<<also, as far as it being "not-so-incredible"...I don't know, you
shouldn't go by what hit records came out during that period.>>
The hit records are all I have. Maybe Jazzy Jeff was adept live and other
DJs were doing amazing scratching behind locked doors (I read DJ Scratch
used everything from his tongue to his dick), but based on the 12s I've
collected from the period (and the few period DJs I've seen, like
Grandmaster Flash and Jam Master Jay), scratching in the 80s was pretty
primitive. Most of the time it's so unmusical (but *trying* to be
musical--I don't have a problem with intentionally bad music) it makes me
want to puke. I have about thirty Sugar Hill hit singles to back me up
here.
On the other hand, I realize how important turntablism was in the 80s in
shaping hip hop and its descendants (jungle, gabber, trip hop, IDM, &c).
Take even early techno, like Model 500's "No UFOs"--it amazes me how much
turntablism is in that track. Production like that would be nearly
impossible without turntables. So when I say "not-so-incredible" I do it
with an awareness of the historical impact of 80s pop turntablism. In
today's recordings, nevertheless, excellent scratching is everywhere. I
would call it progress.
<<There were people doing pretty interesting stuff with turntables by the
early '80's.>>
Well, I'm all ears for recommendations, but I suspect it's academic music,
and I don't really get into that (and in the original thread I was referring
to Cage and hip hop per se; it was already established that artistic
turntablism goes way way back). I'm one of those people who doesn't dig
modern art music but is crazy about the electronic dance aesthetic. Hip
hop, esp. the old school, and all its relatives--like p-funk and
electro-funk--are all "dance music." That's the thing about hip hop I would
probably miss most if I was with it in the 80s. It used to be party music,
but nowadays...it's just not. (But I do love the dark scary gangsta rap
side of it too.)
At any rate, I'm gearing up to dive into the next great party/dance music
frontier: disco. I don't know anything about disco but I have a feeling
it's the perfect genre for somebody who's into archival dance music and IDM.
If anyone here is into disco I'd like to hear about it (recommendations
and otherwise).
Wow, I just took a thread about John Cage and Italian futurism and
unconsciously segued into disco.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download :
http://explorer.msn.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org