The DJ you mentioned that has designed a way of annotating scratches is Radar from Phoenix AZ. He's very relevant to this topic more because of his performance style - one turntable and a sampler. (He's also one of the few "turntablists" known to mix techno).
Anyway, I was blown away when I saw Radar a few weeks ago with Rob Swift. Aside from the deftness in how he samples and loops vinyl-based sounds on the fly to layer up rhythms and crescendos, the fact that he is exploiting technology in a novel way, IMHO, has everything to do with what guys like Swift and the X-ecutioners are essentially doing. I.e. maybe this is a hip hop thang, but taking whatever is available to you, whether it be using a sampler, doubles of the same vinyl, or whatever effects built into your mixer, a footpedal to control distortion on your stratching (I think the Stratch Pickles thought of that), resting a vibrator on the deck to feed vibrations into the needle or just wiggling a record over a certain sound while selectively fading it in, (i.e. scratching), OR just thoughtfully mixing two records together in a way that sounds good...then at a point I think an artistic line is crossed where the DJ (or whatever you want to call that person) is adding something to the sounds that goes beyond the sounds of the record that is playing... and there in lies the artistry of the DJ. if something someone is doing is artistically valid, does it matter if they fit some old definition of what a "disk jockey" is? the comment about a painter vs. someone who hangs up predefined sections... that analogue has long been used to compare a traditional musician to the DJ. I.e. the DJ not as a directly connected soloist but instead as a sound collage artist. To turn this concept around to deride the Final Scratch user is pretty ironic. And ultimately misses the point of the DJ's artistic essence - a technology-based media manipulator. DJG > > Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 03:27:14 +1100 > To: 313 Detroit <313@hyperreal.org> > From: "Cyclone Wehner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [313] Digital Jockey vs. Disc Jockey (was: Future of > > DJ'ing, > also anyone at MIDEM?) > Message-Id: > <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >I see benefits in both styles. In any given party, there's always > a group > >of people that like to be up close to the dj to see him/her work > > the tables, > >and then there are people that are into the music just as much who > sit > back > >and dance/chill away from the dj. So, if you're not hell bent on > seeing > >exactly what the dj is doing, then it shouldn't matter what medium > s/he is > >using. > > I don't know. I think the presence of a DJ is one thing that makes > a great > DJ, I can't overstate that, I love personality, presence. I > interviewed two > US DJs out here lately and they were agreeing that in the future > the > presentation aspect will be what distinguishes DJs and by this I > mean not > the lights etc but the actual performance - think of someone like > Green > Velvet. That may not be desirable to some but it's an interesting > idea. > I guess Hawtin would appreciate the technology described, I can see > why. > But > then again I find him overly clinical as a DJ, as much as I like > his > production work and his ideas and concepts. I can't see too many > house DJs > adopting the new thing - can you imagine Kenny Dope pressing > buttons, I > don't think so. I am a big fan of technology and I see advantages > in it (I > spend my life on computers) but if that technology disenables the > creativity > of the artist then it's not especially cool, in my books. However, > it's > possible that the new technology could be used innovatively, sure, > and then > the divide between the DJ and live performer may become more > tenuous and > that could be inevitable and interesting - I guess that again is > what > interests Hawtin. > > I still think there is a future for the turntables - new avenues to > > explore. > Like aren't some of the hip-hop turntablists establishing a way of > notating > scratches? ------------------------------------------------------------ * http://www.bombdiggity.com/ * Free e-mail and special offers: 300MB of FREE SPACE at http://www.freediskspace.com/Signup.asp?cust=AFFL444
