This week I sat down for a chat with Andy Farley, one of the DJs at Northwestern’s WNUR station who fills the airwaves with fresh tunes. The Tech junior has been with Streetbeat all three of his years at Northwestern and started his own show during spring quarter of his freshman year.

Farley began making electronic music as early as the seventh grade and started DJing as a high school freshman. After playing styles ranging from “drum and bass to trance,” Farley currently spins tech house and minimal techno on his show DropB. Farley described the driving bass and glitchy sounds characteristic of these styles as “your Super Nintendo trying to be funky”.

Farley played at the Anchorman-themed Sex Panther party hosted for free by Streetbeat last quarter. He also said that DJing after Ben Folds’ Dillo Day performance last year was one of his most memorable sets.

Farley plays from both CDs and vinyl. He said the Internet is his main music source, but he also receives tracks directly from local artists.

To Farley, DJing is like “painting with sound.”

“It is making an original piece of art from many other, smaller pieces of art,” Farley said. “Like making a collage of music.”

Northwestern students don’t appreciate WNUR enough, Farley said. But he still enjoys working for the station.

“I’m glad to be involved at someplace where we are pushing the boundaries of music,” he said.

If you want to hear Andy’s show, DropB, tune in to WNUR 89.3 FM every other Tuesday night from 9:30 to 11:00 p.m. central time or you can listen to archived shows at his website www.seeandyspin.com. Click here to listen to a recording of his latest show.