Just a few notes on the thread
(Hey, my first post on this list!)
1. on turntablism how-to videos...
They're relatively easy to find, and there are dozens
if not hundreds of different ones, featuring different
DJ's. http://www.turntablelab.com has a pretty good
selection, as do some other hiphop mailorder sites.
As to how good they are as a learning tool, I'm not
sure. It's one thing to watch Babu or Q-bert scratch
up a storm on a video, it's a whole other thing to
gather that knowledge for your own use. I've got
Turntable wizardry 1, and it's a pretty good place to
start, although it's pretty basic (i'm still nowhere
near being a turntable wizard, though).
2. On Theivery Corp's Vancouver show and DJ shows in
general...
I heard the problem there was (and this is all second
and third hand info) the fact that the dj's were
pretty disengaged, and seemed bored/unhappy to be
playing Vancouver. But ultimately, I think if you're
going to a DJ show expecting to be entertained, you're
probably out of luck. Most dj's just aren't that
interesting to watch, even though their set might be
phenomenal (I guess that explains why Coldcut are
working so hard on their live visuals). I've kinda
had to lower my expectations when seeing big-name dj
shows. If I just expect to hear really good music,
and disregard that whole dj-as-rock-star/showman
thing, I tend to enjoy the show more.
3. On instruments + tables,
I agree that it's probably easier when an
instrumentalist is added to a dj set, in the vein of
DJ krush + Kondo. I saw a great DJ Spooky show last
year, which would have been a standout DJ set by
itself, but then he whipped out his cello, and started
playing that while DJ'ing to great effect. However,
there are also some great bands which include
turntablists. Listers have already mentioned Kid
Koala, and well informed Canadians should know about
Bullfrog (w/ Kid Koala, and Public Enema before
them), and the rest of you should seek out any
Bullfrog you can find. I also like DJ logic's work
with MMW, and recent stuff from the Herbaliser Band.
They've been on tour recently, and when I saw them,
turntables (as played by Ollie Teeba) were well
integrated with the rest of the instruments. Although
in Herbaliser's case, it's sort of a backwards
process, with DJ's originally creating the music and
then taking it to the band (It can't be that much fun
for the rhythm section, who are basically just playing
loops).
Just some thoughts,
-- Marco Pringle Fat Beat Diet - Way late, Tues nights/wed morning CJSW 90.9 fm__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Calendar - Get organized for the holidays! http://calendar.yahoo.com/
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