It's easy to feel affectionately to the idea of the man, and a sort of submersive practical philosophy of life and spirit he seems to reflect, that has been emerging out of these select interviews over the years, isn't it?
:) -----Original Message----- From: Fred Heutte [mailto:ph...@sunlightdata.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 8:39 AM To: 313@hyperreal.org Subject: (313) J--- M----- on DJing CDs and vinyl from the Wire interview. Says it all for me. -------------- D: Was last night the first time you've DJed with just CD decks? J: I think so. D: That's funny that you're not sure. J: It's different, and I really don't like it so much. Having to look at a list of what's on the disc and pushing too many buttons. .... Vinyl, you don't have to look at the meter. Your mind can be elsewhere, your eyes can be elsewhere. You use your ears less in the digital format than you do in analogue, in a vinyl situation, because your listening very much to the frequencies to know, or the structure of the song to give you cues for when to do what. Or how to weed away those frequencies so that you can mix the next record in. But when you have to look at the screen or a computer read out it's different. In some cases, it's OK, because last night I was concerned about the vibration, because we were setting things on the floor. But I would much prefer to use vinyl, because of the physical aspect of connecting with this motion, this clockwise motion of this disc, information, the frailty of it all. The needle is just tracking on the surface of this record. And that any jolt would totally disorient it, and everyone else, and myself. And that I think is most reflective of the life of what we are, and who we are and how we live. We don't control our destiny, we don't control our life, we don't control what tomorrow is going to be. It's by coincidence. We have to adapt. And that I think it is why I think I like vinyl the most, because it puts you right on the edge of disaster. And that I still like.
