Jester, Klassen, and Ceeplus at Whisky on Saturday

Austin certainly has its share of talented DJs. But here, they seem to take a back seat to live acts in terms of entertainment credibility. Sure, they aren't strumming the sounds out from strings and hard-pushed air, but Austin almost has a stigma against the DJ (let alone turntablist). They’re almost seen as ornamentation rather than the purveyors of music culture that they actually are, if allowed.

Well, the good ones anyway. But that's all subjective.

Lucky for us, amongst other talented locals, we have Prince Klassen, a craftsman who has the talent required to adjust that lack of understanding. Don’t let the pretentious name fool you. It’s all a ruse. He’s a very serious fellow, especially when it comes to his sarcasm. But most importantly, the man is considered by many of his peers to be an unmatched human catalog of music, and born with an almost preternatural feeling for what particular music works (alone, or together with others) and why.

Klassen came to live in Austin by way of San Antonio, which is where the headliner for this Saturday’s turntable trio: Jester a.k.a “The Filipino Fist”, is visiting us from. Jester and Klassen have very similar sensibilities when it comes to mash-ups, and some very complimentary vinyl collections. Jester first caught our attention at a 2004 SxSW where he decided that 50 Cent’s a cappella version of “At the Club” would sound wonderful up against what must have been an instrumental off a children’s sing-a-long album. We didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or crap our pants.

You’ll never know which we ended up going with, but suffice to say we enjoyed it thoroughly.

Ceeplus, the man behind Reprogram Music is something of a local celebrity in Houston, and has been visiting Austin with increasing frequency. He intends to spin everything from Disco, to Italo, to Electro Funk, to Hip Hop (classic to Swishahouse/underground H-town names, we imagine), to who knows what else. Don’t be surprised to hear him put something Mtv-ish like Jay-Z over an early Trans Am track, but don’t be surprised if it’s an even more interesting combination.

DJs Jester, Klassen and Ceeplus
Whisky Bar
Saturday, Dec. 10th
On fifth between Lavaca and Guadalupe
No cover! Sweet.