12 posts tagged “turntablism”

John's comments got me wanting to listen to some of my favorite Kid Koala songs.

I know KK is often really off to listen to. Some of his stuff is just so out there. But I think that is what I like about him. Occasionally though, his outthereness really grabs you and makes you go hmm.

Interestingly enough, I find that some of his stuff, if you dont *know* is done by a turntablist ... might briefly fool you into thinking its just a regular band playing everything. And that is COOL.

Anyway:

And my all time favorite:

I love the imagery in Fender Bender. When I first heard this song, I fetl the whole entire scene play out. It was absolutely amazing. A MAZE ING!

Oh. And while Im at it, another fave. But not because of the music.

Lets see. Turntablism. BBoying. Animation. Can I get a hell yeah?

One of the pinnacles in animation is taking a character and making it dance, believeably. This is why you often see animation films doing a dance number (at the end, in the outtakes, etc). As far as animation fundamentals, it has it all - weight, balance, timing, motion, characterization. And its just plain dang fun to do.

But any time you tackle BBoying as an animator, you have an extra difficult task. Because a lot of the stuff they do is already hard to believe on a *real* person. So much kudos to the artist here.

Overall, the video is amazing. I think it does a great job of capturing *everything* I love about BBoying. Every little nuance. Even though Im not super keen on the music...

I LOVE it. 

Also, piece of evidence #2. Kid Koala. Nobody beats his horn work in my opinion. Take a listen and a look:

Pay special attention to his horn "solo" at 2:42 (-1:24). You should notice that he actually has turned *off* the turntable, and is regualting the pitch, timbre and sound by using his hand to determine the speed of the turntable. Forwards and backwards.

Yes. Yes. Yes, he is. 

EDIT:

And because Kid Koala does some really crazy experimental things with older music (I love his gutsiness and individuality on this subject) ... also check out his rendition of Moon River:

Notice at the instrumental breakdown (roughly -3:14), that he does something with the turntables to make a birdlike sound. And then he goes into some serious needle dropping to pick out a tune to play over the song.

Needle Dropping - aka - that man is finding the *exact* groove on a record (out of possibly hundreds), that contains a note that he wants to play. And then doing it again for the next note. In real time.

Skill, and musicianship right there.

Watch this, and then tell me that Qbert isnt using the Turntable as an instrument:

And be prepared to define "instrument" if you are going to claim that he is not.

Try listening to this:

Cubik & Origami

Cubik & Origami

The skinny: Cubik & Origami is a group of turntablists that compose their mixes primarliy out of stuff they play on real instruments. This disc is one of the better random finds I have come across this year - considering I just randomly stumbled upon them.

If you like slower-tempo hip hop beats and melodies, you will probably like it. Especially if you can also appreciate the art of turntablism. Good downtempo listening here.

Tonight I was bound and determined, On A Mission to...

Find Some Reggaeton!

Naturally, I went to Zion's Gate Records. The local uber-best record shop for all things Reggae, Dancehall, Downtempo, and Dubby! And I walked up and down the aisles. And looked. And looked. But where is the Reggaeton section ... DAMN!

So, being the not male archetype that I am, I asked the sales dude.

He pointed me to a measly section. Reggaeton was represented by like 15 albums. Meh. But he also said that I might find it in the Dancehall Hip Hop Remix section, or the Hip Hop Dancehall Remix section. Uhh, what is this you say,

?!?!Confusioned!?!?

And there I dug. And dug. For all of 10 minutes. Because all told, these sections added up to like 50 records. Whoomp, there it aint. (yes, I *am* going there, because we all need to be reminded of culture-wide errors in musical judgement every now and then).

Anyway. I did pull some records. And I actually did pull the one Daddy Yankee (although not what I was looking for). I think that was the theme of the night - not what I was looking for, but still cool.

I picked up the following:

1) Gangsta Zone | Machete Reloaded - Daddy Yankee ft Snoop Dogg

2) Vengeance LP- Soundbwoy Super Status Reggae Breaks And Beats

3) Ol Time Killin - Kardinal Offishall

4) Dirty Thangs | Alma Mater - Libretto ***

5) Music for Imaginary Films EP - Various ****

*** This is some seriously funky shit. Love it.

**** I heard a DJ spin a cut from this at a show I went to a week ago. I checked online and the CD was out of print. So I thought I would be rooting for this one for a while. But lo and behold, it was the second album I saw in the Downtempo Section. I pulled it and was like, "WTF? No way....!"

And I got to chatting with the clerk (ya like that never happens). He gave me a lot of hunting suggestions, and offered some ideas for things that should be in my collection. Too bad I already fordotted. Cause I suck like that.

Platinum Records

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Inspired in part by Dom's Post, I ventured out to one of my favorite local record stores ... Platinum Records.

What is cool about them, is they are a DJ shop. So they have all the equipment. They also carry the largest selection of DJ Tools records. Also, they have their electronic music sectioned out nicely. Meaning, unlike many stores, Downtempo is *totally* different than Florida Breaks. But the overall best thing is ...

Super Sale Used Hip Hop

So you can usually pick up some old single for about 2 bucks. Which is a very good deal, even though these arent in mint condition. Its good to find new stuff to mess up. And its good to find em cheap.

I made way from A, looking at every record. Letting my guts tell me to pull it for listening or just flash on past. And I made it all the way to O before I reached the 20 record limit. (well, I actually had 2 new promo records in there too).

Side Note:

An interesting thing happens when you like to fuck up records. You listen to things at the store and sometimes it just jives with you. But more frequently, you think, "Hmm! This sounds interesting. I wonder what I can do with this beat?"

And if you take home the interesting ones, that is when the magic can happen. You throw it on your turntable, and now it's in *YOUR* house. Your domain. Which means, you throw your scratch record on the other table and just feel it out ... easily. And then POOF! A sparkly little devil appears over your hand and you just ...

Rip it up and feel the flow

As a beginner, a lot of this probably sucks. You are trying to get a feeling for the beat, the tempo, the pacing, and all the little nuances of a song ... In REAL TIME ... as you are clumsily messing with your scratch. You know, because you just dont really *own* the ability yet.

But none of this stops how you FEEL about the mix.

So anyway. Without further adieu ... here is what I bought. (with the ones that sparked the feeling, bolded):

1. Take Control - Amerie
2. Like the Wind -Vibekings & Maliq ft.  Rob G
3. Nice Girl, Wrong Place | Rite Where U Stand - Gang Starr
4. Be Alright - Kid Capri ft Cam'ron & Jermaine Dupri ; Unify - Kid Capri ft Snoop Dog & Slick Rick ***
5. The Influence - Jurassic 5 (labeled Lose Yourself - Eminem?!)
6. 4 My Thugs | Gangsta - Geto Boys
7. Lady Marmalade - Chirstina Aguilera, Lil Kim ft Mya and Pink
8. Still - Macy Gray
9. Do Something - Macy Gray
10. I Cant | My Life | Ride - Foxy Brown ft Total
11. Pitch in Ona Party | Quikker Said than Done - DJ Quik
12. What You Want | Fame - DMX

*** Kid Capri featuring Snoop Dog and Slick Rick?!?! Might I ask, when the fuck did this awesomeness happen?

Here are the instrumentals I am currently spinning the most as background fodder for learning to manipulate vinyl (pics withheld because Amazon tends not to have vinly singles):

1) Mayor - Pharoahe Monch (From Rawkus Record's Soundbombing II)

2) Coma - Aesop Rock

3) La Familia - Foxy Brown

4) Come Close to Me - Common ft. Mary J Blige

5) Pack Up Remix - Lyrics Born ft KRS-One and Evidence

6) Ride Wit Us - Irv Gotti presents The Inc

For the manipulation record, I am primarily using:

1) Super Seal Breaks - Dirtstyle Records

2) Breakseven - Live Human

3) The Y LP - Q-bert

But I have also recently given a shot at recording vocals from the baseline record into Serato Scratch live, and then loading that onto the manipulation deck for cutting up. If I also record from breaks albums and then create a small sample list for each song ... I can get good vocals and scratch noises.

I also tried to do some scratching over complete tracks from my mp3 collection. I tried over Pharcyde, Five Fingers of Funk, Fun Lovin Criminals, and others.

I still suck at beat juggling. Its really hard to keep track of your place. And gets confusing really quickly.

Of course, it all kinda sucks. And I am really slow at transitioning between manipulation pieces. And I still cannot really put a smooth set together. But I dont think I can expect too much after one month.

Basic areas that need improvement:

• Diversity of sample inclusion. I still rely too heavily on one or two sounds per song.
• Quickness of sample change. Havent figured this out yet
• Knowing when to scratch and how much.
• And of course ... reproduction. Its still all too off-the-cuffish. So the same song never sounds the same.

We will see. It is still massive fun.

Sure, most sequels stink, but what movie really needs a sequel?

In general, I am against sequels. I am a huge fan of the Three Act Structure. As applied to a story as well as a set of stories. Aka, no sequel without it being part of a planned trilogy.

There are some people who claim that every good story follows Three Act Structure. One person I know, aka B McD, will tout this as if it were religious doctrine. And he will always back it up with his "The day I lectured with Sherman Alexie" story.

Anyway ... if there were one movie I would love to see a sequel of, it would be:

Keepintime - A Live Recording

(aka Talking Drums and Whispering Vinyl)

This time around, I would like to see the following DJs:

• DJ Shadow
• Cut Chemist
• Craze
• Q-bert
• Rob Swift
• DJ Quest
• Faust and Shortee
• Mixmaster Mike

And it might be cool to explore other areas of musical collaboration:

• Instead of just session drummers, why not session rhythm sections, with turntable as lead instrument?
• Perhaps some brass instruments and turntables
• Team battles - one drummer plus one dj team versus another
• Beatboxers versus djs
• Beatboxers collab with djs (can you say Rahzel?!)

Well, I just went ahead and did it. I figure it will save me tons of money in the long run, so the extra bill right now is okay.

Here is my new toy for my new toys:

Rane Serato Scratch Live

AND it is installed and configured on a Vista RTM laptop.

Faaaawk yeah!

First, let me bring you up to speed real quick:

In the last two weeks, I have fallen absolutely head over heels in LOVE...

with Instrumental versions of popular, and obscure songs.

That said, you now have the frame of reference to understand my joy at finding a Limited Edition, Instrumental Version of Common's Be. Yup, the whole album, every magnificent song, in instrumental version!!! Swoon. Way to keep it real there, Chicago brother.

And as if that werent enough, I also found a copy of Soleside's Greatest Bumps. It is a 4 Disc set that contains Instrumental Versions of every song. Which includes ... dah dat dummmm! Latyrx's Lady Don't Tek No. I thought I would never find this. Sweetness!

And all of this while simply digging for some used stuff, and maybe some DJ Tools.

Without going too tangental, I would like to say that I wish *every* artist that put out vinyl would also put out Instrumental Versions of their stuff. Not just the singles (cause my favorite tunes are rarely the Singles releases). And if they also put out acapella versions of their albums, I would totally worship them as heavenly gods in artistry.

I mean, I would really like to cut up, mix and blend some non-HipHop artists. I drool while thinking about what I could try with some Modest Mouse. Or some Beatles. Or some Zero 7. Oooh, or how about some Jack Johnson? Or Sublime. Or 311 ... or ... the possibilities are endless!!!

Honestly, if the recording industry wants me to switch over to BluRay, or whatever the new extra-large format is ... the best way to convince me is to release every disc with Radio, Instrumental, and Acapella versions of every song. Bing Bang SOLD!