Re: What makes a DJ good?

bdwyer@nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu
Tue, 18 Jun 1996 23:15:03 -0400 (EDT)

I was surprised to read that, after all these years, someone who merely
selects and plays music that "pleases the crowd" still would be labeled a
good DJ. That might have been true 10 years ago, and may be true at
wedding receptions even today, but not in the "big city club scene." If
that were true, I'd be out there with my box of CDs, two players, and
headphones, making some money. But, with the sounds I'd be playing, I'd
get tarred and feathered at wedding receptions because, even drunk, people
would wonder what this weird shit was that I was playing and want some top
40 crap from 20 years ago so they could really get into a "party" mood.

On this topic, a couple of days ago I picked up "Altered Beats--Assassin
Knowledge of the Remanipulated." Yes, the title sounds like something you
might see in English on a T-shirt produced in a non-English speaking
country, but this is on the Axiom/Island Records label and "generated by
Bill Laswell." In my limited knowledge, the only artist I recognized on
the listing is DJ Krush, but I bought it anyway out of curiousity. The
liner notes begin with a discussion of the DJ as musician with the
turntable as his/her instrument, claiming it is "more like a drum than
anything else" and then argues that Hip Hop, and it's instrument of
conveyance, the turntable, serve as the least-censored form for
communication of controversial topics today. There's more on this and on
Hip Hop as an art form, but who really reads the liner notes anyway?
Besides Krush, the album has tracks by DXT (formerly Grandmixer D.ST).
I've not heard mention of this "artist" on the list, but the tracks are
pretty impressive works, especially one called "If 666 Was '96." This one
follows another interesting track, "If 9 Was 6" which features Bootsy
Collins on space bass and vocal and was "remixed, engineered and destroyed
by Prince Paul."

Some knowledgeable person on this list must know more about these DJs.
There are tracks by the Invisible Scratch Pickles, who apparently are DJ
Q-Bert, DJ Disk, Shortkut, and Mixmaster Mike. On first listen, I
recognized samples from around the mid-80s on their tracks. You, things
like "that scratch is making me itch." Wasn't Q-Bert a popular mixer back
in the 80s or am I completely off track here? These tracks have current
themes, basically political, and mostly dealing with the big brother
paranoia stuff. Music can be a powerful medium for conveying controversial
political topics, if it's done well. Judge for yourself on these
selections. Overall, this is a thought-provoking collection both in terms
of the discussion of musicianship and of communicating political messages
through music.

Here's the complete track listing:

1. Temporary Power Surge (Warning Introduction) (Laswell)
2. Reanimation featuring DJ Rob Swift
3. 3D-Cut Transmission--Material featuring DXT, Jah Wobble, Bill Laswell
and Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey
4. Shin-Ki-Row programmed, produced and mixed by DJ Krush
5. Black Hole Universe featuring DXT
6. If 9 Was 6 (Prince Paul Instrumental Mix)
7. If 666 Was '96 (DXT Mix)
8. Ancient Style featuring DJ Rob Swift and Liu Sola
9. Invasion of the Octopus People--Invisible Scratch Pickles
10. Embryo produced and mixed by DXT
11. Return of the Black Falcon--New Kingdom
12. One-legged Centipede--Invisible Scratch Pickles
13. Black Wax--Valis
14. Dust to Dust--reduced and jinxed by Spectre, the lll St.
-------------------

bil
bdwyer@nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu