That takes a really crucial element out of the performance experience, because half the battle is looking for those records. You don’t really that much time to mix. It’s like a blitz.”

Although the event is a competition, participants like DJ and music producer Sam Fishman are mainly looking forward to performing for a crowd.

“I’m not too competitive,” Fishman said. “When it comes down to it, I know that Stay Deep and JR are really good DJs. For me, I’m more of a producer. I spend all of my time making my own songs.”

Fishman, a third-year art major, is also a hip-hop artist and rapper. He said his greatest aspiration is to become famous through his music.

“The stuff that I produce is mostly electro-dubstep,” Fishman said. “Fast-paced dubstep, you could call it.”

Motiv regularly holds “College Thursdays” for local students.

“I’m looking forward to playing out of Motiv,” Rolle said. “I’ve played there a few times and I like the sound. It’s a good place to play a small party.”

Regardless of who wins or loses, ultimately the event is about a bunch of people doing what they love.

“It feels so good when someone comes up to you after the show and says, ‘Hey, what was that track you played?’” Gushansky said. “You tell them about it and they write it down, and two months later they’re DJing themselves.”