About
I’m a record collector who DJs weddings — about forty-five a year, mostly New York and the wider Northeast.
Where the taste started
The radio station was Magic 92.5 in San Diego. I grew up there in the 90s and early 2000s, and the segment that did it was The 5 o’clock Boogie — soul, funk, disco, the warm end of R&B. I still hear that hour in a lot of what I do.
The other moment was a Supertramp record on my mom’s shelf. Cinematic poetry with pop-rock intuition. It was the first time I noticed an album was making decisions — that records were composed all the way through, not just stacked tracks.
Everything since has been chasing both of those: the warmth of a 5 o’clock radio set and the architecture of a side-A/side-B record.
Some of what I play
Random picks, in no order. Ask me tomorrow and it’d be a different list.
LCD Soundsystem, Kalima, Leo’s Sunshipp, Stevens & Foster, Idris Muhammad, 50 Cent, Trevor Dandy, Thee Sacred Souls, Sylvester, Cleo Sol, Corona, Banda Black Rio, Nel Oliver, The Diddys, Marvin Gaye, Bee Gees, Isabelle Antena, Miki Matsubara, mei ehara, Minnie Riperton, New Order, Robert Lester Folsom, Oby Onyioha, Gene Harris, The Meters, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, The Love Unlimited Orchestra, Dorothy Ashby.
Shuffled .
A few labels I dig through: Athens of the North, Numero Group, Salsoul, Awesome Tapes from Africa, Jazz Dispensary.
The shelf
Around five thousand records, mostly in the dining room. Overflow in the basement. Jazz-funk and global cuts get the top shelf because that’s what I reach for when I’m cooking dinner or trying to focus on something else — music that holds the room without asking for attention. The digital library is mostly FLAC. I’m a file snob.
In the booth
The job is to pay attention early. Cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing each need different pressure. I read the room, pace the transitions, and keep the night moving without flattening it into one long blast of songs.
Soundcheck is two passes. First, I play through every cued moment — first dance, processional, recessional, parent dances — to confirm timing and key. Then I run a few records I know cold (“I Feel Love” usually) to hear how the room actually behaves before guests arrive.
The room turns on for me once ceremony guests start coming in. By then I’ve already built three or four contingency setlists for every phase — that’s an ADHD-driven prep habit, and it’s what gets me to autopilot on the day. What most couples don’t notice is that I’m matching key and BPM through every transition, prelude through last dance. They feel it without knowing it. I care about not redlining and keeping levels right for the room I’m actually in, not the room I imagined.
Best for couples who care how a room opens, how dinner feels, and how dancing starts. Less so for stock scripts, constant-MC talk, or filler.
Booking
If you like my vibe of weird, give me a call and I’ll make your people dance their asses off. Bookings go through Ben at Non-Traditional Wedding DJs: 917-586-6753, ben@ntweddingdjs.com, or my NTW profile.