As the days pass me by, I’ve been paying more and more thought towards how the electronic music scene has progressed since I first became a part of it. Truly the age we live in is far removed from the days of old, and how we listen and share music is far more liberal now than it has ever been in the past. Seeing as though the last effort I posted was rather length in nature, I’m going to try and be a little more concise with my words this month… but only a little. The only real point I want to get across is that I would like you to stop and think a bit yourself (no doubt you probably already do) about how you feel about life as a Dance music enthusiast (or a music enthusiast full stop) in the digital era.
It’s no secret that I’m currently enjoying somewhat of a renaissance of vinyl, and indeed of classic Dance music altogether. I’ve got my own little night (which I’m not going to shamelessly plug here) that I run in my home town, that satisfies my quirky fascination for digging up and re-airing forgotten records from the halcyon days of electronica. Hand on heart, I adore the feeling of rifling through a record box and pulling out a 12” slice of wax, then dropping it onto the platter and placing needle to groove. There’s something about the process that CD’s or laptops will never equal in my eyes, even though my knees are once again smashed to pieces from lugging an aluminium case with 30 records in it from one end of town to the other. Naturally this is just my preference, and we each have our own. Bollocks to the Hawtin-esque “this format is better than the other” argument etc etc etc… If you really have nothing better to do than moan about the way a DJ is providing the music, then might I suggest you voice your opinions somewhere else? Like the M25...
Moving forward, my renewed enthusiasm for all things old has led to a handful of comparisons being drawn between production output at the tail end of the 90’s, and the output of today. Back when Pioneer only made large Hi-Fi’s, the only way for a producer to get his or her music out there was to undertake the arduous and expensive task of getting a select batch of records pressed to vinyl, and handing them out at gigs/sheepishly signing them over to record stores in the faint hope that they would be sold. To put out an EP cost a packet, and there was no guarantee it would be signed. The sheer effort and financial outlay it required to get your music from the bedroom to the nightclub acted as quality control, and only those who absolutely knew they had something worth signing made it past the early stages. These days, any halfwit with a PC can saturate the internet with a plethora of unreleased albums or hastily patched together remixes. It would be hypocritical of me to say that I had never used up any server space myself, as I too have a couple of tracks uploaded to Soundcloud (they’re nowhere near what I would deem as being release-worthy, hence why I don’t shout about them). What I don’t do however, is upload any and every thing that I happen to have spent 3 minutes working on, in some misguided attempt to ‘get my name out there’. Currently I don’t believe anyone I follow on Soundcloud does either, which is quite probably the reason I follow them in the first place. Unfortunately there is a great number of aspiring DVS1’s out there who seem to be under the false pretence that spamming the bollocks off their long-suffering fan base will fast-track them to a life of CLR releases and Fabric bookings. If this applies to you, then I do believe I am well within reason to point out that YOU are the problem.
Since we live in an age where finding new and (most importantly) interesting music has never been more difficult, I am with increasing frequency finding the prospect of a Beatport/Soundcloud trawl virtually unbearable. Gone are the days whereby I would feverishly anticipate a Saturday trip to the local record store… and it would take all day. Instead of passing up on a social life to spend 12 hours up to my neck in stacks of white labels and deleted first pressings, I’m now at the stage where even an hour of clicking is akin to being asked to take the food bin out. I’m fairly positive I’m not alone in this view as well. Now that the flood gates have well and truly been blown apart in the wake of the digital onslaught, the veritable tidal wave of shit music has left so many of us feeling jaded and disillusioned. Sadly I believe it is too late to moderate what is uploaded, and in any case who would decide it, and what right would they have to do so? Besides, trying to restrain technological progress doesn’t seem like the sort of thing that civilisation should have any involvement with. Instead of adopting such a narrow-minded view on the subject, I believe it is far more beneficial to try and work with the problem, and exploit the more positive aspects of having an abundance of stream-able music at our fingertips. Rather than viewing sites like Soundcloud as the intimidating hideout of the talent-free and the soulless, I have adjusted my search habits to seek out live mixes and to sign up for podcasts from those who have proved their worth in the past. Approaching the hunt from this end of the field seems to have strengthened my resolve, and (be it on a commute to work, a simple stroll into town, or a pissed-out-of-my-tree stumble back from the pub) spending some time actually taking in music has diluted the grief of the record-rummage, and resulted in a dramatic increase in those unbeatable “must find out what that tune is called when I get home” moments…
As DJ’s, and more importantly as lovers of music, surely that’s what it’s all about anyway?
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