Good post Dustin.
It is disheartening to see so many people getting swept up in subgenres, especially when there are the records and tools available to put all kinds of things together. Whatever you think of Ableton as a performance tool it has opened up, undeniably, a totally new ballpark. The ability to put just about anything in the mix in time is pretty revolutionary, and wasted if people are just sticking one style of one subdivision of one wing of techno.

While I do appreciate some of music that comes from the Jaxx camp (good records on Emergence, some Exium stuff etc) I think that maybe they ran with it too quick. It kind of became a cliched sound before it had a chance to properly develop, and a lot of the stuff that poured out of Spain after the initial onslaught sounded like weak derivative cack.
For the more traditional DJ (myself included) it'd be good to remember that ONE of these "dark" Jaxxish tracks would have much more impact when surrounded by a greater variety of tracks, rather than 20 more Jaxx tracks. (Jaxx being just an example).

People seem to have forgotton that you can move through different moods, textures and sounds, let alone different genres. I find it too dull to play track after track of the same mood. Seems the only "mood" progression you get from techno DJs now is "harder faster".

The best thing about DJing is the ability to shape how people react. Its often more fun when they react unpredictably, and favourably. I started playing a bit more abroad this year, and was surprised at the way people went for more minimal (descriptive, not GENRE) sound, less about the broken beat, more about the subtle tonal stuff. But you can't just give a crowd the same thing all night, you gotta shake it up.

Records that don't sound utterly banging at home CAN still rock a floor! Try it, play an old 212 record, "Cobalt". At home it sounds pretty mellow, but it becomes an animal when you take it out. You won't lose the dancefloor by playing something that doesn't have THAT Liasions Dangereuses sample in it! Also, overproduced records sound shit on big systems. A bit of soul and grit never hurt anyone.

This rant/advice isn't aimed at anyone, feel free to ignore.
Hope 2005 leaves you less jaded Mr Zahn.