|
Techno moving into digital realm
| quote: | While the world of electronic music hurtles that much closer to the cutting edge, I find myself seemingly at the point furthest from it. That's right, I've been hitting the flea market. The market holds all kinds of novelties: memorabilia, cheap hotdogs and, most importantly, records. Since the days of disco, vinyl has been the modern-dance DJ's staple. However, like so much else at the flea market, records too are becoming relics of a bygone era.
Electronic music, or "techno'' to the layperson, is moving beyond its analog roots into a mostly digital realm. Vinyl turntables are slowly being ousted by CD turntables, and pretty sophisticated ones at that.
Pioneer makes what's widely regarded as the industry standard CD deck. However, not to be outdone, Technics has crafted a CD turntable that truly simulates the feel of playing a record, thanks to a rotating platter. A host of other manufacturers have followed suit.
There's a definite logic in playing CDs over records. Foremost is convenience. For the touring DJ, a wallet full of CDs is far less cumbersome than a bag of records.
And through the advent of digital media files like MP3s and online music stores like iTunes.com and beatport.com, getting the freshest new tunes has never been easier. Just log on, proceed to the shop, download your track, burn it to CD and you're off to the races.
It's hard to ignore the onset of such practicality. Yet I continually find myself scouring the dust-bound bins of flea markets, garage sales and second-hand shops. Bottom line, I love vinyl because of the esthetic, the hunt and the gratification of coming up with stuff that's unique and unexpected.
In some cases, the rare stuff ends up costing me about as much as a brand-new record would. Assuming I found them in a legal digital format online (doubtful given their age), they'd probably be cheaper. However, if I hadn't run across them in the bin, it's unlikely I'd ever think to look for them online in the first place.
The bargains also allow me to pick up records I already own and give the spares to friends as gifts. Of course, I could just record the song, encode it to MP3 and e-mail it instead. But a digital copy hardly seems as thoughtful, or tangible for that matter.
For some, even CDs are passe, with a handful of pioneering DJs foregoing turntables altogether and playing directly from their laptops - a push-button beat symphony. Sasha, ranked fourth-best DJ in the world by DJ Mag, employed this technique for his gig at the Standard last month.
Dance music purists, an oxymoron if there ever was one (electronic music is predicated on it being forward-thinking), might scoff at the idea of DJ George Jetson standing on an altar, clicking a mouse. Foreign, sure, but no more crazy than rock enthusiasts who blasted the concept of beat-matching records together during the '70s, saying it would never last. House music, techno, breaks and countless other genres are testimony to that fact that dance music has persevered and flourished.
Ultimately, the acts that combine the old with the new have the best chance of reaching the widest audience.
The deft turntable skills of Montreal-based DJ Kid Koala are the centrepiece of Bull Frog, a jazz ensemble that was one of the most well-received acts during last year's Jazz City festival. Jazz's inherent experimental nature is a ready complement to electronic futurism, after all.
Locally, drum and bass DJ/producer Scott "Cartridge'' Koladich is couching what he calls "video game funk rock'' into his live Lazersnake project. With Koladich on keyboards and Evan Frost on bass and drums, the crossover should draw in fans of live bands who might stereotypically dismiss dance music as "all sounding the same.''
Digital media and new technologies are exciting, but in application they need exciting ideas behind them to truly make them worthwhile. There's also no sense in looking ahead at the expense of things that still work great - like records.
See you at the flea market. Hotdogs are on me.
|
|
eh weak
But on the other hand big name DJ/producers will use cd's to play stuff that is unreleased, to play stuff they made last week to see if it gets a good crowd response.
Contact me if you have anything in my wantlist, I might just want to swap
