Declan James McMan, or DJ M, is one of our relatively newer DJ’s at the station. Raised in Oakland, California, DJ M credits his city, his family, and his three best friends for his music taste. He says his parents gave him the “foundational stuff” like David Bowie and Echo & the Bunnymen, while Friend 1 gave him mid-west emo, Friend 2 gave him cloud rap, and Friend 3 gave him electronic dance punk .
“It sounds kind of cliche to say I listen to everything,“ DJ M said, but for him, it's true. He has a wide range of genres when it comes to his music taste. Mosh-rock and cloud rap show off his versatility, but he says that about 40% of his music is folk, and one of his favorite folk artists is Jackson C. Frank.
Jackson C. Frank's story is something DJ M has told on one of his shows before, because he finds it both haunting and beautiful. After surviving a school house fire in 6th grade, Frank taught himself guitar in the burn ward and wrote songs like “Yellow Walls," one of DJ M’s all-time favorites. He had crazy stage fright, and recorded his music behind a screen. This, coupled with his drug addictions and schizophrenia, made Frank fade into the background of the late 60’s music scene. Fast forward to the early 90’s, and his vinyl was rediscovered by a music critic in London – they later found him homeless on the streets in the US, and he ultimately began releasing music again.
DJ M discovered Frank’s music through Spotify’s smart shuffle, and as soon as “Blues Run The Game” came on, he fell in love with the artist. DJ M brought an interesting perspective to how music discovery has evolved over the years:
“I think this is more and more what the music industry is becoming - but I get some of my music off of Tik Tok. I’m trying to be less uncomfortable about it, because people in the older generation will be like ‘Oh, what has music come to?’ But I discover a bunch of good stuff on there – new stuff, old stuff. And more importantly, social media is what the radio and MTV used to be in terms of pushing new music. There are good and bad sides to that, you can discover old stuff you would have never known, or new stuff that’s really hidden from what you already listen to. I’ve heard ‘Blues Run The Game’ on Tik Tok, so I’m sure people have discovered him through Tik Tok as well.”
While it sounds more romantic and authentic to discover new music through CD’s or word of mouth, the reality is that social media offers a great deal of music exposure, which DJ M chooses to use to his advantage.
Beyond being a DJ at KWVA, DJ M is a history major at the University of Oregon, and keeping music involved in his future careers is something that he says would be ideal, whether that be music law or potentially as a music historian. He’s just now experimenting with playing vinyls during his shows, which is a new and exciting addition to his sets.
You can tune into DJ M’s “Rock ‘M Sock ‘M” show on Tuesday afternoons from 2-4 pm.