Re: [microsound] : : turntablism

["tobias c. van Veen" <tobias@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Word.

The way I see it, Martin Tetreault, Janek Schaeffer, Mike Hansen et all are
phonographists. They are engaged in phonography-- yes, the art of playing
with phonographs. This has been going on among the avant-garde since
phonographs were invented at the end of the 19th century.

Turntablists are primarily scratch-DJs who move beyond the phonograph to a
Technics model 1200 (or maybe a Numark) to its combination with a scratch
mixer. Cutting and scratching, beatjuggling, etc.

Battle DJs are battle-oriented turntablists.

Techno turntablists are at the juncture of turntablism and mixology. Like
Mr. Hans Molar the Moley Mole and perhaps me, these people are guided by a
techno mix aesthetic of incorporating scratching, cutting, beatjuggling,
Eqing, but also 3 decks, long mixes, beatmatching, and track selection,
often with a flair for style and wild shifts in a single set. Better known
names here would be Jeff Mills, Claude Young, DJ T1000, etc. For those who
push the sound to experimental extremes with all the attendent battle
skills, I like the term "vinyauralism." Fishead is some kind of turntablist
vinyauralist.

There are Jungle Turntablists and Ghetto-Tech Turntablists (Disko D,
Assault, etc). Turntablist can be appended to any genre, although with the
history of techno and its loop structure it deserves special attention for
its relation to hiphop in the history of AfroFuturism.

Mixologists are masters of mixing and EQing. Good disco DJs are mixologists.
Good House DJs are often mixologists. A very few other electronic DJs are
mixologists, like rare groove and funk, downtempo, ambient.

Selectors pertain to dub, such as Jamaican dub djs, where the art attached
the battle of soundsystems, of knowing when to drop certain tracks, of the
rewind, etc. comprises the art of the Selector, which is often tied into
production and the arrangement of an entire Crew.

DJs are on the radio.

Then there's the category of "Trance and/or progressive/goa/funkybreaks/etc"
DJs. I prefer to call them CD Changers or Wax Polishers.

tobias

> i find it really funny that the term turntablism is
> being used so broadly seeing as it first came into
> being as an attempt to narrow the definition of dj, or
> rather so that certain djs (scratch-it-up-yo) could
> distinguish themselves from others(what do you mean
> beat 'juggle'?). 
> 
> i guess this sort of apporpriation is going on all the
> time. but still i can't help but think what babu would
> think.
> 
> http://www.berkleepress.com/links/djing_turntablism.htm
> 
> anybody wanna battle?
> 
> =====
> 
> hans
> 
> 
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tobias c. van Veen -----------
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