“local dj spins his last record”
pattie berry
even if many people don’t recognize mark seiler’s name, it would be nearly impossible to find anyone in orono that cares about music that hasn’t heard of him or his work.
the list of accomplishments is long: he’s performed with this car climbed mount washington, skawabunga and overdub, formerly known as plan b. he spun records between acts at wednesdays’ open mic at soma 36 and hasn’t missed an electronica show at ushuaia in years. he made guest appearances on wmeb and spun countless house parties. he once moderated the ska/punk folder on firstclass and dominated the dj tent at bumstock for several years. he mirrored the world-famous online guitar archive, olga, on his server, was the original union loiterer and literally owned moby’s soul. and that list barely even scratches the surface.
unfortunately, you cannot ask him for yourself. on monday of last week, seiler, aka dj phonicoid, took his own life as he was en route to albany, new york, where he was in the process of moving. the 28-year-old recent umaine graduate was involved in countless art and music projects both on- and off-campus for the three years he attended classes here and five years that he had lived in the area.
“i have no idea how his departure will affect everybody,” said mary holt, program director for wmeb and personal friend. “he played with everyone. he was at every event.”
while seiler loved and played all genres of music, dj phonicoid was best known for his appreciation of electronica and skill at turn tables.
“i know dj culture and mark was a good dj,” said ushuaia owner alex gray. “he was definitely a student of art, of music, of performance.”
seiler moved to old town in 2000, where he became involved with the lemon house crew, a core group of djs and followers of dj music who partied in the two-story yellow house on french island. his first of many performances as a turntablist was at the house in 2001.
despite the implications of rave culture, seiler never drank or took drugs, and was more interested in the art than the dancing, friends said.
“[seiler] was very straight-edge. years ago he used to drink root beer. then he switched to lemon water,” joked former crew member and friend gabe allen.
a collector by nature:
instead, seiler indulged in another guilty pleasure – collecting. though many things made him remarkable, the breadth and scope of his record collection is amazing all on its own. he had over 3,000 records in every genre.
“my goal in life was to find a record that mark didn’t have,” holt said. “a lot of us at [wmeb] say we have diverse tastes, but they were nothing like mark.… he made it ok to like everything.”
seiler was a connoisseur of pop culture, both film and music.
“he was the kind of person where you could mention any band, movie or random chunk of pop culture and he could tell you about it,” recalled friend jason unterreiner.
though seiler loved all music, he had one true love in particular – moby. he had over 300 moby recordings, which is likely to be the largest moby collection in existence, according to friends. seiler had even purchased moby’s soul off ebay, which had been put up for auction as a joke by the artist’s friend, paul yates. the distinction has gained him mention in moby’s biographies, and dj phonicoid is also listed in the credits for yate’s and moby’s movie, “alien sex party.” last sunday, moby acknowledged seiler’s passing on his blog (www.moby.com).
the ‘perfect’ scratch record
as significant as his collection was, friends say that he was proudest of his scratch record, which had no official title except the reference “l12up001.” unofficially, seiler called it the “perfect” scratch record because all the samples started at one point with perfect linear accuracy.
“he took great pleasure in the fact that he had a level of technical proficiency to create the ‘perfect’ scratch record,” said owen smith, new media department head and one of seiler’s mentors. “everything was fine-tuned to the nth degree.”
he sold copies on ebay, and they have been distributed in record stores across the northeast, in california, and even as far away as europe. seiler encouraged everyone he met to buy a copy of the record, friends recall. there were two pressings of the record: the final in dark blue, mark’s favorite color, and the test pressing in lighter blue. his new media capstone project was the creation and production of the record, along with the production of its release party at ushuaia in april 2004.
seiler graduated from umaine in may of 2005 with a degree in new media and minors in studio art and film and video. as a student, seiler had a reputation for questioning the rules, but he would still do as well as he could, graduating summa cum laude.
a collaborative artist
while seiler had many independent projects, his presence was most felt in the community through his collaborations with other artists and musician..
overdub bass player and local dj myke billings said that seiler expressed that he enjoyed his collaborations with other aritists most of all.
new media professor raphael diluzio collaborated with seiler on two installations and had a third project planned in january.
“we worked together a lot; he would do audio and i would do video,” diluzio said. “i’ve tried it with other people, and it was like he was in my head…. i couldn’t have made it any better or any closer to what i really wanted.”
whether it would be bouncing off ideas or letting another dj borrow his turntables, seiler was always willing to get involved.
“i don’t think that mark has ever missed an electronic event at ushuaia in the past five or six years,” gray said. he always would stand in the same spot beside the dj booth, studying the dj intently during the set, he described. “he was best suited studying everybody and judging nobody.”
generous friend
“he gave of his music as a way that he would share his knowledge and friendship,” professor smith recalled. consistently, friends describe seiler as willing to offer help to his peers and introduce them to new music, though he was never pretentious of his knowledge of music.
though dj phonicoid’s musical intensity will be missed for a long time, it is mark seiler’s integrity, sincerity and compassion which those who knew him will miss most of all.
“there was also a sense of stoicism about him,” recalled friend adrienne hess. “he was deeply dedicated to his work and his friends. pillow fights, weird japanese cartoons, moby, things most people take pretty lightly – these things were serious business to him.”
continuing the legacy
friends of seiler are hosting a concert at ushuaia at 8 p.m. sunday, dec. 11 where his friends and co-collaborators will come together and perform in his honor. the remaining copies of dj phonicoid’s record will be distributed for free at the concert to anyone who wants one.
samples of dj phonicoid’s recordings and live performances are also available in streaming audio and for download from his web site, (www.phonicoid.com).