"I am not a jukebox," DJ Ataxic reminds readers on his blog. He need not remind his audiences of that fact, because his lively mixes and mashups are wonderfully human. "Shout" by Tears for Fears overlaps with Biggie's "Goin' Back to Cali," for example. When not mashing classic hip-hop with rock, Ataxic adheres to the philosophy that clubgoers should pay money at the door to be exposed to new tracks, spun live by a DJ who is a trusted tastemaker, rather than request the songs played over and over on the radio. Otherwise, "Save your $10 and stay in your car," he advises. It's a mentality that thrives in clubs on the coasts but has a hard time catching on in the Midwest. But Ataxic is patient, and he's so sweet at heart that he'll still throw on an overplayed track like T-Pain's "Buy You a Drank" — if asked nicely.
